Table Of ContentWriting a
Watertight
Thesis
ii
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Writing a
Watertight
Thesis
Structure,
Demystification and
Defence
MIKE BOTTERY,
NIGEL WRIGHT AND
MARK A. FABRIZI
iv
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in Great Britain 2019
This edition published 2023
Copyright © Mike Bottery, Nigel Wright and Mark A. Fabrizi, 2023
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CONTENTS
List of Figures vii
List of Tables viii
Preface to the Second Edition ix
PART ONE Getting Ready
1 The Need for a Watertight Thesis 3
2 Demystifying the Doctoral Process 21
3 What Does It Take to Complete a Doctorate? 33
4 Making Sure Your Doctorate Is Original 53
5 Structuring Your Research Proposal 75
PART TWO Moving into the Doctorate
6 The Supervisory Relationship: Roles, Models and
Mystification 101
7 Change and Problem-Solving in the Supervisory
Relationship 119
8 Structuring in the Early Stages 137
9 Focusing on the Major Research Question 151
10 Creating Your Research Sub-questions 165
vi
vi CONTENTS
PART THREE Moving through the Doctorate
11 Linking the Research Sub-questions to the Thesis
Chapters 181
12 Making the Early Chapters Watertight 199
13 Judging the Doctoral Quality of Your Work 213
14 Making the Middle Chapters Watertight 239
15 Making the Later Chapters Watertight 253
PART FOUR Moving Out of the Doctorate
16 The Examiners’ Need for Structural Clarity 269
17 Preparing for the Summative Viva 279
18 Structuring and Publishing Your First Articles 295
References 309
Index 315
FIGURES
1.1 Stages for constructing the watertight ship and thesis 6
4.1 Establishing originality 58
4.2 Types of originality 61
4.3 The emergence of originality 72
6.1 Different possible approaches to a supervisory
relationship 108
7.1 Potential supervisor–supervisee interactions 124
8.1 Tasks at different ‘periods’ of an empirical doctoral
thesis 140
11.1 Linking RSQs to thesis structure 188
11.2 Linking RSQs to relevant chapters 189
11.3 Applying linkages to your own thesis 190
14.1 A research methods continuum 240
14.2 Issues on a research methods continuum 241
14.3 A spectrum of opinions on the nature of knowledge, reality
and researcher involvement 245
viii
TABLES
3.1 Belbin team roles and doctoral task transferability 37
5.1 Categorizing verbs 93
13.1 Applying doctoral criteria to stages of development 218
15.1 Cataloguing and justifying your recommendations 262
17.1 Viva roulette questions 283
17.2 A table for organizing thesis amendments 292
PREFACE TO THE
SECOND EDITION
Writing a doctoral thesis1 can be an arduous, confusing and
mystifying process, and particularly at the start, when students may
understand that they need to produce a strong structure for the
entire work, but don’t quite know what a doctorate is, nor how
to create its structure in a clear, rational and convincing manner.
Indeed, the meaning and the process of a doctorate, more than any
other degree, is sometimes more obscure, jargonized and difficult
than it needs to be. This second edition of Writing a Watertight
Thesis not only shows the beginner how to structure a doctorate
but also helps to demystify the nature and processes involved in
the study, both of which will ultimately make it more watertight
and defensible. Not only does this edition of the book provide clear
guidance on structuring, but the additional chapters also show the
student how a doctorate differs from other degrees and help them
to decide whether they have what it takes to do one, whether their
ideas are sufficiently original, what kind of relationship they need to
develop with their supervisors2 and whether their work is achieving
doctoral quality. Much doctoral mystification is then removed.
1Throughout this second edition we will be using the terms ‘Thesis’ and ‘Dissertation’
interchangeably to reflect the fact that different countries use these terms for
essentially the same purpose – to describe the major written output of the doctoral
student. In some countries – and in some kinds of doctoral degrees – this written
output is accompanied by coursework, the marking of which contributes to the
achievement of the degree; in other countries, the written output is the sole criterion
by which the degree is judged to be achieved or failed.
2In a similar manner, the academic individual overseeing a student’s thesis may
be given a number of different titles, the two most used being ‘supervisor’ and
‘advisor’, and whilst we shall use the term ‘supervisor’ more often than ‘advisor’
