Thesis tips
Advice on Selecting a Prospective Thesis Supervisor
Although this blog is primarily aimed at technical communications – I am open to posting advice on other academic topics of relevance to university and college students. Today’s post comes at the request of one of our readers – who asked:
“I was hoping that you could do a post/ advise on what prospective students (Masters, PhD, etc) should consider before picking a supervisor. Read the rest of this entry »
In-Text Citations and References Sections
Today I’m very excited to bring you our first guest post on this blog. It was written by my colleague Dr. Evan Davies and it’s all about how to handle your citations and references correctly in a formal report or thesis. I’m sure you will find this information extremely useful! Thanks Evan for sharing this great advice with us! Read the rest of this entry »
Effective Presentations – Part 3 – Delivering Conference Presentations
Last week I gave some advice for preparing a great conference presentation; this week I’m offering tips on how to deliver that conference presentation effectively. This is the third in a series – so if you’ve not seen any of the earlier ones, I suggest you go back now and read those two earlier posts.
Here are the 5 most common mistakes I see people making when presenting at a conference…
Effective Presentations – Part 2 – Preparing Conference Presentations
A big part of academic life is attending and presenting your research at conferences. Depending upon your specific discipline, presentations may be passé and poster sessions are the norm. I’m sorry to say, that’s not the case in my field. Why am I sorry about that? Because I, like many engineers and scientists, have an extremely low boredom threshold. The thought of being trapped in a room for 2 to 3 days, passively watching and listening to tediously bad presentations for hours and hours, is truly unbearable. And, let’s face it, most of them are bad… very bad… So, in the interest of self-preservation, here’s my advice for preparing an effective and engaging conference presentation…
Referencing (or how to avoid plagiarizing)…
One thing I encounter consistently and frequently, from undergrads right up to PhD students, is general confusion about properly referencing source material. Whether it be an assignment, conference presentation, or term paper – students repeatedly present photos, graphs, tables, prose, and concepts painstakingly collected and/or developed by others, with absolutely no acknowledgements to the people who actually own that intellectual property. These students don’t (all) intentionally plagiarise, they just don’t seem to realize that copying the thoughts, ideas, or products of someone else’s efforts actually constitutes plagiarism. So if you’re a college or university student, read on and learn how to get it right… Read the rest of this entry »
Writing a Winning Scholarship Proposal – Part 4 – The Closing
Although this article is primarily aimed at university students writing proposals for scholarship applications – many of these principles and techniques are applicable to other types of proposals, as well.
In the first post of this series I talked about the outline for the typical scholarship proposal:
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Research Outcomes and Significance Paragraph(s)
We covered the first three topics in posts 1 to 3 of this series. If you missed any of them, then I suggest you go back and read those first. Just click on the relevant item in the list above to jump back to those posts.
The last item in the list is the topic of today’s post and, in some ways, it’s the hardest to write. In addition, as with the conclusions to a paper or report, it’s usually the part that receives the least attention despite its importance. It’s understandable – fatigue usually kicks in near the end of anything you write. That’s actually good news for you; if most people are doing it poorly, doing it well yourself will put you ahead of the competition. Read the rest of this entry »
Writing a Winning Scholarship Proposal – Part 3 – Methodology
Notes:
Although this article is primarily aimed at graduate students writing proposals for scholarship applications – many of these principles and techniques are applicable to other types of proposals, as well.
If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 of this series – I suggest you go back and read those first.
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We’ve now been through the Pitch Paragraph and Literature Review sections. The next component of your scholarship proposal is the Methodology section. It’s extremely important and, though it should be the easiest part to write, few people ever do it well. Here are some tips to give you the edge over the competition.
Writing a Winning Scholarship Proposal – Part 2 – Literature Review
Notes
- Although this article is primarily aimed at university students writing proposals for scholarship applications – many of these principles and techniques are applicable to other types of proposals, as well.
- If you missed Part 1 – I suggest you go back and read that first.
In my last post we talked about the outline for the typical scholarship proposal:
- Pitch Paragraph
- Literature Review Paragraph
- Methodology Paragraph(s)
- Research Outcomes and Significance Paragraph(s)
…and we spent some time on how to write the Pitch Paragraph. In this post we’ll cover the Literature Review. Read the rest of this entry »
Writing a Winning Scholarship Proposal – Part 1 – The Pitch
Note – although this article is primarily aimed at university students writing proposals for scholarship applications – many of these principles and techniques are applicable to other types of proposals, as well.
If you’re a graduate student, or thinking of becoming one, then you’ve probably faced this challenge at least once. Common problems include not knowing where to start or what to write about, how much detail to include and how to fit everything in to the limited space allotted (which is typically only 1 to 2 pages). Like any other technical writing challenge, it pays to have a plan and it’s important to write in coherent units (known as ‘paragraphs’). Here’s some advice to help you tackle this important challenge effectively. Read the rest of this entry »
Preparing an effective job-seeking cover letter…
(Note – you might also want to check out my related post of tips for preparing your resume.)
I often get asked to provide advice and feedback for engineering students (BSc, MSc and PhD) applying for jobs and though the application contents can vary widely, especially between industry and academia, one thing that all employers have in common is the requirement for a cover letter. It’s probably the most important part of the application package, yet it seems to be the part most people do poorly. In this post, I’ll try to help you out by presenting some of the tips I generally suggest to my own students based on: a) what I’ve learned from others, b) what has worked for me when I’ve applied for jobs, and c) what I like to see when I am looking to hire someone. Read the rest of this entry »
The Art of Scientific Communication 