Dissertations

1
Dissertations

• Preparation and Presentation

2
PRACTICALITIES

• CLEAR A SPACE THAT IS DEDICATED TO DISSERTATION
  THINKING AND WRITING
• CUSTOMISE YOUR COMPUTER EG SPELL CHECK, GRAMMAR ,
  THESAURUS.
• WRITING SCHEDULE- IT WILL NOW BE IMPORTANT THAT
  YOU HAVE LONGER REGULAR UNITERRUPTED TIME
  (DISSERTATION TIME)
• NO DISTRACTIONS (NO TV ETC)

3

• FIND AN HONEST EDITOR! A FRIEND FAMILY MEMBER
  THAT WILL CHECK GRAMMAR, SPELLING, FLOW AND
  CONTENT

4
PLANNING EACH CHAPTER

• BEGIN WITH ONE CHAPTER AND CONCENTRATE ON THIS.
• 1 REVIEW YOUR DATA
• 2 READ AND REFLECT
• 3 SYSTEMATICALLY ORGANISE .PLACE ALL NOTES,
  TEXT,DATA,CHARTS IN CHAPTER PILES.
• 4 LOOK AT OTHER DISSERTATIONS AND FOLLOW THEIR
  ORGANISATIONAL PLAN (THIS IS NOT CHEATING)

5
WRITING UP

• BEGIN WRITING UP BUT DO NOT WORRY TOO MUCH
  ABOUT STYLE AT THIS STAGE
• WRITERS BLOCK- WRITE WHATEVER EVEN IF IT SEEMS
  BAD!
• YOU DO NOT HAVE TO START AT THE BEGINNING?
• USE SUB HEADINGS IF IT HELPS
• REVISE AS YOU WRITE PARAGRAPHS

6
BE THE READER NOT THE WRITER

• WHEN YOUR FIRST CHAPTER IS COMPLETE LEAVE IT FOR
  AT LEAST A FEW HOURS
• IMAGINE YOU ARE THE READER/EDITOR AND BE CRITICAL
  OF YOUR WORK
• GIVE THE PIECE TO YOUR FRIENDLY EDITOR OR YOUR
  SUPERVISOR IF THERE IS TIME

7
THE ACADEMIC STYLE

• TO SOME EXTENT YOUR STYLE OF WRITING WILL REFLECT
  YOUR PERSONALITY
• HOWEVER- FOUR IMPORTANT POINTS
• (GLATTHORN AND JOYNER 2005)
• 1 CLARITY DONT TRY TO SOUND OVER SCHOLARLY -THE
  IMPORTANT THING IS THAT YOUR WORK MAKES SENSE
• 2 BUT YOU MUST MAKE A BALANCE BETWEEN CLEAR AND
  MATURE
• 3 DONT SOUND INFORMAL OR COLLOQUIAL
• 4 DONT BE TOO CONFIDENT OR TOO TENTATIVE

8
THE FINAL PACKAGE

• FOLLOW THE DEPATMENTS GUIDELINES FOR DISSERTATION
  PRESENTATION
• TECHNICAL-
• 8-10 THOUSAND WORDS
• BLUE FRONT COVER
• ADEQUATE MARGINS AND DOUBLE OR 1.5 SPACED
• ALL PAGES NUMBERED
• PRECEDING INTRO ROMAN POST INTRO ARABIC

9
STRUCTURE

• TITLE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ( IF YOU WISH)
• ABSTRACT
• CONTENTS
• APPENDIX
• INTERVEIW SCHEDULE
• QUESTIONNAIRE
• TRANSCRIPTS
• ANY OTHER EVIDENCE
• BIB /REFERENCE