How to Write a Successful Research Grant Application : A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists PDF
Preview How to Write a Successful Research Grant Application : A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists
S E C O N D SECOND S E C O N D E D I T I O N Write EDITION E How to D I T I O N a Thesis H o w t o How to Write a Thesis provides a down-to- Praise for this edition: W earth guide to help students shape their “This book has filled a huge theses. It offers valuable advice as well as gap in the market…Using practical tips and techniques, incorporating wonderful examples, this r useful boxed summaries and checklists to help students stay on track or regain their way. book will not only help i The book is the culmination of many years of students build up a writer's t work with postgraduates and academics and ‘toolbox’, but will also build e covers all aspects of the research, writing and confidence and empower editing involved in the process of successfully thesis writers.” completing a thesis. a PROFESSORWILLIAMJ. KERR, In this book, the author moves beyond the Department of Pure and basics of thesis writing, introducing practical Applied Chemistry, WestCHEM, T writing techniques such as freewriting, University of Strathclyde generative writing and binge writing. This h edition now deals with the range of different Praise for the previous doctorates on offer and integrates more e Rowena Murray examples of thesis writing. Building on the edition: success of the evidence-based approach used “Rowena Murray's down to s in the first edition, there is also new earth approach both coverage of Masters theses and undergraduate i recognises and relieves research projects, along with outlines of s useful generic structures for social science some of the agony of Write and humanities projects. writing a PhD. The ad vice in this book is both practical How to How to Write a Thesis is the most grounded guide available to students on the and motivational; M practicalities surrounding thesis writing and sometimes it's ‘PhD-saving’ should be recommended reading for, and by, too.” u all supervisors. DRCHRISTINESINCLAIR, r Lecturer in the Centre for a Rowena Murrayis a Reader in the Department of Educational r Academic Practice and and Professional Studies at the University of Strathclyde. She has Learning Enhancement at the a Thesis developed a Thesis Writing course, runs consultancies on Writing University of Strathclyde y for Publication, and has published books on many aspects of academic writing. She is also the author of How to Survive your Viva (Open University Press 2003) and Writing for Academic Journals (Open University Press 2004). Cover design Hybert Design •www.hybertdesign.com www.openup.co.uk How to Write a Thesis SECOND EDITION How to Write a Thesis SECOND EDITION Rowena Murray Open University Press Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First published 2002 Copyright © Rowena Murray 2006 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10: 0 335 21968 3 ISBN-13: 978 0 335 21968 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Poland by OZ Graf. S.A. www.polskabook.pl This book is dedicated to Jimmy Walker And to anyone who’s thinking about writing a thesis out of irrepressible enthusiasm for a subject – do it! Chapter 8 is for Morag. Contents Preface to the first edition xiii Preface to the second edition xv Acknowledgements xvi Overview xvii Introduction: How to write 1000 words an hour 1 The need for this book 1 What the students say 3 A writer’s ‘toolbox’ 5 Principles of academic writing 11 The literature on writing 12 Disciplinary differences 14 Thinking about structure 18 Prompts 19 Enabling student writing 20 Writing in a second language 21 Grammar, punctuation, spelling 22 Goal setting 24 Lifelong learning 27 Audience and purpose 29 Timetable for writing 29 Checklist: defining the writing task 30 1 Thinking about writing a thesis 31 Doctorate or masters? 31 What is a doctorate? 32 New routes to the PhD 35 Why are you doing a doctorate? 36 Internal and external drivers 37 PhD or professional doctorate? 38 Full-time or part-time? 41 What will you use writing for? 42 Regulations 43 How will it look on the page? 46 viii CONTENTS Demystification: codes and guides 47 How will my thesis be assessed? 53 What are the criteria? 54 Defining ‘originality’ 58 What is the reader looking for? 60 IT processes and needs 64 Reasons for not writing 67 Peer discussion and support 67 Your first meeting with your supervisor 68 Questions for reflection 70 Prompts for discussion 70 Writing timetable 70 Checklist: pre-planning 72 2 Starting to write 73 Can’t it wait till later? 74 Audiences and purposes 75 Primary audience 75 Secondary audience 76 Immediate audience 77 The role of the supervisor 78 A common language for talking about writing 82 Writing to prompts 86 Freewriting 87 Generative writing 99 Checklist: starting to write 102 3 Seeking structure 103 Revising your pro posal 104 Outlining 105 Finding a thesis 107 Writing a literature review 108 Plagiarism 121 Designing a thesis 123 ‘Writing in layers’ 125 Writing locations 127 Writing times 128 Checklist: seeking structure 129 CONTENTS ix 4 The first milestone 130 First writing milestone 131 The first-year report 131 From notes to draft 132 Dialogue 135 Monitoring 137 Pressure 138 What is progress? 139 Work-in-progress writing 140 A writers’ group 147 Checklist: the first milestone 154 5 Becoming a serial writer 155 What is a serial writer? 156 Scaffolding for an argument 157 Paragraph structure 157 Introductory paragraphs 161 Writing about the method(s) 163 Study buddy 165 Regular writing 166 Problems with writing 167 Writer’s block 168 Incremental writing 176 Writing binges 176 Developing a writing strategy 178 Checklist: becoming a serial writer 179 6 Creating closure 180 What is closure? 180 Interim closure 182 Don’t put it off any longer 183 Research journal 184 Writing habits 190 Halfway point 192 Brown’s eight questions 194 Pulling it all together 196 A design for writing 197 Frustration 197 Writing conclusions 198 Checklist: creating closure 203
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