Writing Your Thesis/Disseration
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Transcript of Writing Your Thesis/Disseration
Writing your
thesis/dissertation/PhD for Mature
Students/employed students
A research workshop in the best way to
get you your A
Dr. Niall McElwee,
Director & Senior Editor,
Dissertation Doctor’s Clinic
• Provides an out-of-hours service to clients
• Provides a second opinion
• Academic mentoring service
• Full writing solutions service
• Works with SME’s
• Works with individuals & groups
• Provides translations service
What the Clinic Does
1 Diploma, 1 Degree, 1 Masters
1 PhD,12 books, 50+ Articles later...
Founding editor (for 10 years) of an international peer reviewed journal
External Examiner with HETAC
Head of Various National Academic Review Panels
Visiting Research Professor
Director of DD Clinic
The Pain, The Pain, The Pain
It doesn’t have to be this way
Survival Outline
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Health and Wellness
Case studies
Managing your Supervisor
Getting Published
What is a Thesis and where to start?
It is first and foremost an attempt to persuade
The key to persuasion is organisation – planning is key
Identify a worthwhile question(s)
Has/Have the question(s) been answered before?
Is there enough quality, peer-reviewed available literature
to allow me to answer this question?
Are you contributing to an existing body of knowledge?
What is the best way to answer the question(s)?
What is a Thesis?
Thesis Layout
Introduction (setting an agenda and tone)
Literature Review (establishing what’s there)
Method (qualitative or quantitative)
Results (what you found)
Discussion (what this might mean)
Conclusion (say something definite)
Recommendations (what might be done)
Topic Selection
Think very carefully about a topic – i.e. one that
hasn’t been researched to death by your peers or
well-known scholars
Ensure that you have access to relevant
literature/research partners/gatekeepers
Discuss your intended topic with your allocated
supervisor
Research an area that you are interested in and
motivated by – if at all possible
Stay focussed on the one topic and don’t swop
Thesis Statement
You’ll be asked to provide this prior to your thesis
being accepted
This is a sentence or paragraph used in an essay
that serves as the guide for the essay and directly
answers the task in front of you
It expresses the main idea of your paper
Summary of the contents of the thesis
Time Management(!)
Time Management
Timeline of work
Divide your research into bite size chunks
Plan how long the various sections will take to
complete and try to stay within your schedule
Plan around your existing priorities
Be honest (with yourself!) about the amount of
spare time you will have
Use a Gannt chart for clarity
Health and Wellness
• A Literature Review is a chapter where you engage with the received theory (a la BBC in the old days) in your chosen area. You have to critically and reflexively engage with the acknowledged and emergent scholars. It is not a descriptive ‘shopping list’ where you
name check authors or their theories
• Use the five year window rule.
Literature Review
• In this short section you should list how many of each kind of publication you summarized (for example, 12 original investigations, one monograph, three reviews, four popular articles, one manuscript), and how you found them (for example, a search of the database PsychLit or MedLab).
Literature Review
In this Background section, make the topic interesting by explaining it in plain language and by relating it to actual or potential practical applications. Explain any scientific principles underlying the
topic. Define and justify the scope of the review: why you are limiting it to certain areas, why you are including studies of
some populations and not others, and so on.
Literature Review
Literature Review • References can come from traditional texts,
early publications, recent publications
• Findings - This section is the most important
part of your review
• Do not give a summary paper-by-paper;
instead, deal with themes and draw together
results from several papers for each theme
• There are 4 themes for this section
- assessing the quality of published work
- interpreting effects
• research that needs to be done, and why
The building blocks of your Thesis so think of it like one might an Architect's plans for a
home
Bungalow - Degree
Two Story - Masters
Three Story with Sunroom - PhD
Methodology
Methodology How you answer your question(s)
Qualitative or quantitative analysis
There are big differences in the way data can be
collected. At one extreme are qualitative methods, in
which the researcher interviews subjects without
using formal psychometric instruments
(questionnaires).
At the other extreme are quantitative methods, in
which biological or behavioural variables are
measured with instruments or techniques of known
validity and reliability.
Writing
Writing
• A thesis is an attempt to persuade
• Persuade with your words
• Be concise
• Be succinct “Use no unnecessary word” - Ezra
Pound
• How to seamlessly use sources in writing
• Expect to write more than 1 draft
Writing • Avoid technical terms.
• Avoid abbreviations.
• Use short, simple sentences.
• Avoid common errors of punctuation and grammar.
• Use the first person (I, we) rather than the passive voice.
• Link your ideas into a sensible sequence without repetitions or discontinuities.
• Get feedback on your article from colleagues.
MLA versus APA versus Harvard
Referencing
Health and Wellness
(see notes below)
Brain Food - Eat Smart
Importance of Sleep
Importance of Exercise
Rewards for Study
Benefits of "downtime"
Managing Your Supervisor
Managing your Supervisor
Be realistic about how much time your supervisor
will be able to give you
Use these meetings wisely; plan in advance what
you need from them, where you’re struggling,
how they can best help you
Be prepared; if they’ve asked you to read a
particular paper, read it
Note and make suggested changes. If a
supervisor says “it isn’t going well” – then it
usually isn’t
OCAP Model
Ownership
Control
Access
Possession
Ethical Issues
Tuskegee Syphilis Study 1932-1972
Tea Room Trade in the late 1960s
Initial HIV/AIDS Research
Heroin Misuse
Animal Trials in Science
- What to do with sensitive data!
Case Studies
An infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S.
Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the
U.S. government
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
• Because the researcher misrepresented his identity and intent and because the
privacy of the subjects was deeply infringed during the study, Tearoom Trade has caused a major debate
on privacy for research participants and is now often used as a benchmark example
of highly controversial social research
Tea Room Trade 1970
The Ballybane Enterprise Centre staff
Liam Bluett & Michael Smyth
Noirin, Geraldine & Trish
You guys – the Attendees
Gratitude
Contact Information