There’s a common assumption that academic writing needs to be complicated, but the fundamental goal is to communicate.
If the examiner has to do extra work to understand what you’re trying to say, you’re more likely to frustrate them than impress them.
build the thesis around the answers to 3 central questions.
Everything else is to provide context or supporting detail or explanation around these three points.
And if the answers to any of these questions are unclear, all the other content about background or the literature or theory becomes irrelevant.
The more we add, the more we dilute the most important information and the more difficult it will be for the reader to make sense of.
Focus on the essential facts or concepts that are necessary to understand your project, and on the literature that has had a major influence on the field, that has influenced your research, or that is in some other way highly relevant, and leave out everything else.
You do not have to weave ideas from each section into every other section.
Instead, make sure that each section (or subsection) has clear, singular focus.
This way, you can make sure you firmly establish whatever key points you want to communicate, and if you think of any extra supporting detail or nuance related to those points, you know where to put it
And from the reader’s perspective, if you have a table of contents and good section headings, they’ll be able to find what they’re looking for.
PhD: an uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life is your essential guide to the basic principles every PhD student needs to know.
Applicable to virtually any field of study, it covers everything from finding a research topic, getting to grips with the literature, planning and executing research and coping with the inevitable problems that arise, through to writing, submitting and successfully defending your thesis.
All the text on this site (and every word of every video script) is written by me, personally, because I enjoy writing. I enjoy the challenges of thinking deeply and finding the right words to express my ideas. I do not advocate for the use of AI in academic research and writing, except for very limited use cases.
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Sim says:
Can you please do a video on how to develop critical thinking skills for PhD students?