Beglar D., Murray N. Inside Track to Writing Dissertations and Theses

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WRITING

DISSERTATIONS

& THESES

WRITING

DISSERTATIONS

& THESES

WRITING

DISSERTATIONS

& THESES

NEIL MURRAY & DAVID BEGLAR

INSIDE TRACK

www.pearson-books.com

INSIDE TRACK

WRITING DISSERTATIONS & THESES

An imprint of

GET THE INSIDE TRACK TO

WRITING A SUCCESSFUL DISSERTATION

Become a better academic writer and communicate your research & ideas ﬂ uently and

successfully whatever your discipline, prior knowledge or level.

Writing Dissertations & Theses will guide you through the whole process of writing an

academic dissertation, developing your ability to communicate your ideas and

research ﬂ uently and successfully. From conducting research, working with a supervisor,

understanding and avoiding plagiarism, right through to using feedback and editing to

improve your work and your skills, it will ensure that you understand and master the more

technical elements of producing well-written academic work.

With the in-depth understanding of what is involved in writing a successful academic

dissertation that this book delivers, you will be better prepared to deal with producing a

high-quality dissertation, whether you need to learn the basics of dissertation writing from

scratch, or are already a proﬁ cient writer but in need of a little extra speciﬁ c help.

Get the inside track to:

Rationales, strategies, examples, and tasks designed to increase your conﬁ dence,

motivation, and sense of achievement

Examples of the different genres and purposes of academic writing

A glossary of useful terms

Instruction on the use of software packages, e.g. Endnote

Advice on conducting academic research

Recycling/cross-referencing of concepts and ideas for ease of use

Visit www.smartstudyskills.com to access a wealth of useful information,

tips, templates and interactive activities to support your studies.

About the Authors

Dr Neil Murray is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and Senior

Consultant English Language Proﬁ ciency at the University of South

Australia. He has taught academic English and Applied Linguistics

at undergraduate and postgraduate level for twenty-ﬁ ve years.

Dr David Beglar is the Director of the Graduate TESOL Program

in the College of Education at Temple University, Japan

Campus. He has taught graduate level courses in Applied

Linguistics for ﬁ fteen years and has been the primary

advisor to over thirty doctoral dissertation writers.

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CVR_MURR1703_01_SE_CVR.indd 1 27/5/09 16:23:01

WRITING DISSERTATIONS

AND THESES

A01_BEGL1703_00_SE_FM.QXD 5/15/09 6:55 AM Page i

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INSIDE TRACK

WRITING

DISSERTATIONS

AND THESES

Neil Murray

Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and

Senior Consultant English Language Proficiency,

University of South Australia

David Beglar

Director of the Graduate TESOL Program, College of Education,

Temple University, Japan Campus

A01_BEGL1703_00_SE_FM.QXD 5/22/09 11:54 AM Page iii

Pearson Education Limited

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and Associated Companies throughout the world

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First published 2009

The rights of Neil Murray and David Beglar to be identified as authors of this work have

been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978-0-273-72170-3

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

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This book is dedicated to our parents,

Terence and Audrey Murray, and

David and Margie Beglar

A01_BEGL1703_00_SE_FM.QXD 5/15/09 6:55 AM Page v

GET THE

INSIDE TRACK

TO ACADEMIC

SUCCESS

Written by a team of highly experienced

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vii

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction xiii

1 ACADEMIC RESEARCH: AN OVERVIEW 1

Conducting academic research: common concerns 2

The similarities and differences between a thesis and a dissertation 3

Developing independence as a researcher and finding your voice 5

Meeting the challenges of academic research 8

Intellectual challenges 8

Emotional challenges 12

Motivational challenges 13

Becoming a member of an academic community 17

Research seminars and conferences 17

Local chapters and special interest groups 18

Networking in person and on the internet 18

Creating a support group 19

Choosing and working with your supervisor 19

The supervisor’s role 20

Factors affecting your choice of supervisor 22

Joint supervisions 25

What can go wrong in the supervisor–supervisee relationship 25

The upgrading process 26

2 PREPARING YOUR RESEARCH 29

Introduction 30

Familiarity with your university’s rules and regulations 30

Ethical considerations 32

Identifying a gap in the literature 34

Deciding on a research topic 36

Generating research questions and research hypotheses 38

Deciding on the research approach 41

Philosophical inquiry 42

Quantitative approaches 43

Qualitative approaches 47

Mixed-methods approaches 50

Disciplinary and subject variations 52

3 PREPARING TO WRITE 53

Reading and planning before you write 54

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Contents

viii

Sources of information 54

Information literacy 54

Types of source materials 55

Electronic sources of information 56

Oral sources of information 62

Identifying and selecting appropriate information 62

Know what you are looking for 63

Search for titles of books or articles 63

Perform an internet search of relevant theories or concepts 63

Perform a name search of relevant scholars 64

Read abstracts 64

Read synopses of books 64

Look through tables of contents 64

Check indexes 65

Scan books or articles for key terms 65

Read bibliographies 65

Scan library shelves 66

Read book reviews 66

Ask a librarian! 66

A final note 66

Note-making 67

Directing your note-making 67

Making your notes understandable 69

Recording your sources 75

Creating a plan and organising your argument 76

Why plan? 76

Laying out your plan 77

4 CLEAR AND EFFECTIVE WRITING 79

The style of academic writing 80

Clarity 80

Level of formality 82

Avoiding clichés 87

Keeping your writing gender-neutral 88

Supporting your statements 89

Avoiding plagiarism 90

Referencing and quotations 90

Acknowledging alternative perspectives 103

Introductions 104

Summarising and concluding individual chapters 110

Summaries 110

Conclusions 113

The mechanics of academic writing 116

Capitalisation and punctuation 116

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Contents

English and Latin abbreviations 128

Headings 128

Figures 132

Footnotes 134

Bibliography 135

Acknowledgements 139

Table of contents 140

Acronyms and abbreviations 140

Appendices 140

5 THE RESEARCH PROJECT 141

Introduction 142

The abstract 143

Keywords 145

The introduction 146

The background of the issue 146

Creating a sense of interest 147

Presenting key terminology 150

Statement of the problem 150

Purposes of the study 152

Significance of the study 153

Theoretical perspective 154

The audience for the study 156

Delimitations 157

The literature review 158

The purposes of a literature review 158

Reading critically 158

Options for writing the literature review 159

How to review published papers and books 160

Organising the literature review 161

Synthesising and summarising major sections 162

Presenting the gap in the literature 162

Stating the major purposes of the study 163

Stating research questions 164

Stating research hypotheses 167

Methodology 169

Research participants 170

Instrumentation 171

Procedures 174

Analytical approach 175

The results 176

Organising the results 176

Using tables and graphs to present results 177

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