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Good writing is clear and concise

It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of good writing.

Here is one examiner's comment that summarizes nicely what so many of them feel.

"The thesis is unweildy and overlong. It is desperately in need of editing. There are huge slabs of quotations in place of the candidate's own writing (this is just plain unforgivable, both for the ridiculous length of the quotes and for the way they are not justified or analyzed, standing in for the author's own words) and this is just poor thesis writing. The writing is basically clear plain-language work, but is marred by an enormous number of typos, incorrect apostrophisation, inconsistent punctuation and footnoting, and uncorrected sentences. The appendix reads like a previous thesis draft that the candidate refused to dump, though it should have been, interesting but indigestible as it is. All in all, the candidate should remember that a thesis is not an archive nor a repository; it is supposed to be an elegant argument. If this requires omitting work done towards the thesis, so be it."
Published Wednesday, July 26, 2006 1:44 PM by robyn.owens
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# re: Good writing is clear and concise

A common pitfall of many graduate research degree candidates is that they do not vigorously relate every aspect of their thesis to their primary research question. Continually evaluating the material you are presenting against its significance to the research problem will help you to decide what should be included in the thesis and what, as interesting as it may be, is peripheral to the argument you are putting forward.
Having said this, thesis writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences does allow for the use of imagery and sensory language - indeed the call for a self-reflexive approach in social science writing demands it. Its a question though of balance, and using your research question as a yardstick for determining what legitimately should be to included in your thesis and what should be left out.
Friday, July 28, 2006 11:38 AM by Michael.Azariadis

# re: Good writing is clear and concise

Here's another examiner backing up the idea that concise writing is what you should be aiming for:

"Much of the information from the experiments could have been written using less than half of the stated experiments. In fact, any conclusions were covered by so much data exposition that they were effectively lost."

In other words, work out a clear, simple, argument for your thesis and back up your claims with exactly the amount of evidence that is needed to demonstrate them. Too much detail makes it look as if you are only able to analyse; examiners also want a demonstration of your capacity to *synthesize*.
Sunday, August 06, 2006 1:58 PM by robyn.owens

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