Resources
Research design sources for graduate students and professionals
This site, socialresearchmethods.net, includes a web-based textbook on methodology and an automated "statistical adviser." It's a great place to start your dissertation journey.
Colorado State University's "writing studio" provides a good overview of the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, as well as descriptions of four types of research: case study, lab report writing help, experimental research, and survey research.
Are you looking for an introduction to key concepts in quantitative research design? Experiment-resources.com covers many of the basic ideas, including variables, hypotheses, validity and reliability, and generalizability.
Check out this free statistics workshop. It's reasonably thorough and contains abundant examples and excercises.
Literature review sources covering dissertations and theses
The writing center at the University of North Carolina has a page on the disseration literature review. It's not detailed, but if you're looking a quick introduction, this is worth taking a look at.
The writing center at the University of Wisconsin has a thesis/dissertation overview, discussing in some detail the introduction, body, and conclusions of a literature review.
If you have more time, you might want to read this thorough explanation of what goes into a literature review.
Links to the Homepages of the Major Style Manuals
The official homepage of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual provides timely information.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) has a useful homepage.
If you need to use the Chicago Manual of Style, visit their homepage.
Links to Other Editing and Writing Services
The editors at GhostUSA provide a wide range of premium ghostwriting services, including dissertation editing, nonfiction and fiction writing, and business writing.
Looking for some good books?
- John Creswell's Research Design is one of the best introductions to dissertation writing. Research Design is a nuts-and-bolts approach to the design and writing process.
- Somekh's and Lewin's Research Methods in the Social Sciences provides an excellent overview of quantitative and qualitative methods. There are many contributors to this edited volume, and it emphasizes qualitative methods. It covers such methods as naturalistic inquiry, grounded theory, case study, and ethnography.
- Looking for a good introduction to statistics? You'll find it in Statistics in a Nutshell by Boslaugh and Watters. The authors approach the subject from a researcher's perspective unlike other introductory texts. It covers all the major statistical concepts in a thorough and understandable manner.
- Applied Regression Modeling by Ian Pardoe will give you a complete overview of standard and multiple regression. It provides all the tools you'll need to understand the concepts and helps you accurately interpret statistical output from programs such as SPSS.