Cherise Saywell When coaching students nervous about the blank page, I’ve often used the word limit as a technique for getting started. A big project, such as a PhD thesis, is less intimidating once you break it down. For example,…
Anne Wilson When I ask researchers how they read journal articles, most say they read the title, abstract and possibly the first sentence or two. Then they skip to whatever has drawn them to the topic. It might be the…
Deciding who is the protagonist helps you tell your story with greatest impact.
'Good academic writers communicate their ideas simply and clearly, conveying a sense of wonder or excitement about their subject.'
Always check your writing for over-long sentences and insert a full stop.
To communicate well, make sure critical information is first and foremost.
A big beginning tells the reader something while a small beginning shows the reader an image.
According to Dr Alison Yeung Yam Wah at the University of Surrey, who researches the writing strategies of academics, ‘readability’ is one of the key ingredients of successful academic papers. Yet academic writers frequently make their text hard to read…