Understanding and solving intractable resource governance problems.
When I set out to write my Research Plan for 2013 and my Research Trajectory for 2013-2016, I decided to write down one word that would establish my goals for the year. This year, the word was FOCUS. I decided that, no matter how many obstacles I face and regardless of how many different scholarly […]
– January 24, 2013
This year, I participated in #AcWriMo (an effort initiated by Dr. Charlotte Frost to encourage academics to focus almost solely on writing, I assume with the intent that their productivity goes up). I even joined the Google Documents’ AcWriMo Accountability Database so that I could track my progress. I was quickly derailed in reporting back […]
– December 3, 2012
A few years ago, I thought of using NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which happens in November) as a driver to force me to complete my academic books (all four of which are at various stages of publication at the moment). Like it happens with almost anything, someone else thought of this idea too (PhD2Published, […]
– October 21, 2012
REAL TALK: I’m a full professor (have been for a few years now) and I have had … 1) journal articles desk rejected. 2) articles rejected AFTER at least one if not TWO ROUNDS of Revise-And-Resubmit 3) articles published after FIVE rounds of R&R 4) a reviewer tell me that my writing sucks “as an […]
– January 2, 2025
I have A LOT of zombie papers and book manuscripts… You all know those zombie papers and manuscripts: things you wrote, you ALMOST completed, you sent out for peer review and got a revise-and-resubmit that you never converted into published articles, books that were nearly completely written or edited, that perhaps got lost in the […]
– December 30, 2024
As most of those of you who read my blog regularly can see, I’ve been blogging less in 2022, 2023 and 2024. I am not certain that this was a product of more work at my university, but instead, a bit of a writer’s block because of fear of uselessness. Let me explain. When I […]
– December 29, 2024
I teach workshops on a broad range of topics in the higher education and academic realms. Some of the topics I cover in these workshops include research design, academic writing, qualitative methods, mixed methods, project management, writing for broader audiences, strategies for thesis completion, etc. This is a sample of workshops I’ve taught for universities […]
– July 16, 2024
Dr. Jessica A. J. Rich is an incredible researcher, scholar, and writer. Her book, “State-Sponsored Activism: Bureaucrats and Social Movements in Brazil” is a textbook model for how to write a book in so many ways. I also study social movements in Latin America, so it was important for me to read her book and […]
– February 27, 2024
I brought Francine Prose’s book, Reading Like a Writer with me on a research trip to London in the fall of 2022 for 2 reasons: 1) I thought the plane I was taking would not have power plugs in each seat so I believed I wouldn’t be able to work, and 2) I wanted to […]
– February 26, 2024
I’ve taught a few workshops this year on academic writing and there’s always at least one attendee who has already completed their PhD and is looking for strategies to craft their book. Sometimes they’re looking to convert the PhD dissertation into a book, or write a new one. I promised those attendees I would write […]
– July 16, 2023
Much of what I do here on my blog, when I teach courses and workshops on academic research and writing, and with my own students and thesis writers is help them frame their research, “sell their ideas”, and create a narrative that showcases their innovative approach to their research. Last year, in October I visited […]
– April 3, 2023
I have been thinking about how I can help my students with their theses, particularly because our programs are rather compressed and they need to get a lot done in a very short period of time. I’ve been working on developing a strategy to discern “the gap in the literature” that I plan to test […]
– March 30, 2023
A good friend of mine who recently completed her doctoral dissertation asked me recently in a quick one-on-one consultation how she could go about converting her doctoral dissertation into articles. I suggested a process that I will share now. Though a number of doctoral candidates are required by their programs to publish articles out of […]
– March 13, 2023
I wrote the thread that originated this blog post on October 1st, 2022. I had not been able to blog for many reasons, one of the key ones was that I did not have time to blog. Most of the time, I plan my entire month by the end of the previous one. I did […]
– February 19, 2023
There’s been a lot of discussion on Twitter over the past few days now from academics and tech people about calendars, synchronization and collaborative work, and I really don’t have the time to read them all but I wante to put in my two cents, so here it goes. In a previous life (I started […]
– September 25, 2022
I had been waiting to get my hands on this book by Mario Luis Small and Jessica Calarco for a very long while, as I was on Twitter while Jess was writing it and witnessed the conversations on here about it. I finally received my copy this week, so I decided to write a few […]
– September 22, 2022
By all measures, I’m pretty well networked now. I have a globally popular blog and Twitter account (follow me there if you want, @raulpacheco). People from all over the world read my blog, regularly use my resources in their teaching and their own teaching, and I have solid networks across multiple fields and disciplines (political […]
– September 4, 2022
I like solving and putting together puzzles. Photo credit: Olga Berrios on Flickr. Photo license: CC-BY 2.0 I like assembling evidence and theories to think about the problem, which can also be a metaphor for a puzzle (or as my dear friend Amber Wutich said, a jigsaw). I actually don’t like the type of physical […]
– August 27, 2022
Those of you who have followed me for a time know that I do love taking notes off articles with the Cornell Notes method. I find it a very useful note-taking strategy when you are reading materials (articles, book chapters, books, etc.) Some people use it to take notes during class, but this is not […]
– August 19, 2022
As anybody who reads my blog knows, I think a lot about the mechanics of research and especially I have written a lot about how to conduct a literature review. This week, because I have been very ill, I have had a chance to think deeply, and I believe that I have finally found the […]
– July 22, 2022
I have written several times here (on my blog) about how overworking almost has taken me to the actual tomb. What disappoints me and angers me (and yes I’m disappointed and angry with myself) is that it’s July of 2022 and I am writing about it yet again. As a good friend on Twitter responded […]
– July 3, 2022
I’ve had an absolutely bonkers pair of months (April and May, and June is gearing to be the same). For the first time in 2.5 years, I attended in-person workshops (2!) I am, of course, behind on absolutely everything. I used to be a very big proponent of the “write whenever you have a small […]
– June 30, 2022
You may have noticed discussions on #AcademicTwitter regarding how studies in the US are written as though generalizable for the world. This is not uncommon: that’s the training that many are exposed to, focusing populations that are what in psychology is termed, WEIRD. Participants are mostly Western, Educated, from Industrialized, Rich and Democratic countries. Often […]
– April 23, 2022
I used to hate on the Ventilation File and this blog post is about how I changed my mind about it. The Ventilation File is a document (or a folder with a series of documents) where you go vent (hence the name) and dump your frustrations regarding your writing rut (if you are in one). […]
– April 1, 2022
I used to be the Editor for the Americas of the International Journal of Qualitative Methods. Because of my experience and expertise in qualitative methods, qualitative data analysis and qualitative research, I am often asked for advice on writing up qualitative research, or undertaking qualitative data analysis, which I am happy to provide as well […]
– October 29, 2021
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