The Crawford School has a strong tradition of integrated academic skills delivery. Many of our students are mid-career, and while they may not have studied formally for some time, they bring many skills and experiences with them. Participation in Academic and Research Skills enables students to make a successful transition to the demands of academic study and will also enhance professional skills.

For PhD students, academic and research skills training is available in the form of workshops and intensive courses offered throughout the year. Research students may also consult the PhD Academic and Research Skills Advisor for an individual consultation to discuss the development of research proposals, thesis writing, field reports, seminar presentations, and to arrange copy editing of the final thesis, as well as general academic progress issues.

The PhD Academic and Research Skills Advisor can help you with things such as thesis writing, journal article writing and publication, research project management, reading strategically, structuring text, compiling literature reviews, time management, oral presentations, thesis completion, supervision, and more. To organise a consultation time, contact the PhD Academic and Research Skills Advisor.

Contact the PhD Academic Skills Advisor early in the writing process, even during the planning stage of your proposal, chapter or paper. To avoid disappointment, do not wait until the last minute. You can email the Advisor with an attached draft or plan, but please allow 1 week if your draft is over 5000 words.

Please note, the advisor does not edit, copyedit, or proofread text. If you want any work copyedited before the final draft, contact the PhD Academic Skills Advisor and you will be put in touch with a copyeditor.

Academic and research skills workshops and classes are held for students at all stages of their degrees. Whether you're just starting out, right in the middle of things, or ready to submit, hopefully there will be something for you. Workshop topics include

• Intensive writing course

• Setting up your blog

• Project and supervision managment

• Using social media in and for your research

• Oral presentations

• Building your online profile

• Writing thesis proposals

• Reading strategically

• Literature reviews

• Using Twitter

Dr Megan Poore
o: Room 2.06, Stanner Building (Turn left at the top of the stairs on the way to the PhD Common Room and keep going until you find me)
t: +61 2 6125 4762
f: +61 2 6215 5570
e: megan.poore@anu.edu.au
h: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. Please note that I work from home on Thursdays.

Check the Advisor's calendar for availability

The following these guidelines are based on section 3.3.2 Typing of Theses, of the ANU's Guideline: Research Theses Submission and Examination: Information for Higher Degree Research Students -- get used to formatting your text like this so that you have less to do when you are finishing up:

• Double spacing or one and a half spacing may be used (double spacing preferred); single spacing is not acceptable (apart from indented quotations, footnotes and bibliographies) except in special circumstances

• Easy-to-read font (Times New Roman preferred) no smaller than 11 points for text and 9 points for footnote text (12 point preferred)

• Single-sided or double-sided (single-sided preferred)

• Margins no narrower than side margins 4cm, top and bottom margins 2cm (4 cm margins all round preferred)

• Left-justified text

• No staples

• Include page numbers

• Include a word count