This guide is extracted/taken from "Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation" Tutorial offered by S. Joseph Levine, Ph.D (Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan USA at http://www.learnerassociates.net
Introduction
Guide ini akan dibagi dalam beberapa session/tahap yang diatur dalam beberapa postingan. Admin Ririungan berharap, artikel ini dapat membantu rekan-rekan Ririungan yang saat ini sedang mempersiapkan thesis dan disertasinya masing-masing, termasuk admin yang masih kesulitan dengan pilihan topik thesis yang kategori penelitiannya cepat, murah, dan mudah...he he he cari gampangnya aja..
Ok, guys..Just stay and start to read the first session.
1. The Thinking About It Stage
The "thinking about it stage" is when you are finally faced with the reality of completing your degree. Usually the early phases of a graduate program proceed in clear and very structured ways. The beginning phases of a graduate program proceed in much the same manner as an undergraduate degree program. There are clear requirements and expectations, and the graduate student moves along, step by step, getting ever closer to the completion of the program. One day, however, the clear structure begins to diminish and now you're approaching the thesis/dissertation stage. This is a new and different time. These next steps are more and more defined by you and not your adviser, the program, or the department.
2 Be inclusive with your thinking. Don't try to eliminate ideas too quickly. Build on your ideas and see how many different research projects you can identify. Give yourself the luxury of being expansive in your thinking at this stage -- you won't be able to do this later on. Try and be creative.
3 Write down your ideas. This will allow you to revisit an idea later on. Or, you can modify and change an idea. If you don't write your ideas they tend to be in a continual state of change and you will probably have the feeling that you're not going anywhere. What a great feeling it is to be able to sit down and scan the many ideas you have been thinking about, if they're written down
4 Try not to be overly influenced at this time by what you feel others expect from you (your colleagues, your profession, your academic department, etc.). You have a much better chance of selecting a topic that will be really of interest to you if it is your topic. This will be one of the few opportunities you may have in your professional life to focus in on a research topic that is really of your own choosing.
4 Don't begin your thinking by assuming that your research will draw international attention to you!! Instead, be realistic in setting your goal. Make sure your expectations are tempered by:
... the realization that you are fulfilling an academic requirement,
... the fact that the process of conducting the research may be just as important (or more important) than the outcomes of the research, and
... the idea that first and foremost the whole research project should be a learning experience for you.
If you can keep these ideas in mind while you're thinking through your research you stand an excellent chance of having your research project turn out well.
5 Be realistic about the time that you're willing to commit to your research project. If it's a 10 year project that you're thinking about admit it at the beginning and then decide whether or not you have 10 years to give to it. If the project you'd like to do is going to demand more time than you're willing to commit then you have a problem.
I know it's still early in your thinking but it's never too early to create a draft of a timeline. Try using the 6 Stages (see the next item) and put a start and a finish time for each. Post your timeline in a conspicuous place (above your computer monitor?) so that it continually reminds you how you're doing. Periodically update your timeline with new dates as needed. (Thanks to a website visitor from Philadelphia for sharing this idea.)
6 If you're going to ask for a leave of absence from your job while you're working on your research this isn't a good time to do it. Chances are you can do the "thinking about it" stage without a leave of absence. Assuming that there are six major phases that you will have during your research project, probably the best time to get the most from a leave of absence is during the fourth stage* - the writing stage. This is the time when you really need to be thinking well. To be able to work at your writing in large blocks of time without interruptions is something really important. A leave of absence from your job can allow this to happen. A leave of absence from your job prior to this stage may not be a very efficient use of the valuable time away from your work.
Stage 1 - Thinking About It
Stage 2 - Preparing the Proposal
Stage 3- Conducting the Research
Stage 4- Writing the Research Paper*
Stage 5- Sharing the Research Outcomes with Others
Stage 6- Revising the Research Paper
7 It can be most helpful at this early stage to try a very small preliminary research study to test out some of your ideas to help you gain further confidence in what you'd like to do. The study can be as simple as conducting half a dozen informal interviews with no attempt to document what is said. The key is that it will give you a chance to get closer to your research and to test out whether or not you really are interested in the topic. And, you can do it before you have committed yourself to doing something you may not like. Take your time and try it first.
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