Theses and Dissertations in English for Specific Purposes

There are a number of discussions in the literature of the issues that second language students face when writing a thesis or dissertation in English. One key issue that arises in this literature is the difficulty that many students face in meeting the demands of the kind of writing required of them at this particular level of study. It is not always clear to them whose responsibility it is that their piece of writing meets the requirements of their level or area of study. This is made more difficult for students who do not have an English-speaking background by their lack of familiarity with the conventions and expectations of thesis and dissertation writing in English. As Dong (1997, p. 10) notes, writing a thesis or dissertation

Keywords: language for academic purposes; writing