Dissertation

First, do you understand the difference between a dissertation and a thesis? A thesis is an idea. A dissertation is a document that supports your thesis. After you write your dissertation explaining why your thesis is a good one, you have to stand up in front of a crowd and defend it - the thesis defense.

For many courses, a dissertation forms part of the coursework for a degree. For some courses it is linked with work experience. It provides you with an opportunity to undertake a piece of individual research work and really examine an aspect of the subject you are studying closely. Your first attempt at serious "research".

You could consider it as an extended essay or assignment. However, although a dissertation can be seen as a difficult piece of work, it is a good idea to think of it as providing a real opportunity to explore something that you are really interested in within your course. Working on it should be a very exciting time for you.

You may be wondering what a completed dissertation looks like. There are plenty in the library for you to peruse. When you examine them, notice how varied they are. There is no single "recipe" for a dissertation.

1. Know the area
   1. Read, read, read...
   2. Average 10-15 papers per week
   3. Current Journals: at least read/scan abstracts
   4. Use reference management software! (e.g. ProCite and EndNote)
   5. Use search engines (MedLine, Ergo Abstracts, Psych Info, Compendex, ACM Digital Library, etc.)
   6. Go to the source literature (don't expect textbooks and other secondary sources to be either accurate or complete)
2. Go outside your area
   1. Good source of new/different ideas
   2. Avoids embarrassing overlap (already done by others in another field)
   3. Pay attention to methods, analyses, motivations, applications
   4. We did this because...
   5. This work can be applied to...
3. Tree-in; tree-out
   1. Look at paper citations, and who cited particular papers (ISI Citation Index)
   2. Note how others interpreted (or how cited) papers you've already read; they may have a different interpretation
4. Don't get "paper-locked":
   1. Easy to get overwhelmed and biased by what has already been done
   2. Once familiar with an area, what has and hasn't been done, start working on what you could do
   3. Look at proposals and documents generated by your predecessors

At this point, generate some initial ideas. Be creative, flexible, novel. Good idea to test them, if possible.

Jumping ahead, what does a faculty member look for in a proposal?

• It should be well-written
• Organized, with a logical flow
• Concise, but also complete
• Good grammar
• It's usually a good idea to have a colleague read it before giving it to the adviser,
• especially if they have already submitted their first draft or successfully defended their proposal. Often little errors or small changes will be identified and addressed. They can also be some the best sources of information for "why" or "how".

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