Writing the Mangement Thesis - Style and Strategy

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Writing the ManagementPaper/Thesis: Style and StrategyMahfooz A. Ansari, PhD

Professor of [email protected]

WWW.management.usm.my/WebPPPmahfooz.htm

School of ManagementUniversiti Sains MalaysiaJuly 01, 2003
mailto:[email protected]://www.management.usm.my/WebPPPmahfooz.htmhttp://www.management.usm.my/WebPPPmahfooz.htmmailto:[email protected]


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Todays Talk: Organization

The SixMisconceptions

The Writing Rules

The APA Guidelines

ReferencesQ & A

Strategies toImprove WritingPreparingThesis andDissertation


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Six Common Misconceptions

About Management Papers

Misconception 1: Writing the management paper is the most routine,

least creative aspect of the scientific enterprise--requiring much time

but little imagination.

Misconception 2: The important thing is what you say, not how you

say it.

Misconception 3: Longer papers are better papers, and more papers

are better yet.


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Rules for Writing the

Management Paper

Rule 1: Your writing should interest, inform, and persuade your

reader

Rule 2: Write for your reader

Rule 3: Write clearly

Rule 4: Eliminate unnecessary redundancy

Rule 5: Avoid digressions


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Rule 6: Dont overexplain

Rule 7: Avoid overstatement

Rule 8: Avoid unnecessary qualifiers

Rule 9: Use the precise word

Rule 10: Prefer simpler to more complicated words

Rule 11: Use concrete words and examples

Rule 12: Prefer simpler to more complicated sentences


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Rule 20: Use summary statements

Rule 21: Use transitions

Rule 22: Place yourself in the background

Rule 23: Cite sources as well as findings

Rule 24: Proofread your papers

Rule 25: Request a critical reading of your paper by an adviser orcolleague

Rule 26: Avoid sexist language


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American Psychological Association

(APA) Guidelines

Typing the paper

Grammar

Headings

References


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Typing the Paper

Rules of FormatPaper: Type your paper on one side only of heavy, white, 8

x 11 inch paper.

Margins: Set a 1-in. (2.54 cm) margin on all sides (top,

bottom, and both sides of each page). Use 12 pt. Times New

Roman Font. Do not right-justify lines (i.e., use a uniform

printed right margin, as in printed pages) or use proportionalspacing (i.e., different spacing between words on different

lines). Do not hyphenate words at ends of lines.


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Vertical Spacing: Double space between all lines, without

exception. There may be times when you are tempted to single

space. Do not succumb to the temptation. Your paper should be

double spaced throughout (including tables, figures, and references).

Horizontal Spacing: Begin each new paragraph by indenting five

spaces: type all other lines starting from a uniform left margin.

Leave (i) no space after internal periods in abbreviations (e.g.,

U.S.A.), (ii) one space after commas, semicolons, and periods, and

(iii) one space after internal periods in first and middle initials (e.g.,

H. J. Baumgartel).


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Pagination: Number pages consecutively, starting with the title page.

Use Arabic numerals. The only pages after the abstract that are not

numbered are the figures. Each figure should be numberedconsecutively on the back of the page. Number pages in the upper

right-hand corner to the right of the running head. Running heads are

the key words of the title, so that if pages become separated from the

manuscript, they can be returned to it later. In theses/dissertations,

running heads are not required; preliminary pages usually carry roman

numerals. Rule of LegibilityPrinted Output: Make sure that your printer, word processor, or

typewriter produces clear, sharp, black type. Faint copy is difficult to

read and annoying to the reader. Avoid using colored (e.g., red, green,

or blue) type, as it often does not reproduce well during the duplicating

process.


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Grammar

PunctuationComma: A comma should be used

(1) before andand orin a series of three or more itemse.g.,

(affective, cognitive, and behavioral)

(2) before and after a nonrestrictive clausee.g.,

(Item 5, which had lower factor loading, was deleted)(3) to separate two coordinate clauses joined by a conjunctione.g.,

(Fishbein and Ajzen proposed that, and we confirmed that)


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A comma should not be used

* before or after a restrictive clausee.g.,

(The manager who completed the questionnaire also participated in theexperiment)

* between two parts of a compound predicatee.g.,

(The results contradicted Fishbein and Ajzens hypothesis and indicated that

the effect was non-significant)

* to separate two independent clauses not joined by a

conjunctione.g., (8 years 2 months; 3 min 40 s)

