157Notes on Further Resources
Since the publication of the earlier editions of How to Write a Better Thesis, the web
has become a primary tool for finding and distributing scholarly information. Most
researchers are aware of the web as a source of knowledge in their discipline, but it
is also an excellent source of knowledge about being a researcher. There are a great
many online resources, including lists of texts on dissertations and postgraduate
study, blogs on scholarly writing, and numerous guides maintained by organisations
such as university libraries and research offices. I suggest searching with terms such
as ‘dissertation writing’, ‘surviving a thesis’, ‘how to write a thesis’, ‘scholarly
writing’, ‘academic presentations’, or ‘presentation skills’. You should also search
for guidance related to your specific discipline or approach; examples include ‘so-
cial science research’, ‘qualitative approach’, or ‘health science research methods’.
Despite the growth of the web, however, books continue to be published—in-
cluding this one!—and for good reasons. A well-designed book provides a consis-
tent, authoritative, and thoughtful point of reference, in ways that a dynamic, fluid
web resource cannot. Again, web search is an effective way of finding such books,
which range from general advice to discipline-specific texts. Some disciplines have
long-standing, comprehensive style guides; if there is such a guide in your academic
area, you should make use of it. I also suggest that you find a good book on the
mechanics of writing, and another on writing style. These skills complement the
approach I have taken here, of helping students to succeed through discussing the
challenges of the task of writing a thesis.
The following are examples of books that I feel are of enduring value—as you
will notice, several of them have been through multiple editions. I have used most
of these over many years. (If you search for online guides where these are recom-
mended, you will quickly discover other texts on similar topics.)
Booth, W, Colomb, G and Williams, J, The Craft of Research, 3rd edn, Chicago
University Press, Chicago, IL, 2008.
Day, A, How to Get Research Published in Journals, 2nd edn, Gower, Aldershot,
UK, 2007.
Day, R, and Gastel, B, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 6th edn, Green-
wood Press, Westport, CT, 2006.
D. Evans et al., How to Write a Better Thesis, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014