Academic Coaching Blog — Doctorate

If you're writing a thesis or dissertation, your supervisor is the most important person in your life.  And that goes on for several years.  Many graduate programs follow processes that badly need revising.  But until universities are willing to provide additional time and resources to work with graduate students, then you have to make sure you are pleasing your supervisor as part of the process.  So why? Why do so many doctoral and Master's students have to follow the wishes of supervisors, rather than being able to work alongside them as equals, in the pursuit of scholarship?  The short answer...

At present, there's an ad on TV that lists all the things that AI can do. One of them is "write your kid's school essay".  It's an ad for home repairs and the claim is that AI can do nearly everything except fix your plumbing. That's concerning, and many experts are sounding the alarm about the overreach of AI.  It has given me much pause for thought about my work and whether I should hang up my editing pen. But I'm stubborn and hopeful and I'm going to keep offering old-fashioned writing help with a pulse, I don't like being...

It's been a few months since I posted, in spite of my 2025 New Year's Resolution to be more engaged through blog posts.  But of course the best-laid plans are often interrupted by life, and illness and helping friends and family.  As I said, it's been a while since I posted. But here I am again and determined to try and post more regularly, so that I can share some of the knowledge I've gained over years of working with the most brilliant minds on the planet -- that's you and your academic peers. So for today, here's a reminder...

It's great to start off a new year with a message notifying me that one of the graduate students in my "flock" has completed his PhD thesis and passed his oral Viva in the UK.  Congratulations, Matt!! Very few people how much effort is involved in earning a doctoral degree. It goes on for years, and of course it doesn't just take effort. It takes intelligence, commitment, understanding of the research process, skills in academic writing, and above all a love of the subject that you're studying. Most students don't start a graduate program knowing that they will need all...

I noticed a significant drop-off in enquiries about coaching in 2024.  And I attributed that directly to the increasingly aggressive efforts by promoters of AI to have it take over every corner of our lives. It's not that I'm against AI in principle.  I can see that there are many ways in which it would save time, and help people with routine writing tasks. If it helps people who struggle with English to communicate more clearly, then I know that will benefit them and others.  However, call me old-fashioned, but one of the hallmarks of doctoral research and the accompanying...