The past few weeks in lockdown have been very hard. We are on lockdown inside. The weather is poor outside. And the libraries, cafes, cinemas, bars and restaurants are all closed because of the lockdown. Giles Penman offers a possible activity to brighten our moods at this challenging time.
One thing I really struggled with at the start of my PhD was a big question: am I making enough progress?
Originally published on 4 May 2016.
A PhD can feel like backbreaking work sometimes, but it shouldn’t leave you in agony. How can you avoid aches and pains when working from the (dis)comfort of your home? Sky Herington shares some tips on quick and easy ways to improve your home-working set-up without spending a fortune.
Yes, it is hard to deal with lack of motivation. You might feel this only goes to prove you are not cut out for PhD, you might feel you are letting down your supervisors, your funders, yourself …. But try to stop yourself there.
Originally posted on February 8th, 2017
The PhD journey can be complicated, hectic, and sometimes, feel like hell. A whirring, excited brain is great for research, but can be difficult to manage. Ellie King speaks about the often neglected skill of a PhD: organising your brain, and offers some tips on how to get things a bit neater.
Do you ever feel like a cat stuck in a tree? Dr Karen Sutherland is here to calm your nerves and tell you exactly, and honestly, how she felt before earning that title before her name…
originally posted on August 2, 2017.
Another year over, and we are still here. 2020 hasn’t been easy, but as everyone turned online for most of their social interactions, including learning, our job as your library community blog suddenly became much more essential. You might not be a big blog reader, you might be fed up with reading things on the screen at this point, which is why we are gonna make this wrap-up post short and sweet and full of nice clickable info for you to sail through to the new year.
Everyone in the Western Christian world is now wishing each other Happy Holidays. Whether you believe it or not, it is part of many people’s lives and it influences our calendar year. But how is it to spend Christmas in the southern hemisphere, where signs saying Let It Snow abound but the temperature is reaching 40 celsius? Our blog editor, who is currently back home in Brazil, shares her views about melting on Christmas and the breaks we all need to take sometimes.
Another post about motivation, PhD Life? Why, yes, dear reader. Summer holidays are so close, and yet so far, and Wednesdays are known to be tough. Whether you have started your PhD a few months ago or you are hours away from finishing the full draft, check out Hafsa’s motivational tips…
Is lockdown limiting your experiences? Are you meeting the same people, day in, day out? Or maybe not meeting anyone at all! you Giles Penman invites you to a special digital event called the Human Library to open your mind and meet different people from the diverse University of Warwick community.
As your PhD or research project evolves, so too must your literature review. As Charlotte Mathieson suggests in Writing a literature review, you can make things easier for yourself by keeping an annotated bibliography. Here is Charlotte’s guide to starting and maintaining an annotated bibliography.
Some days you need to do Ph.D. work but you don’t feel like doing research, writing your dissertation, or doing anything remotely deemed important. Relatable, right? So what do you do if you still have to do something? Eduarda shares a few tips on how to procrastinate writing and researching and still be somewhat productive with your doctoral studies at the same time.
There are very few things as challenging as writing academic biographies (perhaps academic writing?). It seems simple, but things soon get awkward as you try to show how amazing you are without sounding arrogation or pretentious. Sophie shares her tips on writing a balanced bio…originally posted on 01/02/2017
How is the process of talking informally about your research? No researcher is an island, even though the research experience can be quite lonely for some, knowing how to share your research in a more informal way but still among peers is not only a good ability to have, but it can also open your mind and see what you are doing in a different light. In this post, Giles Penman shares his experience of talking about his research topic at the fortnightly Pint & PhD session organised by our Postgraduate Engagement Team.
As you embark on your PhD, or indeed any research undertaking, you will need to produce a literature review. Not sure exactly what a literature review is, or why it is necessary? Here Charlotte Mathieson outlines the purpose and scope of the literature review.
Exploring the emotional processes involved in both being and becoming academic
Musings of a nutty professor in the making
Molding Research in the mainstream
Because there's always room for improvement
The evolving tale of my PhD as it happens
physio.phdstudent.daydreamer
Language, Digital Media and the Family
