Continuity and Change Over Time Thesis How to
Change and continuity in thesis and dissertation writing: The evolution of an academic genre
Abstract
This paper examines the emergence of the doctoral thesis as a research genre and traces the development of thesis types and their macrostructures over time. We do this by examining the first doctorates that were awarded in English-medium universities and comparing them with doctorates that have been awarded more recently at the same universities. The data on which the study is based is a set of 100 PhDs. The study found there was change in Science-based doctorates where some of the early PhDs were written in ways that were less recognisable compared with how they are written today. There was continuity, however, in Humanities doctorates in that both the early and recent theses were all topic-based in a way that continues through to today. There was, in addition, a preference for particular thesis types at some of the institutions in particular areas of study. The findings contribute to our understanding of research genres and have implications for how we teach thesis and dissertation writing in different areas of study as well as what we advise students are appropriate choices to make as they are writing their theses and dissertations. The study is also of relevance to people working in the area of higher education more broadly and especially those with an interest in doctoral writing.
Introduction
The number of PhDs awarded across the world has increased dramatically in recent decades with 54,904 doctorates being awarded in the United States in 2016 (National Science Foundation, 2016), 100,275 in the UK in the years 2017–2018 (Higher Education Student Statistics, 2019), more than 6,000 per year in Canada (McIntyre, 2015), and 9,054 in Australia in 2017 (McCarthy & Wienk, 2019). Beyond this, there are now a number of other doctorates such as practice-based doctorates, professional doctorates, and doctorates by publication (also referred to as manuscript-style theses and dissertations) which are becoming increasingly common. This growth has led to a growing interest in our field in the doctoral thesis or dissertation1 both from the perspective of expanding our knowledge of previously occluded academic genres and with a view to assisting doctoral students, their supervisors and EAP practitioners come to better understand disciplinary and institutional expectations of this high-stakes degree. Moreover, as has been pointed out by other researchers, advice offered to doctoral students in manuals and guidebooks on thesis and dissertation structure and organisation may not always capture the options that are available to them (see e.g., Anderson et al., 2020; Casanave, 2020).
Doctoral degrees have been offered for over 200 years in Western universities and, in English medium universities, since the 1860s. The first PhD in the world was awarded at the University of Berlin (now Humboldt University) in 1810. In the same year, PhDs were awarded at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in France. The Netherlands introduced the PhD in 1810 and the University of Zurich awarded its first PhD in 1833 (Bogle, 2017). PhDs in the English-speaking world were first awarded in the late 19th century, initially in the US and then in the UK, Canada, and Australia at Yale University, the University of Oxford, the University of Toronto, and the University of Melbourne respectively and, for this reason, they are the focus of our study in which we examine the emergence of the doctoral thesis/dissertation as a research genre and trace its development over time.
We do this by examining the first doctorates that were awarded in four English-medium universities and then by comparing these theses and dissertations with doctorates that have been awarded more recently at the same universities in parallel areas of study. Our aim in doing this is to see to what extent doctoral theses have changed over this time period and in what ways (or if) they have remained constant. We are doing this not just to understand where the doctoral thesis has come from but also in what ways it has evolved, or emerged (Bateman et al., 2014; Miller, 2016) as the genre it is today. For, as Bazerman (1988) argued, 'the regularities that appear in the genre come from the very historical presence of the emerging genre' (p. 8). Change in other academic genres, such as the research article, has been examined by a number of researchers (see e.g., Atkinson, 1999, pp. 1675–1975; Bazerman, 1988; Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995; Luzón; Pérez-Llantada, 2019; Pérez-Llantada, 2013). Such an analysis has not, however, been undertaken in relation to the doctoral thesis; our focus in this paper is on thesis types and the overall organization of the theses [plural], that is, the macrostructure of the thesis types, which we discuss in detail below.
Section snippets
Thesis and dissertation types
Previous research into theses and dissertations has identified four main thesis types that students typically write: 'simple traditional' theses which have an 'IMRD' (Introduction – Methods – Results –Discussion) pattern of organisation; 'complex traditional' dissertations which report on more than a single study; 'topic-based' theses which commence with an introductory chapter which is then followed by a series of chapters based on sub-topics of the topic under investigation, and 'theses by
Data collected for study
We collected examples of the earliest and most recent doctoral theses from Yale University, the University of Oxford, the University of Toronto and the University of Melbourne, the first universities in each of their respective countries to award doctoral degrees. In order to decide exactly what and how much data to collect, previous studies of a similar kind were examined to identify what data had been collected and the period/s of time over which they were collected. The two key studies we
The earliest PhDs at the four universities
Yale University awarded its first PhDs in 1861. These were in the areas of Physics, Classics, and Philosophy and Psychology (Rosenberg, 1961; Yale University, 1961). Unfortunately, we were not able to locate copies of these early doctorates as they no longer exist. The title of the PhD in Physics, awarded to Arthur W. Wright, was Having given the velocity and direction of motion of a meteor on entering the atmosphere of the earth, to determine its orbit about the sun, taking into account the
Discussion
This study has shown that while there has been some continuity in how doctoral theses have been written since their earliest days, there has also been some change. Continuity can most clearly be seen in the Humanities theses in that they were all topic-based. That is, the chapters of the theses all followed an organizational structure based on sub-themes that emerged in the particular studies. Change, however, was very clear in the Science theses in that none of the early theses followed an
Conclusion
The study discussed in this paper aimed to explore how doctoral theses and dissertations have evolved since their earliest days in relation to how they are typically written now. While shifts were seen in several of the disciplinary areas that were examined, there was also seen, in some cases, a preference for a particular thesis type at particular universities in some of the areas of study. There are, of course, limitations to the study. One of these is the sample size, especially in relation
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Brian Paltridge: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing - review & editing. Sue Starfield: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing - review & editing.
Brian Paltridge: is Professor of TESOL at the University of Sydney. His publications include Writing for Research Purposes: Theory and Practice (Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press), The Discourse of Peer Review (Palgrave Macmillan) and, with Sue Starfield, Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors (Routledge).
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Brian Paltridge: is Professor of TESOL at the University of Sydney. His publications include Writing for Research Purposes: Theory and Practice (Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press), The Discourse of Peer Review (Palgrave Macmillan) and, with Sue Starfield, Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors (Routledge).
Sue Starfield: is Professor in the School of Education at UNSW Sydney. She is co-author, with Brian Paltridge, of Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors (Routledge 2020). She co-edits two book series: Introductions to English for Specific Purposes and Research in English for Specific Purposes (Routledge).
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Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1475158520302277
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