Category Archives: dissertation

the big book thesis has some advantages

Posted on May 2, 2013 by pat thomson

This final post in the series on publication in the PhD and as the PhD comes from Dr Greg Thompson, an Australian Research Council funded early career fellow at Murdoch University. Greg also blogs at Effects of Naplan and tweets … Continue reading →

Posted in dissertation, doctoral education, expert, monograph, PhD, PhD by publication, thesis | 4 Comments

should a journal editor know if a paper is from a doctoral researcher?

Posted on April 29, 2013 by pat thomson

One of the most obvious difficulties of a PhD which requires published, rather than publishable, papers is the dependence of the doctoral researcher on the reviewing process. At a very early stage they must brave what can be a lengthy … Continue reading →

Posted in dissertation, early career researchers, journal editor, PhD, PhD by publication, reviewing, thesis | Tagged journal, Pat Thomson, peer reviewing, PhD by publication, Thomas de Lange | 20 Comments

PhD by publication or PhD and publication – part two

Posted on April 22, 2013 by pat thomson

After my first post about the changing nature of the PhD and the move to PhD by publication I was contacted by a number of people who were doing the by-publication doctorate. They were enthusiastic about it. One group were … Continue reading →

Posted in Big Book, dissertation, doctoral education, doctoral research, equity, Europe, PhD, PhD by publication, publishing, research education, research project | Tagged Pat Thomson, PhD and publication, PhD by publication | 19 Comments

story-boarding the thesis structure

Posted on March 28, 2013 by pat thomson

As is generally the case, one of my two posts for the week focuses on academic writing. This time I’m looking at putting the thesis together. It usual for people to start writing their thesis text in the middle – … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, dissertation, middle work, storyboarding, thesis | Tagged middle work, Pat Thomson, storyboarding, structuring the thesis | 12 Comments

keeping your thesis reader/examiner on track

Posted on March 21, 2013 by pat thomson

I’m currently reading my fifth doctoral thesis for the year. I realized a while ago that I’ve now examined at least fifty doctorates. I guess that’s a lot. I recently decided to go back to my examination reports to see … Continue reading →

Posted in dissertation, doctoral research, examiner, reader, signposts, thesis | Tagged keeping track, Pat Thomson, reader, signposting, thesis | 8 Comments

thirteen reasons researchers get asked to write their methods chapter again

Posted on January 31, 2013 by pat thomson

Dissertation examiners always check the methods chapter or methodological writings carefully. And the more the doctorate is seen as research training, the more important it will be for examiners to make sure that the relevant writings in the thesis really … Continue reading →

Posted in dissertation, doctoral research, epistemology, methods chapter, research methods, research project, theory, thesis | Tagged dissertation, failing thesis, methods chapters, Pat Thomson | 31 Comments

the methods chapter as a party

Posted on January 24, 2013 by pat thomson

I recently posted some misgivings I had about methods chapters. I suggested in that post that one of the most frequent problems I saw in dissertations was when the methods chapter was written as if it was an essay rather … Continue reading →

Posted in dissertation, methods chapter, the party metaphor | Tagged methods chapter, party metaphor, Pat Thomson | 16 Comments

I’d like to thank… the important work of acknowledgements

Posted on January 14, 2013 by pat thomson

I’m co-editing a book series at present. I’m not sure why, since I swore after the last one I would never do it again, but there you go. Just a slow learner or weak-willed, I guess. Last week one of … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, acknowledgements, books, dissertation, gift economy, Ken Hyland, thesis | Tagged acknowledgements, gift economy, Ken Hyland, Pat Thomson, text work/identity work | 6 Comments

writing the thesis from day one is risky

Posted on October 25, 2012 by pat thomson

I was reading a final draft of a thesis written by one of the doctoral researchers I was working with. I’d just started and the text was going along very nicely indeed until I reached the end of the first … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, dissertation, identity, literature review, thesis, voice, writing | Tagged academic writing, Pat Thomson, text work/identity work, writing, writing as learning | 15 Comments

the digital thesis – more than a storage issue

Posted on October 22, 2012 by pat thomson

I’ve been dipping in and out of a recent publication on digital theses – The SAGE Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses (Andrews et al, 2012). This is the kind of text that only libraries buy, because it’s expensive, and … Continue reading →