What works for doctoral students in completing their thesis?

Writing a thesis is one of the most challenging activities that a doctoral student must undertake and can represent a barrier to timely completion. This is relevant in light of current and widespread concerns regarding doctoral completion rates. This study explored thesis writing approaches of stude...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching in higher education 2015-02, Vol.20 (2), p.183-196
Main Author: Lindsay, Siân
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case Studies
doctoral
Doctoral Degrees
Doctoral Dissertations
Educational Practices
England (London)
Environmental Influences
Foreign Countries
Graduate Students
Individual Characteristics
Institutional Characteristics
Performance Factors
Ph.D
Process Approach (Writing)
Qualitative Research
Research Projects
Research Reports
Semi Structured Interviews
student
Student Research
supervisor
Supervisor Supervisee Relationship
Supervisory Methods
Theses
thesis
Writing
Writing Assignments
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Summary:Writing a thesis is one of the most challenging activities that a doctoral student must undertake and can represent a barrier to timely completion. This is relevant in light of current and widespread concerns regarding doctoral completion rates. This study explored thesis writing approaches of students post or near Ph.D. completion through interviews. The study's aim was to highlight factors identified by participants as helpful or hindering thesis writing. The analysis revealed 'helpful' factors were related to students' intrinsic behaviours and supervisory support, particularly support that adopted a 'project-management' style. Additionally, a subgroup of participants discussed the merits of a continuous-writing approach which is further explored in this paper with reference to the notion of writing to develop knowledge; this is recommended for timely Ph.D. completion.
ISSN:1356-2517
1470-1294
DOI:10.1080/13562517.2014.974025