The thesis: finding your story

Dorothy Faulkner & Verina Waights

Good academic writing

• Demonstrates the quality of your thinking

• Requires depth of understanding• Requires discipline• Is a creative practice• Requires periods of ‘incubation’• Requires multiple drafts to achieve

clarity• Undergoes continuous

development• Benefits from peer review• TAKES TIME !

Characteristics of outstanding theses

Quality of thinking:• Original and significant, coherent, compelling, exciting, interesting,

insightful, persuasive, sophisticated, surprising, and thoughtful • Synthetic and interdisciplinary • Exhibit mature, independent and critical thinking • Ask new questions or addresses an important question or problem • Display a deep understanding of a massive amount of complicated

literature • Exhibit command and authority over the material • Arguments are focused, logical, rigorous, and sustained • Is theoretically sophisticated and shows a deep understanding of

theory • Is of interest to a larger community and changes the way people

think • Pushes the discipline's boundaries and opens new areas for

research

Characteristics of an outstanding thesis

Methodology• Has a brilliant research design • Uses or develops new tools, methods, approaches, or

new types of analyses • Is thoroughly researched • Data are rich and come from multiple sources • Analyses are comprehensive, complete, sophisticated,

and convincing • Results are significant• Pushes the discipline's boundaries and opens new areas

for research

Characteristics of an outstanding thesis

Writing style• Concise, creative, elegant, engaging,• Clearly states the problem and why it is important • Very well written and very well organized• Has clear sign-post and staging posts• Assumes a knowledgeable but not necessarily expert reader• Has a point of view and a strong, confident, independent, and

authoritative voice • Arguments and assumptions are clearly stated and explicit so that

the reader does not have to work hard• Components are connected in a seamless way • Conclusion ties the whole thing together • Has sections that would be publishable in top-tier/high impact

journals

Take home messages

• "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.“ (Attributed to Einstein)

• “Cutting a manuscript is not simply a way of reducing length; it is also a way of strengthening communication.” (Holmes, 1974/5)