scattered across these pages. Lastly I would like to thank the stu-
dents from 18 disciplines who attended my PhD writing course
at LSE over more than a decade. Their questions, challenges and
innovations have consistently stretched my knowledge, and
convinced me that we could do more to help.
I hope that the enterprise of gathering these ideas together in
one volume will seem justified for most readers, and that if it
does you will contribute to the book by e-mailing me your com-
ments, criticisms and suggestions for changes or additions. For
me, even in our rationalized times, the doctorate still remains a
crucial vehicle for developing new and original thought in the
humanities and social sciences, especially amongst young peo-
ple, who (as Plato said) are ‘closer to ideas’.^8 If this book strikes
even a few positive chords among new generations of scholars
and supervisors, then writing it will have been worthwhile.
Patrick Dunleavy January 2003
London School of Economics and Political Science
London
[email protected]
PREFACE◆XIII