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Methods article, addressing study skills, learning theory and critical thinking skills in principles of economics courses.

• Department of Economics, Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, United States

The Wall Street Journal recently noted that United States “employers say too many schools aren’t teaching students the skills they need—or even basic critical thinking”. This paper 1) motives the need for economics and other college educators to i) address study habits in the classroom, (ii) explain the importance of critical thinking skills, and (iii) define what critical thinking is to introductory students; and 2) provides an overview of how the authors accomplish this in their classrooms. The authors encourage readers to borrow this information to create a study skills and critical thinking module for their own students when teaching principles courses.

Introduction

The Wall Street Journal recently noted that United States “employers say too many schools aren’t teaching students the skills they need—or even basic critical thinking” ( Belkin, 2018 ). While a recent meta-analysis found “that students make substantial gains in critical thinking during college,” the study’s authors went on to note that “observed gains in critical thinking appear to have deteriorated over time…” ( Huber and Kuncel, 2016 , p. 456). A survey of 202 departments of economics ranked “the ability to use critical thinking skills” first in a list of the ten most important student learning outcomes ( Allgood et al., 2015 , p. 290). In a recent survey of the literature on 21st century skill frameworks, sixteen articles were identified with “problem solving” or “critical thinking” skills being prioritized ten or nine times respectively out of the 16 frameworks reviewed ( Rios et al., 2020 ). The study’s authors went on to analyze 142,000 job advertisements and found “problem solving” to be the fourth most requested skill, behind oral communication, written communication, and collaboration ( Rios et al., 2020 ). If “critical economic thinking” is defined as “effective, high-quality problem solving” ( Leyden, 2012 , p. 2), how can economics educators promote this skill development?

The goal of this paper is twofold: First, to motive the need for a study habits and critical thinking skills intervention by economics educators; second, to provide set of resources and research to present to students the first week of class to aid in the development of study habit and critical thinking skills.

The paper is divided into four additional sections. Section 2 provides broader motivation by reviewing the larger literature on the need, in fact, the demand among employers for graduates better equipped in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Section 3 discuss the results of a survey on study habits conducted by the authors. Section 4 outlines the materials presented to students to promoted better studying and critical thinking skills. Finally, Section 5 provides concluding remarks.

Study Skills, Learning, and the Demand for Critical Thinking

A meta-analysis of studies ( N = 72,431, k = 344) examining the relationship between study habits, skills, and attitude inventories and constructs and college outcomes, found that “study habits and attitude inventories are the most predictive of performance,” even when compared to a student’s high school grades or standardized test scores ( Credé and Kuncel, 2008 ). A more recent comprehensive review of the literature on study skills and their efficacy revealed that distributed practice, self-explanation, and interleaved practice, techniques often used by instructors when developing critical thinking skills, demonstrated either “high” or “moderate utility” in improving student learning across a wide range of class and student factors ( Dunlosky et al., 2013 ). On the other hand, “summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery use for text learning, and rereading” exhibited the lowest utility and were found to not consistently promote student learning ( Dunlosky et al., 2013 , p. 5). In other words, when study habits move away from memorization toward active problem solving, content connections, and application, learning efficacy and the development of critical thinking skills improve.

What types of study skills do students actually employ while in college? Course Hero, an online learning platform, has recently provided some informal data on their users’ study habits. More than half of Course Hero users do most of their studying Monday through Wednesday and approximately 25–28 percent of their users studying takes place between 9 PM and 5 AM ( Course Hero, 2019 ). Research has consistently shown that sleep deprivation leads to poorer learning outcomes ( Doyle and Zakrajsek, 2018 ; Ro, 2018 ). Several recent studies have found that students are likely to use ineffective study habits ( Nonis and Hudson, 2010 ; Hora and Oleson, 2017 ; Miyatsu et al., 2017 ). The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), based at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Education, provides one of the most comprehensive surveys, including 531 colleges and university in the United States The NSSE survey finds that while students in 2019 are spending more time in academic preparation compared to students in 2004, there has been a decline in this preparation the last few years.

