Thesis Dissertation Tips

Channeled Information: Is it Okay to Use

From time to time a student asks us if they can use channeled information in their thesis or dissertation and count the source toward the required number of sources they are instructed to quote.

The answer is yes. If the source is a published book by someone other than yourself, such as A Course in Miracles, treat it like any other book source.

However, if you channeled the information from spirit, or spoke to spirit in a metaphysical manner or in prayer, then treat the conversation as a personal interview. You can find instructions for citing personal interviews in the Master’s Thesis Handbook or Doctoral Dissertation Handbook.

Degree Specialty: Help Choosing

Having troubles deciding which degree specialty is best for you? Answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Then, send your responses to UOS@Metaphysics.com, and a thesis/dissertation advisor will review your answers and help you identify which degrees fall best into your areas of interest, metaphysical goals, and planned degree usage. Even if you don’t want to take the time to send them, they are still good questions to answer for yourself. Note: You may change your degree specialty any time before writing your dissertation as long as you do it in writing.

1. First name: __________________________ Last name: ________________________________

2. Are you enrolled in the University of Sedona or the University of Metaphysics?

3. Some students prefer having a Ph.D. after their name. Is that important to you?

4. Some students live in communities that don’t embrace metaphysics. With that in mind, would it bother you to have either the word metaphysical or mystical listed on your diploma?

5. How do you plan to use your degree in the future? Tell us all that apply, but put them in order from most important to least important, or put numbers next to each letter below, with 1 being the most important, 2 being the second-most important, and so on.

1. Teaching some form of metaphysics
2. Counseling with clients one-on-one
3. Group classes or counseling sessions
4. You see yourself as a mystic or psychic reader
5. Helping people holistically (body/mind/spirit connection)
6. Writing books or articles or blogging
7. Lecturing or giving presentations
8. For your own personal use only
9. Healing people
10. Helping people have better relationships
11. Helping people through hypnosis
12. Using dream therapy to help people
13. Helping others transform and/or grow spiritually
14. Helping yourself transform and/or grow spiritually
15. You don’t know

6. Do you plan to use your degree to work or counsel in a church, temple, or mission-type setting?

7. Do you plan to use your degree to work as a reverend or pastor?

8. If you know the subject you want to write your dissertation on, list here:

9. If you aren’t certain about your dissertation topic, list the top three metaphysical topics you feel drawn to:

1.________________________         2. _______________________          3. ______________________

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell us that may help us better assist you?

Discussion vs. Review of Literature

Some students don’t understand the difference between the Discussion and Review of Literature. Let’s see if this helps.

The purpose of the Review of Literature is to give us a synopsis for each source you studied, as it pertains to your subject. You will need to write one to four paragraphs in order to tell readers each expert’s opinion/research on your topic. This is where you showcase what your authors have to say about your topic with minimal commentary, which lays the groundwork for your Discussion––a bit like dropping clues in a mystery book. This is not the place, however, for your personal experiences.

The Discussion is where you put together the authors’ ideas and testimonies in support of your statement of purpose. Here, you expand on and support your theories––mostly in your own words––telling readers how what your sources have written, said, or researched applies toward your theory, opinion, or deduction. The Discussion is where you analyze the material from the Review of Literature and show how your research supports your argument. You may include a minimal amount of personal experiences here.

In-Text Citations for E-Books

Any work that is available on an electronic device may have different location markers than what we are used to with print. And, the numbering system they use may even differ from device to device (for example from cell phone or iPhone to computer).

The safest way to indicate the location is to use chapter or location numbers, if they are available. It will not help for you to count the pages you are viewing, as they may appear different on various devices. If no chapter or location numbers are available, just use the title and “n.p.” Of course, the full citation of the work will be in your Works Cited entries. See example below.

Deepak Chopra, in his Kindle book Overcoming Addictions, helps us understand how the modern world has produced addictions beyond substances: “Addiction to work, to destructive relationships . . . to television” and, I would add, to the computer (Ch. 2) OR (Loc. 7276).

