ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out a top-down structure for writing and reviewing both individual chapters and whole theses which helps keep everyone focused on the overall direction. The structure is based on understanding that writing is an exercise in marketing. Thus clear writing comes from having a clear understanding of the benefit that a reader can expect to gain from reading a document. Writing is not something to be done when the research is finished: it is an integral part of the research itself. Leaving the writing until the end nearly always means that the job is rushed and that is not the way to develop the insights needed to build a good dissertation. It is tempting to assume that people write clumsily because they are ignorant of the rules of grammar, punctuation and allied topics, and most writing courses have this as one of their core assumptions.
