Writing up your Research for a Dissertation or Thesis , livre ebook

UJ Press - Frank Bannister , Dan Remenyi

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139 pages

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In some circles there is an attitude that academic research consists of two distinct activities. The first of these is the execution of the research activities themselves and the second is writing it up in such a way that it may be presented either for a degree or for publication in a scholarly journal. This is an archaic attitude towards conducting academic research in the 21st century.The writing up of research is an integral part of the research itself, which should begin at the outset of the research activity. It is increasingly appreciated that the writing of ideas is a major contributor to their proper understanding. Leaving the writing until the end does not only lead to an accumulation of tiresome work but actually detracts from the learning available to the researcher through the research experience.This book addresses these issues as well as explaining what the requirements are to produce a readily acceptable research dissertation.Readers of this book have my best wishes in achieving their objectives through their work with academic research.

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Publié par	UJ Press
Date de parution	16 août 2022
Nombre de lectures	6
EAN13	9781776413430
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Writing up your Research
for a Dissertation or Thesis

Dan Remenyi & Frank Bannister

Writing up your Research for a Dissertation or Thesis

Published by UJ Press under the Hoopoe Press imprint
University of Johannesburg
Library
Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
PO Box 524
Auckland Park
2006
https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/

Compilation © Dan Remenyi 2022

Chapters © Dan Remenyi 2022

Published Edition © Dan Remenyi 2022

First published 2012 by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited

(978-1-908272-28-7)

This edition 2022

https://doi.org/10.36615/9781776413430

978-1-7764134-2-3 (Paperback)

978-1-7764134-3-0 (PDF)

Cover design: Hester Roets, UJ Graphic Design Studio

Typeset in 12/14pt Calibri

Contents..............................................................................................i
Preface...............................................................................................iv
Acknowledgments.............................................................................vi
Akeydefinition–thenameofthebook............................................1
Usingthisbooktoachieveyourobjectives................................2
Part1–Wheretobegin?....................................................................4
Whentosubmitforexamination...............................................8
Part2–Writingthedissertation......................................................10
Obstaclestowriting..................................................................11
Anintegratedstory...................................................................13
Flowandcontinuity..................................................................15
Theuseofthepersonalpronoun.............................................15
ThetenseoftheverbsusedͲhistoricalpresent......................16
Minimisetheuseofadjectivesandadverbs............................17
Acronyms/Abbreviations..........................................................18
Thelaunchpad.........................................................................18
Diagrams,tables,figuresandphotographs..............................19
Somedetailsofwhichtobecareful.........................................20
References................................................................................21
Copyrightsandtrademarks......................................................22
Scheduledwriting.....................................................................22
Writer’sblock...........................................................................23
Draftingandredrafting.............................................................23
Proofreadingandediting..........................................................24
Learningtowriteacademically.................................................26
Universityrulesforproducingthewrittendocument.............27
Theresultofthedissertation...................................................29
Learningsourcesforacademicwriting.....................................29
Gettingtotheend....................................................................30

Part3–Themainbodyofthedissertationorthesis.......................31
ThefirstchapterͲintroducingtheresearch............................31
ThesecondchapterͲwhatisknownaboutyourtopic............33
ThethirdchapterͲhowtheresearchwillbedone?................39
ThefourthchapterͲanaccountoftheresearchͲwhatwas
actuallydone?..........................................................................48
ThefifthchapterͲFindingsandConclusions...........................54
ThesixthchapterͲlimitationsandfutureresearch.................63
Part4–Thedissertationasawholeandintegrateddocument......67
Part5–SomeGeneralThoughts......................................................70
Part6–Theleadingpages................................................................71
Coverpage................................................................................71
Abstract....................................................................................72
Certificatesofownwork..........................................................72
Acknowledgement....................................................................73
Dedication(ifany)....................................................................73
Otheracademicoutputs...........................................................73
Tableofcontents......................................................................74
Tablesoffiguresandtablesoftables.......................................74
Appendices...............................................................................74
Listofreferences......................................................................74
Glossary....................................................................................75
Abbreviationsand/oracronymsused......................................75
Questionnaireorinterviewschedule/s....................................75
Researchprotocol.....................................................................76
Ethicsprotocolandrelatedcorrespondence...........................76
DataacquiredͲeithertranscriptsornumerictables...............76
Otherdetailedexplanatoryevidenceacquired........................77
Part7–DataManagement:Makeswritingupeasier......................78
Directoryandfilenames..........................................................79
Directoriesandsubdirectories.................................................80
Mergingfilesorcombiningdata...............................................81
Backingupdata........................................................................82

Referencemanagementsoftware............................................83
Summaryandconclusion.........................................................84
Part8–TheMonographDissertationversusthePapersApproach85
TheMonographDissertation....................................................86
PapersApproach......................................................................86
DothePapersneedtobepublished?......................................87
Theresearchtopicandtheindividualresearch.......................88
LeadingandEndingNarratives.................................................89
TheLeadingNarrative..............................................................89
TheEndingNarrative................................................................90
WhyundertakeaPapersApproachtotheDissertation?.........91
Whichroutetothedoctorateshouldbepreferred?...............92
WritingofthePaper.................................................................93
Part9ͲAuthors’reflectionsonthecontentsofthisbook...............94
Appendix1–Referencelist..............................................................96
Appendix2–Interestingwebsites...................................................97
Appendix3–Numberofpagesinatypicaldoctoral
dissertation................................................................98
Appendix4–Somecommonerrorstoavoidwhenwriting.............99
Appendix5ͲThechallengeofwritingwithadequaterigourwithout
obfuscation..............................................................104
Appendix6–Bibliography..............................................................109
Appendix7ͲSomeMoreUsefulWebTools...................................111
Appendix8–Glossary....................................................................113
Index...............................................................................................124

iii

Producingapieceofacademicresearchpresentsmanychallenges,
twoofwhichareacquiringtheskillofacademicwritingandknowing
whatissueshavetobeaddressedineachchapterofthefinished
dissertationorthesis.

Writingadequatelyforaresearchdegreedoesnotcomenaturally
tomostpeople.Itisalearntskill.Itisdifficulttoacquirethisskill
andextensivepracticeisneeded.Itisthereforeimportantthatfrom
theoutsetresearchdegreecandidateswriteaboutwhattheyare
doingandobtainadvicefromtheirsupervisor/sateachstageofthe
research.

Inaddition,researchdegreecandidatesandtheirsupervisorsoften
havedifficultyknowingwhenandwheretostopthewriteͲupofthe
research.Thereisamystiqueaboutfinishingdoctoraldissertations
andsometimesaresearchercontinueswellafterenoughhasbeen
donetobecomfortablyawardedthedegree.ThiscanproduceexͲ
cessivelylongdissertationswhichthenrequirereducinginsize.OcͲ
casionallywehaveencounteredtwovolumedissertationsreaching
nearlyathousandpages.Youshouldnotneedsomanypagestoget
aPhDinmanagementorinformationsystems.

AlthoughthisbookisdensewithregardtotheinformationitconͲ
tains,ithasbeendesignedtobereadinfourorfivehoursanditwill
givethosewhoarepreparingtofinalisetheirresearchdegreedisͲ
sertationforsubmissionasetofguidelinestofollow.

ThebookcanalsoservethosewhomaybeinterestedinundertakͲ
ingacademicresearchandwhodonotknowwhatthefinaloutput
oftheirresearchwillneedtolooklike.

Readersofthisbookwillrealisethatitisdifficultenoughtoobtaina
researchdegreewhenwritinginone’sownhomelanguage.Those
whosefirstlanguageisnotEnglishwil