1. Part-time PhD Structuring Your Thesis

2. “think of your report as part of your investigation, not as a duty to be undertaken when your work is otherwise complete” Barras (1993:136)

3. By the end of this session you will have: encountered some typical PhD structures; audited your own writing and thought about what you have already written; written your argument in the form of a hypothesis; planned a structure for your thesis. Learning outcomes

4. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

5. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

6. Basic structures On the cards you will find the basic structures of two types of PhDs. In groups quickly organise them into two possible structures. You don’t have to use all of the cards and you may add in new sections if you like. 5 mins 5 mins

7. Copyright waiver Declaration Title page Abstract Acknowledgments Table of contents Introduction Literature review/background Middle chapters Conclusions and suggestions for further work References Appendices Basic PhD Structure

8. Middle chapters Could follow a very conventional IMRaD format: IMRaD Introduction Methods Results Discussion Alternatively you may feel your topic needs a multiple IMRaD approach or some other format more suited to your research. Adapted from Day:1998

9. Multiple IMRaD Topic One Introduction Methods Results Discussion Topic Two Introduction Methods Results Discussion Topic Three Introduction Methods Results Discussion Overview of PhD Conclusion/drawing strands together Literature survey(?)

10. Thematic Theme One e.g. class Theme Two e.g. gender Theme Three e.g. race Overview of PhD Conclusion/drawing strands together Literature survey(?) Theory (?) Methods (?)

11. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

12. Audit what you have As you undertake your research you should have been doing some writing. Make a list of everything that you have written already. Estimate how many words each piece of writing is. What is the total number of words you have written? Don’t worry how finished each of these pieces of writing is. 2 mins 2 mins

13. Good writing tasks to complete while you are researching include research proposal literature survey analysing data and detailing pilot studies reports for your supervisor a personal journal methodology chapters early drafts of other chapters

14. The Patchwork Data Ideas Methods Writing

15. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

16. Hypothesis “A proposition or principle put forth or stated (without any reference to its correspondence with fact) merely as a basis for reasoning or argument, or as a premiss from which to draw a conclusion.” OED

17. Your hypothesis Ask yourself “What are you trying to prove in your thesis?” Write it in a hypothesis format, e.g. More than 60% of students skip breakfast most days. Ethnic background has a significant impact on school choice. The Hubble telescope will give more accurate readings of gamma radiation than earthbound telescopes. 2 mins 2 mins

18. Write a draft structure Write your patchwork (what you already have) onto post-its. Write your hypothesis across the middle of a blank piece of paper. Use the post-its to create a rough structure.

19. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

20. Once you have a draft structure 1.Look at the structure of recently submitted PhDs in your discipline. 2.Show the structure to your supervisor. 3.Attach a word length to each chapter. 4.Attach a target to each chapter. 5.Work out how what you’ve done already fits in. 6.Revisit the structure after you finish each chapter. Amend

21. Communicating your structure It is key that you communicate your structure in your writing. Repetition and effective signposting will help you to get your message across. Say what you are going to say Say it Say what you said

22. Signposts A detailed contents page Abstract Introduction and conclusion Chapters Sub-headings Summary paragraphs In text signposts e.g. “and now it will be argued that…”

23. Overview Basic structures Write early, write often Starting your write up Planning and amending your plan Creating your thesis structure

24. Plan your structure Spend a few minutes filling out the handout based on what we have looked at today.