Welcome to The PhD Knowledge Base
Free tools to help you complete your thesis
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This is not a normal blog subscription
Each day we send a short, thought-provoking email that will make you think differently about what it means to be a PhD student. They're designed to be read in thirty seconds and thought about all day.
BECOME A BETTER WRITER
Writing a PhD is hard. Here we present advice and insight that can guide you through every step of the process.
39 PhD Mindfulness Exercises To De-Stress Your PhD
August 16, 2019Research has shown how mindfulness exercises can be important in lowering PhD stress. Here we present 39 mindfulness exercises to help you towards a s...
Seven tips for clear and concise writing in your PhD
June 7, 2019At the heart of a PhD is a goal to make the examiner happy. Clear, concise writing is an important component of achieving that goal.
Infographic: Strategies for ESL PhD Students
May 21, 2019Writing a PhD when English is your second language is a challenge. We've put together an infographic that will help you to improve the way you underst...
Writing Your PhD For A Western Audience When English Is Your Second Language
May 6, 2019If you're a PhD student for whom English is a second language, you may not realise the importance of writing for a Western audience.
People like me will never do things like that: PhD imposter syndrome and academic anxiety
May 1, 2019To those who think they’re not good enough I say two things. First, good enough for what? To be an academic? Well, you are one. You’re a trainee. Seco...
The PhD only needs to be good enough, which is terrifying if English is your second language.
April 24, 2019The hardest thing about doing a PhD isn’t the research, the literature review, the research design. They’re all hard, sure, but the hardest thing abou...
STRUCTURING YOUR THESIS
Our guides can show you the best way to structure every element of your thesis and give you the confidence to shine.
How To Structure A PhD Thesis
October 4, 2019Struggling to understand what goes where? Let us walk you through a non-nonsense guide that'll teach you how to structure a PhD thesis. From the abstr...
The difference between empirical and discussion chapters (and how to write them)
June 7, 2019There is a very important distinction that needs to be made between the empirical and discussion sections/chapters. It is a common misconception that ...
Five tips to improve your PhD thesis
June 7, 2019Regardless of what stage of the writing process you are at, there are five overarching tips you need to keep in mind if you want to improve your PhD t...
SUBMIT WITH CONFIDENCE
There's lots to do before you are able to submit your thesis. In this section, we make sure you've thought of everything.
How to deal with post-viva PhD thesis corrections
June 1, 2019We like to think that the viva is the end of the doctoral process; the final step in the long journey to a PhD. But, for most, it isn’t the final hurd...
There’s no place for struggle-porn in academia
May 17, 2019Ever slept under your desk? I have. I was proud of it. It was something to boast about the next day. People admired me because of the amount of work I...
How attached to your PhD thesis are you?
May 13, 2019If you’re anything like I was, your PhD thesis is like your baby. You’ve bought it into the world and you’ll die for it. It’s tested you, pushed you h...
Proofreading is cheating, isn’t it?
March 27, 2019Record numbers of PhD students are having their dissertations proofread. Should it be counted as cheating? Sometimes, yes.
Ten Reasons Why You Need Your PhD Proofread
February 26, 2019Deciding whether or not to hire a proofreader for you PhD is a big commitment. Whichever way you look at it, it’s expensive. Plus, you may think that ...
A Handy PhD Submission Checklist
February 10, 2019Your work isn’t finished when you’ve written your thesis and had it proofread. There is still a surprising amount of administrative work to do before ...