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Developing an Argument in your Dissertation

I often proofread dissertations where the author has thought deeply about their subject but has failed to think about the logical structure of their argument. This is a real shame and could cost them marks.

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Developing an Argument in your Dissertation

I often proofread dissertations where the author has thought deeply about their subject but has failed to think about the logical structure of their argument. This is a real shame and could cost them marks. So what could you do to make sure your argument is as strong as possible?

Make Sure it Flows Logically

An argument should be made up of logical steps. Imagine that I am trying to convince you that bananas are made of cheese. I would plan out the steps of my argument as follows:

1000 studies of randomly selected bananas were tested to see if they tasted similar to cream cheese.

The chemical make-up of these bananas and cream cheese was proven in scientific labs to be identical.

The methods used in this study were scientifically accurate (you’d have to give detail here).

Smith, Jones, and Harrison (1999, 2004, 2010) have all independently come to the same conclusion.

Therefore, we can suggest that at least some bananas are actually made of cream cheese.

So here, I have mentioned the results of my studies, backed it up with secondary research and used these to suggest a conclusion. I haven’t claimed in my conclusion that all bananas are made of cheese- I have simply claimed that some are.

Don’t Make Straw Men

If you make a ‘straw man’ you make someone else’s argument look poorly constructed in order to knock it down. People often think this makes their own argument look better by comparison but you won’t fool a professor that easily!

Imagine I am describing Peterson’s argument, which suggests that no bananas are made of cream cheese. I might say that his account is not to be trusted as he has made other scientific claims which have been proven to be untrue. This is a ‘straw man’ as it is not objective. I am not looking at the results and conditions of this particular study on bananas. To be more objective, I could say that his study was incomplete as he only studied 100 bananas from Venezuela.

What you Should Do

When speaking about someone else’s argument you should:

Show how it is different from/similar to your view

Show that you understand the strengths of the other’s view

Suggest a re-working of the argument which strengthens it

State clearly whether you agree or disagree with the argument

Disregard it only if you can prove it is irrelevant or incomplete

When constructing your own argument, you should:

Check the logical steps

Check that each step builds on the last

Show that your methodology is accurate and leaves minimal room for error

Acknowledge any weak points in your study

Show why your methods are the best way to approach the study

Clearly present your results.

Good luck!

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Writing Your Results and Findings for your Dissertation

When it comes to writing up your results and findings for your dissertation there are many different styles that you might wish to use. Your first port of call is to check out your university guidelines as these will usually tell you what to aim for. However, I will give you a few handy hints here!

Make It Clear

The most important thing is to make sure that people can easily understand your results. What sort of chart would display them best? A pie chart can be good for displaying percentages whereas tables can be more flexible and display a range of data. Generate a few ideas and talk them through with your supervisor.

Plan Out the Order

Think about how you would like the reader to encounter your results. Do you feel that a broad overview is needed first or can you dive straight in? Again, it can be best to talk this through with your supervisor before writing your final piece.

Find Out What Other People Have Done

Don’t forget that your best resource can be your classmates! Talk to them and find out how they have decided to present their results. Make sure however that you check that their suggestions match up with the guidelines.

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When to Include ‘the’ in Place Names

It is often confusing to get place names right, especially if you are not a native speaker. Native speakers seem to know intuitively that we say ‘Buckingham Palace’ but ‘The Royal Opera House’. So, if you never learned this as a child, how can you tell when to insert ‘the’? Here is a list to start you off!

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Word Choice: Whose vs. Who’s

The words ‘whose’ and ‘who’s’ often get confused- they sound exactly the same and look pretty similar too. So how on earth can you know for sure when you should use each one? In this blog post, we will set it out clearly for you.

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When to Include ‘the’ in Place Names

It is often confusing to get place names right, especially if you are not a native speaker. Native speakers seem to know intuitively that we say ‘Buckingham Palace’ but ‘The Royal Opera House’. So, if you never learned this as a child, how can you tell when to insert ‘the’? Here is a list to start you off!

