Writing Your Thesis

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Writing Your Thesis
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Dr Sato Juniper Graduate Research
Scholarshipssato.juniper_at_uwa.edu.au

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Thesis

• Effective academic writing is an important skill
  that is not automatic. It can be developed and
  enhanced by the use of careful thought, planning,
  and some simple techniques.

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Sub-theses

• Effective writing benefits both the writer and
  the reader
• In a thesis, effective writing is vital (often
  the deal-breaker)
• You can enhance the effectiveness of your writing
  by understanding and managing the relationship
  between yourself as the writer and your reader/s.
  
• There some simple techniques that you can use to
  manage the relationship with your reader/s.

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Recommended Resources

• A Guide to Scientific Writing (2nd edition)
• David Lindsay (1995) Longman Books
• This readable book outlines some extremely useful
  principles of scientific writing, with excellent
  examples and suggestions. It has a good chapter
  on writing a thesis. Very highly recommended
  (should be compulsory?) reading for all research
  candidates, including those in non-scientific
  disciplines.
• You Can Write (2nd edition)
• Eammon Murphy (1985) Longman Books
• This book is a very user friendly guide to
  grammar and punctuation. It includes clear
  explanations of grammar rules, exercises (with
  solutions) and examples. Highly recommended for
  all candidates who are unsure of the rules of
  grammar and punctuation.
• How to Get a PhD (second edition)
• Estelle Phillips and D.S. Pugh (1994)
• This book includes much excellent advice on
  graduate research, including a chapter on the
  thesis. All research candidates should read
  this.
• All of these books are available for loan from
  Student Services

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Features of good scientific/academic writing

• accurate
• precise, clear, brief in that order of
  importance
• effective structure, with all sections containing
  appropriate information
• simple, clear language
• short, correctly structured sentences and
  paragraphs
• correct spelling and grammar
• simple, clear illustrations
• easy to read and understand
• Interesting.

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Sentences and paragraphs

• A sentence is a group of words that makes sense
  on its own. It contains one main point, which
  should be at the beginning. A sentence must
  contain at least one verb.
• A paragraph is a structured group of sentences.
  It contains one main point, which should be at
  the beginning.

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Academic writing and fiction key differences

• The purposes are different
• In fiction, the information may be hidden (eg in
  a detective story) or put in unexpected places
  for effect.
• In academic writing the information has to be
  obvious (ie you have to avoid ambiguity and spoil
  the surprise)

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• The houses themselves were substantial and very
  decent. One could walk all around, seeing little
  front gardens with auriculas and saxifrage in the
  shadow of the bottom block, sweet williams and
  pinks in the sunny top block seeing neat front
  windows, little porches, little privet hedges,
  and dormer windows for the attics. But that was
  outside that was the view on to the uninhabited
  parlours of the colliers wives. The
  dwelling-room, the kitchen, was at the back of
  the house, facing inward between the blocks,
  looking at a scrubby back garden, and then at the
  ash-pits. And between the rows, between the long
  lines of ash-pits, went the alley, where the
  children played, the women gossiped and the men
  smoked. So, the actual conditions of living in
  the Bottoms, that was so well built and that
  looked so nice, were quite unsavoury because
  people must live in the kitchen, and the kitchens
  opened onto that nasty alley of ash pits. (From
  Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence)

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• The conditions of living in the Bottoms were
  quite unsavoury because the people lived in their
  kitchens. This meant that the people tended to
  congregate in the dirty ash pits, which were next
  to the kitchens, rather in than the clean gardens
  at the fronts of the houses.

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Hint assessing your own fluency and paragraph
structure

• Try this with a piece of your own writing
• Read each paragraph carefully. In the margin
  alongside each one, write a brief note of the
  main point..When you have done this for the whole
  section, these notes should be a coherent summary
  of the whole story for that section. This is a
  good test for fluency.
• If you are not able to identify the main point
  of a paragraph, you may have two or more
  paragraphs mixed together. Separate them so that
  each paragraph contains only one main point.
  This means that all the sentences in that
  paragraph relate to that point.
• For each paragraph for which you were able to
  identify a main point, look to see whether that
  point is written clearly in a sentence (topic
  sentence). If it is, where is it? It should be
  at or close to the beginning of the paragraph.
  If there is no topic sentence, write one and put
  it at the beginning of your paragraph.
• Now check the fluency again by reading only the
  topic sentences. Does the story flow coherently?
  Are your paragraphs in the right order?

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Some thoughts to ponder

• Good writing is not difficult - the thinking is
  the really difficult bit
• Many people would sooner die than think. In
  fact, they do. (Bertrand Russell)
• Three minutes thought would suffice to find this
  out but thought is irksome and three minutes is
  a long time. (AE Houseman)

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• Data are not information, information is not
  knowledge, knowledge is not understanding and
  understanding is not wisdom. (Russell Ackoff)

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Data, knowledge, information and wisdom

• Data the stuff we measure and record
• Information data that are processed to be
  useful provides answers to how much, which,
  what, when, where, who questions.
• Knowledge application of data and information
  answers how questions.
• Understanding appreciation of why.
• Wisdom evaluated understanding why it is (or is
  not) important, and what it means in the total
  scheme of things

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Thinking

• Research Field
• (the research is about)
• Mineral composition of the solar system
• Research Problem
• (why the research is needed)
• The composition of the moon is not known (and we
  really need to know this because)
• Research Question
• (the question/s the research will answer)
• What is the moon made of?
• Thesis statement/ Hypotheses
• (your educated guess/es about the findings)
• The moon is made of 60 kryptonite ,20 iron and
  20 cheese.
• Research Method
• What I did to test my hypotheses
• Research Results
• What I found
• Discussion/evaluation
• What my findings mean in relation to my
  hypotheses and other research, both past and
  potential

