Academic procrastination is a problem with which myriad students struggle. This problem persists even at the graduate level with the writing of theses. This author examines the reported reasons for academic procrastination; these include task aversion and fear of failure, issues of control, perfectionism, time/task management, rebellion, optimism/pessimism, self-esteem, depression, locus of motivation, and demographic/situational variables. A variety of intervention studies conducted during the 1970's through the 1990's are reviewed. Studies are discussed and evaluated according to specific criteria and methodological problems are addressed. The usefulness of this information is discussed in terms of its applicability to procrastination on theses. This author concludes that reasons for academic procrastination on theses must be clearly understood before appropriate interventions can be selected and implemented.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on February 1, 2010). Department of English, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Ulla Connor, Thomas Upton, Aye Nu Duerksen. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-152).

This dissertation is about the writing of theses in Swedish higher education. The aim is to construct meanings about thesis writing from different kinds of texts. The meanings are answers to the overall question about what good teaching can be in relation to thesis writing, and to what extent handbooks on writing can enhance such teaching. The dominant meaning constructed from handbooks on thesis writing is that writing is about following certain rules and closely connected to this meaning is the idea that writing can be taught as a separate ability. Focus is on the abilities of the individual student. A consequence of this meaning is that handbooks can be of use. The dominant meaning constructed from research on thesis writing is that writing takes place in a context, and that the teaching must concentrate on the content of the subject. When students understand the subject they will also be able to write. Focus is on what the institution can do to support students. The consequence of this meaning is that there is no need for handbooks in the teaching of writing. Important aims of Swedish higher education are being neglected in most texts on writing, i.e. critical thinking, students’ influence over the education, the possibilities of all categories of students participating in higher education, students’ personal development, education and citizenship. These issues, however, are frequent in other texts on higher education, and in the last part of the dissertation the question of thesis writing is brought to these broader contexts. The dissertation takes pragmatism as its theoretical starting point. The construction of meanings and their consequences, as well as the insistence on the two roles of education being of use to the individual as well as to society, come from pragmatism. So does also, following Dewey, the belief that what students do in education must have significance, not only in future, but as it takes place.

Writing effectively in an academic setting is a challenge for many students, especially at the graduate level. Graduate students often struggle with the demands of writing a thesis, which is a specific genre of writing with its own set of standards, norms and conventions. The difficulties described above deepen for students who have to write in their second language. Since language and writing are culture specific, each language has its own unique rhetorical conventions. By comparing three different theses, this study aims to identify the differences between Thai and English discourse. Understanding these differences will provide some guidance to Thai students who are writing their theses in English.

Jump-Start Your Writing' offers an interdisciplinary insight into the craft of academic writing. The booklet supports students with and without writing experience in writing all types of academic texts during their studies, such as term papers, protocols, document theses, and final theses. The booklet contains a compilation of collected methods, tips and checklists from six years of work at the Writing Center of Dresden University of Technology.:Basics 7 Work Phases in Scientific Writing Projects 8 1 Orientation and Planning 11 Checklist Meeting with Supervisors 12 Clustering 14 Table for the Delimination of your Topic 16 Three-Step-Exercise 19 2 Collecting and Arranging Materials 21 Reading Strategies 22 Critical Reading 23 Four Column Reading – A Technique to Excerpt Literature 25 3 Developping Text Structures 27 Structuring your Work with IMRaD 28 Flash Exposé 31 The Sticky Note Method to Plan your Writing Project 33 4 Producing Text (“Rough Draft“) 35 Thread of Thought and Text Path 36 Scientific Language 38 Freewriting 41 Argumentation in Scientific Texts 43 5 Revising Text and Getting Feedback 45 Text Revision 46 Checklist Revising the Structure of your Academic Work 48 Constructive Feedback 49 6 Final Corrections 53 Formal Correctness, Orthography and Grammar 54 7 Time and Self-Management 57 Writing Types: Structure Followers and Structure Creators 58 Writing Habits 61 Setting Goals with the SMART Method 64 Planning your Writing Time with the Tomato Technique 65 Bibliography 68

