You beat me to it. I was going to email to let you know …

placemaking and the academic writer I’ve just read a paper about epistemic placemaking. Epistemic placemaking is equipping and arranging places for knowledge work. The paper suggests that students might actively co-design t…

This week patter has been reading about knowledge production as place making patthomson.net/2026/04/20/p...

key word – concision Concision is not the same as brevity. A short piece of writing can be wasteful with its words, and a long piece can be meaning-full right to the last sentence. Getting concise is about getting clea…

What does ‘concise’ mean in academic writing? patthomson.net/2026/04/12/k...

in defence of procrastination Procrastination often gets a bad rap in academic writing advice circles. It’s generally seen as a problem to be managed, a symptom of anxiety or perfectionism. In other words, it’s a pr…

Academic writing and procrastination revisited patthomson.net/2026/04/06/i...

forwarding – writing with other people’s texts We’ve probably all read papers where the writer has treated the literature as something to be surveyed and reported. the result often takes the shape of the dreaded laundry list, where the writer p…

This week I’m looking at forwarding, a key aspect of working with literatures patthomson.net/2026/03/30/f...

the process of writing People often refer to writing as thinking without necessarily knowing where and how this idea developed. It is in part from Linda Flower and John Hayes who published a paper in 1981 offering a…

Where does the idea of writing as thinking come from and what’s it actually mean … patthomson.net/2026/03/22/t...

what’s Habermas got to do with academic writing? Jürgen Habermas died on Saturday 14 March, 2026 in Starnberg, near Munich. He was 96. The news has been moving through academic social media in the way these things do, with people sharing half-rem…

Vale Habermas and academic writing patthomson.net/2026/03/15/w...

what’s Habermas got to do with academic writing? Jürgen Habermas died on Saturday 14 March, 2026 in Starnberg, near Munich. He was 96. The news has been moving through academic social media in the way these things do, with people sharing half-rem…

Vale Habermas and academic writing patthomson.net/2026/03/15/w...

getting comfortable with being uncomfortable Good academic writing means sitting with a discomfort that never entirely goes away. It’s not a discomfort that comes from having nothing to say. Most of us have more than enough ideas crowding the…

Academic writers often feel uncomfortable but that’s often OK Here’s why patthomson.net/2026/03/08/g...

not an echo chamber: abstract v. introduction Imagine a doctoral researcher finishing their introduction. They’ve carefully crafted the opening pages that situate their research question in the existing literature. Then they turn to write the …

Avoid reader déjà vu The difference between abstract and introduction. patthomson.net/2026/03/02/n...

Sustainable School Leadership Final Report Published This week we have launched the final report from the Sustainable School Leadership research project at the end of our 3 year mixed methods study across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, funde…

New blogpost announcing launch of our Sustainable School Leadership report: "Without greater attention to sustainable leadership the White Paper vision might never be fully realised." @patthomson.bsky.social @twperry1.bsky.social @uonsoe.bsky.social sustainableschoolleadership.uk/2026/02/27/s...

The final report from the Sustainable School Leadership project is out! A 3-year study across England, Northern Ireland & Scotland, funded by #esrc #educationresearchprogramme

Available here: www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/gro...

@patthomson.bsky.social @twperry1.bsky.social @samfr.bsky.social

Report cover

The final report is now available for the Sustainable School Leadership project led by @tobygreany.bsky.social with @patthomson.bsky.social @twperry1.bsky.social and Mike Collins.

sustainableschoolleadership.uk

riffing your way to meaning In blues, jazz, and music that traces its roots to those genres, the riff is a repeated chord progression or set of notes that ties a song together. A guitar riff returns again and again in a song …

Riffing as a strategy for academic writing, good for clarifying ideas patthomson.net/2026/02/21/r...

the cruel optimism of peer review A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. It might involve food, or a kind of love; it might be a fantasy of the good life, or a pol…

This week patter talks about peer review as cruel optimism patthomson.net/2026/02/16/t...

why go on a writing retreat I’ve been thinking about all the writing that I need to get done this year. There’s three book contracts, yes three, and a host of papers which are undoubtedly going to need revising. Looking…

Include a writing retreat in your 2026 plans patthomson.net/2026/02/07/w...

should abstracts have citations? When you’re deep into writing a journal article, it’s easy to feel that every claim needs immediate validation, every statement must be backed up by a citation. This impulse becomes par…

I’m often asked if it’s OK to put citations in abstracts. Here’s an answer patthomson.net/2026/01/30/s...

small successes count There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from staring at a word count that’s meant to reach 80,000 or 100,000, knowing you’re only at 12,000. Or from looking at a journa…

It’s important to recognise and celebrate small academic writing successes patthomson.net/2026/01/22/s...

ending well Don’t be tricksy. As with all stories, don’t play tricks on the reader. Don’t bring a rabbit out of the hat at the last moment. If there is a big reveal, make sure it’s planted well in advance. Don…

Endings can be tricky for academic writers. Take a lead from flash fiction patthomson.net/2026/01/13/e...

Beginning well One of the most paralysing questions for academic writers is often the simplest: where do I start? For early career researchers staring at months of data, dozens of theoretical sources, and a loomi…

So it begins … on the usefulness of starting at the beginning patthomson.net/2026/01/08/b...

Writing About Your Researcher Positioning So you know what researcher positioning is and why it matters. Now comes the practical question: how do you actually write about it in your thesis? This is where many doctoral researchers get a bit…

Following on from last week I have a few pointers for writing about your researcher positionality patthomson.net/2025/12/07/w...

what is “researcher positioning”? You’ve probably come across the term “researcher positioning” in methods texts or heard it thrown around in doctoral seminars, and perhaps wondered what al the fuss is about. Posi…

A short guide to researcher positioning patthomson.net/2025/11/30/w...

methodology v. methods Miss Marple, the quintessential ethnographer If you’re a doctoral researcher, you’re often expected to understand the relationship between methodology and methods from the get go. These two t…

This week on patter The difference between methods and methodology. A short explanation patthomson.net/2025/11/23/m...

the problem statement Most research proposals, dissertations and funding bids start off with some kind of problem statement. A research/thesis problem statement needs to do several interconnected things to work well. At…

This week a very short guide to writing a thesis or research problem statement patthomson.net/2025/11/18/t...

three ways to link paragraphs One of the things that separates just OK academic writing from really good academic writing is how smoothly it flows. You’ve probably read papers where every paragraph feels like a fresh star…

Three strategies to link paragraphs and improve the flow of
your academic writing. patthomson.net/2025/11/08/t...

research aims vs. objectives – what’s the difference? You’re finally sitting down to write your research proposal and you’ve hit that section where you need to outline your aims and objectives. You stare at the page. Aren’t these bas…

Research aims and objectives aren’t the same thing but are related It helps to understand the differences and connections patthomson.net/2025/11/01/r...

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...