Published Advice Vs Actual Practice

English for Specific Purposes 21 (2002) 125143
www.elsevier.com/locate/esp
Thesis and dissertation writing: an examination

of published advice and actual practice
Brian Paltridge *,1
Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Abstract
This article explores the extent to which published advice on the organisation and structure
of theses and dissertations concurs with what happens in actual practice. The study examines
guides and handbooks which focus on thesis and dissertation writing and postgraduate
research. The sample texts examined were master's and doctoral theses written in a number of
dierent study areas at a major research university. The study found that only a few of the
books examined devoted a substantial amount of space to this topic. It also found a wider
range of thesis types than the guides and handbooks would suggest occurs. The study identi-
ed four main kinds of thesis: `traditional: simple', `traditional: complex', `topic-based' and
`compilations of research articles'. The article argues for teaching materials which show stu-
dents the range of thesis options they might have, highlight the kind of variation that occurs
in actual texts, and consider the rationale for the various choices they might make. # 2001
The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Academic writing; Theses and dissertations; Graduate education
1. Introduction
Nearly all of the literature on thesis and dissertation2 writing consists of handbooks
and guides with, apart from a few notable exceptions, very little analysis having
been carried out of actual texts (Mauch & Birch, 1998). Atkinson (1997) suggests a
* Tel.: +64-9-307-9999; fax: +64-9-307-9978.
E-mail address: brian.partridge@aut.ac.n2 (B. Paltridge).
1
Present address: School of Languages, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006,
Auckland 1020, New Zealand
2
The terms `thesis' and `dissertation' are used in dierent ways in dierent parts of the world. In the
USA, master's students write `theses' whereas in Britain, they write `dissertations'. At the PhD level,
however, these terms are reversed. In Australia, the term `thesis' is used at both the master's and doctoral
levels. In New Zealand, a dissertation is a smaller piece of work whereas a thesis is larger research project
written for a masters or doctoral degree. In this article, the terms `thesis' and `dissertation' are used
interchangeably as much of what can be said about a `thesis' also applies to a `dissertation'. Where dis-
tinctions are made, these are indicated by referring to the `master's' or the `doctoral' thesis.
0889-4906/01/$20.00 # 2001 The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.
PII: S0889-4906(00)00025-9
126 B. Paltridge / English for Specic Purposes 21 (2002) 125143
number of reasons why this might be the case. The rst of these is the accessibility of the
texts. That is, theses and dissertations are often dicult to obtain in university libraries,
and even more dicult to obtain from outside a university. Another diculty is the
sheer size of theses and dissertations as texts for analysis (Swales, 1990; Thompson,
1999). This often limits what researchers can observe as well as the number of texts
they are able to analyse. Further, there is often considerable variation in expectations
across disciplines, elds of study, (and indeed supervisors), in terms of what a thesis
or dissertation should look like (Dudley-Evans, 1993, 1999; Thompson, 1999).
A further problem is that theses and dissertations in some areas of study are
changing. For example, a thesis or dissertation written in some areas of study is now
very dierent from one that might have been written 10 or more years ago, partic-
ularly with the inuence of what Hodge (1998, p. 113) terms the `postmodern turn'
in the `new humanities' and social sciences. Thus, in some areas of study, theses and
dissertations may be theorised, researched, and written up, in quite dierent ways from
how they might have been in the past (Noble, 1994; Goodchild & Miller, 1997).
Although theses and dissertations are similar in some ways to other pieces of
research writing, such as research articles, they are also in many ways quite dierent
(Dudley-Evans, 1995, 1999). Apart from the scale of the piece of writing, they also
vary in terms of their purpose, readership, the kind of skills and knowledge they are
required to demonstrate and `display', and the kinds of requirements they need to
meet (Shaw, 1991; Hewings, 1993; Thompson, 1999).
A study carried out by Swales and Najjar (1987) into the writing of research article
introductions revealed distinct mismatches between prescriptions oered in pub-
lished guides and handbooks and what happens in actual practice. Much of what
had been written, they found, was often very general in its description and where
generalizations were made, they tended ``not to be borne out in reality'' (Swales,
1984, p. 77). There are a number of handbooks and guides available which discuss
the design, development and writing up of theses and dissertations. Few of these
discussions, however, include an examination of actual texts. Equally no comparisons
have been made between what happens in actual practice and the advice given to
writers in these kinds of publications.
2. Background to the study
Recent years have seen increased attention being given to thesis and dissertation
writing in the ESP (English for Specic Purposes) literature. Few of these studies,
however, have made the discourse structure of theses and dissertations the focus of
their investigation and those that have, have only looked at particular sections of
theses and dissertations and, apart from the work of Dudley-Evans (1999) and
Thompson (1999), have not considered the structure of theses and dissertations as a
whole. Further, apart from these two studies, most examinations of the discourse
structure of theses have been at the master's rather than the doctoral level.
Clearly a thesis or dissertation is more than its rhetorical structure. Equally, there
are many factors which inuence decisions students make about the form of their
B. Paltridge / English for Specic Purposes 21 (2002) 125143 127
text. These include the research perspective taken up in the study, the purpose of the
text, and the extent to which the student has been given advice on the positioning
and organisation of their text (Prior, 1995). The form of the text is also inuenced by
the values and expectations of the academic discipline in which it is produced and
will be assessed. The structure of a text is, nevertheless, a central issue in text pro-
cessing and production (Johns, 1995) and one which is important for students to
have an awareness of so they can make choices from the range of patterns of textual
organisation that are typically associated with instances of the particular genre.
Approximately 5000 of the international students attending Australian universities
are enrolled in a degree which requires the writing of a thesis in English (Australian
Government Publishing Service, 1999). There are also a very large number of such
students in British, US and Canadian universities. Olsen (1998) points out that
about half the number of students writing theses and dissertations in US universities
are non-native speakers of English. In places like Hong Kong, the majority of students
writing a thesis or dissertation in English are non-native speakers (Allison, Cooley,
Lewkowicz, & Nunan, 1998). Such students often have diculty in meeting the
demands of the kind of writing required of them at this particular level (Samuelo-
wicz, 1987; Casanave & Hubbard, 1992). This is especially the case for students who
come from a context where the conventions and expectations of academic writing
may be quite dierent to the situation they now nd themselves in (Ballard &
Clanchy, 1997). As Dudley-Evans (1995, 1999) and Thompson (1999) argue, given
the increasing numbers of international students undertaking research degrees in
English, much more work needs to be done to establish the particular characteristics
of the genre they are required to write.
3. The study
The aim of the study described in this article is to explore the extent to which
published advice on the organisation and structure of theses and dissertations concurs
with what happens in actual practice. The study examines guides which focus on thesis
and dissertation writing alone, as well as handbooks which focus on the research process
in general, but which also devote space to the topic of thesis and dissertation writing.
The sample texts examined were master's and doctoral theses written in a number of
dierent study areas at a major Australian research university where a high number
of international students undertake research degrees. The advice given in these
publications was then compared with the results of the examination of actual texts.
4. Choice of publications and sample texts
The publications that were examined aimed to reect a geographical spread of

