Author Archives: Andrew Defty

Writers on writing: J.K. Rowling

I liked this short, but helpful, advice from J.K. Rowling, who knows a thing or two about writing, in response to a desperate tweet from a student struggling with a dissertation.

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The secret to writing

I’ve written before about Oliver Burkeman’s Guardian column, ‘This column will save your life’. In another recent column Burkeman addressed the challenge of dealing with writer’s block. As usual Burkeman draws on a fabled self-help guide, in this case Robert Boice’s, How … Continue reading

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A note on hypotheses and variables

A hypothesis is a testable statement which seeks to explain a phenomena by examining the relationship between two or more variables. It is important to remember that a hypothesis seeks to explain a phenomena – it does not merely seek to describe it. … Continue reading

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Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences

There is a tendency amongst some students looking for an approach for their undergraduate dissertation to claim they want to do “library based research”, by which they mean they are going to look through whatever literature is available to them … Continue reading

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Writers on writing: Stephen King

I’ve just finished reading Stephen King’s, On Writing: a memoir of the craft. It is part memoir and part guide book for the aspiring writer. I have observed in the past that while, one hopes, there may be significant differences between what goes into a work of … Continue reading

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