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Thinking The Thesis Brainstorm

• Choose a section of your thesis that you would
  like to plan (ie that you have not already
  planned). This may be a chapter, a section of a
  chapter or even the whole thesis you choose.
  In the middle of a large piece of paper, write
  the key point/thesis statement/main purpose of
  the section.
• Then, wherever you like on the paper, brainstorm
  the section. What are the ideas/concepts/informati
  on that must/could be included? Start anywhere
  and do not attempt to put the ideas in order.
  Use abbreviations and notes, ignore spelling etc
  and do not filter ideas at this stage. Avoid
  cop-outs such as introduce x
• Now, review your brainstorm. Circle the points
  that represent main headings or subsections.
  Mark subsidiary points. Cross out any points
  that do not relate to the main point you first
  wrote (save them for later).

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The Thesis Storyboard

• Transfer your main headings or subsections to
  Post-it notes, one per Post-it.
• On a second piece of paper, experiment with the
  order of the Post-it notes until you arrive at a
  logical sequence of ideas for your story. Add
  more Post-it notes as you think of new points.
  Delete some if necessary (save them for later)
  When you are happy with the story, record the
  main points and use them as topic headings or
  topic sentences.
• Continue this process for each chapter, section
  and even paragraph.

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Readers Expectations

• Effective reading is a process of anticipating
  what the author is going to say and expecting it
  as one reads (Tannen, 1979).
• From R. Lawe Davies Coherence in tertiary student
  writing Writers' skills and readers'
  expectations PhD Thesis (UWA)
• Readers actively seek a basis for predicting what
  will come next.
• Readers make predictions that relate to both the
  topic and the organisation of text.
• Readers expect to continue predicting from the
  beginning to the end.
• Readers become confused and irritated when their
  predictions are not fulfilled.
• So, given that our task as academic writers is to
  be reader-focussed

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• We can use techniques to help readers to predict
  and follow the stories we want to tell.
• Predictive statements and organisers are useful
  for this.

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Reader prediction topic content

• Readers predictions are based on both convention
  and what the writer tells them
• Topic predictions may be fulfilled by word
  repetition, predictable word groups
• Items that fulfil readers predictions need to be
  in a noticeable position at the front of the
  text unit (the power of position).
• Unpredicted/unpredictable topics increase reader
  difficulty

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Position is pivotal, and so is signposting

• The beginning of the paragraph or sentence
  affirms the topic (gets the reader comfortable).
  It is the most powerful position.
• Each new idea is then linked firmly to the one
  before it with transition words or phrases
  (signposts).

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Transition words and phrases

• Transition words and phrases help guide the
  reader through the document. For example,
  consider the following Ideally, a paragraph in a
  technical document should not contain more than
  about 12 lines. Another useful rule is that a
  paragraph should contain more than one sentence.
  However, sometimes this is not appropriate and
  the paragraph consists of a single sentence.

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Predictive Statements and Organisers

• Predictive statements and organisers are
  statements or words that help a reader to predict
  the content and organisation of the information
  that will follow.

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Predictive statements 2 kinds

• 1. Explicit This paper will present the key
  features of the PhD programme, then examine the
  value of a PhD degree, and finally will outline
  some strategies for students preparing to start a
  PhD.
• 2. Implicit There are four main issues to
  consider when commencing a PhD choosing a
  supervisor choosing a topic becoming an
  independent researcher and preparing a PhD
  thesis.
• Prediction four sections in known order

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Organisers

• occupy a front position in paragraph or sentence
• may be used to organise the whole piece of
  writing or a section
• 2 kinds unifiers and dividers

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Unifiers and Dividers

• Unifiers signal continuity of the topic from one
  paragraph to the next. Repeated key words, or
  different forms of the same word, are useful
  unifiers reproduce/reproducing/reproductive.
• Decide on some key words and stick to them.
• You can also (carefully!) use pronouns it they
  and adjectives this these as long as the
  subject is 100 clear.

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• If the baby will not eat the banana, mash it with
  a fork

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Unifiers and Dividers

• Dividers indicate to the reader that there is a
  change (even if ever-so-subtle) from one topic to
  another, and lead the reader through it. There
  are several different forms of dividers
• Topic indicators headings or organising
  statements
• Transition indicators
• time indicators In the morning Later
• information hierarchy indicators First Next
  Another Further Finally
• sequence indicators First Second Third Last.
• logic indicators Accordingly Thus Therefore
  Conversely In contrast

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Hint

• It is important to repeat keywords
• Use variety in the transition words, ie do not
  over-use the same ones, because it is irritating.
• Thus, therefore, accordingly, consequently, so,
  it follows

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Fulfilling your readers predictions

• Title/headings use content key words
• Introduction fulfil the predictions from the
  title by using the same key words, in strategic
  positions provide a clear basis for accurate
  prediction of the rest of the document
• Body of text topic key words and transition
  words and phrases in strategic positions ensure
  that there are NO unpredicted topics. Ensure that
  the sequence is logical.
• Conclusion check that you have used all the key
  words and kept your promises.

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Giving feedback on writing

• Determine first what you are being asked to do.
• Give feedback from your own perspective (I dont
  understand rather than this is unintelligible)
  
• Remember that writing is a personal exercise be
  constructive
• Be honest

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Receiving feedback

• Ask for feedback on your writing at every
  opportunity the more the better
• Be clear about what you want when you ask for
  feedback
• Be open to the feedback you receive and do not
  deny the readers experience (its ok to disagree
  about what needs to be done)
• Use every criticism as an opportunity to reflect
  on and improve your writing.