Thursday, June 14, 2012

How a PhD is like the Big Bang Theory

I uploaded this slideshow the other day:
How a PhD is like The Big Bang Theory
View more presentations from Jodie Martin

I originally created it last year at some point, around the same time as I made the "How a PhD is like Alice in Wonderland" slideshow. But I uploaded it the other day as I was talking to a friend who's also working on her thesis. She's just hit the point where she's confident enough to write "This thesis discusses" rather than "this thesis aims to discuss" and "this chapter will demonstrate" rather than "this chapter will aim to demonstrate". So I showed her this slideshow because I've been noticing in my writing too - I sometimes have to consciously cut out the hedging and write confidently. But still as I go back over what I wrote yesterday, I find needless circumlocutions, self-doubting statements and excessive mitigation. So while this is by no means a deep or particularly creative slideshow, it is a useful reminder for me that just because publications read as if they're written by Sheldon, didn't mean the first draft didn't sound like Leonard. Hope you enjoy. 

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