What to Do When You and Your Advisor Don’t Agree
What to Do When You and Your Advisor Don’t Agree If you’re a graduate student, chances are you’ll eventually disagree with your advisor about your research direction, writing style,…
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Data Collection Gone Wrong: 5 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Data Collection Gone Wrong: 5 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them As a first-time researcher, imagine spending months collecting data only to realize your sampling method was biased,…
How to Prepare Your IRB Application: Common Pitfalls to Avoid
How to Prepare Your IRB Application: Common Pitfalls to Avoid Understanding the IRB Application Process The Institutional Review Board (IRB) application process is a crucial step for researchers…
How to Write Your Results Chapter: Ditch Your Grandmother’s Storytelling Style
How to Write Your Results Chapter Ditch Your Grandmother’s Storytelling Style Picture this… You’re visiting your grandmother, and she’s about to tell you a story. She starts with…
How to Identify and Address Research Gaps
How to Identify and Address Research Gaps Research is the driving force behind scientific progress and innovation. It involves exploring uncharted territories, seeking answers to unanswered questions, and pushing…
How to Overcome Writing Challenges, Get Unstuck, and Transform Your Academic Writing Practice
How to Overcome Writing Challenges, Get Unstuck, and Transform Your Academic Writing Practice Academic writing is an essential skill for researchers, educators, and students across disciplines. However, it…
How to Identify a Problem of Practice: A Guide for EdD Students
How to Identify a Problem of Practice: A Guide for EdD Students The Problem of Practice (PoP) is the heart of any Dissertation in Practice (DiP). Identifying a…
How to Write a Theoretical Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Write a Theoretical Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide Writing a theoretical framework can seem daunting, especially if you’re not quite sure how all the pieces fit together. Think…
How to Write a Research Question: A Guide for Graduate Students
How to Write a Research Question: A Guide for Graduate Students Crafting a research question is a bit of an art. In some ways, it’s simple – what do…
How to Write a Hypothesis: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Write a Hypothesis: A Step-by-Step Guide A hypothesis is a proposed explanation or prediction that seeks to answer a research question. It is a statement that can…
How To Write the Findings Chapter for Qualitative Studies
How To Write the Findings Chapter for Qualitative Studies Writing the findings chapter for qualitative studies is a critical step in the research process. This chapter allows researchers to present…
3 Critical Mistakes to Avoid in Your Literature Review and How to Fix Them
3 Critical Mistakes to Avoid in Your Literature Review and How to Fix Them The literature review is a crucial component of your academic research – it serves as…
Meet Your Deadlines and Avoid The Planning Fallacy
Meet Your Deadlines and Avoid The Planning Fallacy The planning fallacy occurs when we underestimate the time and resources needed to complete a task, often in contradiction to previous experiences.…
Reporting Verbs: A Crucial Tool for Establishing Stance in Writing
Reporting Verbs: A Crucial Tool for Establishing Stance in Writing In academic and scholarly writing, the stance we adopt is not just a reflection of our beliefs and opinions, but…
P-Values and Effect Sizes: The Dynamic Duo of Quantitative Research
P-Values and Effect Sizes: The Dynamic Duo of Quantitative Research As a researcher, it’s more than just important—it’s essential to have a friendly acquaintance with p-values and effect size in…
Implications vs. Recommendations in Research
Implications vs. Recommendations in Research Two terms that often bring a degree of confusion in academic research are ‘implications’ and ‘recommendations.’ Despite their seeming similarity, the two play unique…
Harnessing AI for Statistical Analysis in Quantitative Research: Can We Trust It Blindly?
