This reader-friendly guide is specifically designed for any student who has ever had a question about theses as part of their university undergraduate degree course in a life- or health science-related subject. It covers the varied types of projects that exist, including experimental work, surveys, meta-analyses, audits and qualitative and quantitative studies - all in one place. Get support at planning, completing and writing of your research based thesis. By using examples and check lists, this book leads you through the entire process encompassing each chapter of the dissertation. Let the question and answer writing style encourage you and boost your confidence when embarking on what is probably your largest piece of work to date, solved in a step by step approach. The experienced authors have run an enormous number of web and face-to-face workshops to support students in life and health sciences and help them write their dissertations. It became clear that research theses are a considerable source of anxiety and that many essential questions need answering - this book is your solution.
Author(s): Sue Reeves, Bartek Buczkowski
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 171
Tags: Life Sciences: General; Medicine/Public Health: General; Thesis And Dissertation; Writing Skills; Research Skills
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Authors
1: What Will this Book Cover?
1.1 Introduction
1.2 What Is a Dissertation?
1.3 Is a Dissertation Difficult?
1.4 What if I Have Never Done Research before?
1.5 Why Should I Do a Dissertation?
1.6 What Skills Will I Master Whilst Completing a Dissertation?
1.7 What about the Different Types of Dissertations?
1.8 How Long Is a Dissertation?
1.9 Is there a Particular Writing Style that Must be Used?
1.10 Who Should Lead my Dissertation?
1.11 Summary
Further Reading
2: How Can I Get Organised?
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Can I Approach my Supervisor?
2.3 What Information Do I Need to Get Started?
2.4 How Do I Find the Time to Work on my Dissertation?
2.5 Diary or an Electronic Calendar?
2.6 Where Should I Work?
2.7 How Do I Avoid Distractions?
2.8 Set Yourself Targets
2.9 Can I Use a Gantt Chart?
2.10 How Do you Know What Goes in each Chapter?
2.11 Where Should I Save my Work?
2.12 How Should I Save my Work?
2.13 Is it OK to Take Breaks?
2.14 How Do I Avoid Dissertation Procrastination?
2.15 How Do I Get Going?
2.16 How Do I Stay Motivated?
2.17 Checklist
2.18 Summary
References
Further Reading
3: How Do I Choose a Project Type and Title?
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Can I Choose my Own Dissertation?
3.3 What Sort of Study Are you Doing?
3.3.1 Qualitative or Quantitative
3.3.2 Specific Types of Research Studies
3.4 How Do you Choose which Area to Study?
3.5 Is it Ok to Ask my Supervisor for Ideas?
3.6 Should my Dissertation Be Linked to my Career Aspirations?
3.7 Does there Need to Be a Large Body of Literature on my Chosen Topic?
3.8 How Do you Formulate a Research Question?
3.9 Do I Need a Hypothesis As Well as a Research Question?
3.10 What Is the Null Hypothesis?
3.11 How Do you Come Up with a Title?
3.12 Is it OK to Change your Title during the Project?
3.13 Do I Need to Consider the Time Frame?
3.14 Checklist
3.15 Summary
References
Further Reading
4: What Is the Best Way to Work with my Supervisor?
4.1 Introduction
4.2 What Is the Role of the Dissertation Supervisor?
4.3 How Do I Choose my Supervisor?
4.4 Do I Need to Prepare for Supervisory Meetings?
4.5 Should I Keep a Record of our Meetings?
4.6 Is it OK to Ask for Feedback on a Draft of my Dissertation?
4.7 How Much Feedback Should I Expect?
4.8 What if I Do Not like the Feedback I Have Been Given?
4.9 What Should I Do when my Supervisor Does Not Answer my Emails?
4.10 What if I Do Not Get on with my Supervisor?
4.11 What if I Can No Longer Work with my Supervisor?
4.12 Checklist
4.13 Summary
References
Further Reading
5: Do I Need to Complete an Ethics Form?