writers (Britain, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand) as well as publica-
tions that have appeared over a period of time (from 1981 to 1998). The publications
examined and summaries of their contents are shown in Table 1. The sections of the
Table 1
The publications and their contents
Publications Contents
How to complete and survive Preparing for doctoral research; reasons for undertaking
a doctoral dissertation doctoral research; establishing priorities and choosing a
(Sternberg, 1981) viable topic; organizing doctoral research; relations with
committee members; writing a dissertation proposal;
researching and writing a dissertation; anxiety and the
dissertation process; the dissertation defense; beyond
the dissertation.
How to get a PhD The nature of postgraduate education and the PhD;
(Phillips & Pugh, 1994) choosing an institution, eld of study and supervisor;
how not to get a PhD; how to carry out research; the
form of a PhD thesis; how to manage your supervisor;
what students expect of supervisors; formal PhD
procedures; how to survive in a predominantly British,
white, male, full time academic environment; limitations
of the PhD system.
Successful dissertations and Starting and completing a dissertation; working with

theses (Madsen, 1992) your advisor and your committee; selecting and shaping
the research topic; writing the research proposal;
research sources and techniques, organizing, outlining
and writing; the dissertation defense; adapting the thesis
for publication
Starting research. An introduction What is research?; elements of scientic method; the

to academic research and logic of scientic method; information in research;
dissertation writing (Preece, 1994) methods of primary information collection; organization
and analysis of surveys; understanding statistics; the
research question; the research dissertation
How to write a better thesis The structure of a thesis; getting started on thesis writing;
or report (Evans, 1995) using a word processor; presentation of the thesis; the
introductory chapter; the background chapters; the
methods chapter; choice of research methodology and
design of research instruments; the results chapter;
analyzing and presenting data; the discussion chapter;
the conclusions chapter; nishing o the thesis; other
types of research report; joint authorship; notes on
grammar and punctuation
Writing by degrees: A practical Choosing a topic; research ethics; writing a proposal;

guide to writing theses and nding a supervisor; the student-supervisor relationship;
research papers (Rountree & collecting and processing data; planning for thesis writing;
Laing, 1996) doing chapter outlines; writing individual chapters; drafting
and redrafting; documenting sources; putting the thesis
together; thesis examination; after the thesis
(continued on next page)

