Structuring

1
Structuring Planning Longer Papers
Dissertations
2
Writing Longer Papers

• Most Masters courses require a dissertation.
• The length will depend on what other coursework
  is also being undertaken.
• In any case the dissertation will be longer than
  any other piece of work you have produced at
  Sussex.
• How long is yours?
• When is it due?
• What is included in the word count?

3
Writing Longer Papers

• CHECK!!!!

4
Writing Longer Papers

• Your tutors will give you guidance on how to
  approach the dissertation. Check
•  
•  
•    The word length required
•   The deadline
•   Any restrictions on what topics can be
  covered
•    Ethical issues that must be considered
•    Guidance on useful source materials and
  methods
• How the final draft must be presented.
•  
•  

5
Term Paper / Dissertation

• In groups
• How does writing a dissertation differ from
  writing a term paper?
• Longer ( therefore must be interesting!)
• You have more independence
• Self-management and self-motivation
• More extensive literature search
• Presentation is more important
• Use data you have collected yourself
• Unique
• Structured in sections

6
Stages of a research strategy

•    Planning
•    A literature search
•    The research hypothesis
•    A literature review
•    Research design or methodology
•    Collecting, collating and analysing data
•    Drawing conclusions
•   Putting it all together
• What is missing??? 
•  

7
Planning

• Good Management is essential.
•    1. Draw up an action plan (see example)
•  2. Set clear targets and milestones
• 3. Get support find people to share ideas,
  concerns, successes weekly group meetings
  coffee. It can be lonely, writing a dissertation.
• 4. Leave plenty of time for editing,
  proof-reading, printing, copying and binding the
  final dissertation.

8
Literature Search

•    1. Allocate time to browse titles in the
  library catalogues.
• 2. Check that there is sufficient relevant
  and up-to-date material which you can obtain
  easily.
• 3. If you need to order titles through Inter
  Library Loan, allow time for that.
• 4. Browse through student dissertations in
  the library. Develop a feel for what is a
  suitable project for your subject.
• 5. Read the abstracts of a range of journal
  articles. Identify which would be most relevant
  to read later in full.

9
Literature Search

• 6. Identify key articles, chapters of books,
  conference papers, WebPages and other materials.
• 7.  Look for ideas on methods you could adapt.
• 8. Gradually focus your reading on a specific
  topic. Make clear notes. KEEP A LIST OF DETAILS
  FOR YOUR REFERENCE LISTS.
• 9. Dont get seduced into spending more than
  your allocated time on this stage. If feels like
  real work, and it is interesting, but it will
  take for ever if you let it.
• It is important to spend focused time on this.

10
Research Hypothesis

• By the end of your literature search, you will
  have developed a
• Research hypothesis
• which is what you will then be exploring in the
  dissertation.
• We will look at this further next week.

11
Reasons for Literature Search

• Exploring your topic area
• Clarifying your thinking
• Testing hypotheses
• Collecting evidence to support your claims
• Examining counter-claims
• Developing a Research Hypothesis/Title

12
Literature Search Literature Review

• When reading, think
• What exactly are your objectives and what do you
  need to find out?
• In your review, are you looking at issues of
  theory, methodology, policy, quantitative
  research, or what?
• Before you start reading it may be useful to
  compile a list of the main areas and questions
  involved.
• Then read with the purpose of finding out about
  or answering these.
• Unless something comes up which is particularly
  important, stick to this list, as it is very easy
  to get sidetracked, particularly on the
  internet.Adapted from How to write a
  literature review. Article by Learner Development
  Unit, University of Central England in Birmingham
  on UK-student.net 15.3.07

13
Literature Review

• We will look at this in another session. The
  basic idea is to trace how your subject area
  developed over time, and to find and present
  chains of ideas.
• The literature review must be defined by a
  guiding (usually thematic) concept - it is not
  just a list or a series of summaries.

14
Research Design the way in which you will
conduct your research

• The information and data you need
• Ways of collecting this
• If relevant, the number and type of people you
  want to interview or to take part in experiments
• What, exactly, you want those people to do
• How to design questions to achieve only exact
  data you need and in a form which is accessible
  (e.g. avoid too many open questions)
• Many dissertations use data you have generated
  and collected yourself. However, you may use
  printed materials (e.g. govt. data or historical
  sources) and consider these from a new
  perspective.

15
Research Design the way in which you will
conduct your research

• Ask your tutor about acceptable research methods
  in your subject

16
Research Method

• What kind of data will I need to collect to
  answer key research questions?
• What kind of data sources will I look to?
• Primary? Secondary? Empirical?
• What kind of theoretical perspectives? And what
  key concepts will be explored?
• What kind of research framework?

