Pat Thomson

Good luck. Ups and downs are common & taking charge of a down period is A Very Good Idea.

Free access

The PhD experience varies a lot. Like you I enjoyed mine when I did it (last century). But not everyone is the same. As a supervisor you have to understand and respond to diversity and different needs. And there’s a lot of research (some of it mine) to show how varied PhD experiences are.🤷🏻‍♀️

Building confidence during your PhD Doing a PhD can feel like wandering through a forest with no map. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re smart enough, working hard enough or heading in the right direction. If yo…

Doing a PhD can feel like wandering through a forest with no map. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re smart enough, working hard enough or heading in the right direction. If you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone. More importantly, you’re not broken. patthomson.net/2025/10/25/b...

research contribution vs significance If you’re a PhDer, you’ve probably heard these terms thrown around in seminars, thesis committees, and paper reviews: “What’s your contribution?” and “Why is thi…

Two research terms to get clear on, contributions and significance patthomson.net/2025/10/19/r...

Hi Les Will Email you

claims vs contributions If you’re deep in the throes of doctoral work, you’ve probably had that moment where someone asks you about your “contribution to knowledge” and you freeze up like a deer in…

If you’re writing a discussion and conclusion it helps to know their relationship difference between claims and conclusion patthomson.net/2025/10/11/c...

UTS Governance Project Survey: A Staff-Led Collaborative Project The UTS Governance Project is an independent, staff-led initiative to strengthen transparency, accountability and participation in how our university is run. Inspired by the ANU Governance Project, ...

Can you help us boost this signal? UTS colleagues are doing a governance project to talk back to the consultant led 'reform' of their university.

Please repost!! UTS people please have your say!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

results vs claims Research results are not the same as research claims. This is one of those distinctions that sounds simple but can trip researchers up. But understanding the difference can be really helpful. …

It helps to understand the difference and relationship between research results and claims patthomson.net/2025/10/04/r...

Dear Reviewer Every academic writer knows the sting of a harsh review. Every one. Including me. We’ve all had them. The review that is scathing, brutal and toxic. The immediate impulse is often to fire bac…

Dealing with a toxic review? Write a Dear Reviewer letter… patthomson.net/2025/09/27/d...

Erving Goffman: Memories, method and metaphors If you do sociology or, indeed, any social science whatsoever, you’ll come across the work of Erving Goffman. I have done too but never engaged with it as much as I should have done. This was…

Today's post delves a bit into the history of #sociology, memories of Erving #Goffman, and his use of #metaphor as method makingsciencepublic.com/2025/09/26/e...

Participation at the core: AI, ELSI and community engagement Alondra Nelson, a sociologist, STS scholar and expert on AI policy and ethics, recently published a letter in Science proposing that artificial intelligence (AI) should adopt the Ethical, Legal, an…

For weekend readers, some reflections on community engagement with #AI and #ELSI makingsciencepublic.com/2025/09/19/p...

Writing multiple articles from one set of data So you’ve got this mountain of “stuff” that keeps revealing new secrets every time you look at it. Or maybe you’re doing a PhD by publication and panicking about how to sort out the art…

Some pointers to writing a series of papers from the same project patthomson.net/2025/09/21/w...

We launched our UK Survey report from the #esrc Sustainable School Leadership research project today.

Big important findings on leaders' work (& workloads), well-being, career journeys & plans, professional learning, views on school contexts/ cultures & more!

www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/gro...

Claude does satire. Who knew! @thesiswhisperer.bsky.social

what is criticality? This is a post for all the people just starting their doctoral programmes. And for those supporting them. Criticality in scholarship is the practice of approaching all knowledge claims, including y…

If you’re a doctoral researcher
You need to understand and practice criticality patthomson.net/2025/09/12/w...

emotional support objects my favourite BIG mug, made by Robyn Cove Academic writing can be a pretty solitary pastime. Lonely even. There’s nobody to talk to in those moments when you just can’t seem to think your way throug…

A whimsy. Writing with the support of patthomson.net/2025/09/04/e...

Five steps towards writing in fragments The myth of ideal academic writing time persists. We all long to be in a quiet office, surrounded by books, with hours of uninterrupted time to craft elegant arguments. But the reality is very diff…

Use little windows of time to progress your academic writing patthomson.net/2025/08/30/f...

I’ve just been published and I feel… When Dr. Sarah’s first peer-reviewed article appeared in the Journal of Sustainability and Urban Policy, her social media announcements said: “Delighted to share my latest research on ur…

Academic publishing can be a hot mess of mixed emotions patthomson.net/2025/08/21/i...

Are you, might you become, or do you know a transnational scholar from the Global South? Or do you work with one or more? If so, this insightful, creatively written book will be of interest. It's part of the series I co-edit with @patthomson.bsky.social www.routledge.com/Insider-Guid...

the cabinet of unrealised ideas Ever thought about writing a campus novel? I often play with plots but never get around to the writing. And I get stuck on endings, just as I do when I write an academic paper! I recently dipped in…

I’m secretly plotting a campus novel

patthomson.net/2025/08/15/t...

conference jitters You know that feeling, right? It’s two days before your big conference presentation and you’re lying in bed at 3am, staring at the ceiling wondering if anyone will turn up. And if they …

Why are conference nerves to be taken seriously? patthomson.net/2025/08/08/c...

writer identity and voice Still reading. This month it’s Schmit, John S (2022)The sociolinguistics of written identity, Constructing a self. Cham, Switzerland: PalgraveMacmillan. Schmit is a writing and linguistics professo…

Latest post on writer voice and identity complete with exercises patthomson.net/2025/07/30/w...

Making Science Public in a chaotic world As you know, I am now gradually moving from my old ‘Making Science Public’ blog home at the University of Nottingham to my new personal blog home here. This wasn’t easy and lots of people supported…

For weekend readers, my first Making Science Public post on my own blog site, reflecting on the current state of and challenges to science communication #scicomm - feel free to press 'subscribe'! makingsciencepublic.com/2025/07/25/m...

Ive come home and immediately lapsed back into the vernacular …

Please see the report I’ve talked about in the post, it’s really not that simple any more.

on predatory academic journals and conferences I’m often asked about predatory journals. So I recently went on a hunt for something other than lists and found a 2022 report on predatory journals and conferences from the InterAcademy Partnership…

What to do about predatory journals and conferences? patthomson.net/2025/07/16/o...

Since I'm blathering about (my own) scientific writing this morning, I'm reminded to remind you that I made a starter pack of folks who post about the history, practice, and craft of scientific writing: go.bsky.app/TwZVnjU

You can get some good advice from folks on this list!

50 ways to get your writing going A couple of times a year I write about strategies for getting going with your writing. But I’ve made a big list this time, just for a change. Fifty things to do to help yourself with your wri…

Build your academic writing repertoire fifty strategies at a time patthomson.net/2025/07/10/5...

About the unread Most academic writers are regular readers. There is of course a strong connection between reading and writing. Reading and writing feed each other. But I’m not focused on the connection right now. …

A musing on the great unread… patthomson.net/2025/07/03/a...