Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation

Review : By Shannon McCabe (Albuquerque, NM United States)

This book is an excellent guide for anyone in the process of writing a dissertation. Although he is writing from a British point of view, he takes care to make his advice applicable to the dissertation writer in the US university system as well. He discusses structure, drafting, editing, as well as how to prepare the diss for eventual publication.

The main achievement of this book is the idea that the dissertation writer is taking on another role, moving from *student writer* to *writer*. The dissertation propels the student into the position of colleague in training, and the writing is the vehicle for doing that. For the first time, thanks to this book, I have begun to look at myself as a writer contributing to the body of knowledge on the subject, not just a student producing yet another required paper to please a professor.

Editorial Reviews
Review
"Dunleavy illuminates the management of text. Following his recommended disciplines, he has produced an elegant, witty and spare guide for the perplexed student."--Herman Schwartz, University of Virginia"Authoring a PhD Thesis is superb. It is so in three ways: tone; nature of the advice offered; the fact that the book itself is an exemplary illustration of the principles it recommends. After reading it, it is hard to see how many PhD students ever managed to write an acceptable thesis without reading it."--John Peck, Cardiff University"Pleasantly written, containing a lot of helpful suggestions, sound advice, and illuminating insights into the process of writing a thesis."--Giseline Kuipers, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands"...elegantly written and contains crisp and incisive insights. I will recommend this book widely to students because it will help them significantly with the successful completion of their PhD thesis...I have gained some good ideas from reading the text."--Wyn Grant, Warwick University


Review
"Dunleavy illuminates the management of text. Following his recommended disciplines, he has produced an elegant, witty and spare guide for the perplexed student."--Herman Schwartz, University of Virginia

"Authoring a PhD Thesis is superb. It is so in three ways: tone; nature of the advice offered; the fact that the book itself is an exemplary illustration of the principles it recommends. After reading it, it is hard to see how many PhD students ever managed to write an acceptable thesis without reading it."--John Peck, Cardiff University

"Pleasantly written, containing a lot of helpful suggestions, sound advice, and illuminating insights into the process of writing a thesis."--Giseline Kuipers, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

"...elegantly written and contains crisp and incisive insights. I will recommend this book widely to students because it will help them significantly with the successful completion of their PhD thesis...I have gained some good ideas from reading the text."--Wyn Grant, Warwick University