Geographical Place Names

Large areas, counties, towns and even villages appear without the definite article (‘the’). So we have:

Asia

America

New South Wales

Sydney

Perth

However, if the place name refers to a group of places then we add ‘the':

The Cayman Islands

The Gold Coast

The Sahara Desert

All of these refer to several different places in a region and so, in effect, they are plural.

Lakes and Mountains

This rule about singulars and plurals holds for lakes and mountains too. So we have:

Lake Como

The Himalayas

The Snowy Mountains

The Great Lakes

So, if you are referring to several landmarks, you will need to use ‘the’.

Exception to the rule: Buildings and Monuments

Unfortunately, as always with English, this rule does not hold in all cases. Some buildings and monuments take ‘the’ and others don’t. You will just have to memorise these, or have your work checked by a native speaker. For example:

The National Theatre

Sydney Opera House

The Eiffel Tower

Federal Square Building

Generally, museums, bars, hotels, theatres, and galleries take ‘the':

Shall we go to the Sydney Museum this weekend?

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Word Choice: Amount vs. Number

When speaking about quantities, it is very easy to use the words ‘amount’ and ‘number’ in the wrong way. Slip-ups like these can make your work look quite unprofessional so, if you want to make sure you have it right, send it over to a professional proofreader before you submit!

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Word Choice: Whose vs. Who’s

The words ‘whose’ and ‘who’s’ often get confused- they sound exactly the same and look pretty similar too. So how on earth can you know for sure when you should use each one? In this blog post, we will set it out clearly for you.

Whose

‘Whose’ is the possessive form of ‘who’. So we might ask:

‘Whose is this chocolate ice cream?’

or

‘Whose is this green pen?’

Be careful with word order here. We never say:

‘This green pen is whose?’

If you often make mistakes like these, you should consider having your word checked for spelling and grammatical errors.

‘Whose’ should always come at the beginning of the sentence or phrase.

Who’s

‘Who’s’ is a contraction (a shortening) of ‘who is’ or ‘who has’. It is used in sentences like:

‘Who’s coming to the party on Saturday?’

Who’s with me?’

Which One To Use?

The simplest way to tell which one to use is to always try to replace ‘who’s’ with ‘who is’ in your mind as you read it. Then you can easily see if it makes sense or not. Look at the following sentences and see if you can work out which are correct!

‘Whose shoes are these?’

‘Who’s shoes are these?’

‘Who’s got my coat?’

‘Whose got my coat?’

‘Who’s been to the zoo before?’

‘Whose been to the zoo before?’

  You can check your answers here!

Did you get them right?

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Word Choice: Amount vs. Number

When speaking about quantities, it is very easy to use the words ‘amount’ and ‘number’ in the wrong way. Slip-ups like these can make your work look quite unprofessional so, if you want to make sure you have it right, send it over to a professional proofreader before you submit!

Amount

The word ‘amount’ is used to refer to mass nouns such as ‘sand’, or ‘butter’. These are items that are either individually very small or that come as a mass. We would say:

What amount of butter should I put in this recipe?

or

There was a large amount of sand in my shoes after the trip to the beach on Sunday

Number

The word number is used to refer to things that can easily be differentiated. For example:

I saw a great number of cars on the road at rush hour

or

I only have a small number of plants in my garden

It can be difficult to learn differences such as these, so do be sure to keep checking on our academic blog for more tips and tricks.

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How to Use ‘et al.’

Do you get confused when using Latin abbreviations in your academic work? Worry no more with our handy guide to using ‘et al.’

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How to Use ‘et al.’

Using Latin abbreviations such as ‘et al.’ in your academic documents shouldn’t be a headache! Unfortunately, many students make mistakes when using Latin terms; this can lose you vital marks. Today, I will show you how to use ‘et al.’

When to Use ‘et al.’

The term ‘et al.’ is a Latin abbreviation that stands for ‘et alias’ meaning ‘and others’. It is used to shorten in-text references for works that have more than four authors. When you cite a work, you will use ‘et al.’ in brackets, along with the other information needed for the citation:

Scientists found that 90% of the Great Barrier Reef has now been destroyed (Walker et al., 2013, p.5).