Elaborating on Huber and Kuncel’s previously mentioned work, which found that students make substantial gains in critical thinking during college, but that “the observed gains in critical thinking appear to have deteriorated over time despite increased interest in fostering critical thinking skills” (2016, p. 456), Huber and Kuncel offer three potential explanations for the deterioration in the observed gains among students: 1), if “students have increasingly learned more critical thinking skills before entering college…(then)…overall gain scores should be reduced”; 2), with college enrollment increasing over time “many new students (who were previously not in the college cohort) may not be sufficiently prepared to learn more complex reasoning skills (pulling gain scores down)”; and 3), “students have become less willing or able to learn critical thinking skills over time” (2016, p. 457). Even if 1) or 2), the most encouraging potential explanations, is the reason for the college gains decline, neither resolves the fact the employers consistently report a lack of critical thinking skills in college graduates.

A recent study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) identified what they have described as a “paradox” among Millennials, those born between 1981–1996 ( Dimock, 2019 ), regarding their educational attainment and their corresponding achievement on several international assessments. While the Millennials are “on track to be our most educated generation ever… they consistently score below many of their international peers in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology- rich environments” ( Goodman et al., 2015 , p. 4). Using data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and their Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey “of nationally representative samples of adults age 16 to 65”, the ETS study reported “[i]n literacy, United States millennials scored lower than 15 of the 22 participating countries” ( Goodman et al., 2015 , p. 4, 5, Figure 1). The ETS report closes their executive summary by noting “despite investments and reforms in K-12 education over the past decades, America continues to lose ground in terms of the developed skills of its adult population and workforce” ( Goodman et al., 2015 , p. 5).

Evidence of the issues highlighted in the ETS report are already making themselves felt among some sectors of the American labor market. A recent Wall Street Journal article found that while ever increasing numbers of students are entering and completing four-year degrees, incentivized by federal education policy and assisted with student loan subsidization, however, “technology is changing faster than colleges can keep up and employers say too many schools aren’t teaching students the skills they need—or even basic critical thinking” ( Belkin, 2018 ). This has led to an increasing demand among United States employers for specific skills over four-year degrees and to heavier investments by employers, such as AT&T which spent over $1 billion dollars to retrain approximately 100,000 employees, to meet the increasing demands of the labor market, especially in the manufacturing, technology and health-care industries ( Belkin, 2018 ). And even more recently Inside Higher Ed reported that “75 percent of employers claim the students they hire after 12, 16 or more years of formal education lack the ability to think critically and solve problems” ( Haber, 2020 ).

Acknowledging the importance of critical thinking skills to the labor market and the larger economy is one thing but defining exactly what is meant by “critical thinking” is quite another. As one group of economists have noted, critical thinking is often “not well defined” and in economics there has been “relatively little” published on this topic, despite the fact that we often strive to emphasize “the economic way of thinking” in many of our principles courses ( Greenlaw and DeLoach, 2003 , p. 36). Leyden (2012) , in his book dedicated to developing critical thinking in economics, describes it as “all about effective, high-quality problem solving” ( Leyden, 2012 , p. 2). Mulnix (2012) provides a review of several definitions of critical thinking and then arrives at the following for what she feels is the preferred description of the “critical thinker”:

This suggests that the fundamental skill to be acquired by a critical thinker is the ability to recognize inferential connections holding between statements, where this would include the ability to understand the possibility that what we believe might be false and the ability to identify the sorts of evidence that would undermine our beliefs ( Mulnix, 2012 , p. 474).

Students that have an adequate understanding of critical thinking and can successfully employ those skills can improve their learning outcomes ( Abrami, et al., 2015 ; Huber and Kuncel, 2016 ). However, as just reviewed, the larger literature indicates that students are not always ready and/or prepared to develop those skills at the post-secondary level ( Pithers and Soden, 2000 ; Huber and Kuncel, 2016 ). Further, while economists recognize the importance of critical thinking skills for student learning ( Allgood et al., 2015 , p. 290), there is relatively little literature on the topic among economists. A recent review of the literature only identified 13 citations (see Allgood et al., 2015 ) dealing with “active learning” in economics ( Boyle and Goffe, 2018 ).

