7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

1/8

Structuring your Discussion

Dr Cheryl Lange

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

2/8

Evans, D & Gruba, P 2002 (2nd ed.)How to write a better thesis, Melbourne,Melbourne University Press,pp. 13-15

Common thesisstructure

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

3/8

Stepping into the void

Once youve gathered quite a lot of

information and even though you

have been writing about your

research from the beginning, at

some stage you will need to begin

to write the discussion sections.

Writing these chapters may, at

first, feel like stepping into the void

because you will be trying ot make

sense of your results/research

data.

The following techniques might

help get you started on how to

structure your chapters.

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

4/8

Tension between the creative and rationalbrain

Ourrationalbrain might tell us wedont know what our research istelling us i.e. what our conclusionsare

but

ourcreativebrain has been

working on the project from thebeginning

trying out ideas, accepting andrejecting them

The key to starting to write aboutour research is to bring theseunconscious conclusions to ourconscious brain.

Keep your eyes on the stars

and your feet on the ground

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

5/8

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

6/8

A tug of war

When you begin to write

you will experience tension

between what your creative

brain wants to write and what

your rational brain thinks isbest.

You will have to make

decisions so keep mindful of

your aim and the scopewhich you set out in your

opening chapter

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

7/8

Checking the logic of your structure two methods

Paste the Introduction into a

document.

Follow by pasting the

introductions and conclusions

of every chapter into samedocument.

Check if they follow each other

logically

Are there repetitions, gaps,etc in the structural flow?

Write a one page summary of

every chapter.

Check if they hang together

logically

Are there repetitions, gaps,

etc in the structural flow?

Do you need to rewrite your introduction and aim?

Do any chapters need adjusting?

7/30/2019 5-Structuring Your Discussion

8/8

Writing

When writing your discussion chapters, discuss your researchwithin:

1. Current theory(Discuss your work within the theoretical context ofyour discipline). What can you add to it?

2. Current practice(Discuss your work within the methodological contextof your discipline). What methods or procedures worked, what didnt?Can you suggest improvements?

3. Your own research (Discuss what you see as the limitations in yourresearch) Explain any difficulties you had and what could have beendone better in different circumstances. If you discuss the limitations,the examiners know you are aware of them.