Improving Writing Accountability With Focusmate

One of the biggest challenges with academic writing isn’t necessarily the writing itself, it’s actually keeping ourselves in the chair. As soon as we hit a tricky part, there’s an overwhelming urge to wander off and tackle an easier task. We tell ourselves, “This is far too difficult today. I’ll come back tomorrow and it’ll definitely be easier.” Unless we push through those tricky parts, though, it’s impossible to make significant progress. The solution is to either get some velcro pants or to use Focusmate. ...

20 August, 2020 · 4 min · 692 words · Catherine Pope

Preparing for an Online Viva

If you’ve recently submitted your thesis, there’s a good chance your viva will happen online. Vivas can be stressful anyway, but technology adds an extra layer of excitement. Although it might feel daunting, the solution is to spend time preparing. Computers can sense when something’s important and conspire to thwart us. In this post, I’ll give you step-by-step guidance on making sure your online viva goes smoothly. Preparation Check whether your institution has provided any guidance for online vivas. ...

30 July, 2020 · 6 min · 1094 words · Catherine Pope

How to Write a Thesis Abstract

Just when you thought you’d almost finished your thesis, there’s yet another hurdle: the abstract. Although it’s only around 300 words, this chunk of text can be surprisingly challenging. And you don’t want any more challenges at this stage. In this post, I’ll explain the purpose of the thesis abstract and also provide a step-by-step guide on how to distil that monster thesis into a perfect summary. What’s the purpose of the thesis abstract? Other than giving you an unwelcome task on your todo list, the thesis abstract serves two main purposes: ...

18 July, 2020 · 4 min · 671 words · Catherine Pope

Who Do You Include in Your Thesis Acknowledgements?

Once you’ve dealt with the small matter of finishing your thesis, there are a few other tasks to complete, too. Although the Acknowledgements page isn’t assessed during the examination process, it still performs a vital role. This is where you get to thank all the people who’ve helped you along the way. The research itself is, of course, a solo effort, but it would be impossible to reach the finish line without a few cheerleaders. ...

8 July, 2020 · 3 min · 490 words · Catherine Pope

The Art of Deliberate Practice

One of my favourite cartoons shows a despondent chicken telling his violin teacher, “I don’t want to practice! I want to skip to the part where I’m awesome.” I feel like this every time I try to learn something new. Although I’m certainly not becoming more patient with age, I do now have a reasonably realistic idea of what it takes to actually get good at something. This is mainly due to the work of Professor Anders Ericsson, who sadly died last week. ...

6 July, 2020 · 3 min · 545 words · Catherine Pope

Open Up: The Power of Talking About Money by Alex Holder

Who knows how much you earn? One person? Two? Maybe nobody apart from Human Resources. Research shows that nearly 50% of couples have no idea of each other’s salary. As Alex Holder explains in Open Up,1 we often believe our salary and assets define us. These are the true indicators of our success, status, and power. Revealing that magic figure gives someone an easy way to judge our worth. And this secrecy extends beyond our salaries. In a survey by the Money Advice Service, 45% of people admitted to lying to their partners about money, especially debt. ...

20 March, 2019 · 4 min · 775 words · Catherine Pope

The Kindness Method by Shahroo Izadi

When we want to quit a destructive habit, it’s common to be hard on ourselves. We don’t just start with a gentle 20-minute canter around the block, it has to be a 5k run before breakfast. Every day. There’s nobility in suffering and, of course, we crave fast results. This punishing schedule proves unsustainable and we’re confronted with yet more evidence of our flakiness. Nevertheless, many self-help books urge us to pursue dramatic change. ...

5 January, 2019 · 3 min · 512 words · Catherine Pope

The Great Sussex Book Sprint

If you’re at all familiar with academic publishing, you’ll know it moves at the pace of a creaky snail. Imagine, then, a team of researchers gathering to plan, write, edit and publish a book in just 4 days. Yes, that’s right – 4 days. I was sceptical, too. Devised by Adam Hyde, the Book Sprint is a process that promotes collaboration and rapid decision-making, helping teams to achieve a lot in a short space of time. Typically, the Sprint is arranged over 5 stages: ...

26 June, 2017 · 7 min · 1329 words · Catherine Pope

Miss Florence Marryat vs Mr Charles Dickens

It’s not often that Florence Marryat makes the national press, so this has been an exciting week. An unpublished letter from 1860 has emerged in which Charles Dickens berates Marryat for requesting advice from him. She offered a short story for inclusion in his journal All the Year Round, hoping that he would also give her a critique. Of course, it’s perfectly usual for authors to solicit feedback from editors, and Dickens was actually a close friend of her father, fellow novelist Captain Frederick Marryat. Poor Florence must’ve been rather miffed to receive a three-page snotgram in response. Bonhams, who are to auction the letter on 16th March, have described Dickens’s reply as “wonderfully rude”. Refusing to enter into further discussion, he writes: ...

10 March, 2016 · 3 min · 536 words · Catherine Pope

Life According to Literature 2015

It’s the sixth time I’ve done this meme, and it’s harder this year as I’ve been a bit slack with my reading. THE RULES: Using only books you have read this year (2015), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. Describe yourself: Fingersmith (Sarah Waters) How do you feel: The Content Machine (Michael Baskhar) Describe where you currently live: Armchair Nation (Joe Moran) If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Packing for Mars (Mary Roach) ...

6 January, 2016 · 1 min · 173 words · Catherine Pope