While many students believe to overcome poor performance they just need to study more, research suggests that study time alone will not necessarily lead to improved learning ( Nonis and Hudson, 2010 ; Chew, 2011 ; Doyle and Zakrajsek, 2018 ). Furthermore, many students leave exams believing they did well when this is not the case. Ambrose et al. (2010, pp. 4–6) identifies seven research-based principles to improve learning in their book How Learning Works :

1. Prior knowledge

2. How students organize knowledge

3. Motivation

4. Skill acquisition, interpretive practice, and appropriate application

5. Goal-directed practice

6. Level of student development and climate of the course

7. Self-directed learning, including an emphasis on meta-cognition

Without students, or educators, understanding how learning works, what critical thinking is, and what study skills are most effective, it is rather fanciful to believe students will successfully develop the critical thinking skills economics educators rank as the most important learning outcome, and that employers demand. As some recent research has demonstrated, “elements of critical thinking need to be taught explicitly , rather than assumed to come along for the ride when thoughtful teachers run through complex material with students” (emphasis original; Haber, 2020 ). The next sections of this paper provide results from study habits questions posed to students in the authors classes; followed by an example of a set of resources the authors go over in class and assign to students to help prepare them to be able to learn more effectively and think more critically.

Student Study Habits Questionnaire

At the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester, the authors administered a survey to students (n∼285) enrolled in their principles of micro and macroeconomics courses asking about their study habits. Some good news bad news patterns emerged. While 62% of the students reported taking notes when reading the textbook half of the time or more, only 8% reported that they always read the textbook. While 95% of the students reported taking notes in class half of the time or more, only 5% reported that they always rewrite their notes at some point after class. While 76% of the students reported studying “really hard” the night before an exam always or most of the time, only 19% reported always studying at least three days prior to an exam.

Lastly, when asked what the most important factor in successful learning is, 87% of the students reported “learning in a way that matches your learning style” or “the intention and desire to learn”, while only 13% reported “Paying close attention to the material as you study” or “the time you spend studying”, and less than 0.5% reported “What you think about while you study”. The response to this question is of particular importance because a wide body of literature has shown that matching learning style does not correlate with gains in learning ( Pashler et al., 2008 ; Willingham et al., 2015 ). And while having an intention and desire to learn is a commendable goal, it is of limited value unless time is spent studying and paying attention while doing so. In fact, of the answer choices, the single most important determinant of learning is “what you think about while studying” ( Hyde and Jenkins, 1969 ; see also; Chew, 2011 ). Table 1 provides further details of the survey results.

TABLE 1 . Student survey results.

The conclusion from the survey is that a majority of students in the authors classes may be unaware of, or discount, behaviors that translate into successful learning and the development of critical thinking skills.

A Classroom Study Skills and Learning Module

The authors propose educators of introductory economics classes address the topic of study skills, learning theory, and critical thinking head on inside their own classrooms. What follow is a description of the resources, content, and approach the authors take.

The first week of classes, a class meeting is devoted to the topics of studying, learning, and the value of critical thinking. This not only brings awareness of the issue to students, but helps the instructor create a framework for understanding and allows students to organize the information into new learning habits to draw from ( Ambrose et al., 2010 ). During the class a presentation of the following materials is given:

• What does it mean to study and how should you study? A casual conversation with the class to see what they think and to give students an opportunity to hear from and discuss with their peers.

o If you want deeper comprehension of materials print might be better than digital ( Alexander and Singer, 2017 ).

o If you take longhand notes, review them, and focus on core concepts, you learn more and perform better on exams ( Carter et al., 2017 ; Morehead et al., 2019 ).

o If you cram and don’t get an adequate amount of sleep you impede your ability learn, manipulate, and even recall information ( Doyle and Zakrajsek, 2018 ; Ro, 2018 ).

o If you incorporate effect study skills you can spend less time studying and get better results, while matching your learning style doesn’t help but what you think about while studying certainly does ( Chew, 2011 ; Willingham et al., 2015 ).

o If you use critical thinking skills in college you will learn more and have better grades ( Huber and Kuncel, 2016 ).

