Developing Quality Dissertations in the Social Sciences

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Social Sciences PDF Author: Barbara E. Lovitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000978966
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is one of three short booklets designed to be given to graduate students as they begin their studies. They explain the purposes of the dissertation and the criteria by which it will be assessed. They help students understand the context of their course work; the need to take an active role in shaping their studies; and the importance of thinking ahead about the components of the dissertation and the quality of scholarship they will need to demonstrate.These booklets are intended to support the dissertation research and writing process by providing faculty and advisors with guidelines for setting clear expectations for student performance, and with a model for helping students produce the desired quality of work. They encourage dialogue between faculty and students about the quality of the components of their dissertation project. They include rubrics that students can use to self-assess their work and that can aid faculty in providing focused feedback.Setting explicit targets and benchmarks of excellence of the sort advocated in these booklets will enable departments and universities to respond to demands for accountability with clear criteria for, and evidence of, success; and will raise the overall quality of student performance.

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Social Sciences

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Social Sciences PDF Author: Barbara E. Lovitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000978966
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is one of three short booklets designed to be given to graduate students as they begin their studies. They explain the purposes of the dissertation and the criteria by which it will be assessed. They help students understand the context of their course work; the need to take an active role in shaping their studies; and the importance of thinking ahead about the components of the dissertation and the quality of scholarship they will need to demonstrate.These booklets are intended to support the dissertation research and writing process by providing faculty and advisors with guidelines for setting clear expectations for student performance, and with a model for helping students produce the desired quality of work. They encourage dialogue between faculty and students about the quality of the components of their dissertation project. They include rubrics that students can use to self-assess their work and that can aid faculty in providing focused feedback.Setting explicit targets and benchmarks of excellence of the sort advocated in these booklets will enable departments and universities to respond to demands for accountability with clear criteria for, and evidence of, success; and will raise the overall quality of student performance.

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Sciences

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Sciences PDF Author: Barbara E. Lovitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100097992X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 58

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is one of three short booklets designed to be given to graduate students as they begin their studies. They explain the purposes of the dissertation and the criteria by which it will be assessed. They help students understand the context of their course work; the need to take an active role in shaping their studies; and the importance of thinking ahead about the components of the dissertation and the quality of scholarship they will need to demonstrate.These booklets are intended to support the dissertation research and writing process by providing faculty and advisors with guidelines for setting clear expectations for student performance, and with a model for helping students produce the desired quality of work. They encourage dialogue between faculty and students about the quality of the components of their dissertation project. They include rubrics that students can use to self-assess their work and that can aid faculty in providing focused feedback.Setting explicit targets and benchmarks of excellence of the sort advocated in these booklets will enable departments and universities to respond to demands for accountability with clear criteria for, and evidence of, success; and will raise the overall quality of student performance.

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Humanities

Developing Quality Dissertations in the Humanities PDF Author: Barbara E. Lovitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000976904
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 71

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is one of three short booklets designed to be given to graduate students as they begin their studies. These booklets explain the purposes of the dissertation and the criteria by which it will be assessed. They help students understand the context of their course work; the need to take an active role in shaping their studies; and the importance of thinking ahead about the components of the dissertation and the quality of scholarship they will need to demonstrate.These booklets are intended to support the dissertation research and writing process by providing faculty and advisors with guidelines for setting clear expectations for student performance, and with a model for helping students produce the desired quality of work. They encourage dialogue between faculty and students about the quality of the components of their dissertation project. They include rubrics that students can use to self-assess their work and that can aid faculty in providing focused feedback.Setting explicit targets and benchmarks of excellence of the sort advocated in these booklets will enable departments and universities to respond to demands for accountability with clear criteria for, and evidence of, success; and will raise the overall quality of student performance.

A Practical Guide to Dissertation and Thesis Writing

A Practical Guide to Dissertation and Thesis Writing PDF Author: Ian Smith
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527538761
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides a step-by-step guide to writing the different chapters of a PhD dissertation, which will benefit aspiring, beginner and mid-track PhD students and candidates in the Social Sciences. Based on the authors’ combined experience of working with both Masters and PhD students through the dissertation writing process, it offers helpful writing guidelines, from the conceptualization and problematization of the dissertation through to the literature review, methodological issues, writing up results and, finally, to the discussion, conclusions and abstract writing process. With chapters dedicated to offering guidelines, suggestions and pitfalls to watch out for, this book will assist PhD students and candidates in the fields of the various Social Sciences with exercises and pointers on successfully navigating the writing of a PhD dissertation. It takes the PhD student in the Social Sciences through the maze of writing a dissertation, and provides a step-by-step train of thought throughout the entire writing process.

Writing a Proposal for Your Dissertation

Writing a Proposal for Your Dissertation PDF Author: Steven R. Terrell
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462550789
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
The encouraging book that has guided thousands of students step by step through crafting a strong dissertation proposal is now in a thoroughly revised second edition. It includes new guidance for developing methodology-specific problem statements, an expanded discussion of the literature review, coverage of the four-chapter dissertation model, and more. Terrell demonstrates how to write each chapter of the proposal, including the problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions and hypotheses; literature review; and detailed plans for data collection and analysis. "Let's Start Writing" exercises serve as building blocks for drafting a complete proposal. Other user-friendly features include case-study examples from diverse disciplines, “Do You Understand?” checklists, and end-of-chapter practice tests with answers. Appendices present an exemplary proposal written three ways to demonstrate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches, and discuss how to structure a four-chapter dissertation. New to This Edition *Introduction offering a concise overview of the entire proposal-writing process and the doctoral experience. *Additional help with tailoring problem and purpose statements for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies. *Expanded discussion of the review of literature, including a criterion for judging the quality of primary versus secondary sources. *Many new examples from different disciplines, such as studies of depression treatments, approaches to reducing offender recidivism, health effects of irradiated crops, strength training in college football, and remote teaching and learning during COVID-19. *Focus on the five-chapter model is broadened to include specific guidance for four-chapter dissertations. *Broader, more detailed reference list and glossary.

