A good dissertation will: As stated, you must check with your supervisor and with course literature what the required structure is, as there are many variations. A basic framework would be: Some tips on how to produce a good dissertation
Acknowledgement of your sources is a vital and integral part of the academic process. If you do not do this, particularly at dissertation/postgraduate level, you could be accused of plagiarism. Extensive referencing and bibliography indicate wide research, a correct approach and the use of these sources as evidence to back up the student’s argument. A mediocre dissertation will: The advice given here is very general in nature: you must always check with your supervisor and with course documentation what the specific requirements are on your course. Start thinking early on about what you would like to write about. Consult as soon as possible with your supervisor for advice on the expected scope of your dissertation. Remember that you will not simply be writing about “IT in Primary Education”, but instead will be focussing on specific aspects, perhaps trying to solve a problem communication research paper, querying currently held beliefs, or arguing a particular case or “thesis”. Your final title may instead be something like: You should write in an appropriate academic style, avoiding colloquialisms, contractions, phrasal verbs and vagueness. You do not need, however, to use long, over-formal vocabulary: you should aim at all times for clear and concise expression. Your dissertation is a major commitment and will be a long way to deciding your final award. It is obviously very important, therefore, to plan meticulously. Other sections you may be asked to include could be terms of reference, procedure how to write cover letters for resumes, methodology, executive summary, literature review or recommendations. In consultation with your supervisor, draw up an initial reading list, making sure that this is wide-ranging, relevant and as up-to-date as possible. Approach this reading with specific questions in mind; if not, you will waste a lot of valuable time reading irrelevant information. A computer for every pupil? This title will therefore probably need to be refined over the weeks before you agree the final version with your supervisor. Little or no referencing and a short bibliography indicate little research carried out, a generally un-academic approach and maybe even copying from source material. In your conclusion, don’t start undermining your work by apologizing for poor results or complaining about lack of time. Always be positive. If there were problems, analyze these objectively in an appropriate place. Any research has weaknesses; they’re part of the process. Avoid using “he/she”, “her/his” etc. The best way to avoid this and still be non-sexist is to make the subject plural whenever possible. (For example, “Teachers should always be in control of their class”.) Avoid footnotes, unless you’re using a numerical referencing system. Avoid too many brackets. Use bold and italics sparingly and consistently. Avoid underlining. Avoid using “etc.” If you’re going to include some sort of survey or questionnaire, make this as wide as possible, but remember that companies and organisations are swamped with this sort of thing and the response rate will probably be very disappointing. have a very general or unclear title. Title page (See Guide 1.25) You should normally avoid too much personal language (“I”, “my” etc), although opinions on this vary. As a rule of thumb, only use it when you are describing what you actually did and when you are expressing personal opinions, probably in your conclusion. Don’t refer to yourself as “we” unless you are describing some sort of groupwork, and don’t refer to yourself as “the author”: it’s pompous and confusing. Most of your writing will probably need redrafting several times, and you must carefully proofread everything you write, or perhaps get someone else to do this for you. Any revisions needed will of course take time, as will the binding of your finished dissertation, if this is necessary. have a clear objective, based on a well worked out thesis or central question. Your dissertation is a piece of academic work; an intellectual achievement. You are not expected to produce something completely original, but instead, to should show understanding of key issues and theories; evidence of thought and insight; critical analysis and evaluation, and a demonstration that you have been able to research a topic within your professional domain and present your findings appropriately. Simple description is not enough, and will result in a low mark. And remember to consistently and correctly make references to your sources. By the time you do your dissertation you should be very clear on how to do this. If not, check with course tutors or in course literature what the preferred method is (normally at Birmingham City University it is the “Harvard Method”) and make sure you know how to use it. It can be a complicated area, but there are many guides and staff to help you (us, for example). Work out a timetable and stick to it. You really have no excuse to leave things to the last minute. There will always be problems: difficulties in obtaining books or materials; delays in receiving replies to letters or questionnaires; temperamental printers and floppy disks; mysterious dissertation-eating dogs. You must allow for these, however: none is an excuse for not handing in your work on time. Sentences should be well-punctuated, complete but not over-long. Paragraphs should be adequately developed, withnormally at least five or six sentences. You should use linking words or phrases to guide your reader through your writing. Make sure all figures are integrated into your text and referred to. Want to swap writing strategies? We're starting a discussion group on scholarly writing. Join us! Start a thread! And, finally, I’d advise anyone writing a dissertation to shift her thinking. You are no longer simply a graduate student; you are a Ph.D. candidate. As such, writing is part of your job. In fact, it’s the most important thing you can do