THE FORM OF A PhD THESIS ■ 67

thought’, and ‘I can’t clearly express in words what I have in my head’, are typical of the comments made by thesis-writers. Eminent poets, authors and psychologists admit that the only time they think is when they write. This may be true of all writing.

Phillips (1996) found that students and supervisors agree that a thesis should compress a great deal of information into a highly structured and relatively short format. Supervisors see this positively, as confirmation that the student has finally managed to understand what is required in order to summarize and conceptualize their work. One supervisor said, ‘Evolution of the thesis is not so much a change in length but a change from what was traditionally a large book to something that should become two or three or four separate projects tied together with a theme, all different aspects of a specific topic’. Another, speaking as an experienced examiner, talked of ‘making the string of sausages into a small salami’!

Students, on the other hand, see this compression as a negative requirement which impoverishes the richness of the information they have worked so hard to acquire. They complain that lots of different areas have to be forced into one section and perceive the thesis format as con-straining. But students do know what is required of them. ‘To be good, work needs to be relevant to some problem and valid in its methodology. It should also be clear in its expression’.

■ Alternative thesis styles

In some social sciences and humanities there is now a gradual acceptance of alternative styles of presentation. Instead of having to express your thinking and work in language that we might recognize as ‘academic’, it is acceptable to use the kind of language you might employ when writing a letter. So long as what you are saying is clear and unambiguous, there should be no problem. This may apply in other subjects too but you will need to find out what is permitted in your discipline.

Murray (2002) distinguishes between formal and informal writing where the informal or simple, everyday style is used for free writing and notes for yourself, and the formal or more academic for drafts of sections of the thesis. Her examples demonstrate her belief that academic writing for a thesis needs to be in the past tense, passive voice and with an object-ive viewpoint. The writer is firmly removed from the whole venture. We do not consider this to be necessary for all topics in all subjects. Different ways of describing your work and thought in writing are often subject-specific with disciplines having their own conventions. Reading accepted journal articles and theses in your field will make these clear but do bear in mind that changes are occurring.

Murray discusses how understanding what you have written for yourself