In the above example, (Ch. 2) means the information was found in Chapter 2. The alternate example (Loc. 7276) shows how that the material was found at Location 7276.

In-text Citations Made Easy

A lot of information goes into writing a thesis or dissertation, so how do you keep it all organized and not forget to do an in-text citation for paraphrased or quoted materials? This study tip will make it easy!

For starters, study near your computer. Open up a blank file and name it “Possible Quotes or Paraphrases.” Then, write your Works Cited listing for each source you plan to study. Like this:

Chopra Deepak. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. London, England: Bantam Press, 1994. Print.

Keyes, Jr., Ken. Handbook to Higher Consciousness. 5th ed. Berkeley: Living Love Center, 1975. Print.

Now, choose a book to start reading. Let’s say you decide to start with Deepak Chopra’s book. As you are reading his book, you will come across material you want to paraphrase or quote. Instead of putting a sticky note next to it or hoping you will remember it later, immediately type the verbiage in your “Possible Quotes or Paraphrases” file under Chopra’s Works Cited listing like this:

Chopra Deepak: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. Pub. Bantam Press (1994) London Print.

Applying the Law of Karma or Cause and Effect, the author Deepak Chopra writes this in his book, “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success:”

Even with experience of all these things, we will remain unfulfilled unless we nurture the seeds of divinity inside us. In reality, we are divinity in disguise, and the god’s and goddesses in embryo that are contained within us, seek to fully materialize. True success is therefore the experience of the miraculous. It is the unfolding of the divinity within us. It is the perception of divinity wherever we go, in whatever we perceive. (3)

When you come across another quote or material you want to paraphrase from Deepak’s book, add it under the previous notation.

Next, do the same thing for Keyes’ book next. As you read it, type in any material you think you might want to quote or paraphrase under his Works Cited listing and put the in-text citation at the end like you did with Chopra’s book.

When you have finished reading all your material and are starting to write your paper, all you have to do is copy and paste the quotes or paraphrased material into your paper where you want them as you are writing––and the in-text citations are already there! (Note: to avoid using the same quote twice, highlight the one’s you’ve used in a different color.) This method also gives you the added benefit of already having written the Works Cited entries. All you need to do for your Works Cited from this point is copy and paste them in alphabetical order into your paper’s Works Cited chapter.

Methods & Findings

Methods and Findings are optional chapters; however, if you have a Methods chapter, you must have a Findings Chapter. So what exactly goes in these chapters?

The Methods chapter describes an experiment, survey, scientific study, questionnaire, or other information-gathering method used by you or another expert in the field to gather data as it pertains to your topic. It is usually a short chapter since it only describes the mechanics of the method you used to gather data.

Then, the Findings chapter reviews and analyzes the data gathered by your methods.

Note: If you have Methods and Findings, then you will want to discuss what you learned from Methods and Findings as well as what you learned from the Review of Literature in your Discussion Chapter.

Paraphrasing & In-Text Citations

Many students don’t realize that with a thesis or dissertation, when you paraphrase (rewrite in your own words the ideas of another author), you need to include in-text citations just as you do when you directly quote an author (except you don’t put the paraphrasing in quotation marks). Here is an example from my thesis:

Another thing that stifles creativity, according to Wakefield, is our “I-sight;” i.e., how we see ourselves. Whether due to our upbringing or our own lack of confidence or self-esteem, the result is the same. Either we’ve convinced ourselves we are incapable of creativity, or someone else did, and thus, our creativity is stopped in its tracks (6-7).

I gleaned the above information and ideas from the bottom of Page 6 and top of Page 7 of Wakefield’s book. They were his ideas, but I relayed them in my own words (paraphrased); therefore, I gave an in-text citation that (6-7) corresponding to where I found the information.

