Category: Dissertation Help

You have finally zeroed on a conference you wish to attend. You have your document ready with you and you are confident that in no time your abstract would be there on you r word document. To become more confident you have googled and grabbed ideas on writing effective abstracts. Now with a bland word doc opened in front of you, you gotto do it. Within a few hours you have only managed to play around with few words and think of some appropriate titles but zeroed on none. Cups o caffeine have also not done the trick and tickled your brain to bring out an appealing paragraph which we call abstract.

I have the trick and you would be able to write an abstract in 30 minutes. First and fore mostly your abstract should contain some sections necessarily. They are:

Motivation for research: the reason because of which we give so much importance to the research and care for the results.

Problem statement: what are the main problems for which you are trying to seek result?

Approach: the technique you followed in order to work around the problem and move forward. Specify on the tools and techniques and the kind of research done.

Output: What were the results of the research?

Conclusion: the main implications of your research and how would it change the world or bridge the existing gaps that have been identified in the prevailing studies.

Whenever you sit for writing an abstract, write these questions into the word document and keep giving answers to them one by one. At the first stage, do not focus upon grammatical and typographical areas as firstly you need to have the idea in place.. for each answer keep removing the questions one by one and start manipulating the content into a more structured text and add flow into the content from the motivation to the results and conclusion. Trust my words that it would become a cake walk. Do share if you have another way in which an impressive abstract can be written?

For those who are pursuing or have completed their doctoral degree, I am sure research must be an integral and inseparable part of their lives. But how often have you introspected and questioned yourself about what exactly have you seeked from your PhD? These questions are provocative questions that would help you to figure out if you have a plan ready for yourself from you PhD and do you have an alternate plan ready if the first one does not work out. When I say this, I hope that all everyone knows that a PhD does not mean the path only leads to an academic career. There could be other avenues and ambitions and you must have it clear in your mind, how your degree is going to help you to reach there. Some times what is required is to keep asking oneself this. Not once but time and again. If you do not do that you would never have a plan A and an alternate Plan B

My advice to you is to become a steadfast scholar who is bent on synchronizing the goal with the route, the goal of your career aspiration and the route being your PhD degree. Remember that you are a professional in making and before moving ahead with any other research, it is better to take up a self-research, a research of your dreams, aspirations, interests and capabilities. Focus on being original in identifying what is the construct of your PhD going to be like. You have to take control of the present situation and steer the way towards your desired future. It is only possible when you have identified for yourself, what your needs are. Then only will you be able to make the best decision of your life and do effective marketing. If you haven’t worked upon that yet, do it now and explore your strengths and talents and synchronize them with your efforts in your PhD so that the direction you chose is the best direction for your personality and leads to the best possible growth of your career.

There are a number of articles, videos, and even blogs on how to write dissertations for college dissertations and research papers. There is no shortage of advice at all. However, you would need tips that focus solely on selecting topics for your college dissertations and research papers. In fact, the choice of topic is very important since it can determine the ease with which you write your dissertation and research paper.

Choose a manageable topic

It is important that you select a dissertation topic that is manageable since you are the one, who is going to do all the work on the dissertation. It is important that the topic makes you confident as well as comfortable. Do not make the common mistake of choosing a topic that is extremely difficult to handle just because you believe that it will fetch you some additional marks. If you do so, your final grade is likely to suffer. The main aim of the topic is to ensure that your thesis reflects a level of difficulty that is appropriate to your skill set and experience.

Choose a familiar topic

The proposal title that you choose should be one that you are familiar with. You have to understand that selecting a completely foreign title would end up making you struggle. One useful tip is to carry out research on the topic of your choice and try and see whether it will prove helpful in your future career. This will ensure that you remain interested in the topic and also that you get to work toward a career that is gainful.

Choose an original topic

Many students believe that they have to create a new dissertation topic out of the blue, which is not true at all. You just have to approach an old topic from a new perspective.

Whenever you decide to take up an overseas research trip, you need to keep a close watch on the following facts:

1. Funding
2. Costing
3. Networking
4. Technical disparity
5. Hands on concerns

1. The primary concern when planning a research abroad is funding. Sometimes overseas research is an integral part of the PhD but no separate grant is available for the same, then getting funding becomes very difficult. It is possible to find a way out in terms of arranging some small grant for early career researcher by talking to individuals and support services.
2. Going overseas for research may involve a lot of expenses. Direct and indirect expenses. It is advisable to estimate the cost of the trip before going ahead with it, budgeting is very important. Do not forget to incorporate the following costs:

• Tickets , visa and insurance
• Accommodation
• Commuting within the city or country
• Access to archives and library
• Buying books and reading material and photocopying
• Food and other essentials like medical concerns and entertainment

3. Before you actually step into a strange land, find out the maximum details you can about it and do have some contacts and networks so that as you go, you can get started. Your own university can assist you here as they usually keep data base of contacts and manage communities abroad. You could also get some details from the designated officer for international education that would acquaint you with the education system there and would be able to act as a link between the contacts and yourself. Liberally make use of social networking sites also here so as to get the best results.
4. Plan well and carry along all technical equipment you need with yourself as it may not be easy to find all the resources you need. For research, preferably have your own laptop, all printed documents you may need should be there with you in enough number as sometimes printing facility may not be easy or unfairly expensive. Take along a camera and a voice recorder, more so if any interview is a part of your research. It is better to invest in these resources in your own country rather than feel handicapped in a strange land.
5. With all things falling in place, do not forget to work around the regular stuff such as flights in advance, accommodation issues, currency, doctor , medication. Make use of the forums that assist and give opportunity to overseas researchers to bring out their concerns.

Can we combine Quantitative and Qualitative Research even till date? We cannot say that with certainty, but can surely say that it has become more and more unnecessary. In most of the researches that are both qualitative and quantitative in nature, they work in two phases as the time required becomes double to conduct both the researches. In the current times, why has it become unnecessary? This is so because; the qualitative tools available in today’s time make such requirements redundant.

There are a lot of digital tools available in today’s times that easily integrate the advantages of both qualitative and quantitative research in a very beneficial way. Some of the main advantages these days are:

1. Lesser cost: The digital survey option can take up a double job of being a recruiting screener.
2. Faster: In the earlier times, in a two phase research there was a lot of time wasted in what we call as transition from one phase to another, in this time it is not required as the qualitative design doesn’t take any longer than a survey.
3. Better insights: When the digital tools are able to simultaneously give a qualitative perspective to a quantitative survey, it gives the advantage of a much deeper quantitative insight and identifies the qualitative contributors in research as well.

In today’s time, technology has enabled to link to any survey platform. The selection and screening of the respondents becomes possible and it is possible to experience the qualitative perspective of it either during the survey or at the end. The respondents who have been chosen can participate in any of the qualitative experiences. The most easily visible ones are,: Webcam, interviews, mobile interviews etc. So we can say that the quant qual integration trend is seen picking up at a rapid pace. Do not get left behind.