Harnessing AI for Statistical Analysis in Quantitative Research: Can We Trust It Blindly? Are you interested in finding efficient methods to streamline your quantitative research and statistical analysis? 📊…
5 Steps to Interpreting Statistical Results for Your Dissertation: From Numbers to Insight
5 Steps to Interpreting Statistical Results for Your Dissertation: From Numbers to Insight Interpreting results from statistical analysis can be daunting, especially if you are unfamiliar with the field…
How to Respond to Reviewer Comments and Revise a Research Manuscript
How to Respond to Reviewer Comments and Revise a Research Manuscript Click here to download the Peer Reviewer Comments Template Complete this form to receive your peer reviewer comments…
Mastering the Art of Quantifying Relationships: Beginner’s Guide to Correlation and Regression
Mastering the Art of Quantifying Relationships: Beginner’s Guide to Correlation and Regression by: Kirstie Eastwood Final thoughts Navigating the different options…
Active and Passive Voice in Academic Writing
Active and Passive Voice in Academic Writing In academic writing, there is a clear distinction between active and passive voice. In active voice, the subject of the sentence is…
Evaluating Research Quality Using Critical Appraisal Tools
Evaluating Research Quality Using Critical Appraisal Tools What is critical appraisal? Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically assessing the strengths and limitations of a research study…
Writing An Academic Paragraph: The MEAL Plan For Structuring Your Ideas
Writing An Academic Paragraph: The MEAL Plan For Structuring Your Ideas The MEAL plan is an easy-to-remember and effective way to structure your academic paragraphs. When used correctly, it…
Four Ways to Structure Your Literature Review
Four Ways to Structure Your Literature Review The literature review is a critical part of any research project. It provides a comprehensive overview of the existing body of knowledge…
The Beginner’s Guide to Descriptive Statistics
The Beginner’s Guide to Descriptive Statistics Author: Kirstie Eastwood You’ve collected your data, and you’re sitting in front of your laptop faced with a spreadsheet full of data…
How to Choose an Appropriate Statistical Test
How to Choose an Appropriate Statistical Test Inferential statistics involves using statistical theory to test hypotheses. Knowing when to use what statistical test can be a frustrating part of…
Revising in Reverse: How the Reverse Outline Can Work for You
Revising in Reverse: How the Reverse Outline Can Work for You At the Academic Writing Center, we recently conducted a workshop on reverse outlining, and it surprised me to…
What is an academic argument and how do you make one?
What is an academic argument and how do you make one? Academic Arguments Arguments play a key role in academic writing. Academic arguments consist of a claim, also called…
A Guide to the Four Quantitative Research Designs
A Guide to the Four Quantitative Research Designs So, you’ve elected to undertake a quantitative study for your doctoral dissertation, what’s next? An important element of your research project is…
5 Steps to Successful Quantitative Research
5 Steps to Successful Quantitative Research Conducting a quantitative research project requires careful planning, preparation, and execution to ensure reliable and valid results. By following a structured approach, you…
Manage Your Dissertation Research Using Simple Tips & Tools
Manage Your Dissertation Research Using Simple Tips & Tools As a doctoral student, the dissertation is one of the most important projects you’ll do throughout your college career. Not…
What is a Dissertation?
What is a Dissertation? Many graduate students begin writing their dissertations with very little clarity about what they need to accomplish. They plunge in furiously, hoping to grit it…
How a Topic Sentence Improves
Your Dissertation Committee’s Reading Comprehension + Recall
How a Topic Sentence Improves Your Dissertation Committee’s Reading Comprehension + Recall As a doctoral student, you have brilliant ideas and research to share. You have worked long hours…
Does Your Dissertation Really Need Proofreading? Taking Your Dissertation from Blah to Ah
Does Your Dissertation Really Need Proofreading? Taking Your Dissertation from Blah to Ah I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning and took out…
10 Tips for Writing a Literature Review
10 Tips for Writing a Literature Review Conducting a thorough critique of the literature is incredibly important, but as a writer, you may feel daunted by the enormity of…
Write, Revise, Rinse, and Repeat: The Art of Self-Revising
Write, Revise, Rinse, and Repeat: The Art of Self-Revising This webinar focuses on the art of scholarly revision. Revision is a normal part of the scholarly writing process. As scholarly…
How to Make Informed Decisions About Qualitative Research Designs
How to Make Informed Decisions About Qualitative Research Designs Today, researchers have advocated for and provided guidance on numerous research designs, stemming from various needs in the social sciences. These…
From Analysis to Writing: How to Begin Writing Your Research Findings
From Analysis to Writing: How to Begin Writing Your Research Findings Join research methodologist, Dr. Veronica Richard, as she shares important steps and tips for working with your qualitative…
Developing Your Scholarly Voice: How to Paraphrase, Make Claims, and Synthesize Literature
Developing Your Scholarly Voice: How to Paraphrase, Make Claims, and Synthesize Literature As a scholar, you have the opportunity to make unique contributions to the discourse around topics that…
What is synthesis?
What is synthesis? If I had a dollar for every time I was asked, “What is synthesis?” I would probably have enough money to retire. Ok…not really, but hopefully…
Slowing Down, Taking Stock, and Starting Again: Writing in These Times: Part II
Slowing Down, Taking Stock, and Starting Again: Writing in These Times: Part II Hello Doctoral Writer, If you are reading this, then congratulations. You are still standing after…
Disrupt Imposter Syndrome with B- Work Mindset
Disrupt Imposter Syndrome with B- Work Mindset I remember feeling horrified the first time someone suggested that I shift my standards from the ever elusive perfectionist fantasy to a B-…
How to Write a Literature Review
How to Write a Literature Review A literature review is one of the most critical components of any dissertation, thesis, or research proposal. It does far more than summarize what…
Whose Dissertation is it Anyway?
