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