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

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

i

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

ii

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.

iv

Readersofthisbookwillrealisethatitisdifficultenoughtoobtaina
researchdegreewhenwritinginone’sownhomelanguage.Those
whosefirstlanguageisnotEnglishwil