Pat Thomson

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.

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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...

research contribution vs significance If you’re a PhDer, you’ve probably heard these terms thrown around in seminars, thesis committees, and paper reviews: “What’s your contribution?” and “Why is thi…

Two research terms to get clear on, contributions and significance patthomson.net/2025/10/19/r...

Hi Les Will Email you

claims vs contributions If you’re deep in the throes of doctoral work, you’ve probably had that moment where someone asks you about your “contribution to knowledge” and you freeze up like a deer in…

If you’re writing a discussion and conclusion it helps to know their relationship difference between claims and conclusion patthomson.net/2025/10/11/c...

UTS Governance Project Survey: A Staff-Led Collaborative Project The UTS Governance Project is an independent, staff-led initiative to strengthen transparency, accountability and participation in how our university is run. Inspired by the ANU Governance Project, ...

Can you help us boost this signal? UTS colleagues are doing a governance project to talk back to the consultant led 'reform' of their university.

Please repost!! UTS people please have your say!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

results vs claims Research results are not the same as research claims. This is one of those distinctions that sounds simple but can trip researchers up. But understanding the difference can be really helpful. …

It helps to understand the difference and relationship between research results and claims patthomson.net/2025/10/04/r...

Dear Reviewer Every academic writer knows the sting of a harsh review. Every one. Including me. We’ve all had them. The review that is scathing, brutal and toxic. The immediate impulse is often to fire bac…

Dealing with a toxic review? Write a Dear Reviewer letter… patthomson.net/2025/09/27/d...

Erving Goffman: Memories, method and metaphors If you do sociology or, indeed, any social science whatsoever, you’ll come across the work of Erving Goffman. I have done too but never engaged with it as much as I should have done. This was…

Today's post delves a bit into the history of #sociology, memories of Erving #Goffman, and his use of #metaphor as method makingsciencepublic.com/2025/09/26/e...

Participation at the core: AI, ELSI and community engagement Alondra Nelson, a sociologist, STS scholar and expert on AI policy and ethics, recently published a letter in Science proposing that artificial intelligence (AI) should adopt the Ethical, Legal, an…

For weekend readers, some reflections on community engagement with #AI and #ELSI makingsciencepublic.com/2025/09/19/p...

Writing multiple articles from one set of data So you’ve got this mountain of “stuff” that keeps revealing new secrets every time you look at it. Or maybe you’re doing a PhD by publication and panicking about how to sort out the art…

Some pointers to writing a series of papers from the same project patthomson.net/2025/09/21/w...