How Long Should a Dissertation or Thesis Introduction Be? How long should the introduction to your thesis or dissertation be? The most obvious answer is as long as it needs to be – no longer and no shorter. This is…
Using Direct Quotations in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Direct Quotations in Your Thesis or Dissertation Whenever you quote the exact words of another author or speaker in your thesis or dissertation, it is essential that you quote those words with accuracy and observe with precision and consistency…
How To Integrate Words from Foreign Languages into Your Thesis or Dissertation
How To Integrate Words from Foreign Languages into Your Thesis or Dissertation If you are writing your thesis or dissertation in the English language but need to use certain words, phrases or longer passages of text in another language (or…
When Major Revisions Are Required after Your Thesis or Dissertation Exam
When Major Revisions Are Required after Your Thesis or Dissertation Exam Anticipating the inevitability of revisions after the final examination of a thesis or dissertation may be a wise strategy for any postgraduate student, but no candidate wants to think…
Using or Not Using the Serial or Oxford Comma in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using or Not Using the Serial or Oxford Comma in Your Thesis or Dissertation A serial or Oxford comma is the comma that appears immediately after the penultimate item in a series or list when a conjunction separates that item…
Creating a Perfect Thesis or Dissertation Title
Every PhD dissertation requires a title, and a good title can have a profound effect. The title is the very first part of your dissertation to be read by your committee members and examiners, and it also serves as one…
The Benefits of Writing for Your Thesis or Dissertation Supervisor as Soon as Possible
The Benefits of Writing for Your Thesis or Dissertation Supervisor as Soon as Possible The impulse to postpone writing something to submit to your supervisor or primary mentor until you feel you have truly worthwhile research to report and valuable…
Using Numerical References in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Numerical References in Your Thesis or Dissertation If you are writing a thesis or dissertation in the medical or biological sciences, you will probably need to use numerical references such as those required for a Vancouver style of referencing….
Choosing an External Examiner for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Choosing an External Examiner for Your Thesis or Dissertation Doctoral theses and many other long research-based documents that are written to earn credit towards academic and scientific degrees require formal examination by a committee. In most cases, this committee consists…
Expressing Scholarly Speculation Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Expressing Scholarly Speculation Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation Reporting the methodological processes and final results of most research is relatively straightforward, and advanced students tend to do an excellent job of it in their theses and dissertations. However, the…
Making the Best Use of Tables and Figures in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Making the Best Use of Tables and Figures in Your Thesis or Dissertation Scholarly writing can be significantly enhanced by the careful use of well-designed tables and figures of various kinds. By catching the eye and presenting complex information in…
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation The process of writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language tends to place new demands on the textual skills of most students, particularly those students whose first language is not…
Taking Critical Notes when Reading and Thinking about Sources for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Taking Critical Notes when Reading and Thinking about Sources for Your Thesis or Dissertation When working on your thesis or dissertation, you will no doubt be consulting scholarly sources such as previous trials and experiments, primary documents and theoretical studies…
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation?
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation? The short answer to that question is a resounding yes, good grammar matters a great deal, despite the fact that the validity of fussing over correct grammar seems to have…
PhD Theses or Dissertations: Footnotes-Notes for Documentation
PhD Theses or Dissertations: Footnotes-Notes for Documentation | Tips on How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Providing references via footnotes or endnotes is a very different style of documentation than the author–date and numerical referencing systems. The use of…
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation Each sentence of the scholarly English prose you write for your thesis or dissertation should start in ways that are precise and complete, and certain elements of writing should never…
Exploiting the Power of Keywords in your PhD Thesis or Dissertation
Exploiting the Power of Keywords in your PhD Thesis or Dissertation Although a tiny and, in the history of doctoral studies, relatively recent aspect of a PhD dissertation, keywords (also called ‘key words’ or ‘key terms’) pack a very large…
The Importance of Writing with Precision in a Thesis or Dissertation
The Importance of Writing with Precision in a Thesis or Dissertation As a postgraduate student working on a thesis or dissertation, you no doubt enjoy the benefits of a primary mentor or supervisor who is an expert in your area…
Maintaining the Flow of Text while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
Maintaining the Flow of Text while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation Life is full of distractions, and they seem to multiply in both number and kind when a student sits down to write a thesis or dissertation. The type of…
Reporting the Facts of Your Findings in a Thesis or Dissertation
Reporting the Facts of Your Findings in a Thesis or Dissertation There is no doubt that the ways in which to present and organise a report of research results in a thesis or dissertation vary widely. The nature of an…
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation If you are not a native speaker of English, but are writing a thesis or dissertation in the language, you may find yourself struggling at times to establish agreement between…
How To Choose the Right Proofreader for Your Thesis or Dissertation
How To Choose the Right Proofreader for Your Thesis or Dissertation Completing the research and writing required for a thesis or dissertation is an enormous undertaking. Whether it is considered in terms of time, effort or tuition, the investment of…
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations Lists are extremely effective tools for students who are writing a thesis or dissertation. A list can present a great deal of complicated material in a concise format that is especially clear…
Structure and Order for Reporting Results in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Structure and Order for Reporting Results in Your Thesis or Dissertation The task of reporting the results of advanced research in a thesis or dissertation can be enormously challenging. In most cases, the student designing the section or chapter dedicated…
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations Many thesis and dissertation candidates, especially those whose native language is not English, find the conjugation of English verbs somewhat tricky. For this reason, I have written a few…
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations Increasing numbers of students who are writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language are not native speakers of that language. Although they may possess excellent writing skills in…
The Importance of Proofreading Your Thesis or Dissertation
The Importance of Proofreading Your Thesis or Dissertation Writing a thesis or dissertation is for most postgraduate students the first instance in which they are required to produce a long academic or scientific document. The content of theses and dissertations…
The Value of a Working Table of Contents for Your Thesis or Dissertation
The Value of a Working Table of Contents for Your Thesis or Dissertation Although every student working on a thesis or dissertation begins the project with the best of intentions and an ideal outline in mind, it often proves difficult…
Using Word Effectively while Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Word Effectively while Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation As an efficient tool for authors, Microsoft Word can be incredibly helpful while you write your thesis or dissertation, but only if it is used effectively with an understanding of its…
Using Full Stops Effectively in Abbreviations for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Full Stops Effectively in Abbreviations for Your Thesis or Dissertation Academic and scientific writing tends to make frequent use of abbreviations to express a wide variety of concepts and terms as concisely as possible, so it is very likely…
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations Thesis and dissertation students who struggle with writing English prose that effectively presents their research often have difficulties when it comes to conjugating verb tenses. In this post, I…
Designing the Perfect Title for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Designing the Perfect Title for Your Thesis or Dissertation Visibility and accessibility are key issues to keep in mind when you are designing a title for your thesis or dissertation. Most researchers will find your work, or not, via the…
What Should I Record While Reading Sources for My Thesis?
