How Not to Write a Thesis or Dissertation

How Not to Write a Thesis or Dissertation
Author: Mikael Sundström
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2020-11-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789900514

If you thought a book about thesis writing would make for wearisome reading, think again! In seven entertaining and enlightening chapters, Mikael Sundström sheds light on the trials and tribulations of academic writing, offering guidance on how to become a doyen of academic disaster – and, more importantly, how to avoid that fate.

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day
Author: Joan Bolker
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Total Pages: 206
Release: 1998-08-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1429968885

Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.

Writing the Winning Thesis Or Dissertation

Writing the Winning Thesis Or Dissertation
Author: Allan A. Glatthorn
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2005-03-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780761939610

Updated Edition of Bestseller! The classic for masters and doctoral students--newly revised and updated! Writing your masters thesis or doctoral dissertation can be a daunting task. Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation, Second Edition demystifies the process, helping you prepare your scholarly work. This experience-based, practical book takes you through the process one step at a time! Newly revised and updated, this edition uses a step-by-step approach, providing specific models and examples that will take you through the complex writing process. Included are chapters on: Laying the groundwork for the thesis or dissertation Organizing and scheduling your work Peer collaboration Using technology Developing and defending your work Conducting quality research and writing a winning report Defending and publishing your dissertation Solving problems throughout the dissertation process This excellentresource, used in its first edition by tens of thousands of students, will provide you with clear direction for structuring a winning thesis or dissertation.

Authoring a PhD

Authoring a PhD
Author: Patrick Dunleavy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2017-04-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0230802087

This engaging and highly regarded book takes readers through the key stages of their PhD research journey, from the initial ideas through to successful completion and publication. It gives helpful guidance on forming research questions, organising ideas, pulling together a final draft, handling the viva and getting published. Each chapter contains a wealth of practical suggestions and tips for readers to try out and adapt to their own research needs and disciplinary style. This text will be essential reading for PhD students and their supervisors in humanities, arts, social sciences, business, law, health and related disciplines.

Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation

Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation
Author: Randy L. Joyner
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018-06-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1544317190

The classic step-by-step guide to thesis and dissertation success, fully updated for 2018. From selecting your topic to defending your finished work, a masters thesis or doctoral dissertation is a major undertaking. Since 1998, this book has been the go-to resource for scholars seeking guidance and best practices at every phase of the process. This revised and updated fourth edition is the most comprehensive guide yet to researching, writing, and publishing a successful thesis or dissertation. It includes: Insights on leveraging new technologies to maximize your efficiency. Current case studies demonstrating the book’s teachings in action. Tested principles of effective planning, an engaging writing style, defense preparation, and more. Written in an easy, digestible style perfect for a thesis or dissertation-writer’s busy schedule, this latest edition of a contemporary classic belongs on every advanced degree candidate’s shelf. Dr. Joyner and Dr. Rouse have again put together an in-depth, comprehensive, and practical guide that is a valuable resource for graduate students. This edition includes important information related to current and emerging trends in technology and valuable case studies focusing on the most common problems encountered in writing at the master’s and doctoral levels. James R. Machell, Dean College of Education and Professional Studies, University of Central Oklahoma Writing the Winning Dissertation is an essential guidebook for students writing a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. I used the first edition to write an award-winning dissertation and now use the updated edition with the doctoral students I advise. I highly recommend it to both students and advisors. Susan Colby, Director of Faculty Professional Development, Appalachian State University; Boone, NC Appalachian State University

Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation

Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation
Author: Irene L. Clark
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2006-12-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0132797305

A complete, step-by-step, practical overview of the process of writing successful theses and dissertations Every year thousands of graduate students face the daunting–sometimes terrifying– challenge of writing a thesis or dissertation. But most of them have received little or no instruction on doing it well. This book shows them how in ways no other book does. It combines the practical guidance and theoretical understanding students need to complete their theses or dissertations with maximum insight and minimum stress. Drawing on her extensive research and experience advising hundreds of graduate students, Dr. Irene Clark presents a solid overview of the writing process. Clark shows how to apply innovative theories of process and genre and understand the writing process for what it is: your entrance into a conversation with the scholarly community that will determine your success or failure. This book offers useful strategies for each phase of the process, from choosing advisors and identifying topics through writing, revision, and review. Coverage includes • Getting started: overcoming procrastination and writer’s block • Understanding the genre of the thesis or dissertation • Speaking the “language of the academy” • Writing compelling proposals • Developing and revising drafts • Constructing effective literature reviews • Working with tables, graphs, and other visual materials • Working with advisors and dissertation committees • Avoiding inadvertent plagiarism Experience based, theoretically grounded, jargon free, and practical, Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation will help you become a more effective writer–and a more meaningful contributor to the scholarly conversation. Preface xi Introduction: Writing a Thesis or Dissertation: An Overview of the Process xix Chapter 1: Getting Started 1 Chapter 2: So What? Discovering Possibilities 17 Chapter 3: The Proposal as an Argument: A Genre Approach to the Proposal 33 Chapter 4: Mapping Texts: The Reading/Writing Connection 63 Chapter 5: Writing and Revising 83 Chapter 6: Writing the Literature Review 103 Chapter 7: Using Visual Materials 125 Chapter 8: The Advisor and Thesis/Dissertation Committee 139 Chapter 9: Working with Grammar and Style 155 Chapter 10: Practical Considerations 175 Index: 193

