Centre for Nursing and Midwifery

Faculty of Health & Social Science

Building an architecture for your

thesis
Nicky Mason
PhD Experience conference 2012
University of Hull

Aims
Share experience developing thesis architecture
(Trafford and Lesham 2008)
What, why, how
Set in context of my research
5th year of PhD (part time)
Midwife
Qualitative study 12 womens stories of planned
Caesarean birth
Narrative analysis

Womens stories of planned Caesarean

birth in their first pregnancy
What meaning do women give to their
experience of planned Caesarean?
What phenomena occur in womens stories of
birth by planned Caesarean?
How does a womans personal experience of
birth (of planned Caesarean) relate to how
birth is seen in society? (dominant childbirth
discourses)

Narrative Analysis
Stories are representations of experience
Can explore self concept and social context (story
teller as character within a plot/situation)
Examines story itself how storyteller orders
flow of experience to make sense of events and
actions in their life.
Able to explore forms of telling about experience,
not just the language used by asking why was the
story told like that?
Emphasise content and structure (whole story)

Doctorate
An apprenticeship learning craft skills of research
A journey to becoming a researcher
Process (and outcome)

The Thesis
Account of and account for your research
Process (and outcome)

Developing a writing style

Writing within your methodology (storied account)
Narrative Analysis
stories are:
-co-produced (Mishler)
-dialogic (Bakhtin, Frank)
Creative writing course
Understand structure of stories/plot
Engage reader(s)
Story (narrative arc v description)

Story
Narrative arc
Beginning, middle and a future
Characters or concepts have changed
over time (not necessarily chronological)
Something has happened

Trafford and Lesham 2008

I wish Id found this book
in my first year.
Examiner perspective
Think of your thesis as
presenting the story of
your research to your
readers. Trafford and
Lesham 2008

Thesis architecture the what

Blueprint of possible
structure and shape of
your thesis
Respective size and
shape of the work to be
undertaken
Plan against which you
and your supervisors can
monitor progress

Thesis architecture the why

Visual overview of entire
thesis
Displays intended relationship
between ideas and arguments
within the text
Displays authors attention to
the needs and expectation of
readers
Acknowledge appropriate
protocols

Thesis architecture the how

Questions as starting point
Key decision points or
milestones in thinking
Conceptual development depth and breadth
Table sections themes
explored with supervisors
Identify what already written
Revisit with supervisors

Trafford and Lesham

What is your research all about?
What structure will your research have?
Will it have parts/chapters or just chapters?
What are the provisional titles of its parts/chapters?
What are the expected contributions of each of these
sections?
What about the relative word count, where will diagrams,
figures or tables or other non text items appear?
What will be the continuous thread/theme/issue that runs
through your thesis?
Where does this thread originate?
What will readers valued memories be of your thesis?

Stepping Stones to achieving your doctorate by focussing on your viva from the start p. 58

What will
readers valued
memory be of
your thesis?

I hope to engage the reader in a conversation about

planned Caesarean birth and that they come away with an
impression of womens experience and an understanding of
the impact of that experience. I would like the reader to
experience the sense of a plot unfolding where themes
develop over time. I hope to present them with something
that is coherent and convincing and more than just the sum
of the individual parts.
Like good books and films I hope that the reader will
continue to think about and question what reading this
story has meant to them, their knowledge of this topic and
if appropriate, their clinical practice.

Reflections
Outcome
Useful model to see thesis as a whole and
relationship of individual elements
Iterative tool to use with supervisors
Process
Deciding how to structure thesis- enhanced my
conceptual framework-becomes meaningful in the
writing/telling
Writing for a reader (engage and signpost)
Conversation with authors viva.

Thank you!
nicky.mason@nhs.net

www.birthstories-csection.co.uk