• How learning works –A quick walk through and explanation of Ambrose’s seven points on how learning works is provided, with a particular focus on how the elements of the course relate to these principles of learning ( Ambrose et al., 2010 ; Chew, 2011 ).

• What is critical thinking?—The meaning of the definitions from Leyden and Mulnix are explored, followed by a conversation that asks students why they think critical thinking is important ( Leyden, 2012 ; Mulnix, 2012 ).

• What are cognitive and non-cognitive skills? The authors explain to students that “30–40 percent of the explained variance in achievement test scores across students is due to personality traits and not IQ” ( Heckman et al., 2013 , p. 2056). Soft skills matter ( Jackson, 2014 ; Jackson, 2018 ).

• Why does all of this matter? The students are engaged in a discussion of The WSJ quote ( Belkin, 2018 ), the ETS study on skill development ( Goodman et al., 2015 ), and that employers want critical thinking and problem-solving skills ( Chanler, et al., 2019 ; Heckman et al., 2019 ; Johanns, 2019 ; Rios, et al., 2020 ).

Prior to the next class meeting, students are directed to watch a series of six videos on “How to Study” (∼36 min in total) developed by Samford University cognitive psychologist Stephen Chew (see Chew, 2011 ) the titles for which are:

• Beliefs That Make You Fail…Or Succeed

• What Students Should Understand About How People Learn

• Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning

• Putting the Principles for Optimizing Learning into Practice

• I Blew the Exam, Now What?

Chew’s videos review much of the material introduced in the classroom discussion and further expand the material by practically demonstrating how students can apply the findings from cognitive science to their class through best practices regarding note take, reading, studying for exams and how to move forward when not performing poorly on tests. Upon completing the video series, students are assigned an unlimited attempts multiple-choice assessment to enable them to correctly uncover the key point(s) of each video. The scores on the assessment were close to 100%, suggesting nearly every student took the attempts necessary to identify the main points. Table 2 lists the questions that were asked. The next class, a brief review of the videos occurs and students are encouraged to integrate what they have learned into their own study plans.

TABLE 2 . How to study videos follow-up questions.

While the authors do not formally assess the impact of their module, research has consistently demonstrated that targeted instruction can be effective in changing student study skills as long as the material is in context, within the content domain, and promotes active learning and metacognitive awareness ( Hattie et al., 1996 ; Dunlosky et al., 2013 ; Miyatsu et al., 2017 ).

There is a growing body of literature in economics where scholars are attempting to incorporate the findings from the cognitive and learning sciences to improve learning outcomes. This paper attempted to identify the issues involved, provide an overview of the broader literature, and describe how the authors have attempted to develop a classroom response. While it recognized that the introduction of a study skill module takes up valuable classroom time, how can a student become a better critical thinker if he or she does not have a basic understanding of effective study skills, how learning works, and what critical thinking is? On these grounds, the introduction of such a module is a most valuable use of classroom time. The authors encourage other educators to develop their own study skills and learning theory module based in part, or in whole, on the information and resources discussed in this paper.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author Contributions

JS—Survey design, analysis, writing (50%) EH—Literature review, writing (50%)

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors, and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: study skills, critical thinking, pedagogy, teaching economics, learning theory

Citation: Howard E and Sarbaum J (2022) Addressing Study Skills, Learning Theory and Critical Thinking Skills in Principles of Economics Courses. Front. Educ. 7:770464. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.770464

Received: 03 September 2021; Accepted: 05 January 2022; Published: 02 February 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Howard and Sarbaum. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Jeffrey Sarbaum, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Pedagogic Innovation and Student Learning in Higher Education: Perceptions, Practices and Challenges

While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
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Our pages provide generic study skills advice – appropriate to learners across all disciplines and in different life circumstances: full and part-time students, those returning to education later in life, those engaged in professional development and anybody who wants to learn how to learn effectively. 