Paraphrasing: Easy way to get it right

Paraphrasing is telling us in your own words the “essence” of what your sources said or wrote about your topic. A good paper involves more paraphrasing than quoting. Why? Because when you paraphrase the material, it tells us you thoroughly understand it.

When we say “in your own words,” however, we don’t mean changing the author’s words to different words. We mean expressing the author’s ideas using your own expressions and phraseology.

An easy way to do this is to read a passage you think you might want to paraphrase. Then look away from it for a minute. Now, think about what the author had to say and how you would convey it to a friend or colleague, and write that down.

If you were having a conversation with your friend or colleague, telling them about this great book you read or new concept you learned, you would be using wholly your own ideas, verbiage, and concepts to convey the author’s original ideas. If you use this method to paraphrase material for your thesis or dissertation, you will be less likely to accidentally plagiarize a source.

Remember: all paraphrased material should still contain in-text citations.

Paraphrasing: Text spanning more than one page

Students ask if it’s okay to paraphrase text from one source that spans over more than one page, or if they have to paraphrase that source only one page at a time. Paraphrasing text that spans
pages is recommended, as it aids in giving a better synopsis of the author’s viewpoints and keeps the paper at a manageable word count.

Guidelines
Here are some guidelines to follow when it comes to knowing when you should paraphrase a page at a time (with one page number in the in-text citation) or more than one page at once, giving your in-text citation a span of page numbers:

If you are paraphrasing something from Page 25, and then from Page 27, you would give an in- text citation for the material from Page 25 at the end of that text, and then give an in-text citation for Page 27 at the end of the material that corresponds with the text from Page 27.

However, if you are paraphrasing an idea or block of information that spans from Pages 25 through 27, then your in-text citation would say (25-27). Generally speaking, your in-text citation would not span more than three pages.

It all depends on whether the information you are paraphrasing is one continuous thought, idea, or block of information, or two different thoughts or ideas from the author.

Paraphrasing: Your Voice is the Best Voice

Many students worry about accidentally misrepresenting their sources or not sounding “intelligent enough” when they are paraphrasing. Because they have learned so much from studying their sources, some students tend to put them on a pedestal, thus paralyzing their own creative energies.

It’s fine to look up to your teachers, but be careful not to put yourself down because you look up at them. Your voice, what you have to say, and how you best express yourself are just as profound and “helpful” as anyone else’s. Be glad that when you paraphrase, speak or write, that it sounds different from whomever it is you are paraphrasing or writing about, because in that way, you will reach those you were meant to reach. You will reach those who need to hear it differently. And, do not worry about “misrepresenting” your sources by not paraphrasing them “correctly” because that can only happen if you don’t follow your heart or your conscience. Why? Because your heart knows what it needs to express. You just need to ask your mind to step aside for a little while, and let your heart speak for you. Your heart knows what it wants to and needs to say, and how to say it, but your mind is diminishing your confidence.

Here is a good example. A Course in Miracles is a very profound and spiritual book, but many don’t understand it, and for that reason are unable to reap its benefits. Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles is quite a bit different from A Course in Miracles. Some have even criticized her for “dumbing down” A Course in Miracles––yet, she has helped millions with her book! Now, if she was concerned with writing, or sounding, like the book’s scribe, Scribe, Dr. Helen Schucman, she would not have helped millions, many of whom later progressed to understanding and embracing “A Course in Miracles.”

Think of it this way, “A Course in Miracles” is like a heavenly island many people want to reach, but without a boat, bridge, or plane to cross the water, it could be reached only by a few who could swim long distances. The more souls who reach this heavenly island, the more love we have in the world, so the better everything becomes for everyone. This makes the bridge, boat, or plane as important as the island itself!

You can be that bridge with your thesis or dissertation! You can tell the world in your own words what the authors you choose to study for your paper have to say. That is paraphrasing with heart!

To access more helpful thesis/dissertation writing tips, log into the Online Center, scroll down until you see the icon above, and click on it to open the tip center!

Personal Experiences: Where Do They Go?

