Taken from the Good Practice Guide:
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Writing Your Dissertation
The length of your thesis will normally be between 10,000-12,000 words. Quantity doesnot equal quality: a well-organised, tightly-argued thesis of 10,000 words is obviously
留學(xué)生dissertation網(wǎng)preferable to a work of over 12,000 words where unclear methods and findings areembedded in much verbose and unnecessary 'padding'. We recommend that you should
aim for 10,000. This can only be approximate, since most theses will contain materialother than text: tables, charts, and perhaps examples of language data. The final
version, including appendices and references, is usually between 60-80 pages long.Some theses could be a good deal shorter than this, it depends entirely on the type ofdata and methodology you are using. Your supervisor will be able to tell you if thescope and detail, and hence the length, is appropriate.
THE WRITING PROCESS
Some General Tips
A golden rule is to write down as much as you can from as early on as you can - andyour task will become easier. There are several good reasons for this advice.
For some people, actually getting thoughts and methods down on paper presents oneof the biggest stumbling blocks. If you feel this way, take comfort that this is acommon feeling. However, this must be overcome early in the process. Quite often, itis difficult to spot the flaws in your reasoning until it is set out on paper, so you are welladvised to write up bits and pieces in draft as early as possible. Early sessions withyour supervisor should be followed by a period where you get down on paper anddevelop ideas that have been mentioned. When you are selecting subjects, early on,write down the way they were selected. That description can probably go straight intothe 'subjects' section of your method, with a little editing.Another reason for writing early on is that your supervisor will want to see your
reasoning is committed to paper; supervisions based on loose discussion can be awaste of time. Some supervisors claim that the most frequent advice they givestudents is to "go away and write down everything you have just said". One of thereasons why you might be reluctant to do this is lack of confidence. Many people who
have not written such an extended piece of work before are diffident about committingtheir critical thoughts and methodology descriptions to paper. Try to rise above this! If
you have successfully completed a Master's course, there is no reason why you shouldnot also be able to complete your thesis with a minimum of difficulty.
A more positive reason for getting down to it early is that you will be pleasantlysurprised at how many words it takes to put down your ideas. The daunting task of
10,000 to 12,000 words does not seem nearly so unattainable when you realise howmany thousands you have already written on literature review and a description of
methodology.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
Taken from the Good Practice Guide:
http://www.man.ac.uk/goodpractice/
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Plagiarism
When you take notes on texts, do be meticulous in your methods. This means thatEITHER you should paraphrase what the author has said OR you must indicate in your
notes that what you have jotted down is a quotation. You may feel it necessary toinclude substantial quotations of particular researchers in your notes; it is often difficultto paraphrase well-written sections in other people's work. If you do not proceedclearly on this, it may result in accidental plagiarism - i.e. the incorporation of largechunks of text written by other people into your work. Unfortunately, plagiarism both ofthe accidental and intentional kind is not uncommon. It is, of course, against theregulations, and if any of the text in your work is found to originate elsewhere, you willhave to re-submit (if permitted) and your chances of graduating will be seriouslyjeopardised.You may be unclear in your mind as to what constitutes plagiarism and whatconstitutes paraphrase. In general, using the same phrases and sentences as anotherwriter, even if you have changed some of it, counts as plagiarism. The differencebetween what is legitimate and what is not, is best illustrated by comparing the set oftexts below. (The illustration is modelled on a set of examples which can be found inthe Study Skills Centre booklet, "Aids to Study: Essay Writing", Manchester
Polytechnic.)
(a) Original version
A suitable definition of noise is UNWANTED sound. It is sound that interferes withthought or communication. The effects of noise range from plain annoyance to
permanent damage to hearing ability. Excessive noise in a work environment reducesthe individual's efficiency. Too much noise in residential surroundings impairs thequality of community life. Noise is therefore a matter both of industrial and publichealth.Martin E Rosenberg. Sound and Hearing. (Studies in Biology no 145), Edward Arnold,
1982: 46.
(b) Plagiarised version
Noise can be defined as UNWANTED sound which can interfere with the processes ofcommunication or thought. Its effects range from annoyance to damage to the ability
to hear. Excessive noise at work reduces the individual's efficiency to work. Excessivenoise in residential surroundings impairs the quality of life. Noise is thus a matter ofboth industrial and public health.
(c) Legitimate paraphrase
Rosenberg (1982) has defined noise as UNWANTED sound. The effects of noise can be
psychological and thus impede communication and thought and this, in turn, reducesthe efficiency of people's ability to work and the quality of life of those who live in noisy
http://www.400190.com/Thesis_Tips/surroundings. High levels of noise may also have pathological effects on the ear itself.Hence, noise is of concern to those in occupational or environmental health.
Taken from the Good Practice Guide:#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
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Referencing
The system of academic referencing is designed to anchor your work firmly in itsresearch context, to prevent you from making unsubstantiated statements and to allow
your readers to check all the information included for themselves. When you are settingout the ideas and previous research in your area, you often need to refer to one or
more previous works per comment. For example:"Utterance length has frequently been used as a measure of child language level in
language acquisition studies (e.g. Brown, 1973; Wells, 1985; Fletcher, 1985). Itsusefulness as a measure of grammatical complexity, however, has been recently
questioned (see Bennet-Kastor, 1988; for a review of problems associated with the use
of this measure.)"
It is important to use appropriate references; for example, if a particular measure wasfirst used as long ago as 1973, as the one in this extract was, you need to refer to the
留學(xué)生dissertation寫作指導(dǎo)early and perhaps later uses. Don't just choose any old study you happen to know toback up a general statement such as the one in the extract. If in doubt, over-reference
rather than under-reference in the first place, as it is obviously easier to cut outreferences than to add them at a later stage. You should have obtained a good idea ofhow to do it from your reading of research papers. If you feel uneasy about what youare doing, choose a good research paper that you know already, stop considering thecontent for a moment and just peruse the text thoroughly to see how it is written. Thiswill help you with referencing and also with general style and structure.
Reference conventions are explained more fully in the reference convention section.