PhD Coaching Blog — Writing

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...

A new client told me yesterday that she had used ChatGPT to write her Introduction chapter.  She said that she had asked that AI assistant what should go into that chapter, and had written it up accordingly. But now she's not happy with it. It sounds awkward and stiff. She asked me if I would be able to help her add a human touch.   And of course that's the problem with using a robot (by any fancy name) to help in communicating with other humans.  No matter how sophisticated the software, it still lacks that certain something that infuses a...

In the 20th century, graduate students spent all their time at a university, learning how to conduct research and master academic writing.  In this 21st century, students have come to rely more on robot-supported aids, and AI, to try and improve their skills.  But now there is a move towards writing without AI. What does this mean for coaches like me?

Can I be replaced by AI? This is the question I've been asking myself. And I've come up with two answers: Yes and No. Yes, I can be replaced by AI in the sense that graduate students who used to come to me for assistance in writing and editing their dissertations are now turning to AI to do that.  How do I know?  They tell me so. What is interesting is that because I work hard to build trust with the students, they are very open in explaining how they use AI to generate content for some of their thesis...

  Few things  test endurance more than working on a doctoral thesis.  This is a “self-portrait” that one of my clients sent to me to share with anyone who’s in the same boat as she is. Do you recognize yourself? This client has been working on her research topic for a long time.  In fact, she’s written a book, and is a practitioner in her area of expertise as well. But it’s taking a long time to get the thesis written, and from time to time she gets weary, as you can tell. We often talk about the need to...