Do you have personal stories, dreams, or experiences related to your topic that you would like to include in your thesis or dissertation? That’s just fine, as long as you don’t include too many of them, and you put them in the right place.

The Introduction and Discussion are the best places for your personal stories and experiences. However, make sure the Discussion is based more on what you studied, with a few of your personal experiences distributed amongst your text.

The Review of Literature is NOT the place for personal information, as that chapter is more of a synopsis of the other experts’ opinions.

Plagiarism: Avoiding Accidental Acts Of

The fear of accidental plagiarism is completely natural―we worry about it ourselves! However, if you do your very best to express the other authors’ and experts’ opinions in your own words, and you remember to always use beginning quotation marks and ending quotation marks (“ ”) around direct quotes, you will likely not have to worry about it.

In addition, the University believes in fairness and consideration. Therefore, if we come across accidental plagiarism, we lovingly give you the opportunity to correct it with no harm done.

Also, note that no plagiarism checker is fail-proof. So, we always look at our Turnitin.com reports with a critical eye and omit anything that doesn’t count as plagiarism. For example, book titles, academic titles, company names, common sayings like “two peas in a pod,” etc. And, if you remember, the handbook tells you to fully indent long quotes without using quotation marks. Most plagiarism check programs highlight these, but we realize it’s a mistake and ignore it. So, it’s worth repeating: if you do your very best to express the other authors’ opinion in your own words, you will likely not have to worry about it. (Remember to use in-text citations for paraphrasing, too.)

Note: Sometimes students forget a beginning or an ending quotation mark. To avoid this, when you are finished writing your paper, use your computer’s “search” option, and search for “. Whenever your computer stops on a quotation mark, make sure it has its beginning or ending mate.

Proofreading Tips

It is very difficult to proofread your own material and catch every mistake because your mind usually sees what it thinks you wrote. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have someone else look at your thesis or dissertation before you submit the final copy to the University. However, some people don’t have such a person to perform that task for them. So, here are some tips if you are doing your own proofreading.

1. Once you think your paper is ready to turn in, read it aloud, slowly. You will be surprised at what you uncover and decide to change.
2. Use your computer’s search feature to search for quotation marks “ ” to make sure you have beginning and ending quotation marks for all your quoted material.
3. If you write a quote within a quote, use single quotation marks ‘ ’ for the inside quote and double quotation marks “ ” for the outside quote. Like this: In her book, Dawn of the Ages, Jill smith wrote, “I finally understood what I needed to do when I read what Edgar Cayce said in A Search for God. He said, ‘Too much stress has been placed upon the desirability of escaping from physical existence.’ I realized I was not living in the ‘now,’ because I cared more about what would happen to me after death than how I was living in the present” (27).
4. Make sure all your printed sources, such as books or articles, contain in-text citations for quoted and paraphrased material. You can double check this by using your computer’s search feature to search for each author’s last name.
5. Remember that punctuation always goes inside quotation marks if the punctuation mark is right next to the quotation mark. For example: Mary said, “I would love some tea.” See how the period is inside the quotation mark?
6. Search for and replace Absolute words: It is best to avoid using absolutes language such as all, every, never, because seldom would it be accurate. You should also avoid using never, many, most, usually, everyone, everybody, etc., unless you can back it up with studies that prove by collected data or a count that this language is accurate; OR, unless you preface it with, “It is my opinion that most,” or “I believe everyone,” or “It seems to me that there are many,” or “I think everybody…,” which tells us your statement is your opinion, rather than a hard, proven fact.
7. Check your Review of Literature against your Works Cited and make sure you included quotes and a brief synopsis in the Review of Literature for each source listed in the Works Cited.
8. Always spell check your document right before you submit it to the University. Oftentimes, students do a spell check, and then make a few tiny changes, but don’t spell check the document again. This often results in a spelling error in the newly added material. So even if you make a change to just one sentence, spell check your document again.

