Five top tips: from starting to finishing writing
Here are some tips to help with that when external factors are dragging you down. This is about dealing with unblocking your writing. I am very grateful to one of…
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The new Australian law on academic cheating services
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Prohibiting Academic Cheating Services) Act became a law on 3 September 2020. Undergraduate and postgraduate students at Australian universities, whether you are located…
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Assessment of research quality for funding decisions
This time we are looking at assessment of research quality for funding decisions and how that is done (the nitty gritty of some value judgements that appear to be made…
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Prioritising, time management and motivation
In this multi-connected world of instant feedback and many demands on our time, this time we are going to have a look at ways that might help you prioritise. How…
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Reporting empirical research: the best level of detail
This time the focus is on issues in journal article publication, centring on what to include concerning your methods section so that readers can have enough information for the replication…
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Does the trend in higher grades mean improved learning?
This time the focus is on grades and on teaching content design in academic courses. Has it become easier to get better grades? Is this a good thing? Or not?…
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The stories in your research
You might have heard about storytelling as a way of communicating research. You might wonder what the narrative form has to do with academic writing. Here are some practical suggestions…
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Collaboration in interdisciplinary (and other) teams
This is about collaboration: for interdisciplinary research, for policy development (acknowledging that there may be crossovers here) and for projects among postgraduate students. Hopefully, there will be something for everyone…
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Tips to become published: over 100 of them
Things are moving ahead in these unusual circumstances. This time we will be looking at guidelines for getting your article published, in various ways. Let’s start with publications’ guidelines and…
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How can you turn your thesis into journal articles?
You might already be writing your thesis by publication, with several articles published or in the publishing process. Or you might have completed your thesis and wonder how you can…
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Three main kinds of editing
This is about what I can do for you and what you can do yourself to reduce research editing costs. I explain different kinds of editing, to try to avoid…
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Open access and the Creative Commons: some key facts
This time I am going to take a peek at the Creative Commons. While you may be aiming to pitch for an A1 or A2 journal, there is a wealth…
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Research writing: five top tips
Whether you are an undergraduate, an academic researcher, or a lecturer who is responsible for giving feedback on academic writing, hopefully there is something thought provoking for you in these…
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Titles and abstracts: how to attract interest
This time, the focus is on writing journal articles and some tips for how to get them accepted and cited. While there is no magic formula, you might find the…
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Peer review for journal articles: responding to feedback
The theme here is a closer look at the review process for journal articles, which can be both insightful and challenging. First let’s look at some advice for reviewers which…
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How to keep motivated when writing: six top tips
I have a confession. Rainy days make me sleepy. Sometimes the coffee just does not work. Cathy Mazak has come up with some very practical tips which researchers and writers…
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Tips to publicise your research
Here are a few ideas about how to get your research noticed more, and some timesaving suggestions to help make that happen. First let’s think about a plain language summary…
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Remote teaching: five top tips
Remote has 7 meanings. Over the last five years I have been both editing research through my own business and tutoring online for a university. Reduced capacities due to the…
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Top tips on preparing journal articles
Do you get stuck sometimes when you are writing articles about your research? How about predicting what peer review questions and comments might come up? This time I have checked…
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Scam journals: how to identify them
You might be well aware of it but in case you are not, there are a lot of scam journals out there which are charging for intending authors to submit…
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A good literature review: how to take the pain out of the process
It is easy to get sidetracked and lose focus when researching a literature review, especially for a larger work such as a thesis. While I am always careful about my…
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