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

Application: analysis of the data
Ask your student to re-read their study and answer the following
questions:
●
How were the data analysed in the study?
●
Were the analytic procedures quantitative, qualitative or both?
●
Would you be able to re-analyse the data on the basis of the infor-
mation provided about the analytic procedures?
Ask your student to bring their answers to you for discussion.

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Reporting on previous research
There are a number of ways a student can report on previous research. Three
key ways in which this is often done are what are called central, non-central and
non-reporting styles of reporting (Swales 1990, 2004). That is:
●
an author is directly reported as being responsible for a particular finding
or argument and placed in subject position in the sentence (central
reporting);
●
an author is reported as being responsible for a particular finding or argu-
ment but with their name being given less focus by being placed in
brackets at the end of the relevant statement (non-central reporting);
●
the results of a piece of research are presented with less focus being given
to the author or the actual study and no ‘reporting verbs’ such as ‘claim’
or ‘shown’ are used (non-reporting).
Below are examples which demonstrate each of these styles:
●
Central reporting: ‘Burke (1986) discovered that many students would
like to become integrated into Australian society.’
●
Non-central reporting: ‘It has been shown that students have often per-
formed successfully in their own education system before they seek entry
to the particular university (Ballard 1991).’
●
Non-reporting: ‘Instead of motivation producing achievement, it may be
that achievement produces motivation (Spolsky 1989).’
Writing the background chapters
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