Key points about study skills:

You will develop your own personal approach to study and learning in a way that meets your own individual needs. As you develop your study skills you will discover what works for you, and what doesn’t.

Study skills are not subject specific - they are generic and can be used when studying any area. You will, of course, need to understand the concepts, theories and ideas surrounding your specific subject area. To get the most out of your studies, however, you’ll want to develop your study skills.

You need to practise and develop your study skills.   This will increase your awareness of how you study and you’ll become more confident.  Once mastered, study skills will be beneficial throughout your life.

Study skills are not just for students.   Study skills are transferable - you will take them with you beyond your education into new contexts. For example, organisational skills, time management, prioritising, learning how to analyse, problem solving, and the self-discipline that is required to remain motivated.  Study skills relate closely to the type of skills that employers look for.  (See Transferable Skills and Employability Skills for more.)

At SkillsYouNeed we provide quality content on many life skills – and many of these are relevant to studying.

You’ll find two types of study skills pages – pages that directly relate to skills you need for study (such as How to Write an Essay ) and pages that are more general life skills but which are also important to studying (like Active Listening ).

Our Study Skills Pages Include:

Getting Organised to Study

Getting organised is an important first step to effective study.  Our page covers the basic organisation skills you need to consider – fundamentals such as where and when to study and the importance of developing a network of contacts who can help you when you need it.

This page covers some of the basic principles of time management – with reference to study. If you manage your time badly then you will be less productive, which can lead to stress and anxiety. This page will help you by outlining the importance of a personal study timetable and how to set goals and prioritise your time.

Sources of Information for Study

Learn what is meant by, and the importance of, primary, secondary and tertiary documents and how you may source such information in a library or online.

By understanding different writing styles you can put what you read into perspective. This page covers the main writing styles that you are likely to come across, including academic, journal, and journalistic styles.

When studying, it is likely that you will need to read a lot of information – and you will wish to use this time effectively as possible by developing your reading skills. Discover ways that you can engage with your reading, form links, understand opinions and put ideas and research into perspective. In short, develop your reading skills.

Critical Reading and Reading Strategies

This page explains what is meant by critical reading and critical thinking – skills which are fundamental to true learning, personal development and advancement. The page also covers how to develop a personal reading strategy and use SQ3R to help you manage your reading.

Note-Taking

Learning to take notes effectively is not only important to study but also in many other situations, at work and in your personal life.  Develop your note-taking skills with our pages: Note-Taking for Verbal Exchanges and Note-Taking for Reading .

It pays to carefully think about and plan an essay or other piece of written work before you start writing.  This page provides you with a framework for planning which will help ensure your work is relevant, well-constructed and produced efficiently.

Essay Writing

Learn about the processes involved in writing an essay, or other piece of assessed work.  Avoid common mistakes and follow best practice to help ensure that the work you produce is of a high quality.

How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis

Working on a dissertation, thesis or other research project can be the most challenging part of study. Our guide offers practical advice and explains how to work on each part of a research document, including:

• How to Write a Research Proposal
• Ethical Issues in Research
• Researching and Writing a Literature Review
• Writing your Methodology
• Writing up your Results and Discussion

Learning how to reference correctly is vital if you are a student. This page not only covers why you should reference, and what may happen if you don’t, but also includes some detailed guidelines on how to reference different types of materials.

As a learner you will be required to engage with theory, but exactly what is a theory?  A theory is an attempt to provide understanding - theories attempt to answer the question, 'why?' and therefore satisfy our curiosity.  Learn more about theories and how they are usually developed.

Before you submit your assignment for school, university or work, run through a series of final checks.  Avoid potentially embarrassing or costly mistakes and increase the credibility of your work.

