Academic Coaching Blog

The message said "I'm a doctor!!!"  It was from another successful candidate whose dissertation was accepted and who passed her oral defence.  I love getting those messages, but this one was particularly rewarding. Although nobody becomes a doctor immediately after a defence (there's paperwork and a formal graduation approval and ceremony to go through first) this candidates was delighted to be at the end of the journey and I'm happy to celebrate with her.   We had worked closely together for quite a while to address the fact that TurnItIn had rated her thesis at over 80%, which is truly excessive. ...

I've just written a LinkedIn post about being authentic in writing, and not relying on AI to do the writing for you.  For those of you who aren't registered, here's the actual posting too. I want to post about authenticity today because I see the threats to that all around me. For example, I just watched some media coverage of Tilly Norwood. Never heard of her? Well, there's a link below to just some of the coverage of this AI-generated actress, who looks so real that there's even talk of her getting representation by an agent. So to get back...

So your thesis or dissertation draft has been submitted to TurnItIn, and the report says you used a lot of AI.  Even if you didn't actually use AI, a certain style of writing can raise red flags when software is used to look for content that is not original.  Supervisors and examiners may also think that the writing is not your own authentic work if it's too formulaic. Here's a short video I recorded, to offer three tips for changing the way you present your content, so that it doesn't sound AI-generated: Get in touch if you're having trouble using...

Faced with the ubiquitous use of AI by students, written exams and other forms of written evaluations will have to be replaced by oral examinations. Students will have to defend their work by explaining it in a spoken presentation, so they can talk about what they learned, instead of submitting a paper, which they may or may not have written.  That's not just my opinion. It's the opinion I just heard expressed by Derek Thompson, a journalist who has become a media sensation since he co-published Abundance with Ezra Klein. Here's his interview with Fareed Zakaria today: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/politics/video/gps-0907-ai-threat-in-schools In the past few...

I have a testimonials page, and I proudly share the kind words from the graduate students who achieve their goals with my help. But today I thought I'd share an entire email from a recent graduate (with his permission), to celebrate his achievements and my satisfaction in contributing to them.  I worked with this candidate for more than a year from early drafts of chapters to reviewing the entire thesis for submission.  His success in earning his PhD gives me great joy and I hope that his achievement encourages others to keep going and get it done.  This particular email...