Dissertation workshop 2 march 2015 Lynne Pettinger
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Outline for workshop 2 1.What is a dissertation? 2.Intellectual
challenges 1.Literature 2.Methodology 3.Going round in circles
3.Organisational challenges 4.Emotional challenges
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1. What is a dissertation? 1.A report of a research project.
2.May involve primary empirical material, secondary empirical
material or theoretical/exegetical work on a body of social thought
3.Governed by an identifiable and clear research question; 4.There
must be critical reflection on the methods used (including their
limits and the reasons why they warrant the kinds of claims made)
5.There must be substantive analysis of empirical or analytical
material. (Even where the topic is substantively a literature or
policy-review exercise, you are expected to offer original reasoned
argument and interpretation and to show evidence of a competence in
research.) 6.Should contain an argument that is the authors
own.
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How far have you got? A thought? A title? A paragraph? An idea
about what but not how? An idea about how, but not where your
argument is located? No clue?
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What next?
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Intellectual challenges 1.From research topic to feasible
research question. 2.Literature and the academic conversation
3.Methodology 4.(Analysis and argument) 5.(Writing) 6.Your skills
and knowledges 7.Ethical implications of your work
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Research questions See workshop 1 slides for process. Remember
circularity matters: read, write, talk and think. Write your
question in plain language Does it interest you? Is it open? Is it
full of assumptions? Is it answerable (given a set methodology and
the availability of data) What previous scholarship does it build
on?
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Research questions: what to avoid
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Literature
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Kinds of literature Often overlap between these kinds
1.Theoretical work 2.Existing empirical research into your topic
3.grey literatures (policy material, media, guidance documents
etc.; fiction?) For many of you, ALL of these have a place and
provide a source of information and inspiration for critical work.
e.g. theoretical work from a distinctive tradition can provide you
with an insight when you read existing empirical studies.
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Developing a literature strategy My research question is Other
researchers who have looked at this subject are They argue that
Debate centres around. There is still intellectual work to be done
on. My contribution will be. What I am most interested in (perhaps
beyond this question) is. A topic I think I should read more about
is.
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What to read? Build a bibliography (or 2 or 3) Good starting
points: previous reading, the actual library, google scholar,
journal databases. Find a few starting points and look for who is
cited and who cites this piece map the field. Keep records Skim
titles and abstracts
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How to read! Im serious What depth of reading is right for
different pieces? What to do with reading? How to read now and use
later. Tacit skills in doing research: organizing, filtering,
interrogating written ideas
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From note to use.
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methodology
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Normal Messiness The final product is linear (a series of
chapters) Getting there means going round in circles
Readwriteresearchwritereadand so on. At some point you decide how
to slice the cake. That means you make decisions about what themes
should be prioritised and what will you have to let go of. That can
feel like loss and compromise.
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On themes and levels ENDLESS QUESTION: Youth Becomings and the
Anti-Crisis of Kids in Global Japan Dwayne Dixon
http://scalar.usc.edu/students/endlessquestion/index A great
example of a dissertation that tries to reject linearity. Unpack
the mess here how do themes and levels overlap. Note how much
organisational work has gone on here you will also organise, but it
will be more hidden.
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Organisational challenges
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Emotional challenges Ordinary, miserable feelings: Im
overwhelmed Im lost Im exhausted Im behind I cant concentrate Im
lonely Im..
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Web resources
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writin
g-resources/writing-dissertation Straightforward and simple
http://patthomson.net Aimed at PhD students, but with lots of very
good ideas about specific sections of the thesis, and some hints
about the overall look and feel of a thesis.
https://vimeo.com/24434482 A different kind of dissertation!
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Workshop 3 Analysis and writing What does a dissertation look
like? 15000 words is NOT ENOUGH
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Sneak preview Traditional structure Abstract Acknowledgements
Introduction Literature review Methodology Results/ analysis
(Discussion) Conclusion Topic based structure Abstract
Acknowledgements Introduction Topic A Topic B Topic C (and so on)
Conclusion