Quoting From Your Own Book

When students ask if they may use their own books or other works to write their thesis or dissertation, we tell them they can. However, since they are working on a research paper (researching other experts’ opinions and writing about it), the student’s book or works cannot count toward the total number of sources required to write the paper.

Also, the student’s work must be treated like any other author’s work, meaning if quoted, it must be within quotation marks with in-text citations. If paraphrased, it must also contain in-text citations. As with other authors’ works, students should not use too many overly long quotes, so this means students may end up paraphrasing their own material if they want to use already-published works they, themselves, have written.

Review vs. Discussion: What’s the Difference?

Some students are unclear about the difference between the Discussion and Review of Literature. In a nutshell, the Review of Literature is JUST what the experts say about your topic, without any analysis or commentary from you. Save the analysis and commentary for the Discussion as you put the source-driven evidence together to argue your point and support your statement of purpose.

The purpose of the Review of Literature is to give readers a synopsis for each source you studied, as it pertains to supporting your statement of purpose. It is usually the longest chapter of your paper. You will need to write at least one to four paragraphs for each source in order to tell readers about each expert’s viewpoint and/or research on your topic. This is where you showcase what your authors have to say about your topic, but in your own words and voice (with in-text citations), which lays the groundwork for your Discussion––a bit like dropping clues in a mystery book. This is not the place, however, for your personal experiences or opinions.

The Discussion is where you assemble the authors’ ideas and testimonies in support of your statement of purpose, telling readers how what your sources have written, said, or researched applies toward your theory, opinion, and/or deduction. The Discussion is where you analyze the material from the Review of Literature and show how your reported research supports your argument (proves your statement’s theory). You may include a minimal amount of personal experiences here.

Review Of Literature: Avoiding Repetitiveness

Students frequently contact us because they are worried about their Review of Literature being too repetitive or boring because most of their authors are saying the same things. Here’s how to avoid it.

The Review of Literature should cover most of the sources you list in your Works Cited, but doesn’t have to review all of them. Therefore, if you find five authors who say basically the same thing, consider eliminating two and just using three. It’s hard, because we love all our research, but it’s not necessary to “over-prove” your point.

With the three sources you have left that are “all saying the same thing,” to avoid repetitive wording, choose different ways of expressing the same ideas so it doesn’t sound the same.

You could also consider including only half of what one author says, and the other half from another author. For example, if two authors each bring up the same great six points, include three points from author A and three points from Author B. Here you would first review Author A and mention A’s three points, and then in a new paragraph say, “Author B agrees with Author A’s evaluation of SUBJECT XYZ, but adds that…LIST DIFFERENT THREE POINTS HERE.

Review of Literature: How to Organize It

Generally, students organize their Review of Literature in one of two ways: by book or by subtopic. Both, however, are written in essay format.

If you organize your review by book, you would review one book, then the next, and the next, and so on. As you are transitioning from book to book, you might add something about how they agree or disagree or add to the points made by others you reviewed in the paper thus far.

If you are writing by subtopics, which some find a little more difficult to do, you would break your paper’s main subject down into manageable subtopics that take a logical path to proving your statement of purpose. Then, you would tell us what each source had to say about each subtopic.

For example, if you were writing on meditation, your subtopics might be: Who Practices Meditation, Types of Meditation, Physical Effects of Meditation, Mental Effects of Meditation, Spiritual Effects of Meditation, etc. Then you would write about what your sources had to say about each of these subtopics under these subtopic headings. Note: not every source will have something to say about every subtopic, and that’s okay.
Student’s minds function differently, so choose whichever method fits best with your style of writing, thinking, and organizing.

Review of Literature: What Is Essay Format?

We ask students to write their Review of Literature in “essay format,” but what does that mean?

Essay format means you write it like a newspaper article where you transition from one author/book to another, rather than writing a list. It’s written in more of an intellectual conversation-with-your-reader style.

