Writing Skills During PhD- Rupanwita

Rupanwita DashCorporate Strategy & Policy

WRITING SKILLS DURING PHD: THE RHETORIC AND

THE REALITY

Source: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/last%20minute%20panic

YEAR-WISE WRITING

Year 1 Coursework

• Preliminary Term papers

• Early scan of potential ideas: Literature

Year 2Coursework• Importan

t Term papers

• Comprehensive scan of potential ideas: Questions

Comprehensive Exams

Year 5: 2nd half

• Building your research program

• Journal submissions

Year 5: 1st half

• Preparing your essay(s) for Journal submission

Year 4

• Dissertation writing

• Conference submission

WHAT WE WRITE DURING PHD?

Term papers

1. Review papers

2. Conceptual papers

3. Research proposals

4. Empirical papers

Proposal

Essay (s) conference and journal submissions

Dissertation

1. REVIEW PAPERS

Identifying a domain for review

Scope of review: breadth and depth

Search process

Structure

Chronological

Thematic

Theoretical underpinning

Outcomes

2. CONCEPTUAL PAPER

Goal: to identify a point in the research frontier

Process: extensive review of literature on a reasonably narrow topic and thoughtful analysis

Outcome: propositions

Benefits: free of data, measurement, methods constraints

3. EMPIRICAL PAPER: BASICS

Telling a story

What question you are answering?

Why this question is interesting?

How are you going to find the answer?

The answer

‘One’ central and novel contribution of your paper

Situating your work as part of an ongoing scholarly conversation

Creative use of figures, robustness checks

Organization

3. EMPIRICAL PAPER: ORGANIZATION

Title and Abstract

Introduction

Literature review, Theory and Hypotheses

Data and Method

Results and Discussion

References

Appendices

DOs & DONTs

Think of your reader

Keep it humble and free of drama

Resist recounting the entire journey

Keep it short and simple

Describe – Explain – Compare alternatives

Own your work

Writing style

WHERE DO I START?

Building a folder of exemplar papers

Regular writing Summary of papers read

Class discussion notes

Blogs

Revise, rewrite

Sign up for peer review

Friendly review among peers

THANK YOU

1. “Writing for Scholarly publication” by Anne S. Huff2. “Elements of Style” by William Strunk, Jr.3. “Publishing in AMJ” series in 2011-124. Reviewer resource materials from AOM site