Write a Thesis

Abstract

In 1995 I wrote a personal statement about my motivation to teach and write about thesis writing. The urge to write this book originated in my own experiences as a student in Scotland, Germany and the USA: As a graduate of a Scottish university I made a deliberate choice to enter a PhD programme in what is often disparagingly referred to as ‘the American system', as if there were only one system in the USA. As a ‘graduate student' in the English Department of the Pennsylvania State University I had the opportunity to take courses, and be examined, on research methods, two foreign languages, a theory course, three years of course work (before starting a thesis, a major piece of original research, on a par with PhD theses in the UK system, a fact which will surprise some academics), with teacher training for higher education, mentoring, observations and evaluations of my own teaching . . . On my return to the UK in 1984, I felt strongly that there was a need, in the UK system, for postgraduate training of some sort. There was also demand for such training among students; when I offered a thesis writing course at Strathclyde University in 1985 it proved very popular . . . we now have a programme of . . . courses for postgraduates. Some faculties and departments now offer customised induction courses for novice researchers . . . So things are improving. Yet writing is still neglected; there is often no writing instruction, creat- ing problems for those students who have never done much writing or, if they have, have not done so on the scale of the PhD. (Lowe and Murray 1995: 78–9) In addition, having read many other books on ‘writing a thesis', it seemed to me that there was still room for a book that covered the whole writing process. More recent motivation was provided by students in my writers' groups who demanded that I finish this book in time for them use it. Unfortunately, that was not feasible for all of them, for which, having raised their expectations, I apologize. Fortunately, some were able to read drafts of my chapters and their comments improved this book immensely. For that I thank them sincerely. You have made this a better book. Finally, ‘Will supervisors read this book?' I cannot count the number of times I was asked this question by those – students and supervisors – whodiscussed this book with me and read my draft chapters. The question implies that my exploration of the whole thesis writing process could help super- visors, or, as one student put it, ‘Supervisors need to know this stuff too.' While this book is targeted at thesis writers, I recommend that supervisors read it too. Throughout the book I identify topics for student–supervisor discussions, in the hope that this will lead to more – and more explicit – discussions of writing. It is my sincere wish that this will improve the experience of thesis writing for both writers and supervisors.