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Writing up the Dissertation Mark Philp

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Writing to a deadline Start at the end! Work out what you need to do to get there! Due April 2015 - room H342 by 12 noon on the Monday of week 2 of the Summer term What steps will you identify on the way? Eg: full penultimate draft 2-3 weeks before the deadline to allow it to rest and then re-read. Last chance for a discussion with supervisor before the end of Term 2 What does that mean for what you do in Reading Week in term 2, and over the Christmas break?

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Job specification 9,000 words excl. bibliog and footnotes Find out TNR/12point/double spaced = c 1,000 words in three pages A4 (chk incl.excl notes) Is 9= 4.5x2? Journal article length plus 1K Find models why are they good? a. org of argument b. evidence c. clarity/coherence/cogency d. experience as a reader e. quality of writing

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Writing up the metaphor Science based Kuhn and paradigms History and ? paradigms discourses fields debates controversies lacunae applying X to Y In what are you making an intervention? And, to do that, what must you lay out?

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2 Models Identify topic Identify: literature/archive/sources Talk to people Read literature Talk to people Write thesis Identify area Start writing Talk to people Identify and work on sources etc Re-write Talk to people Read more literature Write thesis

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Organisation Electronic or physical form for documents, articles, material from books, etc. Need a retrieval system Need a copy if electronic! Where do you keep your notes How do you keep your thinking distinct from what other people have said ie how to ensure attribution? Periodic restructuring but go back to the basement! Bibliography everything you look at especially everything you ever take notes from and keep a reference Footnote format undergraduate style guide Archival/published

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Now Get a notebook and write down your preliminary ideas. What question do you want to address? In relation to what field? In relation to what existing literature? Why dont you like existing work/feel it is inadequate Who might you talk to? Why do you care about it? Do you do so enough? And do you do so too much? What other deadlines do you have and how will you fit them in alongside the dissertation?

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By the end of this term Preliminary title Brief outline of your proposed topic 50 word version/ 200 word version (former has to be submitted on the last day of this term) 200 word version need to be able to tell other people (friends, family, personal tutor) what you are working on in a way that conveys your interest and specific angle.

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Before Reading Week term 2 Over Christmas work out a detailed plan; a contents page or outline of the argument with some reflections on what needs to be done think steps and sections of an argument, not discrete chapters TALK TO PEOPLE THEN: Draft about half the core of the thesis in reading week and work out what else needs to be done!

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Elements 1. Introduction 2. Main body of the evidence and argument 3. Conclusion 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1 Can be other orders, but the core element is 2- its the evidence, and the main argument about the evidence, and its central to get that clear.

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What works for you? A room of ones own Library space Kick-off and close down Sleeping on it/exercising on it What stint sizes build them up now What sort of writer are you? Keep adding to and going back to your notebook

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Discarding the ladder What you need to get from A to B is not necessarily what you need to get from B to C, or C to D. Writing good academic prose and argument requires that you start on a plateau with other writing in the field. It takes knowledge and a range of skills, conceptual apparatus and control of evidence to get there. You dont have it to start so dont think your first thought are your best be ready to discard and re-think but keep a record! Cutting vs writing to length

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Writing for Readers Who will read it for you and when? Important to set up self-help group. You are not competing! What are asking for Typos? Expertise? Clarity and argument Two key periods First block of substantive work (reading week term 2) Final proof reading

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Who will read it to assess it? Supervisor Additional examiner with some expertise Arbitrating examiner Dissertations committee Dont write just for supervisor!

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What sort of animal is it? Creative writing? NO! Avoid I believe, I feel its not the I but the subjective state Act of reasoned communication advancing a claim or set of claims about an existing field of study

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Reading as a stranger What do you write on and what do you read on De-familiarise it print it out and read it as a stranger to it. And mark what you think is best, and which bits are central to the way in which the argument develops. Reading as a copy-editor/ vs as a critic

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Things not to say My printer ran out of ink My hard drive collapsed and wiped my notes/drafts/final version of the thesis I left the only electronic copy on a memory stick on the train I didnt know we had other pieces of work to submit after Easter Whats a dissertation?!