Lots of we scholarly peeps struggle to find time to write. Time is on pretty well everyone’s list. So we keep looking for better ways to manage our time so we can get more time to write. My proprietary university software seems to want to help – it now issues a weekly bulletin, whether I […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
The ABC of organising your time
The Academic tidy up
Happy new year everyone! It’s summer here in Australia, where we take a long break. I want to talk about Tidying in this post, but first – some news: ‘How to fix your academic writing trouble’ continues to be a strong seller after 5 years, but Large Language Models (LLM) like Chattie G (Chat GPT) are now part […] … learn more→
Why journal articles are rejected
There are some very common reasons why journal papers get rejected, often by the editor. They don’t even make it to review. Here’s the seven deadly paper writing sins: (1) The paper doesn’t fit the journal. It’s very important to check out the specific journal for which you re writing and tailor the paper to fit […] … learn more→
Australia may spend hundreds of millions of dollars on quantum computing research. Are we chasing a mirage?
The Australian government is going all in on quantum computing. After investing more than $100 million on “quantum technology” in 2021, it is now reportedly considering spending up to $200 million on purchasing a “quantum computer” from a US company. Is this a sensible decision? You might think so, if you read reports from media, industry and government predicting that quantum […] … learn more→
Australia risks falling behind allies on research security. Will it take a spy scandal in our universities to catch up?
Late last year, a PhD student named Yuekang Li was refused a study visa to enter Canada. Why? Canada’s Federal Court was concerned he could be “targeted and coerced into providing information that would be detrimental to Canada”. Li wasn’t the only one. Earlier this month, Iranian computer engineering student Reza Jahantigh was denied a visa to study his PhD in […] … learn more→
The IMRaD structure is rarely enough
Imagine you’ve gone out to café and you ask for a salad. What arrives is a chopping board, a knife, a bowl, a lettuce, a tomato, a carrot, a bundle of random herbs, a mystery fruit and sundry bottles and jars. You are surprised. This wasn’t what you were expecting. And you really don’t know what […] … learn more→
There are no writing “rules”
Look. I don’t really want to start the new year off with a rant. But I just can’t sit on this any longer. I’m climbing onto my soap box now, taking up my megaphone and shouting. THERE ARE NO RULES FOR ACADEMIC WRITING. THERE ARE CONVENTIONS. THERE ARE EXPECTATIONS. AND YES. THERE ARE THINGS WE NEED […] … learn more→
Who gets to be a doctoral researcher?
The limited diversity of the research profession is a global problem, with those who are minoritised on the basis of gender, race, caste, ability, class and socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and citizenship status (among other reasons) facing systemic disadvantages in becoming a research professional. Limited diversity in the research profession means not only that the […] … learn more→
Is your end-of-year theme ‘exhaustion’?
We are writing this end-of-year piece as yet another COVID wave besets Victoria, Australia (where the Research Whisperers live). Doesn’t COVID realise that it’s, like, so 3 years ago? Unfortunately, it is very much still with us. Definitely like someone who invited themselves over to your place and just won’t leave. Discussing what our theme […] … learn more→
How long will it take to write an application?
Attracting research funding is part of the job at most universities. As such, you need to allocate some of your working time to do that job. But how much time is needed for writing applications? In 2009, Karen Mow estimated that Australian academics spent, on average, 30–40 days per year writing research council grant applications (Mow, […] … learn more→
