DWLresearch

I've currently working through the free ' How to survive your PhD ' course being run by Doctor Inger Mewburn ( thesiswhisperer ) and colleagues via ANU. Pug Imposter 'Pug Love' by DaPuglet Last week the topic of the live chat centered around confidence and impostor syndrome. Here's some tips I picked up from the live chat: How do you know if you're suffering from impostor syndrome or just being self-critical? = When the self critiquing becomes debilitating. It's useful to be critical of your own practices and do some self-reflection, but not to the point that it paralyses you or you lose sight of what you're trying to achieve. Dealing with a PhD thesis can be like dealing with an unruly child! Parents often feel impostor syndrome too. Build your confidence by identifying what’s good about your work. You're not the only one feeling this way - it’s not unusual to struggle with a PhD All academics struggle at one time or another and...

Image by U.S. Geological Survey https://flic.kr/p/e6vg44 I've enrolled in the free ' How to survive your PhD ' course being run by Doctor Inger Mewburn ( thesiswhisperer ) and colleagues via ANU. The course is open to anyone: PhD students, supervisors, friends and family, support staff etc. I'm hoping by taking part I can get some insight into how to support PhD students better. The main theme of the course is surviving the emotional journey of a research degree. A PhD can feel like a long, hard, often lonely, struggle. It can also be exciting and joyful and stressful and a whole gamut of other feelings along the way! Even if you're not taking part you can see some of the discussion on Twitter via #survivephd15 Here's some of the thoughts and tips I picked up from the first live chat of the course: What if your supervisor doesn't seem invested/interested in you? Find another supervisor who is! Not always an option and changing supervisors c...

Have you published a paper? Given a talk at a conference? Taken part in a poster competition? Disseminated your work in a different way (blogs, public talks etc.)? We would like to hear from you at our next thesis forum. Contact Helen  if you would be happy to contribute a short informal talk discussing your experiences. The forum will run on Thursday 27th February , 3-4.30pm in the Library Seminar Room. The thesis forum is a friendly and welcoming meeting in the Library (and online) for research postgraduates to share tips on the practice of researching and writing a PhD thesis. Doctoral students from all stages and disciplines are very welcome. If you are off-campus you can still join in- we broadcast our thesis forum as a webinar, and you simply need to login on the day. You will be able to hear the speakers and contribute to the discussion. We also record our meetings so you can watch at a time that suits you. You can find our previous sessions here .

On Tuesday 18th June we'll be welcoming Professor Pat Thomson (University of Nottingham) to the thesis forum. Pat will present her research on doctoral writing and look at strategies that doctoral researchers can use to help with common writing issues. These range from ways of thinking about the writing to be done, to setting up routines, to understanding the actual purposes and structures of academic writing. Come along to hear advice on ways to improve your writing. Pat will use doctoral researchers’ texts to show some common problems and suggest more authoritative alternatives. Join us on campus in the Library Seminar Room (3pm-5pm) or online via  https://connect.le.ac.uk/thesisforum18-6 Pat writes a very useful blog called 'patter' http://patthomson.wordpress.com   and has covered subjects such as publishing, research methods, planning your time, and dealing with the literature review. She also tweets as @ThomsonPat. Hope to see you next Tuesday! ...

Shared via CC BY-SA 2.0 licence http://www.flickr.com/people/chrisflorence/ Here are some tips for boosting productivity in 2013. Get organised!  Pat Thomson offers some thoughtful suggestions for planning your year and balancing academic activities in her blogpost 'No New Year resolutions, but definitely some reflections and a plan' .   If you make endless 'to-do' lists then you might like Remember the Milk . This free app syncs with all your devices (smartphone, tablet, desktop) and offers an easy way to access and update your to-do lists wherever you are.  Identify your time-eaters   The PORT website offers a handy series of countermoves for common time eaters such as procrastination and the inability to say "No!". Port is a site offering web-based research training materials, accessible to all from the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies (University of London). The skills tutorials and resources have much to offer, regardless ...

In July the thesis forum welcomed two speakers who shared their experience of the PhD with us.   Dr Georgios Patsiaouras (Management) Georgios completed his PhD at Leicester in June 2010 and returned as a Lecturer in September 2011. He emphasised that his discussion of the PhD process was very much his unique experience. It was refreshing to hear a frank account of the ups and downs of completing a PhD. He felt that researchers should regard the four years of the PhD as the training required to become an academic. Georgios juggled teaching, marking, invigilating and publishing three papers during his PhD candidature When Georgios began to write up his PhD he came up with a strict formula for achieving a consistent  output. Over 7 months he aimed to write 350 words a day, no more or no less. After successfully working to this model, he was left with three months to make revisions and edits and getting the thesis completely ready for submission. He strongly advocated a ...

After a long hiatus, the thesis forum will return during the summer term. Sessions will take place on: Tuesday 15 th May Tuesday 12 th June Tuesday 10 th July All sessions will run 3.30-5pm in the Library Seminar Room on the first floor of David Wilson Library. In February I sent out a survey asking students to share their thoughts on possible topics for discussion at the thesis forum, among other things. Many thanks to those of you who responded. The results showed that you were most interested in talking about… 1. The writing process 2. Writing techniques and methods 3. Problems encountered while writing Other common topics were the work/life balance and staying motivated during the PhD. In response to the feedback future sessions of the forum will feature guest speakers who have completed a PhD, as well as those who are nearing completion. There will also be ample time for informal discussion. The forum is intended as a friendly and welcoming space for ...

Joan Bolker's Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day is the latest addition to the GSRR bookshelf. This book is designed to guide PhD students through the entire thesis-writing process, from first draft to final submission. Bolker quickly admits that the title was designed to be attention grabbing, but explains that the main point is that you do some work on your thesis every day. According to Bolker, '"Every day" is more important than how much time you spend, or how many pages you produce, or what quality of work you produce.' She introduces a number of short-term techniques and methods which can kickstart your writing and help with self-discipline. I've come across many students who are Bolker-devotees, while others find her advice doesn't work for them. As with the other thesis guides on the bookshelf (Dunleavy, Brewer) it is up to you to take a look and pick and choose from the advice on offer. Different stages of your thesis will call...

The writing process can sometimes be lonely for postgraduates. You might be spending more time working from home and having less contact with fellow students. Or you might feel like the only person struggling with a problem over writing methods and techniques. A supportive online community has emerged on Twitter under the hashtag #AcWri. Dr Jeremy Segrott describes how #AcWri aimed ‘to bring together people who were engaged in academic writing to discuss some of key challenges, techniques/strategies that can help get published, and to generally provide a forum and way of connecting people engaged in the common - yet often fairly isolated business of writing for publication.’ #AcWri is the legacy of the #AcBoWriMo community which was initiated last November by Dr Charlotte Frost . #AcBoWriMo stood for ‘Academic book writing month’, but it was adopted by postgraduate students and academics engaged in all types of writing: journal articles, thesis chapters, and research proposals. I...