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March 28, 2022March 28, 2022Supervisors

The audit trail

Record keeping is fundamental to research – and to research supervision.  Supervisors often resist student-record-keeping as mindless bureaucracy, but a clear audit trail […]

March 23, 2022March 23, 2022Students

Destructive behaviours (to avoid) 

Students ask:  What should I do when I haven’t made any progress? I don’t want to waste my supervisor’s time… There are few […]

November 15, 2021December 6, 2021Students

Navigating terminological confusion – the case of case studies

Students ask:  What is a case study?  One of the ironies of academia that, in a realm that strives for precision and rigour, […]

November 8, 2021November 8, 2021Students

Talk in 2 minutes

Students ask:  How can I explain all of my research in two minutes? Many conferences have two-minute slots for people to introduce their […]

November 8, 2021November 8, 2021Supervisors

Walk-and-talk

Taking an awkward or difficult conversation with a student out of the office and walking around outside while you talk – the […]

August 24, 2021August 24, 2021Students

Good enough

Students ask:  How do you know something (i.e., your research, your paper, your dissertation) is good enough? This is one of those ‘how […]

June 18, 2021July 1, 2021Students

Awkward conversations

Students ask:  How can I handle awkward conversations with my supervisors?  How can I disagree with my supervisors?  What if my supervisors are wrong? The […]

May 1, 2021March 12, 2023Students

Thrashing

Students ask:  What should I do when I keep working and working, but I don’t seem to get anywhere? Thrashing is a […]

April 2, 2021July 1, 2021Supervisors

Tough love

‘Tough love’ is concept borrowed from parenting.  In the context of supervision, it’s the notion that part of caring about and supporting students […]

February 5, 2021July 1, 2021Supervisors

Regulations are tools

Academics tend to dislike rules set by other people, and they tend to loathe bureaucracy (even while inventing it).  But regulations are unavoidable.   […]

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Recent Posts

  • The audit trail
  • Destructive behaviours (to avoid) 
  • Navigating terminological confusion – the case of case studies
  • Talk in 2 minutes
  • Walk-and-talk

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