1145698


Course
Framing the PhD project – how to connect parts to a whole in a paper-based dissertation? - ONLINE

Faculty
Professor MSO Signe Vikkelsø & Professor MSO Anne Reff Pedersen

Course Coordinator
Professor MSO Signe Vikkelsø

Prerequisites
To participate, the PhD student must be conducting a PhD thesis within a social science area and preferably within the fields of organization and management studies. Priority is given to MOST PhD students in the final year of their project. Each student must submit a max. 3 page outline of their PhD dissertation, specifying its constituent parts: Topic and research question, previous research/state-of-the-art, theoretical framework, method, 3-4 papers, and conclusion. 3 page overview to be submitted by April 25 via Canvas. 

Aim
A core challenge in the paper-based dissertation is to ensure that the papers have a connection – e.g., that they address the same topic, are relevant to each other, and show theoretical progress – without being too overlapping. The course focuses on establishing a clear and interesting connection in the participants’ PhD dissertations by composing and writing an effective framework (”kappe”). This includes the following elements: Identifying the constituent parts of the dissertation; establishing a core narrative across papers; formulating the theoretical and methodological opening of the narrative; and formulating the “moral” of the narrative (i.e., the scientific and practical implications). The course runs as a mixture of lectures and workshops where participants give and receive feedback on the composition of PhD frameworks.

Course content
The course adopts a pragmatic approach to composing a coherent paper-based dissertation in a given research domain. It centers on the question: how can a dissertation be written to interest readers and withstand “assaults from a hostile environment” (Latours, Science in Action)? Four tools are presented: “Framing” (what is the domain(s) and approach of the dissertation?), “storyline/pattern recognition” (what is the relationship, logic structure, or golden thread across papers?), “enrolment” (how to make readers interested and minimize objections?), and “narration and temporality” (what is the type of story to tell, and how to tell it in what time and space?). The participants will employ the tools to each others’ dissertation outlines in order to develop and sharpen their coherence.

Teaching style
Lectures and feedback sessions on thesis structure inviting participants to reflect upon own and each other’s thesis structures.

Lecture plan

May 6

09.00-09.30: Welcome and introduction lecture Signe Vikkelsø

09.30-10.30: Lecture: The core constituents and framing of a paper-based dissertation Signe Vikkelsø

10.30-10.45: Coffee break

10.45-12.00: Break-out session: Constituents and frames at work in your dissertations? Faculty present in each session

12.00-12.30: Lunch break

12.30-14.00: Lecture: Constructing coherence among parts (what is the storyline?) Anne Reff Pedersen

14.00-14.15: Coffee break

14.15-15.45: Break-out sessions: Patterns and storylines at work in your dissertations? Faculty present in each session

15.45-16.00: Wrap up

May 7

09.00-10.30: Welcome and lecture: Enrolment of readers: who are you writing for? Signe Vikkelsø

10.30-10.45: Coffee break

10.45-12.00: Break-out session: Domains and debates at work in your dissertations? Faculty present in each session

12.00-12.30: Lunch break

12.30-14.00: Lecture: The narrative and temporal structure of writing: starting by the end Anne Reff Pedersen

14.00-14.15: Coffee break

14.15-15.45: Break-out sessions: Genres and writing style in your dissertations? Faculty present in each session

15.45-16.00: Wrap up and goodbye


Learning objectives

- To identify and pinpoint the core elements of a paper-based dissertation, including the “kappe".

- To craft a clear and compelling connection between the core elements of the paper-based dissertation.


Exam
N/A

Other

Start date
06/05/2021

End date
07/05/2021

Level
PhD

ECTS
2

Language
English

Course Literature

- Murray S. Davis (1971) That's Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1(2), pp. 309-344.

- Bruno Latour (1987) Science in Action, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Chapter 1: Literature, pp. 21-63.

- Eviatar Zerubavel (1999) The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Chapter 3: A Mountain with Stairs, pp. 36-55.

- Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A Method of Inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edition: 923-948. Sage.

- Reading the text of the participants


Fee
DKK 1300,- (reduced online course fee)

Minimum number of participants

Maximum number of participants
12

Location
ONLINE

Contact information
PhD Support
Nina Iversen
ni.researc@cbs.dk

Registration deadline
15/04/2021

NOTE: Registration is binding after the registration deadline.
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