17
Methodology

• In groups
• What is the purpose of the Methodology section?
• to give reader the details s/he needs in order
  to know how you gained your data and analysed it
• readers should be given sufficient information
  so that they could repeat your research if they
  wanted to
• descriptive writing, following the order of your
  actions
• flag up issues e.g. all respondents female

18
Results

• In groups What goes in this section?
• The results section simply presents the results
  (often in a table of key results, and appendices
  of additional results).
• They are NOT discussed, simply presented. If
  they are presented as a graph, the graph does not
  need to be described in detail.
• This gives the reader a chance to absorb the
  information and reflect before reading YOUR
  analysis and discussion.

19
Discussion

• The Discussion section analyses the data and
  draws out interesting findings. It includes
• The significance of your results and whether
  these confirm or differ from previous research
• Your conclusions, and the evidence for these
• A note of whether or not the research hypothesis
  was supported
• Any improvements that could be made to method,
  and need for further research
• How your results could be applied elsewhere

20
Collecting, collating and analysing data

• You need enough data, but not too much!
• Find out what is the acceptable minimum.

21
Collecting, collating and analysing data

• Once you have collected your information
• organise it into charts or tables so that you can
  interpret it.
• Look for patterns and trends.
• Make relevant comparisons.
• Your tutors will be looking to see how well you
  make sense of your findings, and how you see them
  linking to existing literature.

22
Leweshttp//www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pyr
amids/pages/21uf.asp
23
Brighton and Hovehttp//www.statistics.gov.uk/ce
nsus2001/pyramids/pages/00ml.asp
24
Drawing Conclusions

• Identify whether the research hypothesis was
  supported or not.
• If not, are there any evident reasons for this?
• Make recommendations, if these are required.
• Conclusions sum up your research, setting out its
  significance and your findings.
• No new information or references are included.
• The conclusions are also included in the
  abstract, the introduction and the discussion.

25
Abstract

• Placed before the contents page of the
  dissertation.
• Although it is presented at the beginning, it is
  usually easiest to write if you leave it until
  last.
• Leave plenty of time to write it. It usually
  takes a lot longer than expected.
• The abstract sums up your aims, your research
  hypothesis, your methodology, your findings and
  your conclusions.

26
And last but not least

• When you have finished everything else.
• dont forget to write the introduction!

27
What will you write?

• In groups, discuss possible research ideas
• What do you think would be hardest?
• What would be easiest?

28
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• adverbs
• Mostly, they are very often overly used. Use
  strong words instead. For example, one could say,
  Writers abuse adverbs.''
• jokes or puns
• They have no place in a formal document.

29
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• bad'', good'', nice'', terrible'',
  stupid''
• A scientific dissertation does not make moral
  judgments. Use incorrect/correct'' to refer to
  factual correctness or errors. Use precise words
  or phrases to assess quality (e.g., method A
  requires less computation than method B''). In
  general, one should avoid all qualitative
  judgments.
• Of course, you can say good practice, good
  example, etc. But dont use it as a value
  judgment.
• (e.g.' This is a good article)

30
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• true'', pure'',
• In the sense of good'' (it is judgmental).
• perfect''
• Nothing is.
• an ideal solution''
• You're judging again.

31
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• today'', modern times''
• Today is tomorrow's yesterday.
• soon''
• How soon? Later tonight? Next decade?
• we were surprised to learn...''
• Even if you were, so what?

32
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• based on'', X-based'', as the basis of''
• careful can be vague
• different''
• Does not mean various'' different from what?
• in light of''
• colloquial
• lots of''
• vague colloquial

33
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• kind of''
• vague colloquial
• type of' (meaning kind of)
• vague colloquial
• something like''
• vague colloquial

34
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• just about''
• vague colloquial
• number of'' a percentage of
• vague do you mean some'', many'', or
  most''? A quantitative statement is preferable.
  
• probably''
• only if you know the statistical probability (if
  you do, state it quantitatively)

35
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• obviously, clearly''
• be careful obvious/clear to everyone?
• simple''
• Can have a negative connotation, as in
  simpleton''
• along with''
• Just use with''

36
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• actually, really''
• define terms precisely to eliminate the need to
  clarify
• You will read about...''
• The second person has no place in a formal
  dissertation.
• How can poverty be reduced?
• Rhetorical Questions.
• Use sparingly, if at all.

37
Words and Phrases to avoid..

• this'', that''
• As in This causes concern.'' Reason this''
  can refer to the subject of the previous
  sentence, the entire previous sentence, the
  entire previous paragraph, the entire previous
  section, etc. More important, it can be
  interpreted in the concrete sense or in the
  meta-sense. For example, in X does Y. This
  means ...'
• e.g. Cheap production costs cause globalisation.
  This means cultural identity is diminished.
• Tom drove carelessly and eventually had an
  accident. This made his father angry.
• - the reader can assume this'' refers to Y or
  to the fact that X does it.

38
References

• Material adapted from
• Brown 199495 in Murray (2005111), Writing for
  academic journals, OUP
• Cottrell, S (2003) The Study Skills Handbook.
  Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan
• Purdue University http//www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/
  dec/essay.dissertation.html
• Soas
• Desmond Thomas LTU/IFCELS 2005