Reflecting On Marked Work

This page, for students, encourages you to engage in the feedback you receive from a marker when your work is returned.  Don’t just look at the bottom line, the mark, but understand the comments and feedback and learn from any mistakes.

Revision Skills

Revising for examinations can be a real challenge for many people. Learn and practice some key skills to make your revision time as productive and effective as possible, leaving you better prepared for exams and tests.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide for Students

Develop the skills you need to make the most of your time as a student.

Our eBooks are ideal for students at all stages of education, school, college and university. They are full of easy-to-follow practical information that will help you to learn more effectively and get better grades.

Other Areas Related to Study

Writing Skills

The writing skills section of SkillsYouNeed includes many other pages that we hope you’ll find useful.

Our pages: Spelling , Grammar and Punctuation for example can help with assignment writing.  You may also find information on our pages: Gender Neutral Writing and Clichés to Avoid useful.

Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are the skills we use every day to interact with others and many are relevant to effective study.

For example see:  Listening Skills , Problem Solving and Decision Making , Questioning and Types of Questions , Verbal Communication and Effective Speaking .

Personal Skills

Our Personal Skills section covers areas of personal development . 

Useful pages for study include:  Building Confidence and Self-Esteem , Tips for Dealing with Stress , Relaxation Techniques , and Self-Motivation .

Start with: Getting Organised to Study

See also: Employability Skills for Graduates How to Systemize Your Study Develop Your Online Learning Skills and Get More from Your Online Classes

Authoring a PhD

How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

• © 2003
• Latest edition
• Patrick Dunleavy 0

London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

• Covers all the core aspects of doctoral research, from forming research questions through to final submission
• Includes a chapter on getting published, with practical guidance on writing and submitting journal papers and reshaping a thesis into a monograph
• Draws on the author’s own experience of supervising over 30 PhD students

Part of the book series: Macmillan Study Skills (MASTSK)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Front matter, becoming an author.

Patrick Dunleavy

Envisioning the Thesis as a Whole

Planning an integrated thesis: the macro-structure, organizing a chapter or paper: the micro-structure, writing clearly: style and referencing issues, developing your text and managing the writing process, handling attention points: data, charts and graphics, the end-game: finishing your doctorate, publishing your research, back matter.

• social science
• visual arts

About this book

This engaging and highly regarded book takes readers through the key stages of their PhD research journey, from the initial ideas through to successful completion and publication. It gives helpful guidance on forming research questions, organising ideas, pulling together a final draft, handling the viva and getting published. Each chapter contains a wealth of practical suggestions and tips for readers to try out and adapt to their own research needs and disciplinary style.

Authors and Affiliations

About the author, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Authoring a PhD

Book Subtitle : How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

Authors : Patrick Dunleavy

Series Title : Macmillan Study Skills

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-80208-7

Publisher : Red Globe Press London

eBook Packages : Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2003

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XIII, 297

Additional Information : Previously published under the imprint Palgrave

Topics : Research Methods in Education

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• Track your research

Essay and dissertation writing skills

Planning your essay

Writing your introduction

Structuring your essay

• Writing essays in science subjects
• Brief video guides to support essay planning and writing
• Writing extended essays and dissertations
• Planning your dissertation writing time

Structuring your dissertation

• Top tips for writing longer pieces of work

Advice on planning and writing essays and dissertations

University essays differ from school essays in that they are less concerned with what you know and more concerned with how you construct an argument to answer the question. This means that the starting point for writing a strong essay is to first unpick the question and to then use this to plan your essay before you start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

A really good starting point for you are these short, downloadable Tips for Successful Essay Writing and Answering the Question resources. Both resources will help you to plan your essay, as well as giving you guidance on how to distinguish between different sorts of essay questions. 

You may find it helpful to watch this seven-minute video on six tips for essay writing which outlines how to interpret essay questions, as well as giving advice on planning and structuring your writing:

Different disciplines will have different expectations for essay structure and you should always refer to your Faculty or Department student handbook or course Canvas site for more specific guidance.

