How to Write Your Undergraduate Dissertation: 108 (Macmillan Study Skills)

Cover
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART 1 Examiners and Supervisors
	Chapter 1 Examiners: What are they Looking for?
		The differences between essays and dissertations
		Examiners
	Chapter 2 Working with Your Supervisor
		Checking the formal requirements
		Supervisors
PART 2 Generating and DevelopingOriginal Ideas
	Chapter 3 What Activities Suit You Best?
		Different styles of research
		Activities
		Work backwards
		Note
	Chapter 4 Types of Research
		Research methods
		Preferences
		Listing your preferences
		Abilities and skills
		Note
	Chapter 5 What Interests You Most?
		Employability skills
		How do I find the right topic?
		What am I interested in?
		Note
	Chapter 6 Generating Your Own Ideas 1: Using Trigger Questions
		Organising your thinking
		Routine questions
		Compiling a checklist
		Important employability skills
		The power of questions
		Example – Wind farm
		Notes
	Chapter 7 Generating Your Own Ideas 2: Perspectives and Levels
		Exploring different perspectives on different levels
		Example – Wind farm
		Question: What does the local community think?
		Exploratory reading
	Chapter 8 Developing Your Ideas 1: Causal Relations
		The structure of our ideas
		The problem’s the problem
		Structuring our ideas
		Causal relations
		Notes
	Chapter 9 Developing Your Ideas 2: Conceptual Relations
		Employability skill
		What is a concept?
		Their effects on our thinking
		Original research comes from redesigning concepts
		Open and closed concepts
		Developing conceptual skills – the three-step technique
		Concepts and research
		Note
	Chapter 10 Original Questions and Hypotheses 1: Using Analogies
		Good thinkers
		Learning to become a good thinker
		Finding ‘What if’ questions – analogies
		Note
	Chapter 11 Original Questions and Hypotheses 2: Working with Your Structures
		The four strategies
		Divergences and convergences
		Notes
PART 3 Deciding on Your Project
	Chapter 12 Searching the Literature 1: Knowing What to Look for
		Stating the problem – the research question
		The title
		Searching the literature
	Chapter 13 Searching the Literature 2: How to Search
		Efficient searching
		The steps
		Recording details
	Chapter 14 Choosing the Topic 1: Feasibility
		Employability skill
		Feasibility
		Choosing from your shortlist
	Chapter 15 Choosing the Topic 2: Ethical Issues
		Work done by others
		Work done with others
		Legal requirements
		Ethical principles
		Ethics checklist
		Note
PART 4 Organising Your Work
	Chapter 16 Planning Your Research
		Research proposal
		What are the benefits to me?
		Planning doesn’t mean over-theorising
		The structure
		A typical plan
	Chapter 17 Managing Your Time
		Planning to cope – avoiding stress
		Constant reality checks
		Motivation
		Finding more time
		Assessing how much time you have available
		Allocating hours to tasks
		Deadlines
		Stocktaking
		Planning more than one thing at a time
		Making your schedule work
		Checklist
		Note
	Chapter 18 Your Retrieval System
		Clearing a space for thought
		A retrieval system
		Notebook
		Journal
		Index-card system
		Project box
		Record sheets
		Note
	Chapter 19 Reading
		Deciding what’s worth reading – reliability
		Deciding why you’re reading it – relevance
		Processing the ideas
		Multiple readings
		Be flexible
		Linear notes
	Chapter 20 Note-taking
		Matrixes
		Timelines
		Pattern notes
PART 5 Doing Your Research
	Chapter 21 Qualitative and Quantitative Research
		Quantitative research
		Qualitative research
		Combining the two
		Abstract concepts
	Chapter 22 Secondary Sources
		Primary and secondary sources – the distinction
		Secondary sources
	Chapter 23 Primary Sources 1: Quantitative Research
		Sampling
		Tests
		Questionnaires
	Chapter 24 Primary Sources 2: Designing and Distributing Your Questionnaire
		Distribution
		Designing a questionnaire
		Writing the questions
		Types of questions
		Processing your results
		Note
	Chapter 25 Primary Sources 3: Qualitative Research – Interviews and Focus Groups
		Interviews
		Focus groups
	Chapter 26 Primary Sources 4: Qualitative Research – Case Studies and Observations
		Case studies
		Observations
		Final checks
		Note
PART 6 Planning Your Dissertation
	Chapter 27 The Main Components and Introduction
		The main components
		Introduction
	Chapter 28 The Literature Review
		Why am I writing a literature review?
		Laying down a platform for your research
		Critical understanding of the background theories and ideas
		Structure
	Chapter 29 Research Methods, Findings, Conclusion and Appendices
		Research methods
		Findings – presentation and analysis
		Discussion
		Conclusion
		References and bibliography
		Appendices
PART 7 Organising Your Thinking
	Chapter 30 Developing Consistent Arguments 1: The Components
		Thinking: the three elements
		Creative and critical thinking
		Two kinds of thinking
		Checking the components – what sort of premises are there?
		Suppressed premises – are any missing?
		Checklist
	Chapter 31 Developing Consistent Arguments 2: The Connections
		Qualifiers
		Distributing our terms
		Processing our terms
		Illicit conversion
		Illicit obversion
		Affirming the consequent and denying the antecedent
	Chapter 32 Using Evidence 1: Describing it
		Untypical examples and insufficient or weighted evidence
		Exaggerating or underestimating evidence
	Chapter 33 Using Evidence 2: Drawing Inferences
		Using analogies
		Objectivity and subjectivity
		Irrelevant inferences
	Chapter 34 Using Evidence 3: Creating Causal Connections
		Oversimplifying
		Invalid causal connections
	Chapter 35 Using Language 1: Clarity – Jargon
		An important employability skill
		Avoiding the effort of thinking
		Routine words and phrases
		Jargon
		Abstractions
		Notes
	Chapter 36 Using Language 2: Clarity – Manipulative Words
		Loaded language
		Begging the question
		Note
	Chapter 37 Using Language 3: Consistency
		The fallacy of equivocation
		The fallacies of division and composition
PART 8 Writing Your Dissertation
	Chapter 38 The First Draft
		Start early
		The First Draft
		Planning
		Write freely
		Talk in print
		Suspend your judgement as you write
		Introductions, paragraphs and conclusions
		Transitions
		Note
	Chapter 39 Style 1: Finding Your Own Voice
		Technical language
		The first person
		Passive writing
		Writing lightly
		Notes
	Chapter 40 Style 2: Simplicity and Economy
		Simplicity
		Economy
		Note
PART 9 Plagiarism, Referencingand Bibliographies
	Chapter 41 Plagiarism
		Why is it wrong to plagiarise?
		What is plagiarism exactly?
		So, where should you draw the line?
		The six-point code
		Minimising the chance of an oversight
		Other reasons for citing
	Chapter 42 Referencing and Bibliographies
		Departmental guidelines
		Extracts
		Referencing systems
		Bibliographies
PART 10 Editing
	Chapter 43 Revision 1: The Structure
		The writer and the editor
		Allocate plenty of time
		Revise with a purpose
		Structure
	Chapter 44 Revision 2: The Content
		Sentences
		Words
		Revising by ear
		Word count
		Final presentation
PART 11 Presenting YourDissertation
	Chapter 45 Oral Presentations
		1 Preparing your talk
		2 Practise
	Chapter 46 Poster Presentations
		What is a poster?
		Components
		Layout
		Software
		A rough model
		Design principles
		Presenting your poster
		The structure of your presentation
		Job interviews
		Note
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index