Dissertation Guide

Display Menu

• Introduction
  • About this guide
• First thoughts
  • How should I approach the task?
  • What is the writing process?
  • When should I start writing?
  • How can I concentrate on writing?
  • How often should I write?
  • Isn’t it better to write when you’re inspired?
  • What equipment should I buy?
  • Where and when should I write?
  • How can I be more professional?
  • Should I always use a computer?
  • What is repetitive strain injury?
  • How do I avoid repetitive strain injury?
• Early Stages
  • Research and writing – which comes first?
  • Thesis or dissertation – what’s the difference?
  • Thinking and writing – what’s the connection?
  • When should I look at other dissertations and theses?
  • Notetaking and writing – what’s the link?
  • Do different fields have different requirements for a thesis?
• Planning and structure
  • How important is planning?
  • What is involved in planning?
  • How important is having a structure to write to?
  • How do I generate a provisional structure or outline?
  • How do I make time to write?
  • How do I protect my work?
  • Is it different for part-time students?
  • How do I give order to a jumble of notes?
• Starting to write
  • Are there writing exercises to get me started?
  • Do I start by writing the introduction?
  • What should I expect from a first draft?
  • Do I have to follow my outline?
  • When do I use tables or graphs?
  • What’s the difference between the discussion and conclusion?
• Keep Going
  • How do I stay motivated?
  • How can I stay sane?
  • Who do I use as support?
  • How do I form a support group?
  • How do I keep my confidence?
  • What is a writing block?
  • What stops people writing?
  • I find writing very slow – what can I do?
• Rewriting and revising
  • How important is rewriting and revising?
  • How much rewriting should I do?
  • How do I decide what to change?
  • How can I revise my original structure?
  • How can I keep my literature review current?
  • How do I write an abstract?
  • I need to lose ten per cent – what do I do?
• Using feedback
  • What is the importance of feedback?
  • Who should I ask to read my work?
  • When should I ask people to read my work?
  • How do I ask someone to read my work?
  • How do I respond to feedback?
• Style
  • What is meant by academic style?
  • Where can I find guidelines on style?
  • Should I use active or passive voice?
  • What should go in appendixes and footnotes?
  • How complex or simple should sentences be?
  • What is meant by register?
  • How do I avoid sexist words?
  • What do I do with tables and figures?
  • What is a glossary?
  • When do I use exclamation-marks?
• Editing and finishing
  • What is meant by house-style?
  • What is copy-editing and sub-editing?
  • What else do copy-editors look for?
  • What’s happening in academic publishing?
  • When do I stop writing?
  • How do I proofread my work?
  • How do I prepare for a viva?
  • What last minute things should I look for?
• Further resources
  • Links

Links

How to Write a Phd Thesis
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html
Produced by the University of New South Wales, this site gives some simple and practical advice on the problems of getting started, getting organized, dividing the huge task into less formidable pieces and working on those pieces.

The Thesis Writing Process
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~oleary/gradstudy/node10.html
These pages are on the website of the University of Maryland. They provide a brief overview of the process of writing a thesis.

Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation
http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes
This site is provided by Michigan State University. The pages aim to assist graduate students in thinking through the many aspects of crafting, implementing and defending a thesis or dissertation.

How to Write A Dissertation
http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.dissertation.html
Maintained by the computer science department at Purdue University, this site provides a check-list to help you improve your dissertation or thesis.

Study Guides and Strategies

http://www.studygs.net
These guides are provided by Joe Landsberger as an educational public service. The guides are wide ranging and available in many languages.

Dictionary.com
http://www.dictionary.com
This site provides an online dictionary, thesaurus, and other resources for writers.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Another online dictionary and thesaurus.

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
http://www.grammarbook.com
An online reference guide and workbook for grammar and punctuation.

OneLook Dictionary
http://www.onelook.com/
This site searches all web-based dictionaries that define or translate words.

Barteby.com Great Books Online
http://www.bartleby.com
Unlimited access to books online, including Roget’s Thesaurus and Strunk’s Elements of style.

Plain English Campaign
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk
The Plain English Campaign is an independent organisation fighting for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook and other confusing language. The organisation defines plain English as something that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language.