Authoring a PhD Thesis How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation by Patrick Dunleavy

Contents

List of figures and tables ix

Preface x

1 Becoming an author 1
Authoring is more than just writing 2
Different models of PhD and the tasks of
authoring 5
Managing readers’ expectations 11

2 Envisioning the thesis as a whole 18
Defining the central research questions 18
Doing original work 26

3 Planning an integrated thesis:
the macro-structure 43
The whole and the core 44
Focusing down or opening out 53
Four patterns of explanation 62

4 Organizing a chapter or paper:
the micro-structure 76
Dividing a chapter into sections 76
Devising headings and subheadings 84
Handling starts and finishes 89

5 Writing clearly: style and referencing issues 103
The elements of good research style 104
Effective referencing 120

VII