How to Write a Better Thesis

137

Chapter 12

Beyond the Thesis

Students enrol in a research degree to develop as researchers, make discoveries,
and, ultimately, write a thesis. More broadly, a fundamental goal underlying re-
search study is that of transformation, from knowledge consumption to knowledge
production, from dependence to independence, from student to colleague. You
would not be doing a graduate degree unless you thought it was going to lead you
into the world of professional investigation, or of research and scholarship.
This is not to say that most students do research because they are ambitious in
terms of career. That may be true for some—and it is a perfectly sensible motiva-
tion—but, for many, the degree is a consequence of a desire to do research, to work
with people they admire or identify with, or to be in an exciting workplace. None-
theless, at some point, probably quite early in your studies, you would have asked
yourself: ‘When this is finished, what next?’ In my view, this is almost the same as
another question, which has an explicit notion of transformation: ‘Who do I want
to become?’
Such a transformation may be primarily driven by the work that is captured in
the thesis, but also encompasses development in a range of other areas. By the end
of their formal study, a typical strong PhD student will have published a paper, or
several papers in journals or at conferences; presented seminars, possibly in front
of intimidating senior audiences; taught undergraduate classes; reviewed papers,
either independently or under the guidance of a supervisor; visited some other aca-
demic institution; and, perhaps, mentored some undergraduates and junior research
students.
By submission time, you may well be planning further steps in all of these areas,
and perhaps even contemplating writing a book or obtaining your own funding.
On the other hand, you may be looking forward to work with an employer whose
agenda does not include scholarly work, and your PhD candidature might be your
one chance to get your research published. In both cases, then, you need to be plan-
ning to publish as you study.

D. Evans et al., How to Write a Better Thesis, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2_12,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014