{"id":370,"date":"2015-09-26T20:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/?p=370"},"modified":"2015-10-02T14:27:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T06:27:46","slug":"1-thesis-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/1-thesis-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"Thesis structures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image based on\u00a0Paltridge’s “Four Thesis Types”, cited by\u00a0 Niall McMahon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In this series of posts I outline a variety\u00a0of different ways to structure your\u00a0PhD\u00a0thesis. Decide on\u00a0a structure for your thesis early on because it helps you to plan\u00a0your reading, technical and practical research and your writing. \u00a0Scroll down for\u00a0more blog posts in this series that go into more detail about how to develop good\u00a0writing habits and how to work with your supervisor.<\/p>\n

The thesis IS the PhD – it is all the examiners have to go on. They do not know you. They don’t\u00a0know, or care, how passionate you are or\u00a0how hard you have worked.\u00a0Every\u00a0PhD thesis emerges through hard work and passion. In summary, to the outsider – your examiners – \u00a0all\u00a0that really matters is the thesis.<\/p>\n

To create the diagram shown above, McMahon\u00a0analysed eight dissertations, taking into account Paltridge’s analysis of “fifteen doctoral theses from a range of disciplines and the advice given in eight recent publications from around the English-speaking world”. The\u00a0link has many useful references. I have never\u00a0supervised or\u00a0examined a thesis that uses\u00a0the Compilation Based structure in the arts and humanities. However, it as it is fairly\u00a0common in the sciences, including\u00a0computer science.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the particular\u00a0thesis structure that you choose, it is good practice for\u00a0PhD researchers to produce\u00a0a draft structure in the first few weeks as it helps to focus your thinking and can be used to prioritise your reading and writing. \u00a0It’s not a contract, but a ‘live’ document that alters over time. Having a structure mapped out helps both supervisor and researcher make sure the research is on track. Take a one page bullet point draft of your proposed thesis to your supervisor to discuss your plan of action. If you plan\u00a0to add or drop a key theory or topic you can go back to your structure and see how that might impact your\u00a0argument. You can also use this one page\u00a0document and\/or mind map of your thesis to find out of there is something missing that your supervisor is\u00a0expecting. Use it to get feedback from your supervisor about\u00a0whether or not a particular avenue is worth your precious time. But remember, it’s your PhD<\/span>. You don’t have to agree with them!<\/p>\n

Homework: If you have not done so already then prepare a structure using bullet point lists or a mind map. Schedule a meeting to discuss it with your supervisor, and send them the one page plan a week in advance of that meeting.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

See also “Hints and Tips on (Science and Engineering) Bachelor\u2019s and Master\u2019s Thesis Writing” by Peter McMahon, May 2009. I came across this while searching for Niall McMahon (note they are two different scholars who share the same family name).\u00a0Peter McMahon’s full text here.<\/a>\u00a0Although Peter McMahon is writing about Master’s\u00a0thesis writing his\u00a0tips are very useful to PhD researchers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image based on\u00a0Paltridge’s “Four Thesis Types”, cited by\u00a0 Niall McMahon. In this series of posts I outline a variety\u00a0of different ways to structure your\u00a0PhD\u00a0thesis. Decide on\u00a0a structure for your thesis early on because it helps you to plan\u00a0your reading, technical and practical research and your writing. \u00a0Scroll down for\u00a0more blog posts in this series that … Continue reading Thesis structures<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thesis-structure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neuro-memento-mori.com\/teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}