Academic Coaching Blog — Master's

A new academic semester is starting, and students are getting ready to resume their normal study routines.  It's quite common to have a more relaxed rhythm over the summer months, although some students use the time to do field research. But once the university staff and faculty are back from their own vacations, it's time to resume the formal steps on the pathway to a PhD or Master's  So is this the time to make a plan?  Students often spend time preparing Gantt charts or spreadsheets that layout various parts of their research schedule.  I always admire the effort and...

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...

I see requests for thesis/dissertation help every day.  For the most part, people are looking for quick help to solve a particular problem that is causing them delays in competing their dissertations. I always regret (and so do they) that they didn't seek coaching help earlier, before a crisis occurred. Coaching assumes that a writer or student or client of any kind is willing to engage in the process for a while.  Some of my preferred clients have been with me for years, not always  continuously, but as they need me.  A long-term working relationship is useful when issues pop ...

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...

Has your professor ever written a margin note in your dissertation that says, "This writing is too dense.  Fix it"? There are some professors that explain what they mean. But more often than not, you're expected to think it through on your own and try to do what they want. Often the problem is you're using sesquipedalian words--and you didn't even know it.  So,  first, let's understand "dense" academic writing?    Sometimes, when you're reviewing the literature for your research topic, you may come across a journal article that is difficult to read.  The sentences are long and you struggle to...