thesis writing.docx

thesis writing.docx

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thesiswriting

http:

//www.education.monash.edu.au/students/current/study-resources/thesiswriting.html

Writingaresearchthesis

Undergraduates,studentsstrugglingforMastersorPhDLevelconsiderdissertationwritingacrucialtaskwhichrequiresproperresearchandtakesyourvaluabletime.Ifyouarestuckwithadissertation,thisistherightplaceforyoutogetadissertationhelpbyprofessionals.Wewilltakeallyouracademicworriesawaywithourprofessionalguidanceanddissertationwriters.Ourcompanyprovidesdissertationwritingofhighqualityassistancetostudentsofallacademiclevels.

Thesiswritingemploysawiderangeofskills.Cullingtheseskillstogetherintheappropriateacademicmannerisamusttocreateaproperlycomposedthesis.Whilesucheffectivethesiswritingisamust,theabilitytowriteimpactfulanalysisandresearchcanbequitedifficult.However,brilliantqualitywritingisamustwhenproducingathesispaper.Ifthethesiswritingispoorthentheabilitytocompleteyourcourseofstudywillbeextremelydifficult.Thatiswhythoseinneedoftheperfectthesispapermustlookforhelp.（

Whatisathesis?

Athesisconsistsofanargumentoraseriesofargumentscombinedwiththedescriptionanddiscussionofresearchyouhaveundertaken.InthecaseofaPhDandanEdD,andtoalesserextent,aMasters（research）thesis,theresearchisexpectedto"makeasignificantcontributiontothechosenfield"（PhillipsandPugh,1994:

23）.Thisdoesnotmeantorevolutionisethefield（thoughsomePhDsmay）.Youareexpectedtoreviewcriticallytheavailablepublicationsinthefieldandattempttoaddanelementoforiginalresearchtoit.Thismaysimplymeanthatyouadaptsomeoneelse'sresearchplanforthesituationyouwanttoinvestigate;inthiswayyouextendtheknowledgeaboutanarea.Yoursupervisorwilladviseyouaboutsuitableresearch.

Minortheses（eg,forcourseworkMastersprogramsorHonourstheses）mayalsocontributetotheknowledgeinthefield,thoughthemainrequirementisthattheyprovideevidenceofanunderstandingofthefield.Reportingonminorresearchstudiesmaytakeawidervarietyofshapesthantheminorthesis.Accompaniedbyappropriatecommentariesandadequatediscussionoftherelatedissuesinthefield,videotapes,books,andworksofartandliteraturehaveallsatisfiedtherequirementsforMasterofEducationcourseworkprograms’researchreport.

Preparingtowrite/research

Thefollowingrecommendationsmayhelpyoutoworkefficiently,and,eventually,confidentlywhilecarryingoutandpresentingyourresearch.

Knowyourroleasaresearcher

ThegeneralresponsibilitiesofaPhDandEdDstudentandtheirsupervisorsaresetoutintheResearchDegreesinEducationHandbookandtheUniversityhandbookforresearchstudents.ManyoftheseresponsibilitiesarealsoapplicabletoMEdstudentsandwritersofthesesandtheirsupervisors.Animportantfeatureofthesestatedresponsibilitiesistheexpectationthataresearcherwillbefairlyindependent,andthathe/shewillaskforhelpwhenitisneededratherthanexpectthesupervisortoinferthisneed.Ontheotherhand,itistheresponsibilityofthesupervisortoteachthebeginningresearcherhowtodevelopafocus,conductresearchandwriteaboutthis（possiblysimultaneously）.Remember,though,thatintheAustralianacademictradition,teachdoesnotmeantell;rather,itmeansguide.

Itisnoteasytoaskforhelp,especiallywhenyouarefeelingsurroundedbyunachievabletasksandincomprehensibletexts.Justrememberthatindependenceisrelatedtoexpertise.No-onecanreasonablyexpectabeginningresearchertoknowallthereistoknowaboutresearchoraboutthefieldtheyareworkingon.Norcanasupervisorguesswhenyoufeellikeyou'redrowninginaseaofunknowns.Youhavetotellthemthatyouneedtoknowwhatthenextstepshouldbe（andnegotiatethiswiththem）,oraskthemtohelpyouidentifytheimportantareasinafield,ortotellyouhowtogoaboutfindingoutwhichcentraltheoristtobeginreading.Yoursenseofindependencewillgrow,andyourquestionswillchangeasyouprogress.

Researchstudentsmayfindthatanintensivescheduleofconsultationswiththesupervisorisnecessaryintheinitialstages.Supervisorsmaytakeamoredominantroleatthispoint（usuallybecausetheyfeeltheyhavetohelpyougetthingsstarted）.Ifyoufeelthatyouarelosingasenseofthisbeingyourwork,thinkcarefullyaboutthedirectionyouwouldlikeittotakeanddiscussthisassoonaspossiblewithyoursupervisor.