Semicolon: A semicolon should be used to

separate two independent clauses that are not joined by a

conjunction

separate items that already contain commas


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Colon: A colon should be used

(1) before a final phrase or clause that amplifies the material that

comes before it(2) in ratios and proportions

Hyphen: A hyphen should be used in

(1) a compound with a participle if the compound precedes a noun

it modifies

e.g., The truth-telling participants

(2) a phrase used as an adjective if the phrase precedes a noun itmodifies

e.g., A subject-by-subject analysis


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(3) an adjective-noun compound that precedes and modifies another

noun unless the adjective is a comparative or superlative

e.g., High-anxiety group of managers

(4) all compounds involving self

e.g., Self-report data, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-confidence

(5) all compounds involving a number as the first element in which

the compound precedes a noun

e.g., Second-session results

A hyphen should not be used in

(1) a compound with an adverb ending inly

(2) a compound involving a comparative or superlativee.g., lie detector

(3) a modifier with a letter or numeral as the second term

e.g., The session 2 data


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Dash:

A dash should be used to indicate an interruption in the

continuity or flow of a sentence. Dash is indicated by two

hyphense.g., -- (There should be no space before and after adash)

Double Quotation Marks should be used:

(1) to introduce a word or phrase used in a special or unusual way

(Use quotation marks only the first time a word is used.)(2) to reproduce material that is quoted verbatim

(3) for names of articles

Quotation marks should not be used:

(1) to qualify statements or to hedge bets

(2) for long quotations, use block format


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Observe the following rules in using quotation marks:

(1) Omission of materials within a sentence of a quotation is indicatedby the use of three ellipsis points (). Omission of material

between sentences of a quotation is indicated by four ellipsis

points (.). Ellipsis points should not be used at the beginning or

end of a quotation.

(2) Insertion of material within a sentence of a quotation is indicated

by brackets [ ]. Such insertions are usually used to clarify the

quotation for the reader or to make the grammar of the quotation

consistent with the sentence or paragraph in which it is embedded.

T ki d f h i ibl i i i h


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(3) Two kinds of changes are permissible in quotations without any

indication to the reader: (a) The first letter of the first quoted

word may be changed from a capital to a small letter or vice

versa, and (b) the punctuation mark at the end of the quotation

may be changed to fit the syntax of the sentence in which youhave embedded the quotation. All other changes must be

indicated by ellipses or brackets.

(4) The source of a direct quotation should always be cited. Includein the citation the author (s), year, and page number (s) of the

quotation. If the quotation is

(a) in the middle of a sentence, cite the source of thequotation in parentheses immediately after the quotation;


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(b) at the end of a sentence, cite the page number in parentheses

after the end of the quotation, but before the final punctuation

mark; (c) in block format, cite the page number in parentheses

after the end of the quotation and after the final punctuation mark.

(5) In general, commas and periods are placed inside quotation

marks and other marks of punctuation are placed outside, unless

they are part of the quoted material, in which case they are placedinside.

(6) Long quotations may require permission from the owner of the

copyright on the material.

Single Quotation Marks should be used for quotations within

quotations.


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Parentheses: Parentheses should be used to

(1) set off items that are structurally independent from the rest of the

sentence--e.g., (see Table 1)

(2) enclose the date of references cited in the text or references

e.g., Ansari (2000)

(3) enclose abbreviations for previously cited items

e.g., (TTTT) [By the way, TTTT stands for Toliver Test of

Tolerance for Trauma]

(4) enclose letters or numbers enumerating items in a series

e.g., (i); (ii); (iii); (a); (b) (5) enclose the page number of a cited quotation

e.g., (p. 111); (pp. 420-421)


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(6) group terms in mathematical expressions

On the OB/Leadership/HRM Quizzes set by Dr. Mahfooz, there is

a correction for guessing, so that overall score is a function ofboth right and wrong answers:

e.g., R(W/4)

Brackets: Brackets should be used to

(1) enclose material inserted in a quotation by someone other than the

quoted writer or speaker

(2) enclose parenthetical material within parentheses

Spelling


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(7) the first word in titles of books and articles cited in thereferences of a management papere.g.,

Damager, M. A. (1976). A factor analysis of damagingtactics.Journal of Management, 5, 420-421.

