Boyle Jennifer - Writing a Science PhD

Writing a Science PhD

Research Skills

Authoring a PhD

The Foundations of Research (3rd edn)

Getting to Grips with Doctoral Research

Getting Published

The Good Supervisor (2nd edn)

The Lean PhD

PhD by Published Work

The PhD Viva

The PhD Writing Handbook

Planning Your Postgraduate Research

The Postgraduate Research Handbook (2nd edn)

The Professional Doctorate

Structuring Your Research Thesis

Writing a Science PhD

Teaching and Learning

Series Editor: Sally Brown

Access to Higher Education

Coaching and Mentoring in Higher Education

Facilitating Work-Based Learning

Facilitating Workshops

For the Love of Learning

Fostering Self-Efficacy in Higher Education Students

Internationalization and Diversity in Higher Education

Leading Dynamic Seminars

Learning, Teaching and Assessment in Higher Education

Learning with the Labyrinth

Live Online Learning

Masters Level Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Reimagining Spaces for Learning in Higher Education

Successful University Teaching in Times of Diversity

Writing a Science PhD

Jennifer Boyle and Scott Ramsay

Jennifer Boyle and Scott Ramsay, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2019

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First published 2019 by

RED GLOBE PRESS

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ISBN 9781352006308 paperback

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Contents

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the former PhD students who contributed their recommendations to you, which youll find spread throughout this book: Mai-Britt Jensen; Fabian Kellermeier; Christine Merrick; Lydia Soraya Murray; Anne Tierney; and Angela Wilson. We also wish to thank the editors at Nature Research, who contributed their experiences of what they thought their PhD would be like, and what they actually turned out to be: Dr Joo H. Duarte, Senior Editor, Nature Biomedical Engineering; Iulia Georgescu, Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Physics; Marios Karouzos, Senior Editor, Nature Astronomy; and Bart Verberck, Regional Executive Editor, Nature Research. We would also like to thank our current PhD students. Particular thanks go to Sejal Modha for kindly sharing her abstract writing technique. Finally, thanks to our own PhD supervisors, Dr Peter Dominy and Dr Marilyn Dunn, for helping us shape our own writing practice and style over the course of our PhDs.

Introduction

This book aims to give you the knowledge and skills you need to write your PhD thesis. Undertaking a PhD is a huge task, which involves not only working at the highest academic level, but also transitioning from the role of student to researcher and becoming fully integrated into the academic community. While there are many books available on writing the thesis, none talk specifically to science students, who deal with a range of challenges specific to their discipline.

In this book, well talk about:

how to formulate your research question

how to gather relevant literature

how to record literature, and how to critique what you find

how to discuss existing work in relation to your own

how to factor writing time into your schedule, and how to make that time as efficient as possible

how to structure your work, from the smallest scale to the largest, to ensure clear and concise communication

how publication can be part of your PhD

how to tackle common roadblocks.

We hope that youll find the information here practical, easily accessible and relevant to your specific needs. We work with PhD students at every stage of their research, and so the advice we offer is grounded on the needs of those students and the questions they most commonly ask us.

This book assumes that you are writing a traditional thesis that is, not a thesis by publication. The thesis by publication route is still in the minority in the UK (its unusual at our own research-intensive institution, for example), but is gradually increasing in visibility as a viable option.

The term PhD by publication can mean two things:

The first type of PhD by publication refers specifically to the process by which a candidate can submit a portfolio of previously published work to their institution in order to be considered for the award of PhD. This is usually open only to members of staff or graduates of that specific institution who have built up a suitable research portfolio throughout the course of their career.

The second type, and the type that is likely more applicable to you, is also known as an alternative format thesis, or a journal format thesis. In this kind of thesis, chapters and sections are explicitly written as journal articles, and have usually already been published, or are in the process of publication, or have been submitted to a journal for consideration.

It should be noted that this type of PhD thesis must still be coherent the chapters/articles cannot be wholly disparate. The candidate is expected to produce an introduction which contextualises the work and makes the connection between the chapters/papers clear. Equally, there needs to be a strong conclusion/discussion/summary which draws the work together. Remember, too, that there is likely to be some additional material required in terms of overall analysis and reflection, and possibly further/more in-depth reference made to related work.

While we cover material that will still be useful to you in terms of writing practice, editing, etc., you should make sure you are familiar with your relevant institutional guidelines and assessment criteria. The format and expected number of papers can vary from institution to institution, and across subject areas within institutions, so you need to be fully informed and completely clear on what is expected of you.

There are many disciplines and specialisms within the sciences. Weve tried to keep this book as open as possible in terms of the advice offered and used examples which should, hopefully, be accessible to all. When subject-specific differences might arise, we will flag this in the text to allow you to check your own specific conventions with your supervisor and departmental guidelines.