Table 1 (continued)
Publications Contents
Writing the doctoral dissertation. A dierent approach to the dissertation; dissertation

A systematic approach (Davis & management; the dissertation as knowledge work; the
Parker, 1997) selection of an advisor and a dissertation committee;
predissertation development activities; the selection of
a topic; investigating existing knowledge on the topic;
the dissertation proposal; the dissertation time schedule
and budget; management of dissertation activities; the
dissertation defense and publishing the results
Guide to the successful thesis and Getting started; the research advisor; developing the
dissertation (Mauch & Birch, 1998) proposal; preparation of the proposal; the thesis or
dissertation committee; approval of a study plan;
conduct of the study; writing the manuscript; defense
of the thesis or dissertation; the completed thesis or
dissertation and future growth
publications which focussed on the organisation and structure of theses and dis-
sertations are shown in bold in this table.
Sample texts where chosen to parallel the degrees and thesis topics of ESL stu-
dents currently enrolled in a course oered by the university's School of Graduate
Studies on thesis writing for ESL students. Students enrolled in the course selected
theses written in their academic department which had a topic and research per-
spective which was similar in some way to their own. These theses were used as the
collection of sample texts for the study. A total of 30 theses were examined. The
study areas and degrees are shown in Table 2. Fifteen master's theses and 15 doc-
toral theses were examined.
5. Published advice: the structure of theses and dissertations
As can be seen from Table 1, the guides examined varied considerably in terms of
the amount of attention they paid to the overall organisation of theses and dis-
sertations. Evans' (1995) How to write a better thesis or report describes the overall
macro-structure of theses and dissertations as comprising four main sections: an
introduction to the study where the research problem is outlined and the approach
to research is described, a background section which discusses current theory and
practice, a design and results section where the student outlines their own work, and
a nal section which discusses the ndings of the study and draws conclusions from
them. Evans avoids presenting a prescriptive account of the overall organisation of a
thesis, however, saying that in dierent elds of study, dierent forms of reporting
may be appropriate. In Writing by degrees, Rountree and Laing (1996) include
examples of thesis outlines and nal tables of contents. In a chapter entitled `Ready
to write' they give detailed advice on preparing a thesis outline and in a chapter
entitled `Working up the whole' discuss points to consider in drawing the piece of work
Table 2
Sample theses: study areas and degrees
Study areas Degrees (number of students)
Architecture PhD (1)

Applied linguistics PhD (2)
Botany PhD (1)
Dental science PhD (1)
Economics PhD (1)
Education PhD (1)
Engineering PhD (2)
Forestry PhD (1)
Linguistics PhD (1)
Medicine PhD (2)
Public health PhD (1)
Surveying PhD (1)
Architecture Master of Building (2)

Engineering Master of Engineering Science (6)
Cultural studies Master of Arts (1)
Optometry Master of Science (3)
Education Master of Education (2)
Applied linguistics Master of Applied Linguistics (1)
together. The basic structure they present is one that commences with an introduc-
tion in which the research is both introduced and justied, followed by a review of
relevant literature, a methodology chapter, a discussion chapter, and a conclusions
chapter. Mauch and Birch's (1998) Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation
contains a chapter entitled `Writing the manuscript' which includes a detailed table
of contents guide. The headings under which the table of contents is arranged are
ìntroduction', `the problem', `review of the literature', `research design', `ndings',
and `conclusions and implications'. Mauch and Birch make it clear that not every
thesis or dissertation will need each of these headings. Some theses, on the other
hand, may need extra headings or may need to subdivide the headings further. They
also point out that there is no standard outline that all theses or dissertations must
follow but that the chapter headings they suggest present a generally typical order
for a nal text, even though the nature and content of the study may vary con-
siderably.
Phillips and Pugh (1994), by contrast, devote only three pages of their book to the
form of a thesis. They suggest chapter headings such as ìntroduction', `literature
survey', `method', `results', `discussion', and `conclusions', adding that these can be
further subdivided into relevant chapters, depending on the discipline and topic of
the thesis. The rest of this section discusses formal expectations such as width of
margins and binding of the thesis, and thinking of `snappy' titles for the thesis and
its chapters. In Successful dissertations and theses, Madsen (1992) presents an
example of a trial of table contents in his chapter on preparing a research proposal.
The headings he suggests are topic-based (see Section 7) rather than the more tra-
ditional type of headings referred to above. His chapter on organizing, outlining,

