profile

Dr Gina Holmes

Is it just badly written?

Published about 1 month ago • 2 min read

Hey Reader.

It has been a while since I emailed you.

I could pretend this was a carefully considered business decision. It wasn’t. Life got very full, several things needed my attention at once, and the emails slipped off the list.

So I’m starting again with something useful.

Have you ever read the same paragraph of an academic paper four times and still had absolutely no idea what it meant?

The sentences look like English. All the right academic words are present. And yet meaning has failed to appear.

Here is your reminder:

Sometimes you don’t understand the paper because it's badly written.

Doctoral researchers are terribly quick to interpret confusion as evidence that they aren’t clever enough.

But publication doesn’t guarantee clarity. Difficult language doesn’t guarantee difficult thinking. And you do not have to admire the fog simply because somebody managed to get it through peer review.

Before donating another hour of your life to the paper, try this:

  • I think the author is claiming…
  • They support that claim with…
  • This matters to my study because…

If you can answer those three questions, you have probably understood enough to decide what to do with it.

If you can’t, ask whether the paper is genuinely essential.

You are allowed to put it down.

You are also allowed to conclude that the problem may not be you.

And on that quietly rebellious note, I’m back.

Always in your corner,

PS: If a pile of Very Important Papers is making you feel unusually stupid, bring one to the Doctoral Success Circle. We’ll work out whether there is a useful idea inside it, and whether it has earned any more of your time.

THE 'WHO ON EARTH IS THIS?' REMINDER

Thanks for opening my emails. I love having you in my world!

My Doctoral Updates ('DocDates') are for postgraduate researchers who want to finish their study without losing themselves.

I offer grounded, expert support to help you cut through the mess, get moving again, and work in a way that feels doable.

More about what I do: drginaholmes.com​

​

WAYS TO WORK WITH ME RIGHT NOW:

Need some clarity on your doctorate?

The Doctoral Success Circle gives you practical help with the messy bits: getting unstuck, making sense of your thesis, working out what matters, and knowing what to do next.

Weekly live support with me, workshops, resources and a community of doctoral researchers who get it.

Membership starts at $19/month → Join the Doctoral Success Circle​

Need more than that?

If your study is tangled, stalled, or you need serious support to get clear on what you're doing and move it forward, I also work with a small number of doctoral researchers 1:1. Find out about Get Progress Mentoring. *I currently have a couple of spaces available.*

​

Dr Gina Holmes Ltd​
​gina@drginaholmes.com​

You received this email because you signed up on my website, downloaded something helpful or made a purchase from me. You can unsubscribe at any time.

​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Dr Gina Holmes

Doctorate Mentor and Academic Coach

I support researchers and doctoral students who are exhausted, overwhelmed, and done with pretending.I don’t offer magic bullets or mindset platitudes. I offer clear-sighted structure - sanity-saving tools - honest encouragement - fierce clarity - and, always, kindness - Because in the world of academia, those things are radical. Get regular updates, offers and help from my DocDates emails.

Read more from Dr Gina Holmes

Hey Reader.Hello! I was going through my inbox this morning, deleting emails. Lots of emails. Offers, guides, free downloads, must-do-this, open-this-now, here’s-how-to-fix-that kind of emails. You know the sort. And I caught myself deleting emails from people offering to teach me how to manage my Google Workspace, write better emails, organise my sales pages and all sorts of other things that I’m apparently doing wrong. And then I stopped - because I realised that I’ve actually got a fairly...

18 days ago • 3 min read

Hey Reader. I'm going to be blunt today. Hope you're ready! Here’s something I’ve noticed after 20-plus years of supervising doctorates: most stuck students aren’t actually stuck where they think they are. They think it’s a writing problem, so they force themselves to write. They think it’s a structure problem, so the writing goes nowhere. They think they need to read more, so they read - but it’s a contribution problem, so the reading just adds to the pile. Different problem, different move....

4 months ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader. Tonight at 9pm UK time, the bonus laser session goes away. The Circle will still be here on Friday, but this extra won't be, and I want you to decide with the full picture in front of you. Here it is. Premium is $19 a month: the Completion Blueprint, live sessions, and a community of people who understand exactly where you are. VIP is $150 a month: all of that, plus 1:1 time with me every month and a dedicated Voxer day, with only eight places ever. Join either tier today, and you...

4 months ago • 1 min read