Dissertation workshop 3

What, you mean I have to write 15,000 words?

Topics for today

1. Why planning is the most important thing you can do.2. Why organising is the most important thing you can do.3. Why structuring is the most important thing you can do.4. Why writing is the most important thing you can do.5. Why editing is the most important thing you can do.• Let’s take for granted that you are each researching,

analysing and READING. • Think of what follows as suggestions not rules.

1. Planning

• Timetable for next 3 months.• Plan for the next 2 weeks. • Days off, job applications, holidays

• What can go wrong:– Shift in topic/focus/research question– Access is impossible/hard/takes ages– Illness– Anxiety

2. Organising

• Readings– Academic material– Grey literature, context material

• Data – Data – Processes, analysis

• Thoughts• Draft writing• Time spent organising isn’t time wasted… unless it’s

all you do.

Thoughts on how to organise

Umberto Eco How to write a thesis (MIT, 2015)Use your thesis structure to organise your preparatory work.

- write your secret title - write an annotated table of contents - write an introduction

Write them just for you. Write them with an expectation that they will change

What is a secret title?

• Topic: creative industry higher education• Focus: HE in Malaysia, policies that stress

knowledge economy, many new HEIs.• Title: ‘Globalising Creativity: aesthetics,

technology and markets in HE.

• Secret title: what’s the hidden curriculum? Are students assumed to be consumers?

What’s an annotated table of contents?

• An outline of your eventual structure (subject to change), where you add notes, connections, thoughts, references to chase so as to keep on top of the flow of ideas, and so you can make conscious decisions about developments in your argument.

• Number your outline sections – then you can mark up notes as you go.

What it contains?

• Statement of the issue • Previous research • Your hypothesis/argument/research questions.• Evidence: what data do you draw on

(methodology)• What does the data say?• Interpretations of the data, answers to the

questions.• Conclusions and further suggestions.

4. Structuring – it follows from organising

• Structure of overall thesis (think about that table of contents)

• Structure of each chapter• Structure within sections• Structure within paragraphs• Cross referencing between paragraphs,

sections and chapters

Structuring the thesis

• Contingent on how YOU decide to organise your thesis.

• Many styles are possible and acceptable… work with your supervisor, and with your data to let that guide you.

• The ‘standard model’ – see next 2 slides, and http://www.doceo.co.uk/academic/dissertation.htm for a thorough discussion of how to organise your work using this model

• Consider going beyond the standard ‘science’ model

Boring, if accurate. 1. Title Page Page 12. Contents Page Page 23. Abstract Page 34. Introduction Page 45. Literature Review Page 86. Methodology Page 177. Data Analysis and Findings Part I Page 288. Data Analysis and Findings Part II Page 399. Discussion Page 4310. Conclusion Page 4611. Bibliography

Combine these?

A minimal improvement?• Contents Page• Title Page ‘global aesthetics ‘ • Contents Page• Abstract• Introduction ‘The promise of HE in an emergent knowledge

economy’• Lit Rev ‘Theorising HE: omissions and silences’ • Methodology Qualitative methods for Researching aesthetics• Data Analysis and Findings Part I Curricula for a creative future• Data Analysis and Findings Part II student experiences • Discussion assessing creative industry HE• Conclusion• Bibliography

Integrated literature structure

• Introduction: why this matters, real world context– as appropriate. Explaining the secret title

• Theory: locating study in broad perspective • Methodology: epistemology, multi methods. Explaining

the grounds for the study’s knowledge claims• X Thematically organised research chapters. Literature,

analysis and discussion integrated. • Conclusion answering the questions set out at the

start, bringing the thematic chapters together as part of a whole.

Oh! Now I don’t know what to do!

• Research advice books and websites are always conventional• There are conventions you must follow (e.g. locating in the

literature, developing independent arguments, scholarship and referencing.

• There are conventions you can play with (if you have ethnographic data, then that asks to be treated differently to a survey; if your thesis is theoretical, then you need a different approach to if it draws on interviews).

• Think it through and talk it through, especially with supervisor. • Expect it to be messy• Look at examples of published work and other dissertations

Structuring chapters

• Not so different from structuring essays • EXCEPT• Rely on cross referencing…• … what marks the thesis as different to an essay

is the way its multiple, complex and interweaving dimensions/sections/chapters/themes are brought together to a whole.

• YES. IT IS VERY HARD TO DO THIS.

Tips for structuring chapters and sections

• Keep on top of the outline: is this section 1.2 or section 1.2.5.2*? (i.e., what’s its relationship to the whole)?

• Signposting is your friend: see http://explorationsofstyle.com/2015/04/09/the-evolution-of-signposting/

• Reverse outlining/paragraph replanning: don’t just plan what you’ll do, check what you did. See: https://medium.com/advice-and-help-in-authoring-a-phd-or-non-fiction/what-is-paragraph-re-planning-c9a7e694d4ec

• Different chapters might need different approaches. For discussion of literature see- http://patthomson.net/2013/09/16/literature-reviews-beware-the-list/ *don’t have 4 layers of subsections

4. writing

• Writing is a process. • It is labour: it hurts brains and hands. • Find your rhythm.• Write often. That’s what the delete key is for. • Style matters a bit.

– It’s better to use simple language (but not colloquialisms) and be clear than to use elaborate phrases.

– Be consistent (use of pronouns, spellings, punctuation).– Don’t be too consistent (how many times to you say

‘however’, ‘in particular’, ‘not only… but also’.– Sentences should have a verb in them.

Voice

• “voice is a struggle to figure out how to present the author's self while simultaneously writing the respondents' accounts and representing their selves. Voice has multiple dimensions: first, there is the voice of the author. Second, there is the presentation of the voices of one's respondents within the text." (Hertz, 1997: xii).

• Conventions, audience, politics all matter when thinking about writing.

Have respect for your audience!!

– Carefully consider what they know or don’t know about your chosen topic.

– E.g. if writing for a sociological audience, you can assume some familiarity with key theories or theorists

– If writing for the general public, your style can and should be different than a peer-reviewed publication

For those doing empirical research:

• Ethical and legal obligation to represent your informants perspectives as comprehensively and fairly as possible

• How?• Check your interpretation with sources (where

appropriate); use multiple excerpts that reflect your informant’s own voices (where appropriate)

5. Editing

• A question of clarifying writing.• A question of checking structure• A question of narrowing argument• A question of focus. ‘a thesis that is too broad cannot be understood, and therefor is always an act of pride’ (Eco, 2015: 10)

• See http://explorationsofstyle.com/2011/01/19/committing-to-extensive-revision/

Finishing it

• 15,000 words• By the deadline• Means discipline now and a couple of late

nights later…• Nothing is perfect: it should be as good as it can

be in the time that you have.

• A handy checklist: http://patthomson.net/2014/08/28/finishing-off-the-phd/

What should go where?List of work I used

Table presenting interviewee details

‘real world’ context of my study

Current research specifically on my topic

Abstract

Research questions/hypotheses

Acknowledgements

Critical interrogation of a key reading on your topic

Presentation of central arguments

Limitations of the study

Title page

Epistemological

discussion

Details of sample

Interrogation of claims in literature that you find flawed.

Reflexive discussion

Definitions of key terms.

List of work I read