Whose Dissertation is it Anyway? When I was in a prospectus writing class back in 2017, my instructor doled out some very practical topic-selection advice: “Pick a topic that you…
Writing in These Times
Writing in These Times Writing a dissertation is hard under any circumstances. I know. I wrote one under not the best of circumstances. I also, for a living, coach dissertation…
How to Choose a Qualitative Research Design
How to Choose a Qualitative Research Design Choosing the right qualitative research design is crucial for any research study. Qualitative research allows researchers to explore and understand complex phenomena in-depth, providing…
How to Choose a Dissertation Topic
How to Choose a Dissertation Topic Choosing your dissertation topic can be one of the most stressful things you do as a graduate student. You are going to have to live and breathe…
Surviving the Dissertation: Tokea’s Personal Journey
Surviving the Dissertation: Tokea’s Personal Journey Dr. Tokea Morales became a client in April 2019 and defended in November 2019 (7 months!!). She faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way…
You Are and Are Not the River: On Writing, Mindfully
You Are and Are Not the River: On Writing, Mindfully The book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice, a collection of teachings by Zen master…
Life After Your Doctorate
Life After Your Doctorate I remember back to the days when I was spending every free moment reading, writing, editing, and doing everything possible to finish my dissertation. I had…
Doctoral Students, Ask for the Feedback You Need
Doctoral Students, Ask for the Feedback You Need Learning how to manage the research writing process is an important aspect of being a doctoral student. By the time I graduated…
Curiosity Killed the Cat
Curiosity killed the Cat I bet you’ve heard this warning more than once in your life, especially if you identify as a female. I will save my analysis of the…
Confronting Perfectionism
Confronting Perfectionism I recently attended a retreat on perfectionism. The idea was to disconnect, immerse in nature, and confront my perfectionism head-on. Because perfectionism is not something you can simply…
Countdown to a New APA Manual
Countdown to a New APA Manual The Seventh Edition of the APA Publication Manual comes out this October. Calm yourselves from the excitement, and then remember not to get anxious!…
Walk Away and Take Time to Re-see Your Work
Walk Away and Take Time to Re-see Your Work Does this process sound familiar? Write a draft of a chapter of your dissertation. Submit the draft for review. Get comments…
Calling All Writers to Community
Calling All Writers to Community “…we simply must, once and for all, put to bed the notion of the lone-wolf doctoral writer as the model student.” – Dr. Desi Richter…
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained I recently had the pleasure of meeting local business owner, Jenni Earle. Jenni’s business passion is providing women with talismans of bravery and adventure in the…
The Ultimate Confidence Booster
The Ultimate Confidence Booster I remember the first paper I wrote in graduate school. Actually, that’s not true. I remember the sinking feeling in my gut when I got that…
A Day in the Life of a Dissertation Coach
A Day in the Life of a Dissertation Coach Are you curious about what a typical day is like for a dissertation coach? Well, first let me say that no…
Combatting Loneliness Associated with Writing
Combatting Loneliness Associated with Writing Writing can be enthralling, a process that enables us to articulate brilliance while communicating novel and compelling information to the masses. Writing can also be…
How to Communicate with Your Dissertation Chair
How to Communicate with Your Dissertation Chair “Be sincere, be brief, be seated.” This is the advice that Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his son on how to make a public…
Practical Tips to Improve Your Writing
Practical Tips to Improve Your Writing Writing is thinking, according to scholar Deirdre McCloskey, and like mathematics, writing can be learned. I recently read McCloskey’s book Economical Writing and was reminded of…
Getting to the finish line: Three things you should be doing now
Getting to the finish line: Three things you should be doing now The path to a completed dissertation is in many ways unique to each student. By the time you…
Have you lost your motivation to write?
Have you lost your motivation to write? When it comes to writing your dissertation, it is normal to experience a loss of inspiration. The early excitement of choosing a topic…
The simple mistake that could cost you years in graduate school…
The simple mistake that could cost you years in graduate school… The students I work with usually know the topic they want to pursue for their dissertation or thesis research.…
Writing tip: Read other defended dissertations
Writing tip: Read other defended dissertations Many students that I work with have never read a defended dissertation and have little or no idea what the final document is supposed…
How can dissertation coaching help you?
How can dissertation coaching help you? Do you feel lost in the dissertation process? If so, you might benefit from having a guide point you in the right direction. Regardless of…