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Topic : Re: Is it possible to learn to write a paragraph? I will explain my question here. Please, help a fellow writer. I am doing a PhD and my supervisor is telling me that I do not know how to - selfpublishingguru.com

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You have structured a well-worded question here and I imagine you put a lot more energy and effort into the writing of your dissertation, so I find it hard to believe that your writing is so bad that not one single paragraph is 'worth saving'.

We see some shockingly-written questions on here and this isn't one of them.

I'm going to assume that if you've studied essay writing and understand the structure of dissertations, that you're following that structure with thesis statements, topic sentences, concluding statements and so on, and that the problem is not with structure but the writing itself.

In which case, there are two possibilities here:

She is right and your writing is terrible. In which case, find someone you trust who has already completed a philosophy PhD with outstanding marks and get them to read your work and provide brutally honest feedback on what's wrong with your writing style (and perhaps structure). If they will work with you, you can learn from that feedback and not make the same mistakes again. It seems to me that she is not going to help you get better (and I question what use she is as a supervisor in that case) so you need to find someone who will.
There's nothing wrong with your writing and she has it in for you. In which case, it's a bit underhanded, but you could get the same trusted colleague to rewrite a few of your pages and submit those to her as if it's your work. If she still says it's terrible, you'll know the problem isn't with your writing, it's with her.

Remember, the bad stuff is easier to believe, but it's not necessarily true. The fact that she isn't helping you and has driven you to the point where even the idea of writing makes you feel sick, suggests to me that she should not be a PhD supervisor and that's where the problem lies.

But you need to know the truth: is your writing terrible or is she terrible?

Option 2 is underhanded but it will get you straight to the heart of the matter.


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