Authoring a PH.D.: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

How to plan, draft, write and finish a Doctorial Dissertation.

“'This wise, deeply considered and admirably pragmatic volume will be invaluable to graduate students and their supervisors in many disciplines.' - Professor Stanley Wells, Emeritus Professor, University of Birmingham 'Patrick Dunleavy has written a worthy successor to Sternberg's How to Complete and Survive a Dissertation. Sternberg illuminated the emotional management of the process; Dunleavy illuminates the management of text. Following his recommended disciplines, he has produced an elegant, witty and spare guide for the perplexed student.' - Herman Schwartz, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Politics Department, University of Virginia 'Authoring a PhD is superb. It is so in three ways: tone; nature of the advice offered; the fact that the book itself is an exemplary illustration of the principles it recommends. After reading it, it is hard to see how many PhD students ever managed to write an acceptable thesis without reading it. I know of no other work offering advice of such substance.' - John Peck, Cardiff University 'Pleasantly written, containing a lot of helpful suggestions, sound advice, and illuminating insights into the process of writing a thesis. I like the fact that the book has one clear, and original focus: it looks at the writing of a PhD as a process of authoring. This makes it useful not only for PhD students but also for more advanced scholars who are writing a book.' - Giseline Kuipers, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 'Elegantly written and contains crisp and incisive insights. I will recommend this book widely to students because it will help them significantly with the successful completion of their PhD thesis...I have gained some good ideas from reading the text.' - Wyn Grant, University of Warwick”

'Authoring a PhD Thesis is superb. It is so in three ways: tone; nature of the advice offered; the fact that the book itself is an exemplary illustration of the principles it recommends. After reading it, it is hard to see how many PhD students ever managed to write an acceptable thesis without reading it. I know of no other work offering advice of such substance.' John Peck, Cardiff University'; Pleasantly written, containing a lot of helpful suggestions, sound advice, and illuminating insights into the process of writing a thesis. I like the fact that the book has one clear, and original focus: It looks at the writing of a PhD as a process of authoring. This makes it useful not only for PhD students but also for more advanced scholars who are writing a book.' Giseline Kulpers, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands; '... elegantly written and contains crisp and incisive insights. I will recommend this book widely to students because it will help them significantly with the successful completion of their PhD thesis... I have gained some good ideas from reading the text.' Wyn Grant, Warwick University

PATRICK DUNLEAVY is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a member of the Academy of the Social Sciences, London. He has authored numerous books and academic articles in political science and is currently general editor of the journal Political Studies. This book draws on his experience in supervising more than 30 doctoral students over two decades, and in teaching a large inter-disciplinary course on 'Drafting and Writing a PhD' at the LSE over twelve years. In the field of study skills Patrick Dunleavy has also published Studying for A Degree (Macmillan, 1986).

Authoring a PhD is a complex process. It involves having creative ideas, working out how to organize them, writing up from plans, upgrading the text, and finishing it speedily and to a good standard. It also includes being examined and getting published. Patrick Dunleavy has written Authoring a PhD based on his supervision experience with over 30 students. It provides solid advice to help your PhD students cope with both the intellectual issues and practical difficulties of organizing their work effectively. It is an indispensable and time saving aid for doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences, education, business studies, law, health, arts and visual arts, and related disciplines, and will also be a great help to supervisors.

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