The Third Degree

Publish or Perish | A Note to Emerging Researchers on Why It’s Important to Publish!   We’ve all heard the expression ‘publish or perish’; many of us taking it to heart, some even scared by it. It’s probably an ‘inevitability’ for most of us on the PhD journey, ensuring that we communicate and disseminate our research to a wider audience – even if just a predatory journal or two – but the bigger picture is of sharing knowledge and ensuring its availability to others.   If you plan to continue your journey through the ranks of academic, publications are a given; if you’re leaving academia for another pursuit, don’t discard the relevance that your work, and publishing it, may have. Give it some thought too!     Regardless, don’t wait till after your PhD is done and dusted; start exploring how you can disseminate your research during the process too. As we wade through the PhD, it’s the right time to identify what, where and how to publish. But word of cauti...

A War on Research? Or A War on Academic Inequality?   Well, not quite a war, but certainly a preliminary battle guaranteed to shake things up. With the commodification of academic research output comes enhanced inequality. Journals, hosted/owned by global publishing houses, are certainly a grey area, and quite a contentious one at that. Forget paying to have your research published in them – that’s a separate issue; but focus on the access to knowledge, especially in second and third world countries, where Universities are not as well financially endowed as they may be in Australasia, Europe, or North America.   Increasingly high fees to access journals, not only en masse, but for researchers (and research students) to obtain single article access (electronic or reprint), is fast becoming an additional parameter that restricts quality academic development in some societies. With fees of upwards of USD 20 per article access, such costs are out of reach for many emergi...

Video | Introduction to Historical Research First and foremost, I am a historical researcher. I love pouring through old documents, many deeply defined as 'grey literature', in order to find out the story behind certain events; to better understand context and interplay between social and economic actors. So, it is only fitting that one of my first (and I do apologize, longest too) videos be on Historical Research. This webinar recording steps us through the concepts of Historical Research, along with some best practice suggestions and examples for undertaking Historical Research in Business, Arts, and the Social Sciences. Feel free to drop me a line (craig@thethirddegree.asia) if you have any questions. I will be running this session again, with some new content, in early 2021.  

Read All About It ! The Very Best Higher Education Books of the Year   Not specifically research education, but ‘issues’ (loosely) related to higher education. Close enough! And good for a laugh, too. My favourite – Boffins and Their Bookshelves – I purposely installed shelves just for my webinars! #JK.   Anyway, on to the recommendations …   Paul Greatrix presents his annual list of the very best books about, and of interest to, higher education It’s that time of year again when the great and the good tell you about all the marvelous books they have had time to read but you inexplicably have failed to notice. Many of them have also helpfully recommended the best books which just happen to be written by their relatives and friends. [Here on Wonkhe we find it hard to resist a trend like this].   Once again we decided against asking a range of higher ed celebrities for their book choices as they might not have come up with the right answers or may...

Video | Copyright & Your Thesis (Part One) Knowledge has value. Therefore, we need to treat it with respect, and ensure we follow protocol for engaging with other people's work. This video series explores issues of Copyright as it relates to your research and ultimately, your thesis or dissertation. Warning: it is a dry topic, but an essential one.  

Embedding the ‘H2H’ in HE & Edutech As we at The Third Degree explore and negotiate the finer points of building our platform for roll-out in 2021, our key consideration is in building a community of/for researchers. Not just a network of individuals, but a genuine community of participants who actively support each other and embrace new opportunities – all to help . The fallout from Covid has been an acceleration of technology in higher education. No, it’s not new, but its implementation has been at a scale not previously experienced for many, and the nuances of this have caught many not only off-guard, but also rendered them floundering in a sea of impersonalisation. Interaction previously experienced in lecture theatres, offices, campus cafes, no longer possible, and the entire higher education experience moved to a set of online ‘parallels’, without the atmosphere that comes with the university experience. That raises the important question, how do we bring back a more hu...

Should I do a Master's First? Well, Yes, Probably Many think of the traditional route to a PhD - Bachelor's, Master's, then "hell", I mean, PhD. Not everyone takes this route though. In some countries, it is considered quite normal to progress to PhD without a Master's, either from having fantastic field experience, or an Honours degree, or some other fast-track opportunity. I took my Masters, partly because it was expected, and partly because I needed that 'step' into Doctoral-level study. The learning curve - not only in understanding theory, methodology, and coming to grips with research - is huge. So too is the "self-discipline" required to be able to tackle advanced research. Not easily done on an undergraduate mindset. A "research Master's" provides a great training ground to ease junior researchers into the more complex nuances of research, and to the communication needs that an advanced degree at Doctoral level (PhD, DEd...