and writing the thesis includes an example of a draft thesis outline, but no discussion
of what might be contained in each of the chapters. Starting research: An introduc-
tion to academic research and dissertation writing (Preece, 1994) includes a three page
section entitled `the dissertation format' in a chapter titled `The research dissertation'.
Preece describes the organisation of the body of thesis as an Introduction followed
by ``Chapters 1, 2, etc'' with no suggestion for what might be contained in these
chapters. What information is provided on this comes elsewhere in the chapter
where he talks about setting the scene (the introduction), the review of the literature
and the importance of conclusions. Davis and Parker's (1997) Writing the doctoral
dissertation: A systematic approach is essentially about managing the dissertation
process. It does not contain a chapter on the structure of a dissertation, rather,
presenting this information in its discussion of the dissertation proposal.
6. Individual chapters
The guides and handbooks that were examined devoted even less space to the
writing of individual chapters than they did to the overall organisation of a thesis.
Evans (1995) deals with this in the most detail, with chapter headings such as `the
introductory chapter', `the background chapters', `the methods chapter', `the results
chapter', `the discussion chapter', and `the conclusions chapter'. Rountree and Laing
(1996) discuss writing chapter outlines, writing individual chapters, drafting and
redrafting chapters, and documenting sources. Sternberg (1981), by contrast,
devotes two pages of a 29 page chapter entitled `The unfolding dissertation:
researching and writing it' to discussing writing individual chapters. The reader is
then referred back to an earlier chapter on writing a dissertation proposal, saying
simply that the dissertation chapters should expand on the proposal in its use of
section headings. None of the other books that were examined discussed the writing
of individual thesis chapters.
7. Actual practice
Dudley-Evans (1999), Thompson (1999) and Dong (1998) describe a number of

thesis types which occur in dierent academic disciplines. Dudley-Evans terms the
typical ÌMRAD' (introduction methods results discussion) type thesis a
`traditional' thesis. Thompson further renes this category by dividing traditional
theses into those which have `simple' and those which have `complex' patterns of
organization.
A thesis with a `simple' traditional pattern is one which reports on a single study
and has a typical macro-structure of ìntroduction', `review of the literature',
`materials and methods', `results', `discussion', and `conclusion'. A thesis with a
`complex' internal structure is one which reports on more than one study. It typi-
cally commences with ìntroduction' and `review of the literature' sections, as with
Table 3
Summary of thesis types, degrees and study areas
Traditional: simple Traditional: complex Topic-based Compilation of research articles
Degrees MA (1) MSc (2) MA (1) PhD (1)