(8) all major words of journal names appearing in thereferences of a management/psychology paper

(9) major words of table titles

e.g.,

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics and Zero-order Correlations

(10) first words of figure captionse.g.,

Figure 1. A typical framework of damaging people.


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When not to use capital: A capital letter should not be used

for first letters of

(1) names of conditions or groups in an experiment

(2) names of effects taken from analyses of variance (ANOVA)

(3) names of laws, theories, and hypotheses

Italics

When to use italics: Italics are indicated in type-written manuscriptsby underlining the words or symbols to be italicized. But you may

italicize with word-processors.


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Italics should be used for

(1) titles of books, periodicals, and microfilms in the text

(2) introducing new, technical, or important terms

(3) letters, words, phrases, or sentences cited as linguistic examples

(4) letters used as statistical symbols or algebraic variables

(5)

volume numbers in reference lists

When not to use italics: Italics should not be used for

(1) Common foreign words and abbreviations

e.g., a priori, post hoc(2) Names of Greek letters, alpha and Beta

(3) Abbreviations: The National Phrenological Society (NPS)


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When not to use periods in abbreviations: Periods

should not be used with

(1) Capital-letter abbreviations, including acronyms

IQ, APA, EQ, FBI, ANOVA, AAM, SEM, LMX

(2) Abbreviations of metric units

(3) Abbreviations of nonmetric measurement

When not to use abbreviations: Do not use nonstandard

abbreviations or abbreviations that you make up. Do not use

the abbreviations S for subject, E for experimenter or O for

observer. Although these abbreviations were once standard,

they are no longer used.


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Headings

APA editorial guidelines make provision for five levels of

headings:

(1) A centered headings typed all in capitals

(2) A centered heading with initial letters of main words capitalized

(3) An italicized centered heading with main words capitalized

(4) An italicized heading flush with the left margin, with initial

letters of major words capitalized

(5) An indented italicized paragraph heading with the initial letter

of the first word capitalized and the last word followed by a

period

For example,


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Writing References (APA Style)

Citations in TextStandard Format: References that are generally available

may be cited either directly or indirectly:

(1) If the author is cited directly, the date follows the author citationin parentheses.

e.g., Ansari and Kapoor (1987) found that ingratiation is used

most often with the immediate boss.

(2) If the author is cited indirectly, both the authors name and the date

are placed in parentheses--e.g., (Ansari & Kapoor, 1987).


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(3) If the date is mentioned in the text, it need not be repeated in

parentheses. In 1987, Ansari and Kapoor

(4) If a work is cited more than once on the same page or within a

few pages, the date need not be repeated if there is no resultingambiguity.

(5) Multiple references to work of the same author published in the

same year are assigned lowercase letters to distinguish them when

they are cited. The letters should be assigned alphabetically, bytitle name--e.g, Ansari (1988a, 1988b)

Multiple Authors: Follow these rules in citing work of multiple

authors:

(1) If a work has just two authors, cite both names and the date every

time you make a citation.


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(2) If a work has more than two authors, cite all names and thedate the first time you make the citation--in later citations, you

need only cite the first author, followed by et al.and the date.

If the two different pieces of work shorten to the same form,

then always cite the full references to avoid confusion.

(3) If citations with multiple authors are made directly, the names

of the authors are connected by and. If citations are made

indirectly (that is, parenthetically), the names of the authors are

connected by &

e.g., Bhal and Ansari (2000); (Bhal & Ansari, 2000).


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Examples of Writing ReferencesAnsari, M. A. (1990). Managing people at work. Newbury Park, CA:

Sage.

Bhal, K. T., & Ansari, M. A. (2000).Managing dyadic interactions in

organizational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ansari, M. A. (1989). Effects of leader sex, subordinate sex, and

subordinate performance on the use of influence strategies. Sex

Roles, 20, 283-293.Ansari, M. A., & Tandon, K. (1991). Organizational climate as a

moderator of the relationship between leadership styles and

influence strategies. Management and Labor Studies, 16, 175-

187.

Ansari, M. A. (1989). Leadership styles and influence strategies:

The moderating effect of organizational climate. In B. Fallon,

H. P. Pfister, & J. Brebner (Eds.), Advances in industrial

organizational psychology (Volume 5, pp. 59-65). North-

Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.


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Examples of Writing

References (continued)

Ansari, M. A., Daisy, K. M. H., & Aafaqi, R. (2002, September). Fairness

of human resource management practices and commitment: The

impact of procedural justice climate. Paper presented at the Annual

Meeting of the British Academy of Management, London.

