Why blog? Surely being a PhD student is enough work?

Why blog cat with thinking face

So you may be sat reading this, I hope, and wondering why I have decided to blog while working on my Ph.D.? You may also be thinking that a Ph.D. should be enough work without managing a blog and having to deal with post ideas and comments etc.

1. A major part of doing a Ph.D. is having a concept, an idea and a bit of a vision that may not be quite clear yet. Writing about it, sharing these ideas and receiving feedback is a fantastic way to think more and to narrow down the idea into something workable and realistically achievable.

2. Another major part of a Ph.D. is writing a thesis and writing that many words well takes time but also a lot of practice. My thesis is to be 60,000 words, which is no mean feat, and so getting in some practice early, getting used to thinking, planning writing and then editing will all hopefully help in the long term. Confidence is another issue relating to writing. Academic writing is a genre all of its own and it can be daunting presenting professors with your writing only to have it attacked with a red pen. The academics leading the various courses on my Ph.D. programme are all wonderful and considerate in their feedback and guidance but I can't help but take the comments to heart sometimes.  I am hoping that writing here for the public will build up my confidence in my writing in general and allow me to develop a tougher skin when receiving feedback. That's not an open window to send me nasty comments to toughen me up.
One goal I set myself back at the start of my Ph.D. was that my writing would be accessible and digestible by non-academics as I want my work to be understood, usable and hopefully impactful.

3. Lots of family and friends often ask me how I am getting on and my reply to this can vary. The Ph.D. is a journey and it has good days and bad. If I'm feeling good then I am excited to chat about my project and how progress is being made. If things aren't too good then I'm like a bear with a sore head and don't want to talk about it.

4. People ask me what I am researching and when I start to explain I see them switch off and wish they hadn't asked. As my journey progresses my ideas have shifted, transformed and evolved. I can use this blog to help people understand what I am studying and to ensure that when I explain it here that it makes sense. That's the dream anyway.

5. My final reason for blogging about my Ph.D. is that it will allow me to hopefully build regular readers both academic and non-academic and it will allow me to build my presence in a competitive world of academia. Being seen as an expert in your research field is something that all Ph.D. students are aiming to achieve, with the hope of seeing what opportunities arise from being knowledgeable in a particular field.

I hope you have found this interesting and I warmly welcome comments and further suggestions on why people may write a blog whilst studying. My next few posts will talk in more detail about the course I am doing, the focus of my research and my journey so far.

For now, I am off to have an early night.


Location: Bristol, UK

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