Random Thoughts on Good Writing

It is an accepted fact that good writing is essential in the preparation of a dissertation. Good writing is insufficient, however, to compensate for a lack of or flaw in the candidate’s ideas, concepts, and content. Proper research, planning and organization of the relevant data can help reveal weaknesses in the doctoral process, but many times such weaknesses are not revealed until the candidate begins actually writing the dissertation or worse, after they turn the dissertation over to the review committee. Two serious problems are the omission of vocabulary definitions and leaps of logic.

The Defining Moment

When writing a dissertation, the author should bear in mind the linguistic abilities of his or her audience. The individuals reviewing the work may or may not be familiar with industry or discipline jargon, phrases or concepts. Definitions of key materials will be necessary to ensure the reader’s understanding of the dissertation. This is normally done in an early chapter of the dissertation, though it is also one of the last chapters written. The author should make notes of necessary definitions as he or she writes the dissertation to prepare the chapter later. Every important term, phrase or concept that the audience may be unfamiliar with or that may be used in a specialized manner should be included in this process.

Grammar and Logic

Beyond simple basic grammar (use of commas, sentence markers, etc.), writers must consider the effect of logical structure on the grammar of sentences. Sometimes this can be as simple as “all Xs are letters” being true, but “all letters are Xs” being false. Do not laugh. It has been seen in far too many dissertations. Being careful that the logic of each sentence actually meets the standards of common sense reality is critical. Scientists, mathematicians, and business majors should all know the basic rules of logic. The rules, however, are more difficult to recognize when the spoken language is applied instead of mathematical symbols. When written using mathematical symbols, defining the relationships between factors is simple by comparison. It is little wonder programmers have difficulty in teaching computers to communicate in plain English (yes, there are programmers still working on that idea) yet have no trouble getting computers to communicate mathematically.