Book Review: Master your Thesis

Many SABPP members have completed, or are busy with, or are contemplating post-graduate studies up to PhD level.  Those members who have completed, may well smile at the image below.

This book by academic coach Caroline Dale, published by Knowledge Resources, is designed to avoid such extensive hair growth! Caroline pioneered the field of academic coaching in South Africa, arising out of her own experience, coming to post-graduate study after a successful career in IT and project management. She realised how many students fail to complete, or struggle to obtain repeated deadline extensions, and so she developed what is basically a project management approach, underpinned by psychology and coaching theory.

This book is very different to other books on how to approach writing a thesis. She does cover topics such as the all-important relationship between student and supervisor; how to choose a topic; and the framework of the thesis, but the major part of the book is about mindset, self-management and behaviour. She includes chapters on Project Management, Writing and Editing, Psychological Challenges, Well-being, Achievement and Success, which are the core of her 6 Step Method to completion of Masters and PhD theses.

Her method is well proven, and the testimonials from leading academic supervisors and successful students speak to the practical usefulness of this book. As one reviewer said “The book leaves you with little gems that you are not often told about, but can make a world of difference to our research experience”.

The R329 cost of this book might just be the best investment you can make in your post-graduate studies.