Stepping Stones to Achieving your Doctorate: Focusing on your viva from the start

263 Pages·2008·2.77 MB·English

by  Vernon Trafford

PRINT CMYK PROCESS COLOURS
Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 15mm
spine
Open UP Study Skills
Stepping Stones to Achieving your Doctorate:
By focusing on your viva from the start
• What criteria are used to assess the scholarly merit of a thesis?
V S
• What is the level of conceptualization that is expected in doctoral
e
theses? rn te
• How can you prepare to defend your thesis? o p
• What is the most effective route to achieving your doctorate? n
p

T
The starting point to achieving your doctorate is to appreciate how ra in
your thesis will be examined. The criteria that examiners use, the ff g
o
questions they ask in vivas and their reports provide templates against rd S Stepping Stones
which theses are judged. So, why not start from this endpoint as you
a t
plan, undertake, write and defend your research? o
n
d n
This book focuses specifically on how you, as a doctoral candidate, S e
can raise your level of thinking about your chosen topic. Doing so will h s
to Achieving
improve the quality of your research and ultimately contribute to o
s t
knowledge. It also explores the nature of conceptualization which is h o
sought by examiners in theses. For candidates, the book provides L
A
those essential characteristics of doctorateness that examiners expect e
s c
to find in your thesis. h your Doctorate
h
e
m i
The book will also appeal to supervisors, examiners and those who e
conduct workshops for doctoral candidates and supervisors. v
i
n
This practical book includes extracts from theses, examiner reports g
By focusing on your viva from
and cameo accounts from doctoral examiners, supervisors and

candidates. It also contains numerous visual models that explain y
o
relationships and processes for you to apply and use in your the start
u
doctoral journey.
r

Based upon contemporary practice, Stepping Stones to Achieving D
your Doctorate is an essential tool for doctoral candidates, supervisors o
and examiners. c
t
o
Professor Vernon Trafford and Dr. Shosh Leshem have collaborated
r
on researching into, and publishing on, the nature of doctorateness a
since 2002. Vernon is Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, t
e
Anglia Ruskin University, UK. Shosh is Head of Teacher Training at
Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel, and also lectures in
TEFL at the Faculty of Teaching, Haifa University.
ISBN-13: 978-033522543-9
ISBN-10: 033522543-8
Vernon Trafford
and Shosh Leshem
Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
Stepping Stones to Achieving your
Doctorate

Stepping Stones to
Achieving your
Doctorate
Focusing on your Viva from the Start
Vernon Trafford and Shosh Leshem
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 2008
Copyright © The authors 2008
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 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 Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London,
EC1N 8TS.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978 0 335 22543 9 (pb) 978 0 335 22542 2 (hb)
ISBN-10: 0 335 22543 6 (pb) 0 335 22542 X (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
CIP data applied for
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in the UK by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or
data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not
intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event.
Our book is dedicated to
Fran, Eira, Ansal and Nina
and
Menahem, Elad, Yair and Michal

Contents
List of examples xi
List of figures xiii
List of tables xiv
List of tasks xv
Acknowledgements xvi
1 Introduction 1
Reasons for writing the book 2
Purposes of the book 3
Terms used in the book 4
Readership for the book 5
What the book does not do 6
Sources of our evidence 7
Structure of the book 8
A final comment 10
2 The end is where we start from 11
Introduction 11
Visualising the doctoral journey 12
What is your research all about? 14
Focus of questions 18
Type and use of questions 21
Looking back and ahead 24
Appendix 2.1: A successful submission and defence 25
Appendix 2.2: An unsuccessful submission and defence 29
3 What is doctorateness? 33
Introduction 33
Doctorates are different 34
The difference is doctorateness 35
Demonstrating doctorateness 40
Reflecting on doctorateness 51
Looking back and ahead 52
viii CONTENTS
4 Architecture of the doctoral thesis 53
Introduction 53
Creating a visual strategy 54
Significance of structure 54
Producing an architecture 57
Using the architecture 59
Looking back and ahead 66
5 Exploiting the literature 67
Introduction 67
What is meant by ‘the literature’? 68
Engaging with the literature 72
Stages in exploiting the literature 75
Developing theoretical perspectives 78
Developing your conceptual frameworks 84
Looking back and ahead 87
6 Thinking about research design 89
Introduction 89
Functions of research design 90
Decisions are followed by more decisions 93
Ethical considerations 100
Linking back to earlier chapters 101
Auditing your research design 103
Looking back and ahead 104
Appendix 6.1: Explaining ethical considerations 105
Appendix 6.2: Linking the conceptual framework with research design 107
7 What’s in a word? 109
Introduction 109
Recognise responsibilities for the text 110
Examining what has been written 114
Conveying meaning 116
Creating and using titles 120
Producing text 122
Looking back and ahead 126
8 How to conclude your thesis in one chapter 127
Introduction 127
Before the conclusions chapter 128
CONTENTS ix
Conclusions are just conclusions 130
Hidden scope of the conclusions chapter 133
So, what should be included in the chapter? 138
Overview of the conclusions chapter 145
Looking back and ahead 146
9 The abstract 147
Introduction 147
Significance of abstracts 147
Visualising the abstract 149
Drafting the abstract 150
Why not market your thesis? 152
Looking back and ahead 153
10 The magic circle: putting it all together 156
Introduction 156
Impressions count 157
Integration and cohesion 160
The rolling audit 167
Completing the audit instrument 168
Strategic overview 169
Looking back and ahead 172
Appendix 10.1: Positive and negative features of theses 173
Appendix 10.2: Audit instrument 177
11 Preparing for the viva 180
Introduction 180
Understanding the administrative arrangements 181
Visualising the viva strategically 187
Preparing for your viva 191
Using ‘mock’ vivas 197
Looking back and ahead 199
12 Dynamics of the doctoral viva 200
Introduction 200
The under-researched doctoral viva 201
Research-based evidence about vivas 202
On the day 203
Understanding the roles of those attending your viva 207
Getting into the viva room 211
Looking at the examiners 214