5.1 Introduction
5.2 What Is an Ethics Form?
5.3 Do I Need to Complete an Ethics Form?
5.4 What Are the Principles of Ethical Research?
5.5 Can I Ask my Supervisor about Ethical Approval for my Project?
5.6 Do I Have to Get Ethical Approval from Anywhere Other than my University?
5.7 Are there Additional Ethical Guidelines for my Subject Area?
5.8 What Does an Ethics Form Include?
5.9 What Documents Do I Have to Submit to Get Ethical Approval?
5.10 Once I Have Submitted my Ethics Application Can I Start my Study?
5.11 What if my Study Includes Human Participants?
5.12 What if my Research Involves Observing Animals?
5.13 What Is Informed Consent?
5.14 What about Anonymity and Confidentiality?
5.15 Does GDPR Apply to my Dissertation?
5.16 What if my Questionnaire Is Online?
5.17 Do I Need to Do any Training?
5.18 Do I Need to Do a Health and Safety Risk Assessment?
5.19 What Information Will a Health and Safety Risk Assessment Ask for?
5.20 What Are the Hazards?
5.21 Where Can I Find More Information on Health and Safety?
5.22 Checklist
5.23 Summary
References
Further Reading
6: How Do I Write an Introduction and Literature Review?
6.1 Introduction
6.2 What Is the Introduction Chapter?
6.3 When Do I Write the Introduction Chapter?
6.4 What to Include in the Introduction Chapter?
6.5 What Is the Literature Review?
6.6 What Is the Purpose of Literature Review?
6.7 How Do I Use Previously Published Research?
6.8 How Do I Start a Literature Review?
6.9 How Do I Find Relevant Literature Sources?
6.10 How Do I Structure the Literature Review Chapter?
6.11 How Do I Structure Sections and Subsections?
6.12 What if there Is Not a Lot of Published Research in my Area?
6.13 What Else Is the Literature Review Useful for?
6.14 Checklist
6.15 Summary
References
Further Reading
7: How Do I Write the Methods Chapter?
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Methods or Methodology?
7.3 Should the Methods Have a Particular Structure?
7.4 What Is my Study Design?
7.5 Do I Need to Define my Variables?
7.6 What if my Project Was Mixed Methods?
7.7 How Do I Describe my Population Sample?
7.8 Subjects or Participants?
7.9 Measures, Materials, and Experimental Apparatus
7.10 How Do you Describe the Equipment that Was Used?
7.11 Can I Use a Flow Chart?
7.12 Do I Write the Procedure Just like a Recipe?
7.13 Can I Use a Published Protocol?
7.14 Do I Need Ethical Approval?
7.15 Where Do I Describe my Data Analysis?
7.16 If my Project Is a Literature Review, Do I Need a Methods Section?
7.17 If my Dissertation Is an Audit, Do I Need a Methods Section?
7.18 Do I Write my Methods as if I Am Doing it or in the Past Tense?
7.19 Do I Need to Do a Pilot Study?
7.20 Checklist
7.21 Summary
References
Further Reading
For qualitative methods in particular:
For power calculations:
For help with statistics:
8: How Do I Present the Results?
8.1 Introduction
8.2 What Is the Results Chapter?
8.3 What Is Data?
8.4 What Is Qualitative Data and how Is it Analysed?
8.5 What Are Variables?
8.6 What Are the Different Types of Quantitative Data?
8.7 What Is Continuous Data?
8.8 What Software Can be Used for Statistical Analysis of Quantitative Data?
8.9 What Are the Most Commonly Used Statistical Tests?
8.10 How Do I Analyse Data for Difference?
8.11 How Do I Analyse Data for a Relationship?
8.12 What if my Data Does Not Allow for Parametric Tests?
8.13 What Is Statistical Significance?
8.14 When Do I Write the Results Chapter?
8.15 What to Include in the Results Chapter?
8.16 What about Other Data that May Have Been Collected?
8.17 How Do I Present Different Types of Results?
8.18 How Do I Structure the Results Chapter?
8.19 How Do I Structure Sections and Subsections of the Results Chapter?
8.20 Checklist
8.21 Summary
References
Further Reading
9: How Do I Write the Discussion Chapter?
