Taken from the Good Practice Guide:
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Writing Your Dissertation
The length of your thesis Dissertation is provide by Custom Thesis http://www.ttc-switch.com/ normally be between 10,000-12,000 words.Quantity does not equal quality:a well-organised,tightly-argued thesis of 10,000 words is obviously preferable to a work of over 12,000 words where unclear methods and findings are embedded in much verbose and unnecessary'padding'.We recommend that you should aim for 10,000.This can only be approximate,since most theses will contain material other than text:tables,charts,and perhaps examples of language data.The final version,including appendices and references,is usually between 60-80 pages long. Some theses could be a good deal shorter than this,it depends entirely on the type of data and methodology you are using.Your supervisor will be able to tell you if the scope and detail,and hence the length,is appropriate.
THE WRITING PROCESS
Some General Tips
A golden rule is to write down as much as you can from as early on as you can-and your task will become easier.There are several good reasons for this advice.
For some people,actually getting thoughts and methods down on paper presents one f the biggest stumbling blocks.If you feel this way,take comfort that this is a ommon feeling.However,this must be overcome early in the process.Quite often,it s difficult to spot the flaws in your reasoning until it is set out on paper,so you are well dvised to write up bits and pieces in draft as early as possible.Early sessions with our supervisor should be followed by a period where you get down on paper and evelop ideas that have been mentioned.When you are selecting subjects,early on, rite down the way they were selected.That description can probably go straight into he'subjects'section of your method,with a little editing.
Another reason for writing early on is that your supervisor will want to see your easoning is committed to paper;supervisions based on loose discussion can be a aste of time.Some supervisors claim that the most frequent advice they give tudents is to"go away and write down everything you have just said".One of the easons why you might be reluctant to do this is lack of confidence.Many people who ave not written such an extended piece of work before are diffident about committing heir critical thoughts and methodology descriptions to paper.Try to rise above this!If ou have successfully completed a Master's course,there is no reason why you should ot also be able to complete your thesis with a minimum of difficulty.
A more positive reason for getting down to it early is that you will be pleasantly urprised at how many words it takes to put down your ideas.The daunting task of 0,000 to 12,000 words does not seem nearly so unattainable when you realise how any thousands you have already written on literature review and a description of ethodology.Taken from the Good Practice Guide:#p#分頁標題#e#
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Plagiarism
When you take notes on texts,do be meticulous in your methods.This means that
EITHER you should paraphrase what the author has said OR you must indicate in your otes that what you have jotted down is a quotation.You may feel it necessary to nclude substantial quotations of particular researchers Dissertation is provide by Custom Thesis http://www.ttc-switch.com/ your notes;it is often difficult o paraphrase well-written sections in other people's work.If you do not proceed learly on this,it may result in accidental plagiarism-i.e.the incorporation of large hunks of text written by other people into your work.Unfortunately,plagiarism both of he accidental and intentional kind is not uncommon.It is,of course,against the egulations,and if any of the text in your work is found to originate elsewhere,you will ave to re-submit(if permitted)and your chances of graduating will be seriously
jeopardised.
You may be unclear in your mind as to what constitutes plagiarism and what onstitutes paraphrase.In general,using the same phrases and sentences as another riter,even if you have changed some of it,counts as plagiarism.The difference etween what is legitimate and what is not,is best illustrated by comparing the set of exts below.(The illustration is modelled on a set of examples which can be found in he Study Skills Centre booklet,"Aids to Study:Essay Writing",Manchester olytechnic.)
(a)Original version
A suitable definition of noise is UNWANTED sound.It is sound that interferes with hought or communication.The effects of noise range from plain annoyance to ermanent damage to hearing ability.Excessive noise in a work environment reduces he individual's efficiency.Too much noise in residential surroundings impairs the uality of community life.Noise is therefore a matter both of industrial and public ealth.
Martin E Rosenberg.Sound and Hearing.(Studies in Biology no 145),Edward Arnold,
1982:46.
(b)Plagiarised version
Noise can be defined as UNWANTED sound which can interfere with the processes of ommunication or thought.Its effects range from annoyance to damage to the ability o hear.Excessive noise at work reduces the individual's efficiency to work.Excessive oise in residential surroundings impairs the quality of life.Noise is thus a matter of oth industrial and public health.
(c)Legitimate paraphrase
Rosenberg(1982)has defined noise as UNWANTED sound.The effects of noise can be sychological and thus impede communication and thought and this,in turn,reduces he efficiency of people's ability to work and the quality of life of those who live in noisy urroundings.High levels of noise may also have pathological effects on the ear itself. ence,noise is of concern to those in occupational or environmental health.Referencing#p#分頁標題#e#
The system of academic referencing is designed to anchor your work firmly in its esearch context,to prevent you from making unsubstantiated statements and to allow our readers to check all the information included for themselves.When you are setting ut the ideas and previous research in your area,you often need to refer to one or ore previous works per comment.For example:
"Utterance length has frequently been used as a measure of child language level in anguage acquisition studies(e.g.Brown,1973;Wells,1985;Fletcher,1985).Its sefulness as a measure of grammatical complexity,however,has been recently uestioned(see Bennet-Kastor,1988;for a review of problems associated with the use f this measure.)"
It is important to use appropriate references;for example,if a particular measure was rst used as long ago as 1973,as the one in this extract was,you need to refer to the arly and perhaps later ses.Don't just choose any old study you happen to know to ack up a general statement such as the one in the extract.If in doubt,over-reference ather than under-reference in the first place,as it is obviously easier to cut out eferences than to add them at a later stage.You should have obtained a good idea of ow to do it from your reading of research papers.If you feel uneasy about what you re doing,choose a good research paper Dissertation is provide by Custom Thesis http://www.ttc-switch.com/ you know already,stop considering the ontent for a moment and just peruse the text thoroughly to see how it is written.This ill help you with referencing and also with general style and structure.
Reference conventions are explained more fully in the reference convention section.
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