Writing
The blog.
One fixable objection at a time — the patterns that keep arriving in diagnostics, written up so you can find them in your own work.
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Latest: From "I'm Interested In…" to a Research Question: A 5-Step Funnel, With a Real Example — on LinkedIn
· Dissertation
Grant deadline coming up? Read Your Grant Proposal Took 38 Working Days — on LinkedIn , then run The First-Page Test: twelve questions a reviewer answers before reaching your methods, each one tied to the published criterion it comes from. Then draft against the Specific Aims one-pager skeleton, free in the Vault.
Who writes this
Every piece is written and signed by Dr Dong-Ling Xu-Priour, founder of XP Consulting, and published under her own name on her personal site, drxupriour.com (launching soon), and on LinkedIn. This page collects the ones closest to the work we do.
First prize, doctoral thesis award, Université de Rennes 1 (2011). Published in the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. Former programme director of a master's in international marketing and coordinator of master's dissertation writing at a French business school.
Every number cited in a piece carries its source, with the full reference at the end of the article or in its first comment.
From our founder's writing
The writing rotates through four themes: the reviewer who rejected you, the dissertation that has stalled, the grant cycle and the toll the job takes. Earlier pieces also cover AI research tools and teaching. One long piece goes out at the end of each month.
Every title below is a link off this site.
From "I'm Interested In…" to a Research Question: A 5-Step Funnel, With a Real Example — on LinkedIn
· Dissertation · LinkedIn
"I'm interested in social media" is an area, not a topic, and an area can't be researched. Five steps narrow it to a question you can finish: group, setting, subtopic, question, each with a reason from the literature or the data. Worked through on a published China–France study, then four feasibility questions to answer before you commit.
The Limitation You Leave Out Is the One Your Reviewer Writes — on LinkedIn
· Peer review · LinkedIn
At submission, 202 of 446 trial manuscripts named no limitation at all, and 139 of them were published still naming none. Review is not a safety net. One question finds the limitation that matters — if it were twice as bad, which sentence of your conclusion would you delete? — and four lines state it before Reviewer 2 does.
Source: Keserlioglu, K., Kilicoglu, H. & ter Riet, G., Research Integrity and Peer Review (2019)
Free in the Vault: The defence question bank — mark 150 questions green, amber or red and find the four you cannot yet answer.
Your Grant Proposal Took 38 Working Days. The Research Says That Didn't Help. — on LinkedIn
· Grants · LinkedIn
Ten more days on a proposal bought no measurable gain in the odds, and panels re-scoring already-funded NIH proposals barely agreed with each other. The success rate is set by the budget, not by you. The 38 days are yours. Three ways to spend them, in the order of what they return.
Sources: Herbert, D.L., Barnett, A.G., Clarke, P. & Graves, N., BMJ Open (2013); Pier, E.L. et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018)
Free in the Vault: The Specific Aims one-pager skeleton — a word budget per paragraph, mapped to the three NIH review factors.
Your Research Didn't Get Rejected. Your First 10 Minutes Did. — on LinkedIn
· Peer review · LinkedIn
Three desk rejections in a row, and not one of them was about the science. The five moves that decide whether an editor reads past your first page — starting with the difference between a topic and a publishable question.
Free in the Vault: The journal shortlist matrix — score six venues before you write the cover letter.
The 2026 Researcher's Toolkit: Why the Best Scholars Use Fewer Tools, Not More — on LinkedIn
· AI & tools · LinkedIn
Tool paralysis is a genuine way to lose a weekend. The case for a lean stack: name the battle you are actually fighting — fragmentation, language, discoverability, open-access compliance — pick the three or four tools that fight it, and ignore the rest.
Building Your Publication Record: A 3-Year Strategic Plan for Early-Career Researchers (that prioritizes your well-being) — on LinkedIn
· Career · LinkedIn
A search committee reads your record as a narrative, not a pile. Three years of journal tiers, open science and co-authorship, arranged so the portfolio answers one question — what is your scholarly identity — at a pace you can survive.
Free in the Vault: The journal shortlist matrix — pick the tier for each paper with live formulas, not hope.
From Burnout to Breakthrough: 15 Evidence-Based Mental Health Tools for Higher Ed in 2026 — on LinkedIn
· Wellbeing · LinkedIn
The wellbeing app market is a firehose, not a strategy. A three-tier framework for matching a tool to a need — universal, targeted, clinical — and 15 products scored on their evidence base, their academic fit and what they do with the data.
Free in the Vault: Academic wellbeing boundary scripts — sixteen situations, with sentences you can send.
How to Write a Literature Review with AI Tools: A Complete 2026 Guide — on LinkedIn
· AI & tools · LinkedIn
Which tool at which stage, where the hallucinations and the paywalled blind spots hide, and how to disclose AI use so a reviewer never has to guess. The model handles the volume. The thinking stays yours.
Reclaiming Rigor: Why the Future of Higher Education is Playful — on LinkedIn
· Teaching · LinkedIn
A colleague swapped her final exam for an escape room, and months later her students still had the ideas. Play is not the opposite of rigour — it is what makes rigour possible. Seven strategies for the 2026 classroom, and the neuroscience underneath them.
Free in the Vault: Twenty-five gamification mechanics — build steps for Moodle, Canvas and Blackboard.
The "Revise and Resubmit" Survival Guide: The AI-Enhanced Framework That Turns Critique Into Acceptance — on LinkedIn
· Peer review · LinkedIn
A rejection is a closed door. An R&R is a door somebody propped open on purpose. Wait 48 hours before you reply, sort every comment into five buckets, then build the response letter that gets the manuscript over the line.
Free in the Vault: The reviewer-response letter template — the five-class triage table and two worked exchanges.
The 3 Lies Academia Taught You That Are Killing Your Career (And How to Break Free) — on LinkedIn
· Wellbeing · LinkedIn
More hours, flawless drafts, and the belief that the work is who you are — three things the culture rewards and the evidence does not. You did everything right and you are exhausted. That is a system problem, and it has a way out.
Free in the Vault: Academic wellbeing boundary scripts — what to say when somebody asks for your holiday.
The Edge · fortnightly
One fixable objection, every other Tuesday
XP Consulting’s own newsletter. Each edition names one objection an examiner, reviewer or panel will raise, and what removes it.
Want the templates too? The Vault form sends all six working files and adds you to The Edge in one step. One list, no drip sequence.