James Hayton, PhD
coaching, courses & quick tips for PhD students
PhD Coaching
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Quick tips for PhD students
For more in-depth treatment and step-by-step guidance, check out our
courses in the PhD Academy
Featured Articles
Planting seeds or putting out fires?
Your final PhD year: moving towards submission
Who you work with is just as important as what you do
Productivity comes last
How to do a PhD: top 10 tips
How to write your PhD thesis (without going insane): Full lecture
Latest
What to do if you only have 3 months left to finish your PhD
How to stay focused on your PhD work
Overcoming the fear of academic writing
How to write about methods and methodology in your PhD thesis
The most important PhD time-management habit
A simple trick to help you stay focused on your PhD work
Everything...
What to do if you only have 3 months left to finish your PhD
How to stay focused on your PhD work
Overcoming the fear of academic writing
How to write about methods and methodology in your PhD thesis
The most important PhD time-management habit
A simple trick to help you stay focused on your PhD work
Be bold, be decisive
Academic writing: Should I cite the original source?
How to avoid plagiarism in academic writing
How to write your PhD thesis (without going insane): Full lecture
Top tips for PhD students under coronavirus lockdown: A chat with productivity coach Olga Degtrayeva
How to beat writer's block
Working from home, part 2 (video)
Working from home, part 1
Make room for mistakes
PhD Tips: How to stay motivated during your PhD
How to restart PhD work after a break
Is it OK to take time off from your PhD?
PhD tips: Self-care during your PhD
How to manage your PhD: The 60% rule
PhD tips: Doing your best
Writing your thesis in English
Setting your own syllabus
Keeping up vs getting ahead
Confidence
Revisiting old decisions
How to start writing your PhD thesis
Is it perfectionism or is it indecision?
An easy way to update your literature review quickly
From PhD Supervision to PhD Mentorship
Want to get more done? Stop hitting snooze
Never let a disadvantage become an excuse
"I can't contact my PhD supervisor until I have something to show"
Write, or don't write, but don't do anything else
That thing you just don't feel like doing
A simple time management trick: Just 3 things
Planting seeds or putting out fires?
Academic writing: Context is everything
Do you have to cite your external examiner in your PhD thesis?
Small wins, part 2
Small wins, part 1
Why you shouldn't always look for a gap in the literature
The lonely thesis writer
Writing ≠ typing
Facing the problem in front of you
Achieving your goals
Knowledge and skill are not the same thing
The more you write, the harder it gets...
On fancy language in academic writing
The writing course: registrations open for February 2019
Practice vs performance
Be like the ocean
Another reason why doing a PhD is so hard
Quick tip: embed fonts in PowerPoint
It's not your job to solve your field
Patience and persistence
What are you waiting for?
Free webinar: How to write your PhD thesis: An introduction to the fundamentals
Contradictory beliefs
How to define terms in your thesis
How to get into a PhD programme
The world's leading expert in your field [A Rant]
Read your supervisor's writing
Positive constraints
How much literature is "enough"?
How to do world-changing research
Daydreaming
The value of a PhD
The minimum viable chapter
How to build your bibliography from just one paper
Live Q&A sessions
How to compete in academia
How to write well: solving problems of expression
Academic writing tip: read it out loud
Raising the bar
A "complete" education
Finish it
Revisiting the pomodoro technique
Tips for part-time PhD students
Running the PhD marathon
How to read a journal article
What to do when your PhD experiments just aren't working
Day 29: Don't make your reader do the work
Day 26: How do you react when things go wrong in your PhD?
Day 25: A PhD time management tip
Day 24: A PhD isn't supposed to be painful
Day 23: Decision fatigue and writing
Day 22: Why are you doing a PhD?
Day 21: Decision fatigue
Day 20: Sometimes others can see what you can't
Day 19: An Announcement
Day 18: Where is your attention?
Day 17: Don't worry about what the examiner wants to see
Day 16: It's OK to slow down
Day 15: Academic writing: How to get started
Day 14: How to tell good research from bad
Day 13: Luck in research
Day 12: How to filter the academic literature
Day 11: Reading academic literature is an iterative process
Day 10: Start with the most influential literature in your field
Day 9: The narrative of a literature review
Day 8: inefficiency before optimisation
Day 7/60: Relax!
Day 6: I almost didn't publish this video
Day 5/60: I don't have all the answers
Day 4: You don't have to do everything you can think of
Day 3: Levelling up
Day 2: It's not enough to just start
Day 1: Small improvements every day
Day 0: Stop waiting for conditions to be perfect
The "Good" PhD Student
An age limit on references?
Doing a PhD while raising kids
How Long Should my PhD Literature Review be?
Why is it so hard to stick to my PhD plan?
