I am pursuing PhD in English literature. And it’s my 3rd year when I have started writing dissertation. But I think I should have started doing it earlier, since literature is very broad and I’m all trapped here. Please advise me what shall I do to not to lose my important notes and all those things which I’m thinking to do in my dissertation writing?
Anyone please tell me if pamphlets are referenced in the same way as a book is done? I googled it but so many example made me sick. All look same. Tell me if there is any difference is referencing of book and pamphlet in APA?
No. there is no difference between the reference styles of both.
I have asked the same question to my supervisor. She says book, brochure, and pamphlet can be referenced in same style because any pamphlet barely consist some useful information for PhD. I would say use the formatting style of book as it is while doing it for pamphlet.
Mention in the brackets whether it is a pamphlet or brochure just after its title. And do not give spaces with brackets in APA.
I did that with a brochure, I think, pamphlets can follow same format. I will show it to my supervisor next week. Check this link it might help you http://valenciacollege.edu/library/mla-apa-chicago-guides/documents/pamphletbrochurebulletinapa6.pdf
HELP!! Forget about pamphlet’s format. First tell me how can I reference a You tube comment. I know it sounds dumb to do that. But I just found a conference video over there and some random person made a very logical comment about the issue discussed over there. Tell me how can I? Anyone?
@brad grey You have to reference a You tube comment too? Anyhow, follow this link http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2016/09/how-to-cite-a-youtube-comment.html It will clear all your doubts. It is similar that we do blog comments.
I have seen a lot of people in doubt as you are. It’s not your fault well internet has got a lot of mess over. However, you can format your pamphlet in the following format.
If it is in print
Company Name (or Author’s). Year. Title of resource (pamphlet or brochure). Publisher city or State abbreviation. Country: publisher name
If it is in digital form
Company name. year.title of resource(pamphlet or brochure). Retrieved from http://xyz.abc
I am in the 2nd year of PhD in Chemistry (full time). The reason I am writing this is because I am really disheartened and on verge of giving up. I don’t even know from where to begin, it’s a cluster f*** of problems. I moved into Ohio from Florida to pursue PhD chemistry from Ohio State University, and needless to say, I have no friends here.
But the root of my depression is my supervision. I have two sups and my first sup is retired but the university has allowed his supervision. The only problem is that he is not concerned with what I do (big news) and is mostly not available. I am walking blind here as when I complete my work and send him the draft, he takes weeks to respond and even then give me vague responses. The second sup says that she can guide me to an extent but as my first sup is the expert in my field and fully aware of my research, she can’t support me through it all. I understand that a research takes time and you can’t complete it in a go, but what am I supposed to do when I have no support? How can I finish in time? To top it all, the chemistry lab assistant is an old bloke with a cranky personality who just yells at me at every move I make wrong. I am trying really very hard but I am unable to find a way to get out of this situation. I am so worried all the time that I have lost my appetite, I hardly sleep or talk to my parents, and to top it all I have no friends here to share my concerns with.
You need to get a social life. Period. Read this blog, I found it really motivational, and so might you!
http://www.statisticsconsultation.com/blog/do-not-abandon-your-social-life-for-your-ph-d/
Second, have you tried to meet with your coordinator or PhD student administrator, there is one in every university. Talk to this person, share your troubles and maybe he/she can help you out. Maybe even conduct a meeting with your supervisors, change them or give you a third one.
I wrote my synopsis for PhD of 5 thousand words, which unfortunately got rejected. The major concern is that my synopsis is not focused and unappealing enough to make through. The topic is also not ‘structured’ (whatever that means). I’ll get one more chance to make it right, so it is very critical for me. I just want to know that how should I proceed with this. Thanks.
I am on the writing phase of my thesis, where I am just done with the literature review chapter. As per my university rules (Northwestern University), I have to send my chapters for review as and when I am done with it. The thing is that my first chapter was way below the bar set by my supervisor and therefore, it came back with a lot of editing and remarks. But well I got through the corrections, while I was working on chapter 2. But now, I don’t want to make the same mistake and send it without editing. So, I am on second page and I haven’t got a single thing to change, except some typo and grammar errors. And I also know that that’s not it. There has to be something which I am missing as no way can I be so neat.
This is why I am writing, searching for ways to increase my editing skills. I would like to know about the ways you can go about editing and what should you be looking for while doing so. Thanks for any inputs to that.
For academic writing, the proper flow between the sentences and paragraphs the most important thing. So you should focus on the transition and structure of your chapter. And to increase your editing skills, maybe you can use a tool. Stylewriter and grammarly are two such tools which can help you out.