MBuilding (1) PhD (4) MArch (1)
MEng (6) PhD (4)
MEd (2)
MSc (1)
PhD (6)
Total 17 6 6 1
Study areas Architecture Architecture Architecture Dental science
Applied linguistics Medicine Economics
Botany Optometry Engineering
Education Surveying Cultural studies
Engineering Linguistics
Forestry Public health
Linguistics
Optometry
the simple traditional thesis. It might then have a `general methods' section which is
followed by a series of sections which report on each of the individual studies. The
thesis concludes with a general overall conclusions section (Thompson, 1999).
Dudley-Evans (1999) refers to a further kind of thesis, one which he terms a
``topic-based'' thesis. This kind of thesis typically commences with an introductory
chapter which is then followed by a series of chapters which have titles based on sub-
topics of the topic under investigation. The thesis then ends with a `conclusions'
chapter. The PhD thesis he reports on, written in the eld of electronic engineering,
is made up of nine chapters, seven of which are topic based.
Dong (1998) describes doctoral theses which are based on a compilation of pub-
lishable research articles. These are quite dierent from other sorts of theses. The
research article chapters are more concise than typical thesis chapters with less of the
`display of knowledge' that is often found in a thesis or dissertation. Further, in
terms of audience, they are written more as èxperts writing for experts', than novi-
ces `writing for admission to the academy'. In this sense, they are quite dierent
from the `Traditional: complex' type thesis described above. Dong found that 38%
of the graduate students at the two US universities where she carried out her study
were writing a thesis based on publishable research articles, although native speaker
students tended to be doing this more than non-native speaker students. She found,
however, that this type of thesis was more common at one of the universities, a
comprehensive research university, than at the other, a technical and engineering
university.
The collection of texts examined in this study contained examples of each of the
thesis types referred to above. Table 3 presents a summary of this.
As Table 3 shows, more than half the theses in the collection were traditional in
their format and reported on a single study; that is, they represented the `traditional:
simple' kind of thesis. Nonetheless, 13 of the 30 theses did not follow this pattern.
There were equal numbers of `traditional: complex' types theses and `topic-based'
theses. Further, there was one thesis in the collection which was made up of a col-
lection of research articles, each presented as an individual chapter and framed by a
number of introductory and concluding chapters.
An example of a traditional: simple thesis, described in summary form, can be
seen in Appendix A. This is a master's thesis written in the university's Faculty of
Education and submitted in 1998. This thesis reported on an examination of rater
consistency in the assessment of second language writing. An equally typical exam-
ple of this kind of thesis, also written at the master's level, was written in the area of
Applied Linguistics, although it was a study of a very dierent kind, an examination
of pre-court barrister interactions considered from a conversation analysis perspec-
tive. Other master's level theses which followed the traditional: simple format were
written in the areas of Optometry, Engineering, and Architecture, 11 in total. At the
PhD level, six theses followed the traditional: simple format and were written in the
areas of Engineering, Education, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Botany, and
Forestry. The traditional: simple type thesis, then, was more common at the master's
level than at the doctoral level where students either carried out more complex types
of study, or ones which were more appropriately reported on in a dierent kind of
way.
Appendix B shows an example of a traditional thesis: complex type of reporting,
also described in summary form. This study, a PhD thesis written in the Department
of Architecture, Building and Planning, was submitted in 1999. The thesis reports on
community perceptions of the notion of town character in a small coastal town in
the state of New South Wales. Even though the thesis is entitled à case study', it
actually reports on a number of case studies (ve in all), each related to its overall
topic. The thesis starts with a general introductory chapter which presents key
notions relevant to the study, a general description of the research strategy
employed, and an overview of the thesis. This is followed by two chapters which
provide further background to the study. The ve case studies are then presented.
The thesis concludes with a general discussion chapter which draws the ndings of
the study together, makes suggestions for future application of the ndings, as well
as discusses limitations to these ndings. Other study areas in which this type of
thesis occurred were Medicine, Optometry and Surveying. Of these, two were writ-
ten for master's degrees (in Optometry) and three were written for doctoral degrees
(two in Medicine, and one in Surveying).
The example of a topic-based master's thesis shown in Appendix C was written in
the area of Cultural Studies and was submitted in 1997. It examines pink and white
marble terraces in New Zealand which were covered by volcanic eruption in the late
1800s and which are now an historical and `museumised' tourist attraction. One
other master's thesis, in the area of architecture, also took a topic-based approach.
This thesis was submitted in 1978 and examined the notion of phenomenology in
architecture. The other four topic-based theses were written at the doctoral level, in
the elds of Engineering, Linguistics, Economics, and Public Health. The Engineer-
ing PhD thesis, on the management of solid waste in Thailand, was very dierent
from the Engineering theses which followed the traditional: simple and traditional:
complex models referred to above, showing how thesis types can (as reported by
Thompson (1999); Dong (1998) and others) often dier within disciplines and it is
by no means the case that every thesis written in a particular area of study will
necessarily take the same form of presentation.
The compilation of research articles presented for the PhD in Dental Science
summarised in Appendix D was submitted in 1999 and is very similar to the type of
thesis Dong (1998) reports is now common in science PhDs in the United States. This
thesis was based on three discrete but related research articles, one of which had already
been published at the time of submission and was included as an appendix to the thesis.
Although this seems to be a trend in the University's Dental Science department, it is
not always the case that every thesis submitted in this department is necessarily of this
type. For example, of the two PhDs submitted in this department in the previous year,
one was a compilation of research articles, while the other would be better described as
an example of a traditional: complex thesis. To what extent the trend towards a com-
pilation of articles also occurs in other study areas in the university is not known as this
was the only example of this kind of thesis found in the collection of sample texts. It is
clear, however, that this kind of thesis is not just restricted to the US doctorate and is
starting to be seen as acceptable for the doctoral degree in other parts of the world as
well (O'Brien, 1995; Maxwell & Shanahan, 1997).
Table 4 is a summary of the thesis types found in the study and their typical
macro-structures. This is presented in very general terms as a statement of what
typically occurred in each of these thesis types. Sections in brackets indicate that
they occurred in some of the theses but not in all of them. In a way, both the tradi-
tional: complex and compilations of research articles are a variation of the tradi-
tional: simple type thesis. One dierence between these two types of thesis, however,
seems to be the place of the review of the literature which is presented in more detail
and earlier on in the traditional: complex type thesis and more within each of the
articles in the compilation type format. The research article chapters of the compi-
lation type thesis are also much more `stand alone' than the individual study chap-
ters of the traditional: complex type thesis. Furthermore the intended audience, level
of detail, and display of knowledge presented in these two types of thesis, as men-
tioned above, are substantially dierent.
The topic-based format is, however, of a very dierent kind with only one of the
theses in the collection having what might be considered a materials and methods
type section and none of them having separate results and discussion sections. Only
four of the topic-based theses had a conventional conclusions section with one of the
other two theses having a `concluding remarks' section in its nal chapter and the
other (shown in Appendix C) having a `postscript' section which summed up and
commented on the observations and arguments presented throughout the thesis.
What is interesting from this very small collection of texts is that a number of
dierent types of thesis are being in written in this university and that not all dis-
ciplines require that theses written in their area of study be of a single type. Archi-
tecture, for example, showed a range of dierent thesis types and, although the
compilation of research articles type of thesis did not occur in this area in this col-
Table 4
Summary of thesis types and their macro-structures
Summary of thesis types
Traditional: simple Topic-based