When you have so much to do that nothing gets done
How to cope with PhD impostor syndrome
Determination is not enough
"If I can do it you can do it too"
Choose a research methodology that suits your character
Talk to people
Not everything you say needs a reference
How to cope with an absent PhD supervisor
Is your PhD supervisor a facilitator or a barrier?
You can't include everything in your thesis
How to set up your writing routine
How to tame the monkey mind
The one-item to-do list
An average blog post on perfectionism
What to do if there are no papers in your research area
"I already know what the answer will be"
Metaphor and analogy in academic writing
How to support someone doing a PhD
Getting into a PhD is not the hard part!
How to find a gap in the literature
Reverse Resolutions For The New Year: What Do You Not Want to Change?
No, I can't give you a thesis topic
How to write a compelling literature review
"I can't imagine any dignity without a PhD"
"I worry I'm not writing enough..."
Is a PhD worth it?
From PhD to Postdoc, Part 2
From PhD to Postdoc, Part 1
How to avoid plagiarism when summarizing other people's research (video)
Why you should use numbered references in your thesis (if you have a choice)
Signposting in academic writing: How not to do it!
How will Brexit affect PhD students in the UK and Europe?
Maintaining a life outside a PhD
Writing your way to a PhD
Doing a PhD and writing a thesis are not the same thing
The on/off principle
Time for action
Time to think
How to design figures for a PhD thesis
What I wish I'd known before starting a PhD
Quick tip: how to avoid distraction in a busy office
How to meet deadlines (Part 2)
How to meet deadlines
Reporting negative results in your PhD thesis
Don't neglect your data!
How to design outstanding powerpoint slides
What to do when your PhD project gets too big
A boring but useful blog post about checklists
The essence of academic research
Quick tip: to-do lists
The pursuit of excellence in research and writing
How much literature is enough?
How to find your writing flow
Questions to ask a potential supervisor before starting your PhD
How to tame your inner writing critic
My first ultramarathon
How to cope with harsh supervisor feedback
Inspiration, insight and internal drive
How to do a PhD: top 10 tips
Thesis writing: the importance of formatting
Who you work with is just as important as what you do
A PhD is not everything
Beyond the obvious
On local academic culture
Are social media essential for PhD students?
Why I can't stand twitter
How to prepare for your thesis defence
PhD students: When was the last time you took a day off?
Why most writing advice does not work
Writing: why practice doesn't always make perfect
What goes in the introduction, what goes in the conclusion?
Why some perfectionism is a good thing
The pleasure of finding things out
Your final PhD year: moving towards submission
Procrastination hack: get to zero
Quick tip: How to use reference management software
Productivity comes last
Old ideas and new perspectives
The remarkable effects of going 24 hours without the internet
Offline Sunday: a challenge for the internet-addicted
Free-writing or deliberate writing: a crucial distinction!
The secret behind success: It's not what you might expect...
Is technology making PhD students lazy?
The blank page is your friend
"Advice is a form of nostalgia"
A beginner's guide to statistics for PhD research
TK
Is it OK to take time off while writing your thesis?
"I hate my PhD..."
"The best of the best"
PhD research proposals: a good idea is not enough
Sleep!
Free yourself from internet distraction while you write your thesis
Searching for inspiration?
Tips for surviving a remote PhD
Productivity vs creativity
Coming back to your PhD after a long break?
Understanding academic literature
How to get through your PhD without going insane (lecture at Edinburgh University)
PhD stress: don't ignore the warning signs!
What is a PhD, anyway?
Why academic ability doesn't guarantee PhD success
Positive Thesis Perfectionism and the Pursuit of Excellence
Academic Writing Month (#AcWriMo): It's a great idea, but...
Do you have a healthy academic environment?
How to write a PhD thesis you can defend easily
How to choose a thesis topic
How to write a PhD literature review
So good they can't ignore you (Book Review)
How to balance a PhD with full-time work (and other questions)
Everything is an experiment
Searching for literature: why Google Scholar is a blunt instrument
The most important thesis writing tool ever invented
Leaving your thesis introduction till last? It could be a mistake...
The invincible mindset
What's the point of a PhD?
The self-sustaining cycle of thesis productivity
Thesis Submission Guidelines: 10 tips to avoid disaster
Will the examiner tear my thesis apart?
How I wrote a PhD thesis in 3 months
How much is enough when writing a PhD thesis?
The 10 commandments for PhD failure
How to choose your thesis topic*
12 things you need to know when starting a PhD
How many thesis drafts do you need to write?
Writing your thesis in a second language (Part 2)
Writing your thesis in a second language (Part 1)
How to write your academic CV (and how not to)
3 harsh truths about pursuing an academic career (and how to succeed)
Balance: How to write a thesis the examiner wants to read
Dealing with PhD research stress
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PhD: an uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life
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