Customer Reviews

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

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I just defended successfully (yay!), after a serious revision, and this book was my guiding light. In all honesty I could have saved myself some serious time if I'd paid more attention to it sooner. It was particularly inspiring when I was first starting to get down on paper my first chapter... I think for anyone in that horrible phase where you have to much research and feel that you've lost your argument the book is an enormous blessing. It demonstrates how to structure a chapter, how to keep it readable, how to break down sections... It was truly my bible.

It also lays out the differences between British and US models, which is interesting to know for future reference.

Not a word that is merely psychobabble or self-help, but a straightforward and clear manual.

This book is an excellent guide to an under-addressed aspect of the PhD process: writing, structuring, and developing your thesis. The text fills a niche amongst all of the other `how to get your PhD' books out there, because it goes so far in depth into the authoring process.

Beginning to write your thesis is a daunting thing, and there seems to be a presumption that PhD students will know how to go about the whole procedure. But of course the process is complicated, intimidating, and not always clear-but this books provides an invaluable road map. Indeed it even offers guidance for after the thesis is finished, when you want to move on to publishing. Suddenly the impossible and mysterious looks reasonable and understandable. The book is full of clear guidelines and advice, useful tips, and wit which makes it very readable too. The text is structured according to the methods being recommended, which makes it very easy to read--and that makes you appreciate the soundness of what you are learning!

A book you will want to sit down and read cover-to-cover, and then keep on your shelf for regular referral back to throughout the entire PhD process!

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.

This book is mainly intended for the humanities and social sciences. I found the book rather hard to read. Long sentences and use of paranthesis is not really an effective style. Lots of text before the author comes to the interesting points. Who is interested in information like: "Most women like to give and recieve process-organized explanations, often running through the history of an event or an interaction from beginning to end in narrative succession. But most men prefer to recieve 'bottom-line' information first... Hence men easily get annoyed by what they code as women 'rabbiting on'." The author is surely not the one who gives bottom-line information first. He gives several comments like this one that are of no use when you want to know how to write a good thesis. The book is full of citations from writers and other smart people (which are highlighted), but the things you really want to know are hard to find without a lot of unnecessary reading. There are lots of books on scientific writing, just browse on and you'll surely find some better books.

Authoring a PhD highlights lessons that I learned from Professor Dunleavy as a master's candidate at the London School of Economics. Several easy to understand but critical lessons are posed. First, superior organizational skill is key for any PhD student. This is initially conveyed through a seemingly trivial but ultimately useful example of how his study was organized as a proxy for the importance of precision and efficiency in structuring the PhD. Second, above all, persistence is important. In suggesting ways to "Keep the Faith" the PhD can be endured by sticking to the plan once it is developed, and trusting oneself to defend the research. Lastly, the pervasive tone of the book can be summed up as follows: "Say it once and Say it right" a mantra that Professor Dunleavy encouraged his student's to consider seriously and I have tried not always sucessfully to adhere to. These simple, yet straightforward messages that dominate the text, may be one of the reasons why, when I first tried to purchase the book at the 2003 American Political Science Association annual meeting, it was unavailable, having completely sold out. Happily, Amazon helped me resolve this particular dilemma so I could confront the critical real world issue of finishing my thesis.

Well written book by Patrick Dunleavy who had experience in being a PhD candidate before and also supervising PhD students at LSE. He struck me with his remarks that a good researcher may be a bad author on his/her research. Striking point is the fact that he mentioned that good authoring skills determine about 40-50% of success in completing a doctorate. Most PhD candidates have to sometimes grope in the dark along the way to complete a well written dissertation. With this book written in the English language with finese and fluency speaks well of his ability to help PhD candidates author a dissertation that fulfils the requirements of earning a PhD that brings about great satisfaction after all the years of hard work.

Patrick Dunleavy's Authoring a PhD is the manual many academics recommend to their students as they embark on a doctoral thesis. As meticulously structured as the author suggests a PhD itself should be, this can be read cover-to-cover as a book or picked from selectively for reference.

Indeed, Dunleavy's handbook is comprehensive, and different readers will find different uses for it. Some will already have writing experience, perhaps from an undergraduate degree or from professional experience, and may not require or wish to eschew the author's ultra-detailed tips on sub-dividing chapters. Or they may have come across earlier works on clear writing (my favourite remains Strunk & White). Yet this is guaranteed to have insights for all, starting with the recommendation that PhD students establish from the outset exactly what question they expect their thesis to answer. And I found interesting insights in chapters which superficially had no potential use for me: on tables and charts, for example. Dunleavy, finally, writes with humour, and he does not shrink from poking fun at the academic world of which he is part, making this pleasant to read.

Really worth buying. Dunleavy's take on writing the PhD is original and highly practical. He's all about what you need to get to the finish line.

This book is very much so relevant to phd students and junior researchers and offers a comprehensive overview of the entire process that makes you into a career researcher.

I am in the early stages of contemplating a Phd, and found this book a great place to start.

The book covers a lot of territory, not only describing how to structure and write a Phd but also where a Phd fits within a broader academic landscape. The book discusses potential emotional and mental traps as well as giving clues on how to manage supervisors, advisers, publishers and examiners. The book describes the nuances of the different accreditation systems along the British US divide.

On starting the book I was half expecting a self-help version to writing a Phd with lots of how-to dot point lists - LOL. This book is more of a discussion on the topic than series of dot points, and it needs to be because of the topic's complexity and diversity.

One thing not covered in this book that would be useful is the mature-age Phd. Traditionally a Phd is the completion of an apprenticeship into academia. However for me, as for many that I know, a Phd is a consolidation, reflection, articulation and contextualisation of a life's professional experiences and professional development. It would have been useful to have a chapter or a theme address this type of Phd.

This a good read, highly recommended for anybody contemplating a Phd and needing the words and concepts to get around and talk to people on this topic.