Authoring a Ph.D. How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

by Dunleavy, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9781403905840
• ISBN10: 1403905843
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780230802087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-16
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Authoring a Ph.D. Thesis involves having creative ideas, working out how to organize them, writing up from plans, upgrading text, and finishing it speedily and to a good standard. It also involves being examined and getting work published. This book provides a huge range of ideas and suggestions to help Ph.D. candidates cope with both the intellectual issues involved and the practical difficulties of organizing their work effectively.

Author Biography

Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, and a member of the Academy of the Social Sciences, London.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	ix
Preface	x
Becoming an author	1	(17)
Authoring is more than just writing	2	(3)
Different models of PhD and the tasks of authoring	5	(6)
Managing readers' expectations	11	(7)
Envisioning the thesis as a whole	18	(25)
Defining the central research questions	18	(8)
Doing original work	26	(17)
Planning an integrated thesis: the macro-structure	43	(33)
The whole and the core	44	(9)
Focusing down or opening out	53	(9)
Four patterns of explanation	62	(14)
Organizing a chapter or paper: the micro-structure	76	(27)
Dividing a chapter into sections	76	(8)
Devising headings and subheadings	84	(5)
Handling starts and finishes	89	(14)
Writing clearly: style and referencing issues	103	(31)
The elements of good research style	104	(16)
Effective referencing	120	(14)
Developing your text and managing the writing process	134	(23)
Drafting, upgrading and going public	135	(8)
Remodelling text	143	(5)
Organizing the writing process	148	(9)
Handling attention points: data, charts and graphics	157	(40)
Principles for presenting data well	159	(6)
Handling tables	165	(7)
Designing charts and graphs	172	(13)
Other techniques for data reduction	185	(7)
Using diagrams and images	192	(5)
The end-game: finishing your doctorate	197	(30)
From a first full draft to your final text	199	(10)
Submitting the thesis and choosing examiners	209	(8)
The final oral examination (viva)	217	(10)
Publishing your research	227	(37)
Writing and submitting journal papers	227	(24)
Re-working your thesis as a book	251	(13)
Afterword	264	(2)
Glossary of maxims, terms and phrases	266	(11)
Notes	277	(10)
Further reading	287	(4)
Index	291