Preface Chapter 1: Defining the Dissertation 1.1 Introductory remarks 1.2 Thesis, dissertation, paper 1.3 Summary and evaluation of information 1.4 The process of writing a dissertation 1.5 Summary 1.6 Exercises Chapter 2: Basic Writing and Academic Writing 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Basic writing 2.3 Academic writing 2.4 Style and mechanics 2.5 Important terms and concepts 2.6 Summary 2.7 Exercises Chapter 3: Data, Analysis, and Research Paradigms 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Data collection 3.3 Analysis 3.4 Research paradigms 3.5 Types of research 3.6 Summary 3.7 Exercises Chapter 4: Prewriting (1): Developing the Subject 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Managing your time 4.3 Locating your interest 4.4 Selecting a topic 4.5 Coidering manageability and availability 4.6 Summary 4.7 Exercises Chapter 5: Prewriting (2): Reading the Literature 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Familiarizing youelf with the background 5.3 Discovering existing studies 5.4 Reading the relevant literature 5.5 Taking notes 5.6 Discovering questio and problems 5.7 Focusing on your research 5.8 Preparing a working bibliography 5.9 Summary 5.10 Exercises Chapter 6: Prewriting (3): Thesis Formulation and Research Questio 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The thesis statement 6.3 The research question 6.4 The research method 6.5 Summary 6.6 Exercises Chapter 7: Prewriting (4): Conducting Primary Research -- an Example 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Research interest and research aim 7.3 Thesis statement and research questio 7.4 Literature review 7.5 Research method and data collection 7.6 An example of data collection and data editing 7.7 Theoretical basis 7.8 Analysis 7.9 Summary 7.10 Exercises Chapter 8: Writing (1): Elements of a Dissertation 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The macrostructure 8.3 The abstract 8.4 The introduction 8.5 The literature review 8.6 The theoretical framework 8.7 Research method and data 8.8 Analysis and discussion 8.9 The conclusion 8.10 Summary 8.11 Exercises Chapter 9: Writing (2): Organizing Ideas 9.1 Introduction 9.2 The skeleton and the meat 9.3 The language of the elements of structure 9.4 Referring to previous studies 9.5 Re-organizing ideas 9.6 Advice on quoting 9.7 Advice on the choice of reporting verbs 9.8 Summary 9.9 Exercises Chapter 10: Writing (3): Writing and Revising 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Creating the overall plan 10.3 Outlines and section headings 10.4 The proportional suggestion 10.5 Developing the fit draft and possible problems 10.6 Researching before writing 10.7 Revising the fit draft 10.8 Summary 10.9 Exercises Chapter 11: Writing (4): Avoiding Plagiarism 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Defining plagiarism 11.3 The temptation to plagiarize 11.4 The cost of plagiarism 11.5 Paraphrasing vs plagiarism 11.6 How to avoid plagiarism 11.7 Summary 11.8 Exercises Chapter 12: Preparing the Final Draft 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Formatting the final draft 12.3 Checking the details 12.4 Summary 12.5 Exercises Chapter 13: References and Appendixes 13.1 Introduction 13.2 The function of documenting sources 13.3 Different styles of referencing 13.4 References in the running text 13.5 References at the end of the dissertation 13.6 Appendixes 13.7 Summary 13.8 Exercises Chapter 14: Submission and Evaluation 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Working with your tutor 14.3 Submission 14.4 Evaluation criteria 14.5 The dissertation defence 14.6 Summary 14.7 Exercises Appendix 1: A Sample Paper in Chinese Appendix 2: A Sample Paper for Further Analysis Appendix 3: Suggested Awe to the Exercises About the Autho