Ansari, M. A. (2003).Need for nurturant-task leaders in Malaysia: Some

empirical evidence. School of Management, University Science

Malaysia, Unpublished paper.

Ansari, M. A., Ahmad, Z. A., & Aafaqi, R. (in press). Organizational

leadership in the Malaysian context. In D. Tjosvold & K. Leung (Eds.),Leadership in Asia Pacific: Managing relationships for teamwork and

change. Hong Kong: World Scientific Publishing.


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Preparing Dissertation

and Thesis

Journal Article

Copy manuscript Submitted to the Journal

Short life span

120-words abstract

Thesis/Dissertation

Final manuscript

Submitted to Graduate

School

Long life span 350-words abstract


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Content Requirements

Preliminary Pages

Title page

An approval page

An acknowledgment page

A table of contents

A list of tables

A list of figures An abstract


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Introduction

Similar to that in a journal article, except that the author of

a thesis/dissertation may be expected to demonstratefamiliarity with the literature by developing the

background more comprehensively

The decision about length is not fixedvaries from

department to department and University to University

M th d R lt a d Di i


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Method, Results, and Discussion

Similar to that in a journal article

Summary

The trend is to substitute the abstract for a summary

References

Generally, only references cited in the text are included in the

reference list.

Students are required to be familiar with a broader spectrum of

literature than that immediately relevant to their research. In such

instances, the reference list may be called a bibliography.


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Appendixes Space and content requirements may limit the use of appendixes

in journal articles

The need for complete documentation often dictates their inclusionin thesis/dissertation

* Verbatim instructions to participants

* Original instruments (such as questionnaire)

* Details of sampled organizations

* Detailed statistical analysis


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Manuscript Preparation Requirements

Each university has requirements for the format of thesis anddissertation

The purpose of these requirements is to impose consistency in

manuscripts by individuals from various disciplines

Reasonable exceptions may include:

-- Tables may be more readable if single-spaced

-- Justified margins may substitute for ragged right margins-- End-of-line hyphens may be acceptable

-- The left-hand margin must be wide enough for binding

usually one-and-a-half in. or 4 cm


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The sections of a report, thesis, or dissertation (Introduction,

Theoretical Framework, Methodology, Results, and Discussion)are frequently regarded as chapters

* Each chapter begins on a new page

* Chapters may or may not include a chapter number

* In APA style journal articles, the introduction is not labeled;the arrangement of pages in most theses or dissertations may requir

that the introduction be labeled

In a journal manuscript , figures, tables, and footnotes are placed atthe end of the manuscript; in theses and dissertations, such material is

frequently incorporated at the appropriate point in text as a

convenience to readers


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In thesis and dissertation, pagination may usually carry lowercase

roman numerals

Double spacing is required throughout most of the manuscript

* While single-spacing would improve readability, double-spacing

is usually encouraged

* Single-spacing can be used for table titles and headings, figurecaptions, references, footnotes, and long quotations

*But double-spacing is required between references

* Long quotations may be indented five spaces or half in.

* Judicious triple- or quadruple-spacing can improve appearance

and readability (after chapter titles, before major subheadings, befor

footnotes, and before and after tables in the text)


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Converting Dissertation or

Thesis into a Journal Article

Trimming the Length

Writing Style

Interpretation of Data


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Material for Oral Presentation

Tell the audience what you are going to say, say it, and tell them

what you have said

Concentrate on only one or two main points, and keep reminding

the audience what the central theme is by relating each majorsection of the presentation to the theme

Omit most of the details of scientific procedures, because a listener

cannot follow the same level of detail as a reader

A verbal presentation should create awareness about a topic and

stimulate interest in it


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Oral Presentation (continued) Do not read your presentation

Having written notes in front of you while speaking will help you

keep your focus

Rehearse your presentation until you can speak comfortably;the best rehearsal is under condition similar to the actual presentation

Look at your notes only occasionally

You are prepared for the oral presentation when you can

succinctly tell your audience, eye to eye, what you want them

to know


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ReferencesAmerican Psychological Association (2001) (5/e). Publicationmanual of the American Psychological Association.

Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Sternberg, J. (1993). The psychologists companion: A guide toscientific writing for students and researchers. New York:

Cambridge University Press.

Writing the Mangement Thesis - Style and Strategy

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