Distance learning postgraduate student stress while writing a dissertation or thesis

Working on a postgraduate degree can be a stressful experience for students, including distance learning postgraduate students who are at the stage of writing their dissertation or thesis. In this mixed methods study, 748 distance learning postgraduate students who were enrolled at a South African university and were engaged in the dissertation or thesis stage, completed an online questionnaire about potential stressors and experienced stress. Quantitative and qualitative data both indicated two general sources of stress: 1) uncertainty about the research/writing process along with insufficient support from supervisors, and 2) difficulties with time management. Issues pertaining to relationships, health, and finances were not as strongly related to overall stress. The findings suggest that universities with distance learning postgraduate programs could help their students by offering training or counselling services that are tailored to their needs, such as in how to balance academic work with family and employment responsibilities. Other implications include improving how supervisors assist distance learning postgraduate students, such as in maintaining regular contact with students, expediting the provision of feedback, and improving clarity in correspondence, to help ensure that distance learning students receive the guidance they require when writing their dissertation or thesis.NRFPsycholog

Field, Petrographic, and Geochemical Constraints on the Geologic History of the Fees Rhyolite Member : Mount Rogers Formation, Blue Ridge Province, VA

The print version is considered the official and archival copy of this dissertation or thesis. Researchers are encouraged to consult the archival copy of this dissertation or thesis when citing this work

Effects of Shoreline Development and Oyster Reefs on Benthic Communities in Lynnhaven, Virginia

The print version is considered the official and archival copy of this dissertation or thesis. Researchers are encouraged to consult the archival copy of this dissertation or thesis when citing this work

Effects of Shoreline Development and Oyster Reefs on Benthic Communities in Lynnhaven, Virginia

The print version is considered the official and archival copy of this dissertation or thesis. Researchers are encouraged to consult the archival copy of this dissertation or thesis when citing this work

The National Online Faculty Survey: Who Is Doing Research?

Preliminary results of the National Online Faculty Survey (N = 236) are reported. Data from 99 individuals (41.9% of the sample) who reported conducting research in the past 2 years (not own dissertation or thesis) are explored. 45% reported doing their research online. Characteristics of the researchers and studies are discussed.https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/archivedposters/1057/thumbnail.jp

Being an information literate researcher: tips for avoiding plagiarism

A practical guide by Pat Gannon-Leary and Moira Bent to avoiding plagiarism when gathering information, managing and writing up your research project

Doctoral student experience in Education:Activities and difficulties influencing identity development

This paper explores variation in the events or activities Education doctoral students describe as contributing to their feeling of being an academic or belonging to an academic community as well as difficulties they experience. The results (drawing principally on students in a Canadian research-intensive university though with some in a UK university) demonstrate a rich variation in multiple formative activities that are experienced as contributing to a developing identity as an academic, with many lying outside formal and semi-formal aspects of the doctorate. Yet, at the same time students report tensions in the very sorts of activities they often find significant and positive in the development of their identity. We see this analysis as offering much-needed insights into the formative role of cumulative day-to-day activities in the development of academic identity

How to conduct a systematic search for a systematic literature review

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How to conduct a systematic search for a systematic literature review

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