Die Starthilfe Schreiben bietet einen fachübergreifenden Einblick in das Handwerk des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens und unterstützt Studierende mit und ohne Schreiberfahrung beim Verfassen sämtlicher wissenschaftlicher Textsorten im Studium, beispielsweise Hausarbeiten, Protokollen, Belegen und Abschlussarbeiten. Die Broschüre enthält gesammelte Methoden, Tipps und Checklisten aus sechs Jahren Schreibzentrumsarbeit des Schreibzentrums der TU Dresden.:Grundlagen 8 Arbeitsphasen bei wissenschaftlichen Schreibprojekten 9 1 Orientieren & Planen 12 Checkliste Absprachen mit Lehrenden 13 Clustering 15 Eingrenzungs-, Vorwissen-, und Fragentabelle 17 Dreischritt 20 2 Material sammeln & bearbeiten 22 Lesestrategien 23 Kritisches Lesen 24 Vier-Spalten-Lesen – eine Exzerpiertechnik 26 3 Textstrukturen erarbeiten 28 Gliederung mithilfe von IMRaD 29 Blitzexposé 32 Schreibprojekte planen mit der Klebezettelmethode 34 4 Text produzieren (Rohtexten) 36 Roter Faden und Textpfad 37 Wissenschaftssprache 39 Freewriting 42 Argumentation in wissenschaftlichen Texten 44 5 Text überarbeiten und Feedback einholen 46 Texte überarbeiten 47 Checkliste strukturelle Überarbeitung 49 Konstruktives Feedback: Textfeedback einholen und geben 51 6 Abschließende Korrekturen 55 Checkliste formale Richtigkeit, Rechtschreibung, Grammatik 56 7 Zeit- und Selbstmanagement 58 Schreibtypen: strukturfolgend & strukturschaffend 59 Schreibgewohnheiten 62 Ziele setzen mit der SMART-Methode 65 Die Schreibzeit planen mit der Tomaten-Technik 66 Bibliografie 69

過去研究顯示，以英文為第二語言的研究生，無論在以英語為第二語言或是以英語為外語的環境下，都會在進行研究和論文寫作時遇到困難(Bitchener & Basturkmen, 2005; Buckingham, 2005; Dong, 1998; Lee, 2008; O’Connor, Greene & Anderson, 2006; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006; Reeves, Herrington, & Oliver, 2005)，然而，相關研究卻缺乏探究在以英語為外語的環境下，同時身為研究生和在職教師的這群學生們所遭遇的困難，及其如何利用可取得的資源去解決論文寫作上的難題。本研究旨在藉由質性個案研究方式，以社會文化學習的角度，特別是van Lier (2004)的擴充式建構理論(expanded ZPD)，取得更多關於身為學校老師的在職研究生在論文寫作過程中遇到的困難以及解決對策的詳細資訊，以期對論文寫作教學以及論文指導上有所貢獻。本研究共邀請到三組指導教授與研究生，每組包含一位教授與他們的兩位研究生。資料來源包含與所有研究參與者的訪談內容、論文寫作相關書籍，以及學生的論文草稿，最後經由對比原始資料得出研究結果。 研究結果顯示學生在寫論文前遇到的困難是研究設計與處理資料，而在寫論文各章節時，他們會同時遇到文字上以及文體格式方面的困難。根據各章節的文體要求，學生們認為文獻回顧、研究發現，以及討論研究結果是最困難的章節，而結論是困難度最小的章節。而這些困難可歸因於學生為非母語寫作者，以及他們對於學術規範的不熟悉。此外，本研究也發現，在職班學生可取得的資源包括同儕、專家、學術出版品，以及自身。 基於上述發現，本研究提出研究所課程的教師應提供學生更多閱讀學術論文的機會，以及在課程中融入讓學生可應用課堂所學的任務。指導教授也能事先提醒學生論文中較為困難的部份，以及告訴學生有哪些可取得資源是有助於論文寫作的。未來，需要更多人誌學以及日記研究法的方式研究，以期能更深入了解在職研究生在論文寫作上的需求。 / Though a number of studies have revealed that both the L2 graduate students in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts may encounter difficulties in conducting research and writing theses (Bitchener& Basturkmen, 2005; Buckingham, 2005; Dong, 1998; Lee, 2008; O’Connor, Greene& Anderson, 2006; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006; Reeves, Herrington& Oliver, 2005), research about how the graduate students who are also in-service teachers in EFL settings cope with the difficulties in thesis writing by making use of the sources available still lacks. Thus, this study aimed to have an in-depth understanding of the difficulties this group of students faced in the process of thesis writing and the ways they adopted to deal with the problems via a qualitative case study and with the social cultural perspective of learning, especially the framework of expanded ZPD (van Leir, 2004) .Three advisor-advisee pairs were invited to participate in the present study, and each pair was comprised of one advisor and two advisees. Data for analysis were collected from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews with the participants, the textbook of the thesis writing course, and the drafts of theses. Data were analyzed by constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The results showed that the students faced difficulties about research design and compiling the data even before writing theses. When writing each section of a thesis, they had troubles both at the linguistic level and the rhetorical level. According to the rhetorical regulations of each section, Literature Review, Results, and Discussion were viewed as the three most difficult sections and Conclusion the least difficult section for the students. Hence, the unfamiliarity of academic conventions and the lower English writing abilities contributed to the difficulties the students faced during thesis writing. Moreover, the findings disclosed that the sources available for the students as in-service teachers included human resources such as peers and experts, material resources such as academic publications, and inner knowledge from self. Based upon above findings, it is suggested that the courses of graduate schools should provide students more opportunities to read academic texts extensively and practice what they learn in class. Also, the advisors should remind students of the problematic area of a specific section and tell students the resources available in the academic context. In the future, more ethnographic and diary studies are needed to explore what challenges the students who are also in-service teachers encounter in the thesis writing processes and how they solve these problems because this group of students may have different needs in thesis writing

