Writing Your Dissertation Thesis: Starting to write

1
Writing Your Dissertation / Thesis
Starting to write

• Andrea Cheshire
• Robert Blake

Thanks to Anwen Woodcock Maki Yasui
2
Initial writing tasks

• Ideas while reading
• Documenting reading
• Summaries
• Reading synthesising background theory
• Critiques of other research
• Drafting revising proposals
• Logging experiments/pilots/observations
• Sketching plan of work Gantt chart etc
• Explaining sequence of work in sentences
• Sketching structure of thesis
• Speculative writing routes forward in project
• Design for progress or 1st year report
• MURRAY 2002

3
Writing prompts in the middle stages to outline
your work

• What can I write about -the context background
• My research questions/hypotheses are e.g. 50
  words
• Researchers who have looked at the subject are
  50 words
• They argue that.25 words
• Smith argues that .25 words
• Brown argues that .25 words
• Debate centres on the issue of .25 words
• My research is closest to that of X in that .25
  words
• 
  slightly adapted
  from Murray 2002

4
Why do we bring other scientists into our work?

• To demonstrate to readers and examiners that we
  are familiar with the field and that we have been
  selective in reviewing relevant studies
• To provide an overview of current knowledge in a
  particular area of application and or/methodology
• To provide a context for our current study and to
  locate it within a specific field
• To review other studies critically
• To highlight a gap in knowledge, areas of
  application, etc
• To justify the use of a particular methodology,
  area of application, etc
• To support to data/facts
• We can either do this by
• Rephrasing in our own words adding an
  acknowledgement. This can be either through
• summary
• or
• paraphrase
• This is the norm for most writing in
  sciences engineering. It also makes it easier
  for the writer to comment critically on the
  source text.
• 2. Direct quotation acknowledgement this
  method is much less common in science
  engineering

5
Citing other writers in the body of your text

• When youve paraphrased or summarised another
  writer, always acknowledge the source. You can do
  this in two ways
• 1. Begin the sentence with the authors surname
  year of publication in brackets e.g.
• Berridge (2002) has demonstrated that statistical
  analysis can be used
• This method emphasises the author you are citing.
• 2. Paraphrase the idea, then give the surname of
  the author year of publication in brackets e.g.
• Statistical analysis can be used to demonstrate
  (Berridge 2002)
• emphasises the study rather than author and can
  be used when the focus is on studies in your
  field.
• See Andy Gilletts very helpful UEFAP site. Look
  under citation and reporting
  http//www.uefap.co.uk/writing/writfram.htm

6
Integrating the source into your text

• When reviewing other studies, they need to be
  integrated into your own text, rather than read
  as a series of disconnected voices of other
  researchers patchwork writing. So when you
  refer to another writer, you should begin and end
  in your own voice, with the middle part
  consisting of paraphrase or summary of the source
  and the final part a commentary on the
  contribution of this writer. However, you will
  still need to adopt an impersonal scientific
  style See session 1.
•  
• Harvey (1998) outlines 3 basic principles for
  integrating sources in academic writing
• 1. Use sources as concisely as possibly so your
  own thinking isnt crowded out by your
  presentations of other peoples thinking, or your
  own voice by your quoting of other peoples
  voices
• To do this paraphrase is more effective than
  quotation.
•  2. Never leave your reader in doubt as to when
  you are speaking and when you are using materials
  from a source.
• Part of your responsibility as a scientific
  writer is to make the source of any data very
  clear so that it can be verified.
• 3. Always make clear how each source you
  introduce into your paper relates to your
  argument (analysis)
• It is poor practice to insert quotations or a
  series of paraphrases without indicating how each
  source is used. Use paraphrasing or (sparingly)
  quotations, for example, to support data, to
  illustrate a point, to give an opposing view, to
  evaluate and criticise a point

7
Organising a review of other studies

• Avoid providing a purely narrative account of
  other studies. The literature review needs to be
  constructed logically and youll need to find a
  way of grouping studies. Here are some
  suggestions for doing so
•  
• Follow a general- to -specific pattern
• Chunk studies using a matrix structure, by
  explaining the overall structure first before
  examining a particular branch in detail. Tell the
  reader when you are returning to the main stem of
  the branch signposting
• Introduce each paragraph with a clear topic
  sentence (beginning sentence of each paragraph).
  This should make clear the aspect of literature
  that is being reviewed and the purpose of that
  aspect of your review.
• Each study discussed needs a clear introduction
  that highlights its purpose or relevance. A
  possible pattern is
• General idea of study
• Application/relevance
• Strengths and weaknesses
• If relevant, relationship with to the present
  study

8
Reporting other scientists work

• One of the most difficult skills for postgraduate
  students is to develop a critical discussion of
  other writers' work. Dissertation writers and
  supervisors have commented on the difficulties of
  
• 1 clearly distinguishing their critical voice
  from that of the authors they are reading
• 2 indicating their position in relation to the
  work they are reviewing.
•  
• The next slide gives a list of verbs used to
  report others writers ideas.
• Select 10 of these that would most commonly used
  in your field
• Delete verbs that would not be used in your
  field?
• Are there verbs you wish to add?

9
Verbs for reporting other scientists findings
10
How reporting verbs indicate your position
towards the source

• You can see from the table that selecting a
  particular verb involves taking a particular
  position in relation to other scientists ideas.
  We can grade reporting verbs on a scale i.e. from
  those that show a strong level of agreement to
  those that indicate a strongly negative stance.

Show can be seen as positive as it reports an
observation or finding as a proven fact. At the
other end of the scale, claims disassociates the
writer from the position of the author cited.
This allows the writer to establish a critical
perspective and follow with a counterargument.
11
How reporting verbs indicate your position
towards the source
Task The table below contains 16 reporting verbs
that range from positive to negative. Can you
sort these verbs into the categories in table 2?
12
Writing About Your Own Research

• How it is different from writing a paper
• Length
• More space for arguments and justification
• Tell a story over a number of studies
• Accumulative
• Demonstrating competence as a researcher
• Audience?
• Scholars in area, external examiner, supervisor