Learning to argue

This chapter argues that the thesis is an argument and that DRs need to understand that the thesis presents an argument in managed stages. It offers three different strategies - arguer questions, tiny texts and sentence skeletons - that will help one to argue well through and beyond the thesis. While DRs know they have to write a thesis, many tend to write around their argument. They write long slabs of text in the hope that something pithy will emerge. Speedwriting, freewriting, pomodoros and writing without a parachute are strategies to get you going. Writing abstracts is a useful strategy for clarifying the contribution of one's research and finding a place in the scholarly conversation in their field. In a good abstract, the writer speaks with authority, not simply describing or reporting what they've done, but delineating their case and specifying their particular point of view.