Writing

Young attorney candidate sits at a desk with a bookshelf of legal books in the background, working on a laptop on California bar exam essays

Why Your Bar Exam Essays Matter So Much

Passing the bar exam is no small feat, and for many law school graduates, the essay portion is one of the biggest hurdles. The hardest part isn’t knowing the law — it’s articulating your knowledge clearly, concisely, and under the intense pressure of a timed exam.  In states like California, the bar exam essays can […]

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tired graduate student sits at desk in front of a laptop with her head on her hand, frustrated with her dissertation research

Navigating the Challenges of Dissertation Research: Results from a Survey of PhD and Master’s Graduates

“This grad. school thing is a walk in the park,” said no graduate student, ever — at least no one I’ve ever met. If you find graduate school hard, you’re not alone. It was designed that way. By definition, graduate school — especially doctoral programs — is intended to challenge you to hone your research,

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5 Things Your Thesis Advisor (Probably) Won’t Tell You About Submitting Your Dissertation

If you feel like you’ve completely emptied your tank toward your PhD, you’re not alone. After all, depending on the discipline, around 30-40% of PhD candidates never complete their program. So kudos to you for making it this far. The thesis submission process is the final hurdle, which means you’re nearly there. To get through this last

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Identify a Viable Research Topic in 8 Steps

As a graduate student preparing for your thesis or dissertation research, you may feel overwhelmed by the first significant hurdle — identifying a research topic. From idea conception, to finding a suitable supervisor, conducting the academic literature search, writing your proposal, and preparing for the dissertation defense, completing your doctorate may feel like a daunting task. The

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5 Tips to Boost Your Stay-at-Home Grad School Productivity

Grad school can be a challenging experience even without the added stress of a global pandemic. For many, the abrupt transition to remote grad school life brought with it a host of new difficulties and pitfalls. Now deep into this crisis, many students are still engaging in remote grad school. That’s why I want to

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How to Make the Most of Back to School: Reimmerse Yourself in Writing

Back to school already, where did the time go?! Even if you’re well rested and ready for the new school year (which I never was at the end of the summer, by the way!), it can be tough picking up where you left off with your writing. You’ve likely lost some of the momentum that

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20 Costly Errors to Avoid in Your Blog Posts

Writing for blogs or websites can be tricky. With just a couple steps in the wrong direction, your copy can lose tremendous value. When writing, it’s incredibly important to know what mistakes might ruin your work. To help you out, we’ve assembled a list of 20 costly errors to avoid when writing online content. No

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Tips for Conquering the Literature Review from the Beginning

The literature review process can be one of the most stressful aspects of the dissertation, often because it comes so early in the writing process. This single chapter of your dissertation represents all of the background research you’ve done on your topic, the long history of academic work that has been completed on your area

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How to Become More Productive Through a Dissertation Writing Group

One of the main tools that boosted my productivity when I was earnestly trying to write my dissertation was a writing group. Despite having written countless papers, reviews, and articles in the past, I found myself frozen and overwhelmed when facing the prospect of writing a whole dissertation. Instead of trying to write something, anything,

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Mastering the MBA Essay

Having worked with hundreds of students and professionals applying to business school, I’ve seen it all – essays that are too short, too impersonal (or too personal), too wordy, too packed with data and facts, etc. For many applicants, MBA essays are synonymous with qualifications. They focus on listing out every relevant position, activity, award,

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