Friday, November 23, 2012

How to write a PhD? Great PhD resources

I found a number of books key resources in getting a PhD written:

  • Evans D. & Gruba P.   (2007). 2nd Ed. How to write a better thesis. Melb uni Press: Melbourne - plan the struture following standard format
  • Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation. Palgrave McMillan: Basingstoke.- chase paradoxes, rather than gaps in the literature, writing paragraphs (unity and coherence)
  • Booth, W.C. et al. (2003) The craft of research. U of C Press : London - focus on how/why questions
My key challenge (among many) was I didn't know how to write an essay. After two degrees (Commerce and Law), a Masters thesis (40,000 words), I could not write an essay. I had to go back to basics and learn to write a five paragraph essay. Topic: Cats are better than dogs. Discuss.
Write an answer and give it to someone who writes well and ask them; do I know how to write an essay? If you do not, then learn. Fast. If you are a researcher, research how to write an essay.


My archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20070830094840/http:/www.thejoie.com.au/phd/

My advice: Write a blog about your process (share your journey). See mine at www.valman.blogspot.com. I recently passed 10,000 views.

Lewin AY (2003) Letter from the new Editor JIBS (2003) 34, 1-4 @3
What makes a good paper - Journal of International Business Studies?

"path breaking original research"

"investigates significant research question"
"theoretically grounded [logical hypotheses]"
"appropriate data"
"state of the art empirical methods"
"useful implications for ... practice"
"clear statement of purpose"
"key findings that imply new and surprising insights"
"advance theory"
"appropriate and concise literature review"
"discuss core concepts"
"alternative explanations"

discuss
"draw out implications"
"advance theory"
"discuss implications"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great list of resources Richard. Thanks !!!

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