However, broadly speaking, all essays share the following features:

Essays need an introduction to establish and focus the parameters of the discussion that will follow. You may find it helpful to divide the introduction into areas to demonstrate your breadth and engagement with the essay question. You might define specific terms in the introduction to show your engagement with the essay question; for example, ‘This is a large topic which has been variously discussed by many scientists and commentators. The principle tension is between the views of X and Y who define the main issues as…’ Breadth might be demonstrated by showing the range of viewpoints from which the essay question could be considered; for example, ‘A variety of factors including economic, social and political, influence A and B. This essay will focus on the social and economic aspects, with particular emphasis on…..’

Watch this two-minute video to learn more about how to plan and structure an introduction:

The main body of the essay should elaborate on the issues raised in the introduction and develop an argument(s) that answers the question. It should consist of a number of self-contained paragraphs each of which makes a specific point and provides some form of evidence to support the argument being made. Remember that a clear argument requires that each paragraph explicitly relates back to the essay question or the developing argument.

• Conclusion: An essay should end with a conclusion that reiterates the argument in light of the evidence you have provided; you shouldn’t use the conclusion to introduce new information.
• References: You need to include references to the materials you’ve used to write your essay. These might be in the form of footnotes, in-text citations, or a bibliography at the end. Different systems exist for citing references and different disciplines will use various approaches to citation. Ask your tutor which method(s) you should be using for your essay and also consult your Department or Faculty webpages for specific guidance in your discipline. 

Essay writing in science subjects

If you are writing an essay for a science subject you may need to consider additional areas, such as how to present data or diagrams. This five-minute video gives you some advice on how to approach your reading list, planning which information to include in your answer and how to write for your scientific audience – the video is available here:

A PDF providing further guidance on writing science essays for tutorials is available to download.

Short videos to support your essay writing skills

There are many other resources at Oxford that can help support your essay writing skills and if you are short on time, the Oxford Study Skills Centre has produced a number of short (2-minute) videos covering different aspects of essay writing, including:

• Approaching different types of essay questions  
• Structuring your essay  
• Writing an introduction  
• Making use of evidence in your essay writing  
• Writing your conclusion

Extended essays and dissertations

Longer pieces of writing like extended essays and dissertations may seem like quite a challenge from your regular essay writing. The important point is to start with a plan and to focus on what the question is asking. A PDF providing further guidance on planning Humanities and Social Science dissertations is available to download.

Planning your time effectively

Try not to leave the writing until close to your deadline, instead start as soon as you have some ideas to put down onto paper. Your early drafts may never end up in the final work, but the work of committing your ideas to paper helps to formulate not only your ideas, but the method of structuring your writing to read well and conclude firmly.

Although many students and tutors will say that the introduction is often written last, it is a good idea to begin to think about what will go into it early on. For example, the first draft of your introduction should set out your argument, the information you have, and your methods, and it should give a structure to the chapters and sections you will write. Your introduction will probably change as time goes on but it will stand as a guide to your entire extended essay or dissertation and it will help you to keep focused.

The structure of  extended essays or dissertations will vary depending on the question and discipline, but may include some or all of the following:

• The background information to - and context for - your research. This often takes the form of a literature review.
• Explanation of the focus of your work.
• Explanation of the value of this work to scholarship on the topic.
• List of the aims and objectives of the work and also the issues which will not be covered because they are outside its scope.

The main body of your extended essay or dissertation will probably include your methodology, the results of research, and your argument(s) based on your findings.

The conclusion is to summarise the value your research has added to the topic, and any further lines of research you would undertake given more time or resources. 

Tips on writing longer pieces of work

Approaching each chapter of a dissertation as a shorter essay can make the task of writing a dissertation seem less overwhelming. Each chapter will have an introduction, a main body where the argument is developed and substantiated with evidence, and a conclusion to tie things together. Unlike in a regular essay, chapter conclusions may also introduce the chapter that will follow, indicating how the chapters are connected to one another and how the argument will develop through your dissertation.

For further guidance, watch this two-minute video on writing longer pieces of work . 

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