I don’t think you can teach someone to edit, moreover edit a thesis chapter. My only suggestion is to know how you want your writing to look and what you want to do for that. So prepare a structure and then check your chapter, does it look okay? Then you move forward to changing it.
I have no idea how people can edit their own papers. For me, it’s impossible because I wouldn’t wanna change what I wrote. So the best method I find is to give your paper or thesis to your girlfriend/boyfriend and take them out to movies. Simple as that.
Take some time out in-between the writing and editing. Don’t just finish writing and get on with editing immediately, that ways you won’t find anything wrong. Take your time, do something else in between, and only start editing when your mind is fresh enough.
I am trying to conduct repeated measures MANCOVA in SPSS software, where I need to measure my dependent variable at 4 periods of time (years). Also, the dependent variable at each year is related with 2 independent variables. To be honest, it is a very complicated for me, I am unable to understand the concept of MANCOVA and running it on SPSS is the icing at the top. Any help regarding this would be really appreciated.
MNACOVA is not that complicated if you get a hang of it. As I am not a professional, I can’t explain it to you. But I found a similar kind of query in the following link. May be useful.
Hey, you can also do repeated measures in the general linear model menu in SPSS. Now keep the variables constant for testing the effects in that model. You can probably get an SPSS guide for the same.
Never knew that time management can be an issue, until now when I am most definitely unable to meet my deadlines. My poor capabilities have led to:
1. A pissed supervisor. He is so pissed at me right now, where he is sure I can never complete my thesis in time.
2. A room of tensions. I cannot organise my work and there is too much to do, which is simply piling up.
3. Sleepless nights. Not that I try, but all those research-related-tensions have left me with insomnia. It’s so bad now that I can’t concentrate on my work.
I am in serious need of some help and advice with which I can complete my work on time and meet deadlines.
What you lack here is planning, majorly so. I suggest that you maintain a schedule for that, like a time table, where you allot a minimum of 2 hours to your research. The following blog will give you some great tips regarding that. Hope you’ll find it useful.
http://www.fivevidya.com/blog/work-to-rule-advice-for-meeting-a-deadline/
Procrastination is the only reason for not meeting the deadlines and the best way to stop stalling is ‘motivation’ and ‘determination’. In my case, I was too lazy to do anything and only started doing something when I was on verge of meeting a deadline. You can imagine how it must have meant. I joined the ‘art of living course’ just for the sake of going out and I must say that it did wonders for me. I actually feel motivated and active to do my job now, you know. So be a little active, go for exercises, or start some creative course. That’ll keep you at your best. It’s important to do other activities as well.
What exactly is the importance of referencing? And in what portions of the thesis should you use references/in-text citations??
I am new to this whole concept of writing thesis and these points were just bugging me a bit, because I can’t really find much references. Everyone seem to emphasise on including references but actually, I am not that aware with its significance. Any inputs for the same?
Technically, you need to reference every time you write a point/idea which is not yours, but of another writer’s. Let’s say, you read something of worth in an article and you decide to write it in your paper in your words, then you need to cite that article, because those may be your words but not your ideas. So, wherever in your thesis, when you make such points, you mention the source of that information.
References in a thesis are counted as highly valuable as it shows the amount of extensive research you have done. It means that you have thoroughly conducted your research. That is why it is so important.
The major use of referencing is in the literature review section of the thesis. You can find references using the computer and electronic databases on web such as EBSCO, Google Scholar, IEEE, Google Search Engine, online newsletters, existing thesis on this subject, peer reviewed journals, SANS report, NIST standard and other databases. Apart from these, you can refer books from your college library and also look into your supervisor’s work. I am sure you can find something there.
In a thesis, referencing is mostly done in the initial chapters: Introduction, literature review and research methodology. Analysis, results and conclusion are refereeing to your own findings, therefore, they don’t need references. However, discussion chapter is something where you put in a lot of references, which are again taken from the LR chapter. So yeah, that is all.
Well, my supervisor asked me to put in at least 20 references in my literature review chapter. That is the most important chapter, which involves a lot of referencing. Now there are also various methods of structuring and referencing an LR such as the annotated form, the matric form etc. I think you should first consult your supervisor about it.
Hey thanks a lot guys for the response. What I am understanding is that I need to cite the source from where I take the facts. Is there a rule about what all references should be used and what all must not be taken?
Hey all, I was wondering if anybody could guide me in selecting a dissertation topic in Human Resource department. My concern is that, this domain is very common, yet, making it extremely difficult for me to choose a trendy and fresh research topic. I was interested in something around interviews and screening process, or how to improve that. I would really appreciate some help regarding this. Thanks all.
I think for interview and selection department in HR domain, you can study the methods of recruitment, or something along the similar lines. Social and e-recruitment are really in.
