R. Murray Thomas - Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Planning, Research, and Writing

THESES
and
DISSERTATIONS

second edition

THESES
and
DISSERTATIONS

second edition

A Guide to
PLANNING, RESEARCH,
AND WRITING

R. Murray Thomas Dale L. Brubaker

Copyright 2008 by Corwin Press

All rights reserved. When forms and sample documents are included, their use is authorized only by educators, local school sites, and/or noncommercial or nonprofit entities that have purchased the book. Except for that usage, no part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thomas, R. Murray (Robert Murray), 1921

Theses and dissertations: a guide to planning, research, and writing/R. Murray Thomas, Dale L. Brubaker. 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4129-5115-9 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-4129-5116-6 (pbk.)

1. Dissertations, AcademicHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Report writingHandbooks, manuals, etc. I. Brubaker, Dale L. II. Title.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

07 08 09 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

T his book is designed for graduate students who are preparing masters degree theses or doctoral dissertations. As the table of contents indicates, the book is organized according to stages of the research-and-writing process. Although those stages are applicable in all academic disciplines, the books examples of topics and data-gathering methods are more directly associated with the social and behavioral sciences than they are with the physical sciences and the arts. Thus, students in the social and behavioral sciencesand in such allied fields as education, social work, and businessare likely the ones for whom this volume will be most useful. The writing style throughout is intentionally conversational, as if we were talking directly with students.

We expect that readers may wonder from what sorts of experiences the authors of this book have derived the suggestions they offer about how to create respectable theses and dissertations. Here is the answer:

R. Murray Thomas, during a 40-year career of directing graduate students work, served as an advisor and committee member for scores of theses and dissertations in three universities in the United States (San Francisco State, the State University of New York at Brockport, and the University of California at Santa Barbara) as well as at Pajajaran University in Bandung, Indonesia. He also has been an external examiner of doctoral dissertations for five universities in Australia, four in India, two in Malaysia, one in Hong Kong, and one in Fiji.

Dale L. Brubaker, in a 34-year career of guiding graduate students, has functioned as an advisor and committee member for over 50 theses and dissertations at the University of California (Santa Barbara), the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), and the University of North Carolina (Greensboro).

Readers acquainted with the first edition of Theses and Dissertations may be interested in learning how this revised edition differs from the first version. The following are the most significant changes:

• References and resources have been updated.
• A section on searching the World Wide Web and another on plagiarism have been added to .
• The introductory section of is new.
• The discussion of narrative summaries in has been expanded, and proposed uses of maps from the Internet have been added.
• includes an extended description of Internet publishing options.

Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to Rachel Livsey, Phyllis Cappello, and Jennifer Reese at Corwin Press for their efficient and good-natured guidance in bringing this second edition of Theses and Dissertations to the public.

Corwin Press gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following individuals:

Betty J. Alford

Department Chair and Doctoral Program Coordinator

Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership

Stephen F. Austin State University

Nacogdoches, TX

Karen Hayes

Associate Professor

Department of Educational Administration & Supervision

University of Omaha

Omaha, NE

Susan Doran Quandt

Director

Continuing Education Advising

Academic Achievement Center

Westfield State College

Westfield, MA

Mark H. Rossman

Professor Emeritus

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

Kim Shahabudin

University Study Advisor

Study Support & Learning Development

University of Reading

Reading, United Kingdom

R. Murray Thomas is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds a PhD degree in educational psychology from Stanford University. His professional publications exceed 380, including 52 books for which he served as author, coauthor, or editor.

Dale L. Brubaker is Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. He also served on the faculties of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He received his PhD from Michigan State University. He is the author of numerous books on education and educational leadership, the most recent of which are Creative Curriculum Leadership: Inspiring and Empowering Your School Community (Corwin Press, 1994, 2004) and The Charismatic Leader: The Presentation of Self and the Creation of Educational Settings (Corwin Press, 2006).

To the grandchildrenCourtney, Devon, and Kaitlin Ellie, Mitch, Amy, Matthew, and Kaylee