【简介】

Do you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of writing your thesis? Are you concerned that your PhD will take over your life?

This much-needed text will help you to develop the writing skills you need to succeed at every stage of your research. It covers core topics such as:

developing a research topic through writing

exploring key concepts through writing

building a structured chapter framework

completing a first draft

writing clearly, coherently and in an appropriate academic style.

Each chapter features insights from researchers along with tasks and self-evaluation exercises to help you develop your own strategies for success. Invaluable to thesis writers from a range of disciplines, The PhD Writing Handbook will help you to think more clearly and communicate more effectively with your readers.

Desmond Thomas is a lecturer at the University of Essex, UK, where he currently teaches a PhD Thesis Writing course. He has over 10 years’ experience of designing and teaching writing skills courses for PhD researchers.

【目录】

List of Illustrative Materials

Acknowledgements

 Introduction

1 The Stages of PhD Thesis Writing

The traditional model of the PhD

Alternative models of the PhD

Making a start

2 Developing a Research Topic through Writing

Choosing a topic

Finding and developing a topic that is feasible

Finding and developing a topic that is specific and significant

Developing an updated rationale for the research

3 Managing Research Reading

Reading aims

Problem areas associated with reading

Notetaking: From reading into writing

4 Producing a Literature Review

The literature review as a process and a product

The purposes of a literature review

Alternative approaches to the literature review as product

Literature review problem areas

5 Exploring Key Concepts

The importance of concept development within a research project

The starting point for concept exploration

The process of concept exploration: the next steps

Other ways of exploring concepts through lateral thinking

Exploring concepts in writing

6 Building a Structured Chapter Framework

Producing an overall framework

Types of chapters within the structural framework

Chapter introductions and conclusions

 7 Establishing Productive Writing Routines

Goals, schedules and routines

When will you write? How will you allocate time?

Setting goals and targets

Where and how will you write?

Feedback on writing

 8 Writing Clearly, Concisely and Coherently

Clarity and coherence

The nature of coherence

Coherence at chapter level

 9 Developing Academic Style

Expectations of academic style

Expectations of difficulty

Classifying ‘difficult texts’

10 Completing a First Draft

The basic writing cycle

Managing reader expectations

Drafting and redrafting

Monitoring progress

Writing and editing

11 Motivating Yourself to Write

Writing is more than just a technical exercise

The nature of writer’s block

In which situations does writer’s block occur?

What are the causes of writer’s block?

What kind of strategies or solutions can we use for writer’s block?

Coping with rejection

12 Reporting and Analysing Research Findings

Structuring your data report

Reporting quantitative data

Reporting qualitative data

Drawing conclusions

13 Completing your PhD Thesis

Writing the final version

Oral presentations and writing

The viva

14 Writing throughout an Academic Career

Appendix 1: Useful Websites

Appendix 2: Suggested Answers for Task 2.1

Appendix 3: Research Rationale Template

References

Index