Taking Useful Notes while Consulting Sources for Your Thesis or Dissertation Chances are that you will be reading many scholarly sources, both primary and secondary, print and digital, as you work on your thesis or dissertation. The time you spend…
Tips for Describing Methodology in a Thesis or Dissertation
Tips for Describing Methodology in a Thesis or Dissertation Writing excellent scholarly text is challenging, and this is particularly the case if you are new to the composition of long and complex research-based documents, as many thesis and dissertation students…
Writing for Your Thesis or Dissertation Supervisor for the First Time
Writing for Your Thesis or Dissertation Supervisor for the First Time There is no universal rule regarding when a thesis or dissertation student should submit the first piece of formal writing to his or her supervisor or primary mentor, or…
Crises and Progress When Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
Crises and Progress When Writing a Thesis or Dissertation There will be crises during the thesis or dissertation process. This is so often the truth that those very few exceptions to the rule come as rarities too delightful to bring…
What Not To Do while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
What Not To Do while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation Admittedly, there are so many things that postgraduate students should not do while writing a thesis or dissertation that a short post on the topic is little more than a…
Thinking and Reading Critically as a Thesis or Dissertation Student
Thinking and Reading Critically as a Thesis or Dissertation Student Since the ability to think critically is often among the skills attained while achieving an undergraduate degree, it may seem that there is little more to learn in this regard…
Rules for Using Relative Pronouns Correctly in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Rules for Using Relative Pronouns Correctly in Your Thesis or Dissertation The use of relative pronouns is often necessary when producing the kind of formal prose required in a scholarly thesis or dissertation, but using relative pronouns correctly can be…
Scheduling the Dissertation and Producing a Timeline
Scheduling the Dissertation and Producing a Timeline Although some doctoral candidates will reject the idea of a rigid schedule, hoping instead for their research and writing to rush ahead at their own speed towards a satisfactory conclusion, the fact is…
Thesis and Dissertation Support Groups and Writing Buddies
When Going It Alone Is Not the Answer when Writing your Thesis or Dissertation Advanced students writing theses and dissertations rarely proceed in a vacuum without assistance from their supervisors and committee members. No matter how conscientious and encouraging such…
Preparing Effectively for Your Thesis or Dissertation Examination
Preparing Effectively for Your Thesis or Dissertation Examination The examination that determines whether a thesis or dissertation will be approved and the candidate awarded the degree he or she has been working towards for years usually stands as a particularly…
How To Make the Most of Direct Quotations in Your Thesis or Dissertation
How To Adjust, Introduce and Discuss Quotations in Your Thesis or Dissertation When the words of writers or speakers are directly quoted in academic and scientific theses and dissertations, it is usually because those words are exactly what the students…
Planning a Presentation for Your Thesis or Dissertation Examination
Planning a Presentation for Your Thesis or Dissertation Examination Long before you walk into the final examination of your thesis or dissertation, you should know exactly what is expected of you during that examination. Ignorance of your responsibilities will not…
Turning a Critical Eye on Language and Logic in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Turning a Critical Eye on Language and Logic in Your Thesis or Dissertation The language and more so the logic of your thesis or dissertation have probably received critical attention and undergone revisions as you drafted chapters and worked with…
Varying the Structure of Sentences for an Interesting Thesis or Dissertation
Varying the Structure of Sentences for an Interesting Thesis or Dissertation As long as the meaning is clear, the problems, concepts and details described and discussed by academics and scientists may be intellectually stimulating regardless of exactly how individual sentences…
Drafting Your Thesis or Dissertation and Finding Your Perfect Proofreader
Drafting Your Thesis or Dissertation and Finding Your Perfect Proofreader If you are busy drafting chapters of your thesis or dissertation for your supervisor and discovering just how many aspects of a long research text require exacting attention to achieve…
How to Convert Your Thesis or Dissertation into a Journal Article
How to Convert Your Thesis or Dissertation into a Journal Article Successful publication is a vital aspect of an academic or scientific career, so it is an excellent idea to publish your thesis or dissertation as soon as possible either…
Publishing Your Thesis or Dissertation through a University Press
Publishing Your Thesis or Dissertation through a University Press Although discussions about the gradual decline of university presses have been relatively common in recent years, many university presses are not only still producing excellent publications on a regular basis, but…
Carving the Best from Your Thesis for a Publishable Journal Article
Carving the Best from Your Thesis for a Publishable Journal Article When you are in the process of using the work from your thesis or dissertation to write a publishable article for an academic or scientific journal, one of the…
