Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation Paperback – January 1, 2003

I was able to learn all about formatting a Ph.D. Dissertation, and it assisted me Editing for paying Customers. Thanks, again!

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.

This excellent book doesn't deserve the shameful formatting (or lack thereof) that Macmillan gave to the Kindle version. Someone just ran the original PDF files through some form of text recovery program and published it without another look. Running heads appear randomly in the text, in some cases, words have been reorganized into gibberish. The table of contents is a list of the original pdf file names. Incredible coming from a "brand name" publisher, and a fact made all the more painful because this is one of the best books on this topic ever written. Buy the paper copy.

The book provides a good overview of the dissertation process - ranging from selection of a topic through to post-doc publication strategies. Written from a British perspective, but applicable to any "written" doctorate, the suggestions are practical and actionable. More importantly, from my perspective, was the "inside baseball" elements and strategies around the oral defense, the suggestions on formatting, and the recurring theme that done is better than perfect. A good read that is surprisingly easy to read as well.

Very solid, thoughtful, and very original advice.At times it feels like a gigantic list of dos and don'ts, but there is also much wisdom and considered advice giving that really engages with the PhD student mind, and the almost universal mistakes in thinking we all make as trainee academics.

I'm in my last year, and was thinking, "okay time to knuckle down and write this thing, yet I need some guidance!". Read some of the reviews for this title and thought I was onto a winner. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. It didn't offer anything thing ground breaking and when I got over the half way hump I started thinking it was a chore to continue.The writing style is clear and logical and that made it an easy read, yet when it comes to authoring a PhD it doesn't give you any thing which you wouldn't already know. If you've managed to publish a paper already to a conference or a journal as part of your Doctorate don't waste you time with this title. However, if you're stating out and have no idea what is involved with a Doctorate and would like to get a good grounding, well... this book should give some insight.

I have finished two chapters at the moment. However, this is a book which is an eye opener. I am hopeful that when I shall finish reading the book..i will read it over again and again. This is a kind of book with which all other books on research / PhD should be compared . I am sure that this book is going to be one of the best books that I shall ever read in life. Thank you Patrick Dunleavy for making such a wonderful contribution.

This is a very well written book that addresses the issue of how to plan and construct a PhD, considering issues including length and balance of individual chapters and literature review, methodology and research findings and discussion. The overall theme running through the book is one of writing to manage reader expectations, which Dunleavy does expertly, clearly outlining what this book can accomplish and giving advice backed up with years of experience. I would strongly recommend this title to postgraduate students looking for a reference to assist with managing the mechanics and structure of writing a PhD dissertation.