Is there anyone currently writing a dissertation?

shanshu — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:16:18 +0000

Hi AllI am a new member & new user of NBI was thrilled to see this forum here but disappointed to see that it doesn’t seem to have any current contributorsAnyone else around currently writing/researching??

Thomas Bailey commented

Thomas Bailey — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:13:39 +0000

Just starting masters, so am too looking for brainstorming ideas with others. If you are still checking the boards.

jmdelane commented

jmdelane — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:09:24 +0000

I am using Notebook in a Ph.D. program. It's far and away the most comfortable outliner that I've come accross for taking notes from books and jotting down my thoughts. I like the fact that I can apply labels to individual chunks of text (which is actually the only reason that I use NB rather than DevonThink or Journaler).

I also use it for the first stab at outlining papers, and like the fact that I can drag and drop from my own reading notes into a paper structure. I haven't begun writing my dissertation yet, but doubt that I'll want to outline the whole thing in NB.

That said, I find NB next to useless for archiving materials that did not come from my own keyboard. I use BibDesk for organizing PDFs, and am still trying to find a flexible and sustainable method of archiving web clippings, etc.

KMarkP commented

KMarkP — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:26:29 +0000

I have just finished my dissertation. My research notes, bibliography, reading notes, memos, interview transcripts, and outlines were all done on NoteBook. I found it to be an extremely useful tool.

I used Microsoft Word as my WP, only because it is used in my department, and any problems I had could be easily addressed.

Good luck on your own dissertation. It's a big hill to climb.

Mark

Wichtig commented

Wichtig — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:11:17 +0000

Hi Mark,

I am actually thinking about using NB for my dissertation and I face the same situation regarding M$ Word being the dominant WP in my department. Since you mentioned you used NB for your dissertation, I hope you could provide some advice or even a template that shows how you handled the many different notetaking aspects of that "big hill to climb".

Thank you

Michael

KMarkP commented

KMarkP — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:50:31 +0000

Hi, Michael.

Actually, I used two separate NoteBooks for my research. In the first one, I kept the reading notes from the various sources I found relating to my topic. I kept the references alphabetically listed (in APA format) in one divider, and the reading notes (and quotes)in another, with one source per page. I also had one divider that was just for personal memos and notes.

The other NoteBook was for the actual research data. Since mine was a qualitative dissertation, I had a divider for observation notes, one for interview transcripts, one for notated private conversations, one for memos, and one for one for clippings, photographs, and miscellaneous documents and files.

I used MS Word for the acutal writing, and pasted in the data from NoteBook where necessary.

All in all, I found it to be a very effective way of collecting and using data and ideas. I suppose I could also have used it to make the actual working outline, but I found that using the WP for that was easier for me.

I hope this helps.
Mark

Darina commented

Darina — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:34:22 +0000

There are 2 excellent articles which guide students on: How to find a good undergraduate dissertation title/topic and How to Find Good Dissertation Topics for Masters or MBA

Hopefully they will be helpful to you
Darina

Amafortas commented

Amafortas — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:19:21 +0000

KmarkP,

I tried something similar to the organization you suggest for a chapter from my dissertation.

However, I found the number of pages became difficult to navigate. Did you find this to be a problem? If not, how did you go about navigating your sources?

Have a good one,