Welcome to my PhD blog
Worried you're doing your PhD all wrong and someone's about to find out? You're in the right place. 😂
In this blog, I cover all the stuff you might need help with. Like writing your literature review, doing your qualitative data analysis, developing your discussion chapter, and trying not to go completely bonkerpants in the process.
I'll help you work out HOW to do all those things everyone keeps telling you to do.
Expect practical PhD advice, based on the unspoken truth that nobody's PhD is nearly as neat as their finished thesis makes it look.
Have a nosey at the latest posts below, or browse by topic to find what you need.
Qualitative Methods | Literature Review | Methodology | Planning and Organisation | Writing Up | Supervision | PhD Mindset | Paradigms, Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks
PhD Researchers: How do you know when your work is good enough? Are you being thorough, or is something else going on?
As a PhD researcher you’ve probably experienced that feeling of your work continuing to expand and expand and expand because you’re unsure when to stop. You start losing the plot, getting tangled in what on earth you’re trying to achieve and feel like you’re working in a vacuum. Is it ready? How much detail do I need to go into? I just sound really un-academic. Gosh, even that phrase is unsophisticated! I wish I had a bit more faith in myself when it comes to my work.
How to connect theory and data in your PhD discussion chapter (without making it awkward)
If your PhD discussion chapter was a buffet, where theory and data were awkwardly eyeing each other from opposite corners of the room…
Conceptual framework, methodology and analysis: what’s the difference?
Conceptual framework, methodology and analysis. Ping-pong, back and forth you go, wondering what belongs where and if you’re just going to end up with three identical paragraphs that will give your examiner a black cat moment when they read your thesis (Matrix analogy, sorry-not-sorry).
Stuck with your PhD writing? Try this 10-minute reset
Writing your PhD is not all that easy. You can have a couple of hours of writing time blocked out in your calendar, a clear thing you need to be writing, yet still… no words on the page. When you do manage to tap something out, it’s just waffle, and you’re like, “Have I forgotten how to write?”.
Feeling overwhelmed by your PhD? Your problem might be smaller than it feels
One tiny PhD problem can turn into Godzilla remarkably quickly.
It starts innocently enough: “This section of my literature review isn't working.” Then you spend three hours moving the same paragraphs around until somehow - impressively - you've made it WORSE.
Fiddlesticks.
Your PhD literature review no longer fits your findings? That’s normal
The PhD you finish is not the PhD you start. Along the way, this happens:
PhD: (Grabs you by the elbow) "THIS way! Over here!"
You: "Mmmm, but I read all that stuff and wrote thousands of words on the other thing, can't we just stay here?"
PhD Writing: Why you don’t need to understand it before you write It
One of the most common PhD writing blocks is sitting in front of a blank page thinking, “I can’t write this yet because I haven’t worked it out in my head.”
The problem with your literature review “To Read” folder
Yes, the “graveyard of PDFs”. Where’s yours? Is it on your desktop so it makes you feel guilty every time you sit in front of your computer? Is it tucked away in a “to read” folder somewhere so you don’t have to feel bad about it too often?
Why reading more won’t fix your PhD literature review
As a PhD researcher, you do a lot of reading. It comes with the territory, obviously. There are things about academic literature that you didn’t quite understand until you started studying for a PhD…
Why your qualitative PhD discussion chapter feels like a 1980s game show
“The discussion chapter is where I started wondering whether I actually understood my own PhD” - actual words from a member of my PhD community recently. The qualitative PhD discussion chapter is where a lot of doctoral researchers suddenly start feeling as though their brain has stopped cooperating.
Why writing up a qualitative PhD feels like having 47 browser tabs open
Did you expect the discussion and writing up phase of the PhD to be a little bit… more chill than it is? That the, “Oh, so that’s what my argument is!” lightbulb moment should have happened quite some time ago, and you’re still waiting for it?
Your qualitative PhD discussion chapter - brace yourself for the Green Lanes phase(!)
As you’re writing your discussion chapter, maybe you’re wondering why your study appears to have become more complicated rather than less as you’ve got further into it. Perhaps you’re thinking, “What if I’ve done all these years of work and I still can’t put my finger on exactly what my argument is?”
Read someone else's PhD thesis and now feel awful about yours?
People told you it was a good idea to read other people’s published PhD theses, so you could see what doctoral research “looks like” when it’s written up. It sounded like a sensible idea at the time, didn’t it? Then you went and read a few PhD theses.
Why your qualitative research PhD discussion chapter feels so difficult to write
Perhaps you’re looking at your discussion chapter document and wondering, “Have I actually understood what my PhD is saying?”.
Despite having collected a library’s worth of literature and written tens of thousands of words, your argument feels slippery, the chapters feel disconnected and your literature review seems to belong to a completely different thesis season than your findings chapter.
Your qualitative analysis “needs more depth”, but what does that mean?
Maybe you’re writing your qualitative findings chapter and getting feedback like: “Needs more depth.” One of the most frustrating parts of this stage of the PhD is that nobody ever really explains what those comments actually mean. You can end up staring at your work thinking, “I genuinely do not know what else I’m supposed to be seeing here.”
Struggling to connect theory and data? A simpler way to approach your discussion chapter
Maybe you’re sitting down to write your discussion chapter and thinking, “I can’t see how this whole thing fits together.” You literature review might feel like it belongs to a completely different thesis entirely…
Why does my literature review feel disjointed after I’ve analysed my qualitative data?
If your literature review feels disjointed after analysing your qualitative data, the issue isn’t that you need to read more - it’s that your structure no longer reflects your thinking.
How to write a thesis introduction chapter for your qualitative research PhD
If your thesis introduction chapter feels vague or unfocused, it’s often not a writing problem - it’s a structural issue. This blogpost shows how to clarify the structure and thinking behind it.
What counts as contribution to knowledge in a qualitative PhD?
Many qualitative PhD researchers worry their work is not “original enough”. This article explains what doctoral contribution to knowledge actually means and how to articulate it clearly and confidently.
Critical analysis in a qualitative PhD: how to develop doctoral-level critique across your thesis
Struggling with feedback that your PhD “needs to be more critical”? This guide explains what doctoral-level critical analysis actually means and how to apply it across your entire qualitative thesis.