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

Should I use active or passive voice?

“I think most writers would now advocate using the active voice (‘I conducted an experiment’) rather than the passive voice (‘an experiment was conducted’) if only to reduce the ambiguity. “An experiment was conducted”’ doesn’t actually make clear who did the experiment. Expressions like ‘’the author’’ are also confusing. Sometimes they kid the reader that the writer means the author of the last-mentioned reference rather than the writer of what is being read. I remember an article I once read by Geoff Watts, the medical writer. He thought the passive voice was the equivalent of two lovers gazing romantically into each other’s eyes and one saying, ‘”You are loved by me”.’ There are times when the passive voice might work well, but that’s not one of them.”