Writing a Successful Thesis Or Dissertation

Writing a Successful Thesis Or Dissertation PDF Author: Fred C. Lunenburg
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 141294225X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
This comprehensive manual offers direction for every step of the thesis or dissertation process, from choosing an appropriate topic to adapting the finished work for publication.

Demystifying Dissertation Writing

Demystifying Dissertation Writing PDF Author: Peg Boyle Single
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000979873
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
Research shows that five strategies correlate with the successful completion of a dissertation:·Establishing a consistent writing routine·Working with a support group·Consulting your advisor·Understanding your committee’s expectations·Setting a realistic and timely scheduleBuilding on these insights, this book is for anyone who needs help in preparing for, organizing, planning, scheduling, and writing the longest sustained writing project they have encountered, particularly if he or she is not receiving sufficient guidance about the process, but also for anyone looking to boost his or her writing productivity.The author uncovers much tacit knowledge, provides advice on working with dissertation advisors and committee members, presents proven techniques for the prewriting and writing stages of the dissertation, sets out a system for keeping on schedule, and advocates enlisting peer support. As Peg Boyle Single states, “my goal is quite simple and straightforward: for you to experience greater efficiency and enjoyment while writing. If you experience anxiety, blocking, impatience, perfectionism or procrastination when you write, then this system is for you. I want you to be able to complete your writing so that you can move on with the rest of your life.” Few scholars, let alone graduate students, have been taught habits of writing fluency and productivity. The writing skills imparted by this book will not only help the reader through the dissertation writing process, but will serve her or him in whatever career she or he embarks on, given the paramount importance of written communication, especially in the academy. This book presents a system of straightforward and proven techniques that are used by productive writers, and applies them to the dissertation process. In particular, it promotes the concept of writing networks – whether writing partners or groups – to ensure that writing does not become an isolated and tortured process, while not hiding the need for persistence and sustained effort.This book is intended for graduate students and their advisers in the social sciences, the humanities, and professional fields. It can further serve as a textbook for either informal writing groups led by students or for formal writing seminars offered by departments or graduate colleges. The techniques described will help new faculty advice their students more effectively and even achieve greater fluency in their own writing.

Making the Implicit Explicit

Making the Implicit Explicit PDF Author: Barbara E. Lovitts
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100097734X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Get Book Here

Book Description
Despite their and other stakeholders’ consistent demand for excellence, doctoral programs have rarely, if ever, been assessed in terms of the quality of the dissertations departments produce. Yet dissertations provide the most powerful, objective measure of the success of a department’s doctoral program. Indeed, assessment, when done properly, can help departments achieve excellence by providing insight into a program’s strengths and weaknesses.This book and the groundbreaking study on which it is based is about making explicit to doctoral students the tacit “rules” for the assessment of the final of all final educational products—the dissertation. The purpose of defining performance expectations is to make them more transparent to graduate students while they are in the researching and writing phases, and thus to help them achieve to higher levels of accomplishment. Lovitts proposes the use of rubrics to clarify performance expectations–not to rate dissertations or individual components of dissertations to provide a summary score, but to facilitate formative assessment to support, not substitute for, the advising process. She provides the results of a study in which over 270 faculty from ten major disciplines—spanning the sciences, social sciences, and humanities—were asked to make explicit their implicit standards or criteria for evaluating dissertations. The book concludes with a summary of the practical and research implications for different stakeholders: faculty, departments, universities, disciplinary associations, accrediting organizations, and doctoral students themselves.The methods described can easily be adapted for the formative assessment of capstone courses, senior and master’s theses, comprehensive exams, papers, and journal articles.

Becoming a Social Science Researcher

Becoming a Social Science Researcher PDF Author: Bruce Parrott
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472055984
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Get Book Here

Book Description
The philosophical, sociological, and psychological dimensions of research

Improving Learning Through Assessment Rubrics: Student Awareness of What and How They Learn

Improving Learning Through Assessment Rubrics: Student Awareness of What and How They Learn PDF Author: Gonsalves, Chahna
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1668460874
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 413

Get Book Here

Book Description
Assessment by rubrics has emerged as a tool with great potential to guide successful student learning from a competency-based approach. Rubrics, as instruments that make it possible to share the criteria for carrying out learning and assessment tasks with students, are excellent roadmaps for student learning largely because they allow students to know what they are expected to do and what they are expected to achieve by carrying out the learning tasks. Improving Learning Through Assessment Rubrics: Student Awareness of What and How They Learn contributes to the improvement of what is being evaluated by identifying the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the didactic use of rubrics in the assessment of university learning. The book also provides a set of theoretical issues, methodological elements, and practical resources for the assessment of university learning using rubrics. Covering topics such as active learning, self-assessment, and teacher identity, this reference work is ideal for administrators, policymakers, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, educators, and students.