Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: a handbook for Supervisors

The relationship between writers and readers 
of theses and disser tations
Next, students can be asked to consider the relationship between their readers
and themselves as writers and how this impacts on what they say and how
they can say it. They can also be asked to consider how this relationship
changes for other academic texts such as research articles and conference pre-
sentations. Writers of theses and dissertations, for example, are typically
‘novices writing for experts’ whereas writers of research articles are generally
‘experts writing for experts’. Conference presentations, for research students,
are often a mix of the two.