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Production of Knowledge
You need to be able to show outcomes, by that I mean papers, that come from the research you do. My advice is to focus on building upon previous work that has been done.
🍏Production of Knowledge (A Scholar’s Quest Part 1)
An original autobiographical fiction, 9th October 2025
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Thumbnail Credits: National Gallery of Art, Open Access Collection
Hi Scholar,
The last time I wrote an essay for you, I warned you that it would not be correct, only interesting. I’m afraid I must warn you again - what follows is not an essay at all. Rather it is fiction, based on true events. Drawing inspiration from the previous series authored by The Critic over the summer “I’m Not Leaving Academia, But I am Standing Outside It’ (you can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 in the archive), this series is an attempt at autobiographical fiction. It is very different from anything previously written by this author, so they hope you will forgive any shortcomings it may have.
A Scholar’s Quest: Production of Knowledge
-Written by The Tatler
Tuesday, May 5th, 2020
The Application
"Would you explain to us how you would identify reliable sources to inform your work?" a slightly muffled voice asked through Richard's laptop speakers.
The voice belonged to a physics professor who was chairing the PhD interview. He was sitting in the middle of a brightly lit seminar room on the university campus - about a mile away from Richard’s kitchen table in his student flat. John, who would be Richard's primary supervisor if the interview was successful, sat next to him. Both men wore face masks.
"First of all, I would always look at whether the paper answers the research question it set out to, and the evidence it provides in support of its conclusions. I would also prioritize sources published in reputable journals with high impact factors," Richard answered, desperately hoping they would not ask him to elaborate on what an impact factor was.
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