"Like a series of productive meetings with a trusted advisor, each chapter of this text provides practical information and sound insight, thoughtfully organized and generously shared. A uniquely inclusive consideration of the process of graduate research, this is the companion that graduate students crave. Attentive to the academic issues and personal trials that often accompany thesis writing in the arts, humanities, and sciences, Lorrie Blair offers a guide that is comprehensive and clear, sensitive to the distinctions among fields, and sympathetic to the various ways that the process can confuse and confound scholars in the making."--Dr. Christine Marmé Thompson, Professor of Art Education, School of Visual Arts, Pennsylvania State University
*****
"Dr. Lorrie Blair's book is a valuable resource for every graduate student who needs to write a thesis. Filled with practical advice, this book covers the basics including differentiating between the various thesis formats, preparing the proposal, writing the literature review, choosing a methodology, collecting and analyzing data, and defending the thesis. The book also deals with the many interpersonal issues important to graduate students, including finding the right supervisor and dealing with problems that might arise between students and supervisors. The book presents sound advice regarding how to establish an academic track record by presenting research at conferences and publishing journal articles. Finally, the book is an excellent resource on the important issues of academic integrity and research ethics. For graduate students, it's common to feel overwhelmed when writing a thesis.
*****
"Dr. Lorrie Blair provides a much-needed book for students pursuing a graduate degree. Writing A Graduate Thesis or Dissertation is a comprehensive guide to the stages of working through the rigors of writing and defending a graduate degree from the initial stages of choosing a thesis topic and supervisor, right through to the defense of the work. Each chapter can be consulted separately, or the whole book read to give a wide-ranging understanding of the issues most pertinent to writing and defending a thesis. This book provides something for everyone involved in that process. Both graduate students and their supervisors will find this a refreshing and thorough collection that addresses the topic across a wide range of disciplines. I wish this book had been available during my 30 years as a University Professor. With almost 100 graduate students supervised, I know that there are particular topics like plagiarism, how to conduct a literature review and ethical issues that are important for students to really understand as they begin their research and writing. The chapters on research methodology are clear and written to give access to a number of questions that students ask when trying to decide on how to conduct their research and strategies to help make their thesis a reality. This book is a highly readable, informative and welcome addition to academic literature."--Dr. Kit Grauer, Professor Emerita, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, The University of British Columbia
*****
"Dr. Lorrie Blair's complex, yet thoughtful and accessible account of the graduate research experience and thesis/dissertation writing process resonated strongly with my recent experience as a PhD student. This book provides a detailed, well-structured, pragmatic guide to navigating the thresholds of graduate work, which reflects the author's many years as an extremely well respected professor, teacher, mentor and graduate supervisor. More than simply comprehensive, this work includes information and considerations that are rarely addressed in other guides, including information related to selecting supervisors and alternative forms of research methodologies and format styles. Throughout this book, Blair weaves in a discussion of relevant contemporary challenges a