Introduction Introduction
Literature review Topic 1
Materials and methods Topic 2
Results Topic 3 etc.
Discussion Conclusions
Conclusions
Traditional: complex Compilation of research articles

Background to the study and review of the literature Background to the study
(Background theory) Research article 1
(General methods) Introduction
Study 1 Literature review
Introduction Materials and methods
Methods Results
Results Discussion
Discussion and conclusions Conclusions
Study 2 Research article 2
Methods Literature review
Results Materials and methods
Discussion and conclusions Results
Study 3 etc. Discussion
Introduction Conclusions
Methods Research article 3 etc.
Results Introduction
Discussion and conclusions Literature review
Discussion Materials and methods
Conclusions Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Discussion
Conclusions
lection of texts, it is not at all inconceivable that it could not, given the move, for
example, in departments such as Dental Science for this kind of thesis to be an
acceptable form of doctoral thesis. It is also interesting to note that the alternative
topic-based thesis is not all that new in the university, with one example being found
that dates back to 1978. There are clearly, then, a number of options open to stu-
dents writing a thesis in the university.
All of this may seem somewhat unremarkable to someone who has read or
supervised many theses or dissertations. Most ESL teachers who have the task of
helping students with thesis and dissertation writing, however, probably have not
had this experience. Equally, few ESL students embarking on thesis and dissertation
writing are likely to have seen a great number of sample texts before they start
writing. Thus, what to experienced researchers and supervisors might seem common
knowledge, to a great number of their students, I would suggest, is not.
8. Published advice and actual practice
The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which the advice given in a
number of guides and handbooks on the organisation and structure of theses and
dissertations concurs with what happens in actual practice. The collection of theses
examined in the study was small in number and from a single university so may not
be representative of all master's and doctoral theses written in the university, or
indeed in other Australian universities. Theses submitted, for example, in uni-
versities of technology, of which there are a number in Australia, may well be dif-
ferent from those written in more traditional research-based universities. Dong
(1998), in her study in the United States, for example, found this to be the case.
Theses written in a parallel area of study in another Australian research university
may also be quite dierent from the sample texts examined here. This may be the
result of dierent sets of educational values, dierent prioritizing of research per-
spectives, and dierent academic sta with dierent research interests, expertise, and
expectations. Furthermore, the texts examined in this study were all submitted for
`thesis only' research degrees. In Australia there is an increasing number of `profes-
sional' doctorates such as the Doctor of Business Administration, the Doctor of
Architecture, the Doctor of Management and the Doctor of Creative Arts which
contain a coursework as well as a research component (Shanahan, 1996; Maxwell &
Shanahan, 1996; Reid, 1998). In these degrees, the theses submitted for examination
may be very dierent from those that were examined in this study.
It is clear, nonetheless, that the guides and handbooks examined did not reect the
range of options that seem to be open to students writing a thesis at the university
where the study was carried out. All but Preece (1994) described in some way the
traditional: simple type thesis. The level of detail in which this was done varied
enormously, however, with Evans (1995) devoting a substantial amount of his book
to this topic, Rountree and Laing (1996) giving considerable space to it as well, and
Mauch and Birch (1998) providing a single but very detailed and helpful chapter on
the topic. The possibility of writing a traditional: complex thesis was discussed less,
and only in any great detail by Rountree and Laing (1996) and by Mauch and Birch
(1998). The topic-based thesis was presented by way of example, although not dis-
cussed, by Madsen (1992). The possibility of a compilation of publishable articles as
a doctoral thesis was not mentioned in any of the guides or handbooks at all.
The books did, it should be said, cover many important aspects of the research
process such as selecting a topic, writing a research proposal, and so on. In the
majority of the books, however, much less attention was given to thesis or dissertation
writing itself, or the content of individual chapters. Nor did any one of the books
describe the complete range of thesis options that this study revealed.
9. Conclusions
It would seem, then, that some of the titles of books on thesis and dissertation
writing are misleading. It is, perhaps, reasonable to assume that guides with titles
such as Writing the doctoral dissertation and How to get a PhD would give detailed
advice on the structure and organisation of a thesis and the range of options that
might be available to students. Apart from the exceptions referred to above, this did
