Academic Coaching Blog — Writing

My previous blog post talked about why you need to please your supervisor.  I said it was a practical thing, because it's your supervisor who controls your progress in your academic journey.  Take a look at what I said: WHY your need to please your supervisor In this post I want to talk about the HOW of pleasing your supervisor.  And let's be clear, I'm not talking about being subservient or obsequious.  I'm talking about building a satisfactory relationship that is pleasing to both of you, so that your academic work progresses in a positive way.  Here are four key...

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...

The short answer is Yes!  Coaching a student in their academic work is very much like coaching an Olympic athlete. 

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...

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...