9.1 Introduction
9.2 What Is the Discussion Chapter?
9.3 What Should the Discussion Chapter Look like?
9.4 Do I Discuss all my Results?
9.5 How Do I Decide which Results Are Key?
9.6 How Should the Discussion Chapter Be Structured?
9.7 What Should I Do when Writing the Discussion?
9.8 What Should I Not Do in the Discussion?
9.9 How Do I Report the Strengths and Limitations of my Study?
9.10 What Writing Style Do I Adopt in the Discussion?
9.11 What about Qualitative Research and the Discussion?
9.12 Checklist
9.13 Summary
References
Further Reading
10: How Do I Write the Conclusion?
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Is it Conclusion Chapter or Conclusion Section?
10.3 What Does it Mean to Conclude?
10.4 What Should the Conclusion Chapter Include?
10.5 What Is the Relationship between the Conclusion and the Other Chapters?
10.6 What if I Have More Questions Now than when I Started?
10.7 What Should I Avoid when Writing the Conclusion?
10.8 Are there any Other Points I Should Consider?
10.9 Do I Need a “take home message”?
10.10 Summary
References
Further Reading
11: How Do I Reference?
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Why Do I Need to Reference?
11.3 Which Referencing Style Should I Use?
11.4 Where Do the References Go?
11.5 How Do you Reference a Journal Article Using Harvard?
11.6 How Do I Reference Different Sources Such as Books and Websites?
11.7 When Do I Use Et al.?
11.8 What Is the Difference between a Reference List and a Bibliography?
11.9 Should I Use Reference Manager Software?
11.10 Which Chapters of my Dissertation Require References?
11.11 Can I Use a Direct Quote, or Should I Paraphrase?
11.12 What Is Plagiarism and how Can I Avoid it?
11.13 Checklist
11.14 Summary
References
Further Reading
12: Does my Dissertation Need an Abstract?
12.1 Introduction
12.2 What Is the Abstract?
12.3 How Long Is the Abstract?
12.4 What Should be Included in the Abstract?
12.5 What Is the Difference between a Structured and an Unstructured Abstract?
12.6 What Makes a Good Abstract?
12.7 Checklist
12.8 Summary
Further Reading
13: What Else Should I Include in my Dissertation?
13.1 Introduction
13.2 What Should Go on the Title Page?
13.3 What Are the Acknowledgements and where Do they Go?
13.4 Do I Need a Contents Page?
13.5 What Other Lists Do I Need?
13.5.1 List of Tables and Figures
13.5.2 Abbreviations
13.5.3 Glossary or Glossary of Terms
13.6 Do I Need an Index Page?
13.7 What Should Go into the Appendix?
13.8 What Order Does Everything Go in my Thesis?
13.9 How Should I Present My Dissertation?
13.10 Do I Need to Print my Thesis?
13.11 How Much Time Should I Allow for Final Checks?
13.12 Checklist
13.13 Summary
Further Reading
14: How Do I Prepare for a Successful Defence?
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Do I Need to Do a Viva?
14.3 How Should I Prepare for a Viva?
14.4 How Long Will the Viva Last?
14.5 How Will the Viva be Conducted?
14.6 What if I Need to Do an Oral Presentation?
14.7 How Do I Prepare a Scientific Poster?
14.8 Should I Practice or Will that Look Too Rehearsed?
14.9 Checklist
14.10 Summary
References
Further Reading
15: Other Frequently Asked Questions
15.1 Introduction
15.2 What Do I Do if Things Have Not Gone to Plan?
15.3 Where Do I Go for Help and Support?
15.4 Two of us Have Dissertations on the Same Topic, Is this OK?
15.5 How Will I Know when to Stop?
15.6 Will Doing a Dissertation Enhance my Employability?
15.7 What if I Loved Doing a Dissertation and Want to Do More?
15.8 Checklist
15.9 Summary
References
Further Reading
Index
