Welcome to the Degree Doctor blog – where we keep it real about PhD life.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, behind, or like everyone else has it figured out but you – you’re in the right place.
Here you'll find honest advice, practical tips, and a whole lot of reassurance to help you stay calm, focused, and on track.
Click on the categories below to find blogs on specific topics or just scroll on down and have a look at the most recent posts!
Let’s make this PhD journey a bit less stressful (and a lot more doable).
How to Recruit Research Participants: Top tips for social science PhD students
If you need to recruit more participants for your research study, read this before you design another leaflet or post anything else on social media!
PhD Career Paths - What’s next after your doctorate?
Finishing your social sciences postgrad journey? Want to explore some options outside of academia? Read on …
Navigating Ethics in Projects with No Participants: A guide for social science postgraduate students
Just because you don’t have any participants, doesn’t mean you can skip ethics!
How to Structure a Literature-Based Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide
Struggling on what to write in your literature based dissertation? Well, here are some ideas …
Nailing Your PhD Discussion Chapter (without losing your mind)
There’s one major thing students always do, which screws up their discussion chapter, and I’m going to tell you how to avoid it!
PhD Literature Review - How to be more critical
Critical analysis, and how good or bad yours is, can make or break your dissertation literature review …
PhD Literature Review - If you’re not doing this, why not?!
If you’re writing up your dissertation literature review in full paragraphs and spending hours crafting perfect sentences, before you’ve even collected your data, then you need to STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!
PhD Literature Review - Stop chasing a wordcount!
Dissertation students often become obsessed with word counts, especially when it comes to their literature reviews. They constantly compare their progress to that of their peers and feel the need to write as many words as possible. However, this habit of trying to write as much as possible can seriously damage your literature review and put your entire dissertation at risk …
PhD Literature Review Writing - Take back control!
You’ve written up some of your literature review. However, it’s a mess. The structure is all over the place and the more you try to fix it, the messier it gets. Fear not! I have a 5-step process to get you out of trouble!
Struggling to write your dissertation?
If you’re drawing a complete blank when you sit down to work on your thesis, if writer’s block is driving you mad, you need to read this blogpost!
How to write a reflective essay
If you need to write a reflective essay on the research process as part of your dissertation, it can be difficult to know where to begin. These top tips will help you get started.
Using ChatGPT Ethically in Your Social Science Dissertation: Tips and Best Practices
Can Chat GPT be used ethically and morally without compromising students' integrity? Spoiler alert – I think it certainly can be used ethically and morally. In this blog post, I will outline three key principles to guide ethical use of Chat GPT as dissertation students.
PhD Life - Are you subconsciously sabotaging your PhD? Why all doctoral students need to understand ‘fear of success’.
Are you getting in your own way when it comes to your dissertation? Here’s how to get out of it!
How to Write a Winning Research Proposal: Tips and Tricks
This blogpost explores common mistakes made when writing research proposals and provides advice on how to avoid them, with guidance from Dr. Elizabeth Yardley, an academic with 20 years of experience teaching sociology, social policy and criminology in UK universities.
How to write academically when you’re not an academic person: tips for social science dissertation students
If you’ve ever said to yourself, “I can’t write academically!”, then you need to read this blogpost. It’s easier than you think, and I’ll show you how!
How to write your dissertation introduction chapter: top tips for sociology and criminology students
Not sure what to write in your introduction chapter, or how to structure it? Let me walk you through that in this blogpost!
Is it normal to hate your dissertation and pray for it to be over?
“I’ll be happy when I’ve finished my dissertation!”. If you’ve said this to yourself lately, you need to read this blogpost!
What are the aims and objectives of a social science dissertation?
Don’t know where to start with aims and objectives? By the time you’ve finished reading this blogpost, you’ll know exactly what to write!
Dissertation Literature Review First Aid
Feeling like your dissertation literature review needs some work? Check out my top tips to get it looking great!
The three different types of social science dissertation
Confused about the difference between primary, secondary, literature-based, library-based, desk-based dissertations! I was too back in my student days! That’s why I created this blogpost, that breaks it all down.