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Abstract: To what extent have postmodernism and research modalities which fundamentally question the notion of the objective researcher impacted on the production of Ph.D. theses in the humanities and social sciences? This paper examines the visual and verbal representations of the writerly self through the title pages, tables of contents and introductory chapters of a corpus of 20 recent Ph.D. theses in History and Sociology from an Australian university. While affirming the dominance of the topic-based thesis macrostructure in the social sciences and humanities, it subjects the topic-based thesis category to greater scrutiny, presenting a case for the emergence of a New Humanities Ph.D., marked by its construction of a reflexive self, unable to write with the classic detachment of positivism. The paper briefly considers the implications for disciplinarity and postgraduate pedagogy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a survey of English Academic Style Manuals conducted between 2004 and 2007, designed to establish whether English Academic Discourse is sufficiently well-defined as a concept to be useful for translation research. Although, with the current emphasis on genre and disciplinary differences, it is fashionable today to speak of Academic Discourses in the plural, the survey revealed a remarkable consensus as regards general principles, methods of textual construction, and the kinds of grammatical and lexical features to be used. This suggests the existence of a common framework underlying all EAD, thereby supporting the claim made by Systemic Functional linguists that there is an ‘essential continuity between humanities and science as far as interpreting the world is concerned’ (Martin, J.R. (1993). Technicality and abstraction: language for the creation of specialized texts. In M.A.K. Halliday & J.R. Martin (Eds.), Writing science: Literacy and discursive power. (pp. 203–220) Pittsburgh & London: University of Pittsburgh Press). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the emergence of the doctoral thesis as a research genre and traces the development of thesis types and their macrostructures over time. We do this by examining the first doctorates that were awarded in English-medium universities and comparing them with doctorates that have been awarded more recently at the same universities. The data on which the study is based is a set of 100 PhDs. The study found there was change in Science-based doctorates where some of the early PhDs were written in ways that were less recognisable compared with how they are written today. There was continuity, however, in Humanities doctorates in that both the early and recent theses were all topic-based in a way that continues through to today. There was, in addition, a preference for particular thesis types at some of the institutions in particular areas of study. The findings contribute to our understanding of research genres and have implications for how we teach thesis and dissertation writing in different areas of study as well as what we advise students are appropriate choices to make as they are writing their theses and dissertations. The study is also of relevance to people working in the area of higher education more broadly and especially those with an interest in doctoral writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]