在學術論文寫作眾多章節中，文獻回顧章節是讀寫過程中困難度較高的一章節，因此研究生普遍視為畏途。文獻回顧的語步分析在過去文獻中尚未受到重視。因此本論文旨在分析臺灣英語教學碩士論文中文獻回顧章節之語步結構。本論文提出兩個研究問題: (1)臺灣英語教學碩士論文文獻回顧章節之語步結構為何？(2)評選高分與評選低分的文獻回顧差異為何？本論文選出三十篇臺灣英語教學碩士論文中文獻回顧章節做為文本分析並將其評選高分群與評選低分群。本研究以四個主要語步來分析文獻回顧章節的語步結構。這四個主要語步分別為：(1)領域知識觀念介紹，(2)用主題方式整合過去之文獻，(3)聯結過去文獻與將進行之研究之關係，及(4)宣布將進行研究。每一主要語步都有數個次要語步。本論文討論語步出現的頻率，語步發展，語步組合結構及語步循環。 本論文顯示第一語步使用的最為廣泛佔56.96%，第二語步佔22.39%，第三語步與第四語步各為11.74%與8.91%。收集之文獻回顧分為四組，分別為(1)表現最差，(2)表現較差，(3)表現稱職，及(4)表現最好。 結果發現表現最差的一組沒有任何主題發展，表現較差的一組有主題發展但是僅限於整合，表現稱職的一組有運用到四個主要語步，而表現最好的一組發現有數個全部語步的循環。本論文呈現臺灣英語教學碩士論文文獻回顧章節的語步結構。這些結果與討論提供英語教學領域研究生更加了解學術論文文獻回顧之寫作架構。 / Reviewing literature for a research study is a highly complicated reading and writing process, which has been assumed a rather formidable task for many graduate students. In the field of English for Specific Purposes, many scholars have devoted their studies into certain types of genre analysis, particularly research genres. However, the concept of “literature review” (LR) as a distinct type of genre has been constantly overlooked and the move structure of literature reviews unexplored. The move structure of LRs in master theses written by Taiwanese TEFL program graduates was studied. This proposed study included two research questions: (1) What are the move structures of the LR chapters in the master theses of TEFL programs? (2) Do the move structures differ between the low-rated and high-rated LRs? In this study, thirty theses were randomly chosen. Thirty theses were rated and grouped into high-rated and low-rated categories. Based on Kwan’s framework (2006) and the results of pilot study, a new move structure with the four major moves was formulated for this study. The statistical results showed that “conceptualizing themes in a field (Move 1)” takes the largest proportion among the total occurrences, followed by “integrating previous works on the themes (Move 2),” “relating previous works to the current study (Move 3)” and “advancing to one’s own study (Move 4).” It is concluded that LRs composed by these graduates fundamentally serves to present relevant field knowledge. Further, no topic expansion is found in the deficient group. Most of the LRs in the poor group halt at the synthesis though there is some topic development. The competent group has a complete occurrence of the four major moves. Multiple cycles are found per LR in the distinctive group. This study provides insights into the move structure of Taiwanese students’ literature review chapters of master theses.

"December 2008". / Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Dept. of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 299-327. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Study 1 -- Study 2 -- Conclusions. / The aim of this case study was to identify the beliefs of eight pre-service teachers about thesis writing and professional development while and after writing their BA thesis through diary and survey inquiry. This research was conducted in the teaching area of the major in Modern Languages (LEMO) from the Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP). The methodology used to identify trainee beliefs was applied in two periods: during the process to include reflection in action, and after the process obtaining reflection on action as suggested by Schön (1983, p. 26). Thus, the participants wrote their electronic dialogue diaries while taking the two Research Seminars and writing their thesis. In this diaries they expressed their thoughts and feelings, sent them to the teacher and the teacher answered them also via e-mail. Then, when the Research Seminars had finished, they answered the questionnaire called Thesis and Professional Development Questionnaire (TAPDQ), which was especially designed for this research taking insights from Eraut (1995), Fullan(1995), Burns et al (1999), Schmekes (2004) and Viaggio (1992). This questionnaire contains Likert scales and some open questions. The findings of these studies reveal that participants were aware of their lack of expertise in thesis writing and they looked for strategies to overcome this problem. Also, the findings suggest that the participants were benefited from the constructivist methodology employed in the Research Seminars. Most of the participants reported having acquired skills, knowledge, having improved their attitude and having become better students after writing their thesis. This doctoral thesis begins exploring an area that has not been explored on ELT teacher cognition at least as reported in the research reviews done by Borg (2003, 2006) and Reyes & Rodríguez (2007). It aims to contribute to get a better understanding the thesis writing processes in teacher education programmes in public universities in Mexico. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xvii, 359 p