This means you will be doing a lot of paraphrasing, which is conveying to us what your sources believe, but in your own words, as if you were telling a friend or colleague about this great book or article you read. Remember: you still need to do in-text citations for paraphrased material.

Statement of Purpose

An approved Statement of Purpose is required for both thesis and dissertations. Once yours is approved, keeping it within view as you write your paper will keep you focused on the purpose of your paper. Here’s how to write the ideal statement of purpose.

First you narrow down your topic. (If it’s a thesis, it must be a topic covered in Dr. Masters’ material.) Then, decide what you want to prove about the topic. Next, put it all together to construct the thesis or dissertation sentence, like this:

Topic:

• Original topic: Metaphysics
• More Narrow: Dreams
• Narrowly focused: The Metaphysical aspects of dream interpretation

Now decide what you specifically want to prove or argue about that topic.

• Dream interpretation is helpful because it tells us about ourselves. (Too broad)
• Dream interpretation can tell us about our past lives, connect us with our Higher Self, and even give us a glimpse into the future. (Better, but how does this help humankind?)
• Dream interpretation can tell us about our past lives, connect us with our Higher Self, and give us a glimpse into the future, all of which can help us overcome stuck behaviors that limit us.

(Best because it’s narrowly focused, makes a claim, and applies it to our lives)

Now put it all together into thesis or dissertation sentence(s):

Through dream interpretation, one can learn about past lives, connect with his or her Higher Self, and even get a glimpse into the future. This thesis will show how information learned from dreams can be utilized to help individuals overcome stuck behaviors that are preventing them from experiencing the full and rewarding life that is their birthright.

Text-to-Speech Software

Students have asked us if we know of any programs that will read text for the visually impaired or audio learners. We recently researched this, and came across some options to consider.

The first is Natural Reader found at www.naturalreaders.com. With the free version you can click on a saved PDF or text file on your Mac or PC computer, and an electronic voice will read the document for you. We tried it ourselves, and it reads accurately, albeit with an unnatural sounding voice. It is also a bit awkward when you want to skip a page, such as the Table of Contents, and start somewhere else.  It took us a couple of minutes, but we figured it out.

If you prefer natural sounding voice(s); the ability to sync with iPhone, iPads and Android apps; the capability for the program to convert text to audio files; a pronunciation editor; and other bells and whistles, you can upgrade the program for $69.50 to $199.50, depending on how many different natural sounding voices you want to have access to. We did not try out the paid version of Natural Reader, so cannot vouch for how well it works, how the voices sound, or how much easier it is to use than the free version.

Another option is ClaroRead, which is available for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android. It reads PDF and text files. There is no free version of this program, but there is a free trial download. We did not try the free download, but are listing this software at the recommendation of a visually impaired student who uses it.  The $85 SE version saves text as speech to an audio file, captures and reads text straight off the screen, includes a more naturally speaking voice, and reads web pages with highlighting.   If you upgrade, you can get many more features.

For additional text to speech software, here is a great article from eLearning Industry that rates them:
https://elearningindustry.com/top-10-text-to-speech-tts-software-elearning

Please let us know if you found this information helpful, and if you know of a text-to-speech software program to recommend. Send the information to UOS@metaphysics.com so we can share it with our students!

To access more helpful thesis/dissertation writing tips, log into the Online Center, scroll down until you see the icon above, and click on it to open the tip center!

Thesis Subject: Help Choosing

As you know, you must choose a topic from Dr. Masters’ bachelor’s or master’s lessons. However, some students are interested in several topics and can’t make up their minds which one to write on. If that is your challenge, try this:
List your topics across the top of a page, then answer these questions on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being “I enthusiastically agree,” 3 being “neutral,” and 1 being “I disagree completely.” See example below:

Add up the scores and see which one ends up with the highest number and choose that subject. If it is a dead tie, write the two subjects on a piece of paper and drop them into a hat, close your eyes, mix them up and let your Higher Self choose one. Whichever one you pick is the one to go with.