The term ‘et al.’ always needs to have a full stop after the ‘al’ to show that it is an abbreviated word. Although usually Latin words are italicised in academic writing, ‘et al’ does not need to be as it is so common. This also holds for other commonly used Latin terms.

Reference List

You do not need to use ‘et al.’ in your reference list, or bibliography, as here all authors’ names should be included.

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How to Label Tables and Figures

When you are writing an academic document, you need to make sure that you label your tables and figures correctly. This is paramount; incorrectly labelled tables and figures can cost your vital marks! If you just can’t work out how to do this correctly, or you are worried about it, you can always get it checked by a professional. However, if you want to learn how to do it yourself, read on!

How to Label Tables

Tables need to have a label positioned above the table itself. This holds for Harvard, MLA, and APA referencing. The label should explain exactly what data the table presents. A good rule of thumb is that any kind of table or figure should be entirely independent from the text. It’s no use calling a table simply ‘Table 1′. You need to explain what the table shows, for example: ‘Table 1: Daily Commutes Made by Bicycle in Melbourne, 2014′.

How to Label Figures

Figures need to have their label positioned below the figure. This convention is the same for Harvard, MLA, and APA referencing. As with tables, you should make sure that the label explains the data clearly and accurately.

How to Insert a Label

Labels for tables and figures are known as ‘captions’ or ‘legends’. To insert a caption automatically, here is what you need to do:

On a PC:

Select the item that needs the caption and go to References > Insert Caption.

Next the caption box will appear.

Here, the first part of the caption will be auto-filled. The default is set to figures, but to select a different type of label, select table or chart from the label dropdown menu. These will always update to the next number, so if two figures have already been captioned this way, the caption box will display ‘Figure 3’.

The default position for captions is above the item so make sure to change this if you are labelling a figure.

The rest of the settings can typically remain the same.

On a Mac:

Select the item that needs the caption and go to Insert > Caption.

Next the caption box will appear.

The rest of the process is the same as for a PC.

Using the caption function rather than manually writing out your labels will make it easier when you come to inserting your Table of Figures/Tables.

Good luck!

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How to Label Tables and Figures

When you are writing an academic document, you need to make sure that you label your tables and figures correctly. This is paramount; incorrectly labelled tables and figures can cost your vital marks! If you just can’t work out how to do this correctly, or you are worried about it, you can always get it checked by a professional.

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How to Write a Dissertation Abstract

Are you nearly done with your dissertation? Stuck on the abstract? Check our blog post to find out what you need to include!

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The Passive Voice

Often, when you are writing in Microsoft Word, you will have certain sentences flagged up in the spellchecker as ‘passive’. The program tells you to consider changing this. Why? What is the passive voice, and is it such a bad thing?

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How to Write a Dissertation Abstract

So, you are almost done with your dissertation, thesis, or paper. Well done! Time to rattle off a quick abstract, right? Wrong! The abstract is the very first thing people will read (and often the only part). If you want to convince people to read your paper then you need to include all the relevant information in your abstract and nothing more. So what information should be included? Read on to find out!

What is an Abstract?

An abstract is a brief summary of a paper that explains to the reader the main subject of the work. You need to grab the reader so make it concise and snappy.

What Should an Abstract Contain?

It should include the question you set out to research, the methodology used, the main findings and any recommendations. You should not include any extracts from the actual paper and you should not think of it as an introduction. In effect, it functions as a ‘blurb’.

The Importance of Keywords

You must remember that, if your paper is published, it will probably be included on an electronic database. Because of this, you need to make sure that it is easily searchable. The more keywords you put in your abstract, the more chance people will have of finding, and citing, your work!

What Tone Should I Use?

As an abstract has to be easily readable, you should try to use the active voice as far as possible. However the passive voice can be more useful if you wish to pack a lot of information into a few lines. You should always avoid the use of ‘I’, in order to maintain a professional tone.

When you have finished writing your abstract, why not upload it as a free sample to the professionals at Proofread My Document? This will give you an idea of whether you might want to have them proofread your paper as well.

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Determiners- Proofread My Document’s Academic Blog

How can you be sure you have used the right determiners? We are determined to help you! Read on to find out all about them in our academic blog!