not, to a large extent, prove to be the case. Evans (1995), in the preface to his book,
points to exactly this problem when he recounts how he went into his university
bookshop looking for a book on the topic of thesis organisation and found the
publications he looked at to be seriously lacking in this area.
There is, then, a need for a book which shows students the range of thesis options
they might have, discusses the kind of variation that occurs in actual texts, and
provides a rationale for the various choices thesis writers make. In terms of ESL
materials, there is still not yet a book available on thesis and dissertation writing to
help students understand the range of options that might be available to them and
reasons for the various choices they might make.3
Thesis and dissertation writing is a dicult process for native speaker students
and often doubly so for non-native speaker students. ESL students may have the
level of language prociency required for admission to their course of study, but not
yet the necessary textual knowledge, genre knowledge and social knowledge (Bhatia,
1999) required of them to succeed in this particular setting. Furthermore, they often
have to write their thesis or dissertation without access to sample texts to draw on as
models for their writing.
In terms of classroom teaching, students need to be exposed to a range of sample
texts as possible models for their individual writing. One helpful way of doing this is
getting students to choose a thesis with a topic and research perspective which is
similar in some way to their own to use for their own òn-line' genre analysis
(Flowerdew, 1993) of their sample texts. In some universities, academic departments
keep copies of theses and dissertations that have been submitted in their area of
study. These copies are often easier to access than centrally held ones and thus a
better starting point for students than those held in the university's main libraries.
Students can be asked to identify the typical macro-structure of the kind of thesis
they are preparing to write. They can be asked to examine the way their sample text
is divided up into stages, as well as consider the function each of these stages per-
forms in achieving its overall goal (Veel & Con, 1996). Moore and Searcy's (1998)
`Theses and dissertations; A guided tour' provides useful suggestions for ways of
doing this. In this activity students are lead through sections of a sample thesis
considering both the content and organisation of each of the stages of the sample
text. Students, working with the thesis they have chosen, then compare each other's
texts and discuss the reasons for the various organizational choices that have been
made. Students report on their analyses to each other, and see to what extent the
practices of each study area diers from each other. This in turn leads to considering
the question of why the theses dier and in what way they do. Students then use the
results of their analyses and their understanding of reasons for organisational choi-
ces as a guide for preparing their own piece of writing. Working with real texts and
3
See, however, Swales and Feak (2000).
with each other, students thus learn from each other, as well as learn more about the
genre they are in the process of writing.
There is still much research to be carried out to further explore the overall dis-
course structures of theses and dissertations. One avenue worth exploring is the
ways in which èld oriented' versus `laboratory oriented' theses might vary; that is,
theses that are based on a project carried out in a natural setting with all of the
attendant variables, and those that are carried out in a more controlled setting
where this is less likely to be the case (Thompson, 1999). Another possibility is to
compare theses which are based on large data sets and are more statistically driven
with those which are not. It may also be useful to examine ways in which theses vary
that are written in what Becher (1989) terms `hard' versus `soft' disciplines, and
`convergent' versus `divergent' areas of study (Thompson, 1999).
What is clear, however, is that our students need to be presented with the range of
thesis options that might be open to them, and consider the reasons why they might
make a particular choice. This is especially important for ESL students who may, in
the words of one of my students, come to thesis writing thinking there is such a thing
as the `òne size ts all'' master's and doctoral thesis when, often, there are a number
of dierent possibilities that may be available to them.
Appendix A. A traditional thesis: simple
Degree: MEd Study area: Education

Title: Rater consistency and judgement in the direct assessment of
second language writing ability in the Certicates in Spoken and
Written English
Chapter 1: Introduction
The nature of the problem
Origins of the study
Focus and structure of the thesis
Chapter 2: Literature review
Introduction
Performance assessment
Performance assessment and reliability
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Methodology
Introduction
Selection of research design, setting, informants and texts
Data collection and analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Results
Introduction
Degree of rater consistency
Interpretation and application of performance criteria
Raters' reading strategies

