Did you ever play the game “Broken Telephones” or “Chinese Whispers” as a child? In the game, a message is whispered from person to person, and by the end, it has morphed into something entirely different. It can be hilarious. Unfortunately, in research, this kind of drift is far from amusing. It creates inconsistency among …
Is the methodology chapter of your dissertation your least favorite? In my experience, many students feel this way. They spend a disproportionate amount of time on their introduction and literature chapters, but things go awry in the methodology chapter. Either they present the minimum detail or copy copious pages from methodology texts on the methods …
A few months ago, I discovered Elicit AI. Elicit’s superpowers of organisation and summary complement Google Scholar’s advanced searches as well as Research Rabbit’s networks and timelines. With these tools, my literature search toolkit is now complete. Join me on Thursday evening 6th June @6:00 (GMT+2:00) when I take you through some of the …
Use ELICIT To Find, Summarise, And Organise Papers For Your Literature Review Read More »
Many students approach their literature reviews by emphasising who (i.e., the authors of each reference) is saying what. Each paragraph begins with the authors’ names. This approach is not advisable as it shifts the focus to the authors rather than the content of their statements. Consider the following paragraph as an example of this unfortunate …
The problem statement of your dissertation or proposal is very important. It is a go-to section for your supervisors and examiners. So, why not grade your problem statement yourself? Here are 7 criteria. Score 1 point for each criterion if your problem statement deserves it, ½ a point if you’re undecided, and no point if it …
7 Criteria for Grading Your own Problem Statement Read More »
There are always those dissertations that stand out at submission time, those that simply have to be submitted as the students are genuinely out of time but are nowhere near ready. As you can imagine, the pressure on a student in this situation is immense with bursaries, job opportunities, and self-esteem under threat. To …
This week, I reviewed a dissertation that was well researched, well conceptualised, and well designed but did not answer its main research question. The student had described its design, delimitations, and sampling method incorrectly which made the conclusions incorrect. Luckily it was fixable. Let me tell you about the study, with its details all changed …
Does Your Dissertation Answer Your Research Question? Read More »
Do trailers of movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer have anything in common with the abstract of your dissertation? With all the current hype around the two record-breaking movies, you may well have watched their trailers. If so, did either of these trailers entice you to buy a ticket to see the movie? Maybe, maybe …
I’ve selected 10 rules from the APA 7th edition manual you might not know. Some of these may apply to your document. Only abbreviate a term if you use the abbreviation at least three times in the paper (APA 6.24). When presenting a number with a decimal point, do not put a zero before the …
How well do you know the APA 7th edition formatting rules? Read More »
Show academic integrity Even if you feel strongly about your claim, be fair. Don’t pick a side and present a biased argument. Rather, explain the main claims or debates and contrast the strengths of yours against the weaknesses of the other(s). Then, the merits of your claim will emerge and the argument for your research will …