A move-step analysis of the concluding chapters in computer science phd theses

Abstract

This paper describes how computer science doctoral writers construct the\nclosing chapters of their PhD theses. The data are drawn from the chapters\nplaying a concluding role of 48 PhD theses defended at the University of\nGlasgow from 2008 to 2014. The analysis applied a qualitative-quantitative\napproach. The titles of the concluding chapters of the theses were first\nexamined and also their divisions into sections and sub-sections. Then the\nchapters were subjected to a move-step analysis: Move 1 (M1) “Revisiting the\nstudy”; Move 2 (M2) “Consolidating research space”; Move 3 (M3) “Proposing\npractical applications and implications”, Move 4 (M4) “Recommending future\nwork” and Move 5 (M5) “Recapitulating the study”. The results revealed that\nmost of the computer science PhD theses have one final concluding chapter\nwith three main moves: M1, M2 and M4. The most frequent steps are “reviewing\nthe work carried out” and “summarizing the specific work reported in every\nthesis chapter” in M1, “presenting results and contributions”, “answering the\ninitial research questions or hypotheses”, and “making claims” in M2, and\n“acknowledging limitations” and “suggesting further research” in M4. Movestep\npatterns appear in recurrent cycles throughout the concluding chapters.\nSeveral suggestions for pedagogical purposes are provided

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