Inuences on rater judgements of writing ability
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Discussion
Introduction
Degree of rater consistency
Interpretation and application of performance criteria
Raters' reading strategies
Inuences on rater judgements of writing ability
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations
Appendix B. A traditional thesis: complex
Degree: PhD Study area: Architecture, Building and Planning

Title: Community perceptions of town character: A case study of Byron
Bay, NSW
The concept of town character
Research strategy
Thesis structure
Chapter 2: Byron Bay: From sacred sites to tourist attraction
Regional setting, natural history and cultural history
Concern with maintaining town character
Chapter 3: Place character: A theoretical framework
Spirit and concept of place
Models of place
Dimensions of place character
Chapter 4: Methodological considerations
Community involvement in assessing town character
Landscape assessment paradigms and methods
Research design
Chapter 5: A threat to town character
Club Med development proposal
Research questions
Method
Results
Conclusions
Limitations and future research
Chapter 6: Community description of town character
Survey aims and research questions
Method
Results
Discussion
Chapter 7: Identifying town character features
Research questions
Method
Results
Discussion
Chapter 8: Relating landscape features to town character
Research questions
Inventory of town character features
Randomly selected landscape scenes
Part One: respondents, and rating scales
Analysis and results
Part Two: respondents and rating scales
Analysis and results
Discussion and further research
Conclusion
Chapter 9: General discussion
Addressing the research questions
Concluding remarks
Appendix C. A topic-based thesis
Degree: MA Study area: Cultural Studies

Title: Unworldly places: Myth, memory and the Pink and White Terraces
Disappearing wonders
Chapter 2: Plotting
Travels of colonial science
Plotting destinations
Chapter 3: Sightseeing
Topophilic tourism
Site specics
Painting the place and myth
Souvenering the site
Chapter 4: Astral travel
Mnemonic tours in the `new wonderland'
Memory tours
The buried village: Embalmed history
Living out the past
Museumising the past: Sanctioned memory
Chapter 5: Postscript
Appendix D. A compilation of research articles
Degree: PhD Study area: Dental Science

Title: Vertical root fracture and fracture-related properties of dentine
Chapter 2: Background and literature review
Chapter 3: Aims of the study
Chapter 4: Load and strain during lateral condensation and vertical root
fracture
Introduction
Literature review
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion
Summary and conclusions
Chapter 5: Mechanism of vertical root fracture by nite element analysis and
strain gauge technique
Introduction
Literature review
Results
Discussion
Summary and conclusion
Chapter 6: The eects of dentine location and tubule orientation on selected
physical properties of dentine
Introduction
Literature review
Results
Discussion
Summary and conclusions
Chapter 7: Additional nite element analysis and general discussion
Chapter 8: Further work and investigations
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Brian Paltridge is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Auckland University of

Technology. He is author of Genre, Frames and Writing in Research Settings (John
Benjamins), Making Sense of Discourse Analysis (Antipodean Educational Enter-
prises, Australia), and Genre and the Language Learning Classroom (University of
Michigan Press).

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English for Specific Purposes 21 (2002) 125143

Thesis and dissertation writing: an examination

2. Background to the study

4. Choice of publications and sample texts

The publications that were examined aimed to reect a geographical spread of

Successful dissertations and Starting and completing a dissertation; working with

Starting research. An introduction What is research?; elements of scientic method; the

Writing by degrees: A practical Choosing a topic; research ethics; writing a proposal;

(continued on next page)

Writing the doctoral dissertation. A dierent approach to the dissertation; dissertation

5. Published advice: the structure of theses and dissertations

Study areas Degrees (number of students)

Architecture PhD (1)

Architecture Master of Building (2)

ditional type of headings referred to above. His chapter on organizing, outlining,

Dudley-Evans (1999), Thompson (1999) and Dong (1998) describe a number of

Traditional: simple Traditional: complex Topic-based Compilation of research articles

Degrees MA (1) MSc (2) MA (1) PhD (1)

Traditional: simple Topic-based

Traditional: complex Compilation of research articles

8. Published advice and actual practice

Appendix A. A traditional thesis: simple

Degree: MEd Study area: Education

Raters' reading strategies

Appendix B. A traditional thesis: complex

Degree: PhD Study area: Architecture, Building and Planning

Appendix C. A topic-based thesis

Degree: MA Study area: Cultural Studies

Appendix D. A compilation of research articles

Degree: PhD Study area: Dental Science

Brian Paltridge is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Auckland University of

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