Change and Stability in Thesis and Dissertation Writing: The Evolution of an Academic Genre

Examining recent changes in the once stable genre of doctoral thesis and dissertation writing, this book explores how these changes impact on the nature of the doctoral thesis/dissertation itself. Covering different theories of genre, Brian Paltridge and Sue Starfield focus on the concepts of evolution, innovation and emergence in the context of the production and reception of doctoral theses and dissertations.

Specifically concerned with this genre in the humanities, social sciences and visual and performing arts, this book also investigates the forces which are shaping changes in this high-stakes genre, as well as those which act as constraints. Employing textography as its methodological approach, the book provides multiple perspectives on the ways in which doctoral theses and dissertations are subject to forces of continuity and change in the academy. Analyses of the ’new humanities’ doctorate, professional doctorates, practice-based doctorates, and the doctorate by publication contribute to understandings of new variants of the doctoral dissertation genre. The book paves the way for a new generation of doctoral students and asks, ’what might the doctorate of the future look like?’.

Brian Paltridge is Professor of TESOL at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Sue Starfield is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.