Doing Your Master′s Dissertation

From Start to Finish

Inger Furseth,Euris Larry Everett

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781446290613
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

?From finding a research topic through to the final write up, this clear guide takes the mystery out of graduate-level research. This book will help your project succeed? - James V. Spickard, Professor of Sociology, University of Redlands, US Just starting your Master?s? Worried about your dissertation? This book is an indispensible guide to writing a successful Master?s dissertation. The book begins by addressing issues you?ll face in the early stages of writing a dissertation, such as deciding on what to research, planning your project and searching for literature online. It then guides you through different aspects of carrying out your research and writing up, helping you to:

• Write a research proposal
• Choose one or more methods
• Write the introduction and conclusion
• Discuss the literature
• Analyse your findings
• Edit and reference
• Formulate research questions
• Build your argument

The book offers guidance that other books often miss, from dealing with emotional blocks, to ways of identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and improving your writing. It addresses the social aspects of the writing process, such as choosing and working with an advisor, using social media and forming student work groups for added help and inspiration. Each chapter ends with an action plan, which is a resource section that features exercises and reflection questions designed to help you apply what you?ve read to your own work. Student Success is a series of essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to boosting your employability and managing your wellbeing, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.

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1

Help! How do I find a research topic?

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When you begin working on your master’s thesis you will soon face a number of new challenges. You may ask yourself: ‘How do I find a topic? How do I find a good advisor? Do I have the necessary skills for academic writing? Should I take an additional writing course? What kind of literature should I read?’. Most importantly, ‘What should I do first?’. It might seem as if all of these challenges need to be solved immediately. Indeed, you should work on several aspects of your thesis simultaneously. However, you must decide and initiate a first step. We will begin by discussing a commonly accepted first step: finding the topic for your research.

Students face a variety of issues when they try to find a research topic. Some have difficulties in finding a topic because of the seeming wealth of possible research topics. This feeling is common during the early phase. Fortunately, you will quickly find that some topics appear to be more interesting than others on your list. Some students don’t have difficulties finding a topic that can be developed into a research topic because they focus on an issue they feel strongly about and they want to use the thesis to confirm their beliefs rather than acquire new knowledge. Although it is a common strategy in research to pose questions on the basis of existing knowledge, this approach has an important premise, namely that the scientist is willing to be proven wrong. You must distance yourself enough from a topic to be able to consider that your research may prove you wrong. If this is difficult for you, consider tackling another topic. Always keep an open mind as it relates to the result of your research.

Some students look at the thesis as their ‘life project’ which will define their identities and future professional opportunities. Most likely, you will conduct several projects during your career, so this is not your sole opportunity to write. It is more helpful to look at the master’s thesis as a project that will give you the opportunity to learn how to do research and write about it rather than seeing it as an ‘identity’ project.

And then there are the students who do not have a great interest in research. They are not driven by curiosity, but look instead at the thesis as a necessity to finish their degree. It is difficult to write a thesis with this attitude. If this is a description that fits you, try to look at the thesis as a source of new learning and insight. You might be surprised.

Every student has a different point of departure when it comes to finding a research topic. It is impossible to provide a detailed guide of how to go about it, but we will offer some ideas and advice that hopefully will be useful during this phase.

1.1 Finding a topic

Interest

What do you do if you are unable to come up with any ideas? Clearly, you are unlikely to achieve much success if you pick a topic that does not interest you. Which topic would you consider working on for a year or more? Are there questions to which you do not know the answer? Curiosity and the ability to constantly ask questions are useful qualities in finding and developing a research topic. Furthermore, the reader of your research is unlikely to find your thesis appealing if you, the author, do not find the topic interesting.