Youshouldmeetyoursupervisoronaverageatleastonceafortnight.Plansmall,achievabletaskstodobetweenmeetings,ratherthanhugeassignments.Researchstudentsoftenfeeldisappointedwiththeamountofworktheyachieveinagiventime,becausetheiraimsareoverambitious,orbecausetheydonotrealisehowcomplicatedataskis（PhillipsandPugh,1994）.Ifyouwanttodiscusssomethingyouhavewrittenwithyoursupervisor,provideacopyofitatleastthreeorfourdayspriortothemeetingifitisashortpiece,moreforalongerpiece.

Gettoknowthesoftwareavailabletohelpyou

Forallstudents,itwillbeveryimportanttoknowhowtouseacomputerforaccessinginformationandwritingthethesis.CoursesontheuseofsoftwareareavailableintheUniversity,andsupport（notcourses）isavailableintheFaculty.Endnoteisaveryusefulprogramavailabletoyou.Findouthowthesoftwarecanhelpyoutodotaskslikefillincitations,maintainaconsistentstyle,createaTableofContents,andimportworkdoneonothersoftware.

YoumustalsogettoknowhowtousethesystemsinthelibraryandtheLMR/Facultylibrary（on-lineonstudents'computers）whichprovideinformationneededtofindpublications.Coursesareavailableforthese.AsktheFacultylibrary（LMR）ortheEducationlibrarian（s）inthemainlibrary.

Decideonthesetofwritingconventionsyouwillfollow

Conventionsaretherulesyouneedtofollowinwritingregardingcitations,bibliographies,style（eg,languagefreeofgenderbias）,pagesetup,punctuation,spelling,figuresandtables,andthepresentationofgraphics.NotethatcomputerprogramssuchasEndNoteareavailableonFacultycomputers,soyoumayliketofindoutwhichsystemsofconventionstheyemployandchooseaccordingly.ProgramssuchasWordforWindowsincludetemplatesfordissertations（andotherkindsofwriting）;thesehelpyoutomaintainaconsistentuseofconventionsthroughoutyourthesis.

Youshoulddiscussconventionswithyoursupervisoratthebeginningstages.Ifyouneedanyhelpunderstandinghowtheconventionswork,youmayconsultDrRaqibChowdhury.ManualsareavailableintheLMRandthebookshop.

Lookatotherthesesinthefield

HundredsofthesesareavailableforyourperusalintheLMR.Lookatonesinyourfieldtogetideasaboutthemainfeaturesoftheir:

-organisation

-languageuse

-useofsubsectionsandstylesfortheheirarchyofheadings/subheadings

-pagenumberingandfont

Itwillhelpyouagreatdealinthefinalstagesifyouhavedecidedearlyontheconventions,thefontandtheuseandstyleofsubheadingsandheadings,andusethemconsistently.Manyprograms,includingWord,canhelpyoutocreateandmanageheadingstyles,andtousethistolatergenerateyourTableofContents.

Rememberthatwritingisathinkingprocess

Whenwewrite,weoftenchangeorconsiderablydevelopwhatwethink.Writingisnotjusttranslatingintowordstheimagesofourthoughts;it'snotassimpleasthat.Inwriting,wemaytransformourthoughts,redefinethemor,withgreatpainandeffort,giveshapetoourideas.Thus,itisimportanttogiveourselvestimetowrite.Manystudentsfindithelpfultobeginwritingearlyintheprocessofdoingaresearchdegree.Withthetimeconstraintsonathesiswriter,anearlystartisimperative.Remember,whatyouwriteisnotnecessarilywhatyouwillprintinthefinaldraft（thoughinsomepartsitmaybe）.Itisnotnecessary,infactitisoftenimpossible,todoallthethinkingandthen'writeitup'.

Itisalsoimportanttorememberthatwritingisexperienceddifferentlybydifferentpeople,andtheprocessestheypreferarealsodifferent.Chandler（1994）categoriseswritersas:

Architects（thosewhoconsciouslypre-planandorganiseanddolittlerevision）;Watercolourartists（whotrytowriteafinaldraftonthefirstattempt-littlerevision）;Bricklayers（whoreviseatsentenceandparagraphlevelastheyproceed）,andOilpainters（whopre-planlittlebutreworktextrepeatedly）.Into（orinbetween）whichcategory（ies）doyouthinkyoufall,ifany?

Itisusefultoknowhowyouprefertogoaboutwritingacademicpieces,butyoumayactuallyfinditusefultotryoutotherwayswithathesis,sincethisisprobablyaconsiderablylongerpieceofworkthananyyouhaveundertakenbefore.

PreparingproposalsandapplicationstotheEthicsCommittee

IfyouarewritingathesisforaPhDoranEdD,youwillhavetoprepareaproposalinordertoshowyourdepartmentandsupervisorthatyouhavedevelopedasuitablefocusforyourresearch.InthecaseofanMEdthesis,thesamemayapply.Aseparatebooklet（blue）providesanoutlineofthecontentsofaproposal.SampleproposalsarealsoavailablefromRosemaryViete.

Assoonasyouhaveworkedoutwhatyouwishtodo,youshouldestablishwhetherornotyouneedtoapplytotheUniversityStandingCommitteeonEthicsinResearchonHumans（SCERH）forapprovalofyourresearch.Ifyouaregoingtoobserve,talkto,consultordealwithlivinghumanbeings（oranimals）inanyway,significantorminor,youmustapplyfor