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Style
· Dissertation writing
style is not designed to be entertaining. Dissertation
writing should be clear and unambiguous. To do this,
well you should prepare a list of key words that are
important to your research and then your dissertation
writing should use this set of key words throughout.
There is nothing so frustrating to a reader as a manuscript
that keeps using alternate words to mean the same thing.
If you've decided that a key phrase for your research
is "educational workshop", then do not try
substituting other phrases like "in-service program",
"learning workshop", "educational institute",
or "educational program." Always stay with
the same phrase - "educational workshop."
It will be very clear to the reader exactly what you
are referring to.
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Review two or three well organized and presented dissertations.
Examine their use of headings, overall style, typeface
and organization. Use them as a model for the preparation
of your own dissertation. In this way you will have
an idea at the beginning of your dissertation writing
what your finished dissertation will look like. A most
helpful perspective!
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If you are presenting information in the form of a table
or graph make sure you introduce the table or graph
in your text. And then, following the insertion of the
table/graph, make sure you discuss it. If there is nothing
to discuss then you may want to question even inserting
it.
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If you are including a Conclusions/Implications section
in your dissertation make sure you really present conclusions
and implications. Often the writer uses the conclusions/implications
section to merely restate the research findings. This
is a key section of the dissertation and is sometimes
best done after you've had a few days to step away from
your research and allow yourself to put your research
into perspective. If you do this you will no doubt be
able to draw a variety of insights that help link your
research to other areas.
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Potentially the silliest part of the dissertation is
the Suggestions for Further Research section. This section
is usually written at the very end of your writing project
and little energy is left to make it very meaningful.
Make sure that your suggestions for further research
serve to link your project with other projects in the
future and provide a further opportunity for the reader
to better understand what you have done.
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After you've had a chance to write your dissertation
all the way to the end, the last thing you should do
is turn back to Chapter One. Reread Chapter One carefully
with the insight you now have from having completed
Chapter Five. Does Chapter One clearly help the reader
move in the direction of Chapter Five? Are important
concepts that will be necessary for understanding Chapter
Five presented in Chapter One?
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Style