Problems, issues or conflicts

One possible strategy to find a research topic is to focus on specific problems, issues or conflicts that evoke your curiosity. By taking a look at different topics that dominate debates within the sciences, you will often find that good science has been inspired by social events (see section 7.2). One example is the scholarly interest during the 1940s and 1950s as to why some people became Nazis during the Second World War. Biologists, sociologists, political scientists, psychologists and historians conducted several studies to address this question from different perspectives. Another example is the interest in religious extremism and violence among political scientists, sociologists, historians and scholars of religion that appeared after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 and the bombings in London on July 7, 2005. It is also reasonable to believe that the terror attacks in Oslo on July 22, 2011 will result in new research. These examples show that science is closely related to the societies in which we live, which is also reflected in the topics chosen by scholars and students. An illustrative example is a master’s thesis on electric car cultures. This student did an ethnographic study of the everyday use of electric vehicles in the UK (Brady, 2010). It would have been impossible to do this study only a few years ago. Many students find the topic for their thesis by taking a closer look at events, conflicts and problems in society.

Personal interests and experiences

Some students draw from personal interest during the process of finding a research topic. One example is a student with an interest in football. He used his master’s thesis in social anthropology to study local Liverpool fans and their experiences of the commercial changes in the industry (Gustavsen, 2010). Another example is a student in North American studies who was interested in African American blues and hip hop. Her thesis explored the expression of dissent and social protest within these genres of music (Hansen, 2007).

It is also possible to begin by using your personal experiences to find and develop a research topic. One example is a student in social anthropology who grew up in an impoverished suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She used her background and experiences with socioeconomic inequality to write a thesis that focused on the local responses to neo-liberal politics in a Uruguayan rural locality where a pulp mill had been installed (Salinas, 2010).

Not every personal experience is suitable for a research topic. If the topic becomes too personal and emotional, it might be difficult to create the necessary distance to write a good thesis. In some instances, fan studies, written by students who are fans of music, literature, film, football and other sports, tend to be implicit and positive, and often fail to ask difficult questions and raise critique of those who they admire. It is important to have a certain degree of distance so that perceptions are not clouded.

Profession or workplace

Some students find topics that are related to their own profession or workplace. Many students in nursing, social work and teaching write master’s theses based on their work experiences. One example is a student who used to work as a secondary schoolteacher in London. She wrote a thesis on teaching methods developed for those working in caring professions (Nash, 2010). Another example is a student who conceived the idea for his thesis from his experiences both as a pupil and as a teacher in comprehensive schools in the north-east of England. His thesis focuses on pupil resistance to authority and its implications for pedagogic practices (Fortune, 2010). The advantages of this approach are that the student harbours knowledge of the field and has local access and trust. There are, however, some disadvantages to this approach as well. Students may lack critical distance and adopt the perspectives of the actors. They may also be tempted to consider colleagues and leaders to such an extent that scientific norms of truth and independence are sacrificed.

Research literature

Another way to find a topic is to take a closer look at the research literature. Is there a book or an article that impressed you? Does the literature discuss topics you find interesting? Is this something you will consider spending more time researching? Perhaps you think the author was limited in the way she or he addressed the topic? You should ask several types of questions to research literature (see section 6.3). Did the author leave out questions you think should be included? Or should the author have offered different interpretations?

A common strategy is to address gaps in current research (see section 8.2). Try to find phenomena that have received little or no attention by scholars. One student found that aspects of secular culture in Britain were neglected by sociological research. She used this gap as a reason to study the experiences of irreligion in individual lives (Lee, 2006).

Another strategy is to study the same phenomenon at different points in time. One example is a student in political science who analysed five Ame...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• About the authors
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Help! How do I find a research topic?
• 2 Overcoming barriers and getting started
• 3 Basic rules of writing
• 4 Who can help you? Establishing support networks
• 5 A guide for searching the literature
• 6 Reviewing research literature
• 7 How do I formulate research questions?
• 8 Easier said than done – choosing a suitable research design and method
• 9 The art of keeping a steady course – structuring the analysis
• 10 Beginning and end – introduction and conclusion
• 11 Chaos and order – editing and referencing
• 12 When is it finished? Checklist summary
• References
• Index