I came across some more trendy topics, follow the link for the same.
http://www.mbathesis.eu/blog/know-what-are-the-trending-research-areas-in-human-resource-management/
Hey I think you can definitely work something around interviews and screening process and how you can improve them. Maybe you can investigate the existing techniques in this department and the new means that have now emerged. Even the suggestions given by Robertmaxeey are quite good. Now to come up with a topic, you first need to research a lot in this domain and find out existing studies. Read them, confirm the stream you want to get into and them formulate a topic. You can even merge the topics of 2-3 research papers to make yours.
Hi, thanks for the replies. There are a lot of studies in e-recruitment and traditional approaches of recruiting, so I am unable to find anything new.
@robert: After reading the blog, I think training and development in HR could be a potential stream. So can I somehow merge it with e-recruitment?
Yes you can. There are e-recruitment training courses, where individuals are imparted with skills and practical knowledge for landing a job. But, this is different from the selection and recruitment process. I think that you can merge the two of them, show some kind of comparison between the skills imparted to the individuals via recruitment training and the skills needed in the selection process. Rest, you can search for the same, look out for similar research papers, and then see the scope of this area/topic.
I am in the second year of my PhD program in sports management and just weighing my career options. Before PhD, I was sure that I’d do teaching in business schools, but lately, I am having second thoughts.
See, PhD is highly valuable in the academic and research world, but will it benefit me if I choose a different direction, such as something in marketing, sales or merchandising? If it won’t benefit me then should I just drop out and save all the money and the tensions with it? I mean what will be the worth of PhD in those fields?
PhD is one of the most reputable degrees in the ambit of educational courses. Of course it is worth full, irrespective of the field you choose. It may not seem to be beneficial at the beginning of your career but in the long term, it raises your pay scale. More so, your status will certainly climb a ladder. So I am gonna vote completely against you dropping out.
I would like to advice you one thing, that if you do not find PhD interesting enough to pursue, then you shouldn’t.
Yes we all know how important PhD is, and its value in the society is impeccable, and it raises the bar of that status we all crave for. But honestly, if you don’t think that you need it to boost your career, then you should drop it. I mean, you put in all your time and money in PhD, which by the way, if used in your career alone can do wonders. Also, I haven’t heard much of PhD holders in the field you are talking about.
Do consult with your peers and supervisor before coming to the conclusion though.
I don’t think there is a need for doing PhD as you would definitely be OVER QUALIFIED. It’s not that people don’t go for PhD in Sports Management, they do, but you can land your dream job with the master’s degree too. So if you’re thinking about saving your resources, then dropping out can be good.
PhD is not just meant for career boost, it’s for your own personal growth too. And as you are looking at your career graph, with PhD, you will be able to run for the top-level positions. I’d say that DO NOT dropout.
louis Herry, 
Brad Grey, 
danny54460, and 1 other are discussing. 
manette, 
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lizzie, and 3 others are discussing. 
Discuss your Dissertation 
louis Herry 5:41 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
You never heard of Mendeley? To keep soft copies of all of academic notes and journals, Mendeley app is perfect. It will make your systematic research organized. I have been using it for two years and found it helpful for researchers like us.
Robert Hughes 5:42 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
Hi. You should draft a plan of writing dissertation first like how much time you shall take for writing the introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, evaluation, conclusion etc based on type of your research. It will also save your time since. It’s an old advice but helping.
danny54460 5:44 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
It’s not easy to draft a writing plan. I don’t think any researcher can follow it easily as it take a lot of time and the whole scheduled plan becomes a mess. We can’t predict if we would be able to complete introduction or literature review within 3 months or 6 months. But since you advised me. Thanks.
Brad Grey 5:44 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
Always ask yourself some chief questions like how long the dissertation should be? What my title of dissertation demands? What should I do to justify arguments? Middle, beginning are clear and content is in flow or not? And many more questions that can be raised. Try to answer them with your writing. Avoid writing anything manually; instead type even the small hints or important points.
danny54460 5:46 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
@ brad grey But why? I have a habit of pen and paper. I’m writing important points first on paper then will type it over. Otherwise I might get lost in typing and so. Also, when typing it later, there is a possibility of getting improved every time.
Brad Grey 5:47 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink |
@Danny Avoid it because each chapter of Humanities dissertation generally consist 40-50 double spaced pages. Do not make it more hectic for you to write and type simultaneously. As you said, English literature is already very broad; it involves theories and criticism. I would recommend the same I said earlier.
louis herry 5:48 am on December 5, 2016 Permalink
Just adding another point here which may sound drastic but is effective. Always write your introduction at last when you are done with your entire dissertation because till then you will get a clear cut idea of what your dissertation targets and what you must introduce first.