From Dissertation to Book

From Dissertation to Book
Author: William Germano
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2014-02-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 022606218X

How to transform a thesis into a publishable work that can engage audiences beyond the academic committee. When a dissertation crosses my desk, I usually want to grab it by its metaphorical lapels and give it a good shake. “You know something!” I would say if it could hear me. “Now tell it to us in language we can understand!” Since its publication in 2005, From Dissertation to Book has helped thousands of young academic authors get their books beyond the thesis committee and into the hands of interested publishers and general readers. Now revised and updated to reflect the evolution of scholarly publishing, this edition includes a new chapter arguing that the future of academic writing is in the hands of young scholars who must create work that meets the broader expectations of readers rather than the narrow requirements of academic committees. At the heart of From Dissertation to Book is the idea that revising the dissertation is fundamentally a process of shifting its focus from the concerns of a narrow audience—a committee or advisors—to those of a broader scholarly audience that wants writing to be both informative and engaging. William Germano offers clear guidance on how to do this, with advice on such topics as rethinking the table of contents, taming runaway footnotes, shaping chapter length, and confronting the limitations of jargon, alongside helpful timetables for light or heavy revision. Germano draws on his years of experience in both academia and publishing to show writers how to turn a dissertation into a book that an audience will actually enjoy, whether reading on a page or a screen. He also acknowledges that not all dissertations can or even should become books and explores other, often overlooked, options, such as turning them into journal articles or chapters in an edited work. With clear directions, engaging examples, and an eye for the idiosyncrasies of academic writing, he reveals to recent PhDs the secrets of careful and thoughtful revision—a skill that will be truly invaluable as they add “author” to their curriculum vitae.

How to Write a Thesis

How to Write a Thesis
Author: Umberto Eco
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015-02-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0262328763

The wise and witty guide to researching and writing a thesis, by the bestselling author of The Name of the Rose—now published in English for the first time. Learn the art of the thesis from a giant of Italian literature and philosophy—from choosing a topic to organizing a work schedule to writing the final draft. By the time Umberto Eco published his best-selling novel The Name of the Rose, he was one of Italy’s most celebrated intellectuals, a distinguished academic, and the author of influential works on semiotics. Some years before that, Eco published a little book for his students, in which he offered useful advice on all the steps involved in researching and writing a thesis. Since then, it has been translated into 17 languages—and is now for the first time presented in English. Eco’s approach is anything but dry and academic. He not only offers practical advice but also considers larger questions about the value of the thesis-writing exercise in six different parts: • The Definition and Purpose of a Thesis • Choosing the Topic • Conducting the Research • The Work Plan and the Index Cards • Writing the Thesis • The Final Draft Eco advises students how to avoid “thesis neurosis” and he answers the important question “Must You Read Books?” He reminds students “You are not Proust” and “Write everything that comes into your head, but only in the first draft.” Of course, there was no Internet in 1977, but Eco’s index card research system offers important lessons about critical thinking and information curating for students of today who may be burdened by Big Data. Irreverent and often hilarious, How to Write a Thesis is unlike any other writing manual and belongs on the bookshelves of students, teachers, writers, and Eco fans everywhere.

Writing for Social Scientists

Writing for Social Scientists
Author: Howard S. Becker
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2008-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226041379

Students and researchers all write under pressure, and those pressures—most lamentably, the desire to impress your audience rather than to communicate with them—often lead to pretentious prose, academic posturing, and, not infrequently, writer’s block. Sociologist Howard S. Becker has written the classic book on how to conquer these pressures and simply write. First published nearly twenty years ago, Writing for Social Scientists has become a lifesaver for writers in all fields, from beginning students to published authors. Becker’s message is clear: in order to learn how to write, take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat. It is not always an easy process, as Becker wryly relates. Decades of teaching, researching, and writing have given him plenty of material, and Becker neatly exposes the foibles of academia and its “publish or perish” atmosphere. Wordiness, the passive voice, inserting a “the way in which” when a simple “how” will do—all these mechanisms are a part of the social structure of academic writing. By shrugging off such impediments—or at the very least, putting them aside for a few hours—we can reform our work habits and start writing lucidly without worrying about grades, peer approval, or the “literature.” In this new edition, Becker takes account of major changes in the computer tools available to writers today, and also substantially expands his analysis of how academic institutions create problems for them. As competition in academia grows increasingly heated, Writing for Social Scientists will provide solace to a new generation of frazzled, would-be writers.

Writing and Publishing Your Thesis, Dissertation, and Research

Writing and Publishing Your Thesis, Dissertation, and Research
Author: P. Paul Heppner
Publisher: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2004
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780534559748

This book provides masters and doctoral students with an in-depth and comprehensive guide to the process of writing a thesis or dissertation. It breaks down this often foreboding and overwhelming goal into achievable steps, presenting models that prepare readers for each stage of the process. Within each step, the authors supply all the tools and detailed instructions necessary for the successful completion of a thesis or dissertation. Along the way, the book offers readers skills and techniques that can help them cope more effectively with the psychological or emotional blocks that often get in the way of accomplishing their goal.