for yourself and for your future. Get into the habit of daily writing now and you will have a prolific career. But you have to start today. Right now. So stop reading this and get to work. The greatest obstacle to any dissertation writer, by far cv and cover letters template, is the all-too-common tendency (conscious or not) to try to avoid the negative feelings associated with the difficult stages of the writing process. If you make writing a part of your work-week routine essay about love of family, there will be good and bad days. On the good days, the prose will flow out of you at a rate that you didn’t think was possible. Or you’ll finally figure out how you want to argue your main point. Or you’ll realize that what you thought was one chapter is actually two or three different ones. On the bad days work experience essays, nothing that you write will seem good enough. You’ll hit the backspace and delete keys so much that they’ll start sticking. You’ll move the same paragraph five times before you delete it out of frustration. The trick is to go with the ebb and flow of writing google case study interview, to ride out the bad days. I often advise the students in my workshops to “get comfortable being uncomfortable.” Very often in the writing process, you will feel shitty. You will write shitty first drafts. You will wrangle with disparate sources, gargantuan amounts of data, and difficult theoretical concepts. You will often feel lost and frustrated and tired--uncomfortable. The successful writer knows that feeling lost, frustrated mba essay examples career goals, and tired is just a part of the process of coming up with something great. Writing is thinking, and good ideas take time. There are bound to be a few false starts and dead ends along the way. If you feel shitty about the writing and force yourself to write anyway, you will not only finish your dissertation, you will allow yourself the opportunity to work through complicated arguments and say something interesting or even something pretty great. All professional writers know that good books and interesting articles are the product of several drafts. So is your dissertation. In fact, the dissertation is better thought of as the lousy first draft of an eventual book. No one but you expects your dissertation to be perfect. What advisors want to see is honest effort and interesting thinking on the page. Trust me, most of us remember all too well what our dissertations were like (mostly terrible: just ask your advisor if you can read a copy of hers!), and we can empathize with your struggles. But we also know that the only path to a completed dissertation and a blossoming career is through writing—putting ideas down on a page, and wrestling them into shape. Here’s the basic, scalable program that I recommend: Sit your butt down in a chair, preferably in a quiet and distraction-free room. Disable your internet and turn your phone on silent. Come into your writing space having already done the research you need for that day’s writing task. You will not be researching or looking anything up during your writing time (research and editing are discrete tasks, believe it or not, and should be done in separate blocks). That’s it. Seriously. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are no magical shortcuts to the production of prose, academic or otherwise. If you want to complete your dissertation in a reasonable amount of time—and trust me, you do—you must learn to prioritize the act of writing itself and write every day. Writing must become a non-negotiable part of your daily routine. Here’s the rationale for writing every day: Writing is thinking. It takes time and it’s supposed to be challenging. The biggest mistake I’ve seen most graduate students make is to mythologize what I call “the moment of genius.” Because writing is thinking, brilliant thoughts do not just appear on the page after long hours of arduous musing on a subject. In my experience about new york city essay, the best ideas almost always come about through the act of writing itself—usually just at that moment when you’ve run out of steam and are staring down a seemingly intractable problem, desperately wanting to quit. These are the breakthrough moments. When you’re writing a dissertation, one of the most difficult intellectual tasks a person can do, commitment to the writing process is far more important than genius. If the smartest person in the world cannot learn to write, then she won’t be a successful academic. Period. In the past year writing a dissertation nursing, I’ve coached over 60 Ph.D. candidates from diverse departments—from computer science to French literature, from anthropology to political science. And despite the differences in discipline and style of writing, the process and my advice remain the same. Everyone struggles with similar technical and emotional issues: procrastination, distraction, anxiety, structuring an argument, finding their voice, integrating theory and evidence. It’s very hard work, this writing-your-dissertation thing. The trick is to not make it even harder by avoiding the work itself. As a former journalist, assistant professor, and seasoned dissertation-writing-workshop coach at New York University example essay for scholarship for college, I can promise you there is only one fail-safe method, one secret, one guaranteed trick that you need in order to finish your dissertation: Write. Don’t do “poms”—timed sessions of 25 minutes with five-minute breaks in between—for writing. They work well for other discrete tasks, like research or formatting or getting your bibliography together, but not here. Instead, try to write for a longer, uninterrupted time. In NYU’s workshops, we write for 50 minutes straight, with 10-minute breaks writing techniques for essays, for 4 hours daily. That might not be feasible if you work or have young children, but plan on writing five days a week, no matter what, for a minimum of two hours each day. It’s doable, I promise. Theresa MacPhail is an assistant professor in the Science, Technology & Society Program at Stevens Institute of Technology.
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