Thesis and Dissertation_A Handbook for Supervisors

ThesisandDissertationWritinginaSecondLanguageThechangingdemographicsofhighereducationinconjunctionwithimperativesofgreateraccountabilityandincreasingsupportforresearchstudentsmeanthatmanysupervisorsfindthemselveschallengedbythetaskofguidingnon-native-speakerstudentstocompletion.ThesisandDissertationWritinginaSecondLanguageisapracticalguidecontainingusefulreal-lifeexamples.Tasksineachunitaredesignedforsupervisorstousewiththeirstudentstohelpthemdeveloptheskillsandunderstandingnecessaryforsuccessfulthesisanddissertationwriting.Eachunitofthebookfocusesonaparticularaspectofthesisanddissertationwritingandtheresearchandsupervisionprocess,including:●aspectsoflanguageuseparticulartothesisanddissertationwriting;●typicalchapterstructuresandorganization;●socialandculturalexpectationsparticulartowritingathesisordissertation;●whatisexpectedofstudentsinthiskindofwritingandatthislevelofstudy;●expectationsofstudentsandsupervisorsinthesupervisionandthesiswritingprocess;●disciplinarydifferencesinthesiswriting;●whatexaminersexpectofthesesanddissertationswritteninEnglish-mediumuniversities;●insightsintobarriersfacedbynon-native-speakingstudentsstudyingforaresearchdegree.ThesisandDissertationWritinginaSecondLanguageistheidealguideforallsupervisorsworkingwithnon-native-speakerstudentswritingathesisordissertationinEnglish.Thisaccessibletextprovidesguidelinestofacilitatesuccessfulwritingusingtaskswhichencouragestudentstoapplythepointscoveredineachunittotheirownsituation.BrianPaltridgeisAssociateProfessorofTESOLattheUniversityofSydneyinAustralia.SueStarfieldisDirectoroftheLearningCentre,andaVisitingFellowintheDepartmentofLinguistics,UniversityofNewSouthWales.TheybothhaveextensiveexperienceinworkingwithstudentswritingathesisordissertationinEnglishastheirsecondlanguage.ThesisandDissertationWritinginaSecondLanguageAhandbookforsupervisorsBrianPaltridgeandSueStarfieldFirstpublished2007byRoutledge2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RNSimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanadabyRoutledge270MadisonAve,NewYork,NY10016RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness©2007BrianPaltridgeandSueStarfieldAllrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilizedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataAcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibraryLibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationDataPaltridge,Brian.Thesisanddissertationwritinginasecondlanguage:ahandbookforsupervisors/BrianPaltridgeandSueStarfield.p.cm.Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.ISBN978-0-415-37170-4(alk.paper)--ISBN978-0-415-37173-5(pbk.:alk.paper)1.Dissertations,Academic--Authorship.2.Academicwriting.3.Englishlanguage--Studyandteaching--Foreignspeakers.I.Starfield,Sue,1952-II.Title.LB2369.P3532007808'.042--dc222006038301ISBN10:0–415–37170–8(hbk)ISBN10:0–415–37173–2(pbk)ISBN10:0–203–96081–5(ebk)ISBN13:978–0–415–37170–4(hbk)ISBN13:978–0–415–37173–5(pbk)ISBN13:978–0–203–96081–3(ebk)ThiseditionpublishedintheTaylor&Francise-Library,2007.“TopurchaseyourowncopyofthisoranyofTaylor&FrancisorRoutledge’scollectionofthousandsofeBookspleasegoto”ISBN0-203-96081-5Mastere-bookISBNContentsListofillustrationsviAcknowledgementsviii1Introduction12Workingwithsecond-languagespeakersofEnglish223ThesiswritinginEnglishasasecondlanguage434Writingaresearchproposal555Theoverallshapeofthesesanddissertations666WritingtheIntroduction827Writingthebackgroundchapters998WritingtheMethodologychapter1149WritingtheResultschapter13410WritingDiscussionsandConclusions14511WritingtheAbstractandAcknowledgements15512Resourcesforthesisanddissertationwriting163Appendix168References175Index185IllustrationsFigures1.1Textandcontextinacademicwriting182.1InterrelationshipsbetweenlevelofEnglishlanguageproficiencyandresearchstatus242.2Theroleperceptionscale383.1Asimplifiedmodelofthewritingprocess463.2Amorerealisticmodelofthewritingprocess473.3Thereciprocalrelationshipofwritingandthinking476.1Thethesishourglass848.1VisualmapoftypicalcomponentsofaMethodologychapter1239.1Makingclaims:someexamplesofhedging143Tables1.1Thesocialandculturalcontextofthesesanddissertations81.2Attitudestoknowledge,approachestolearninganddifferentlevelsofstudy91.3Characteristicsofhighandlowqualitytheses194.1Purposeofeachsectionofaresearchproposal616.1TypicalmovesinthesisIntroductions837.1Degreesandthenatureoftheliteraturereview1007.2Stepsandstrategiesforwritingaliteraturereview1047.3Typicaltensesusedintheliteraturereview1097.4Choicesoftenseandreasonsfortheiruse1097.5Linguisticstrategiesforcommentingonpreviousresearch1117.6Techniquesforparaphrasingandsummarizing1129.1TypicalelementsinreportingResultssectionsoftheses13510.1Stanceandengagementstrategies14910.2Thetypicalstructureofthesis-orientedConclusions15210.3Reporting,commentingandsuggestingintheConclusionssection153Illustrationsvii11.1Us