When writing your dissertation, your tone is meant to reflect your position as an emerging scholar. That is, you are someone who is proving that you know enough to be regarded as a peer in the field, but you are not so established that you can put on airs.
This means that you want to maintain a tone that is professional, showing respect to those who you are aiming to join the ranks of. When you discuss research that you have disagreements with, for whatever reason, do not be combative or condescending. Build your ethos by using reason and empirical language to explain your challenge rather than emotion. Even if your emotions are justified, a standard academic dissertation is meant to show that you understand the rhetorical situation, which is to demonstrate your credibility and temperament as a scholar entering a scholarly community.
Is it okay to say "I think"?
Regarding the way you talk about your own work, you want to maintain a tone that is not flimsy or timid but that is also not grandiose and arrogant. You want to present your positions and ideas clearly without any hedging, but you also want to avoid making pretentious claims about how revolutionary, groundbreaking, or highly valuable your work is. Be realistic about the applicability and usefulness of your contributions. Overselling your work makes you seem like the stereotype of a car salesman.
Here’s one example to consider:
I believe that the participants in my study demonstrated . . .
Using phrases like “I think” or “I believe” can come across as hedging, as if you’re trying to say, “There’s definitely a chance I’m wrong, but I have a feeling about this.” I would suggest that the first step to take whenever you find an instance like this in your writing is to replace it with the phrase “I would argue.” This phrase carries more confidence and asserts something rather than merely presenting a feeling. Once you have all your hedging replaced by assertions, you can then consider other ways to make your ideas clear (e.g., maybe there are other ways to write the whole sentence rather than just giving it a new opening), but at the very least, you want to create this tone of calm confidence.
How can I convince people my work is important?
This study contributes crucial insights that will benefit both scholars and practitioners in the field.
Phrasing like this raises eyebrows because it makes you look like someone trying to burst onto the stage and tell everyone what a genius you are. This goes beyond confidence and becomes arrogance. You need to be realistic and honest about the use value of your work, and this is something you have to figure out within your own field and niche research topic.
Generally, though, I would suggest finding every point where you write something like “crucial,” “valuable,” and “critical” about your own dissertation and instead try to think of how you can let the merit of your work stand on its own. For example, you could write something like, “The insights of this study add nuance to the current understanding scholars have about . . .” When you simply explain the application of your research, you give the impression of a respectable scholar who prioritizes helping build knowledge over your own ego. Ultimately, it is the community of your field that decides what the value of your work is, not you, so prove it rather than demand such recognition.
What if I'm an artistic writer?
My next suggestion is to avoid using a literary style in your writing, especially if you are in a science or social science field. Your dissertation is not the place to be in the mindset of writing a great novel. Keep your sentences straightforward rather than convoluted with creative placements of clauses. Keep your sentences direct rather than trying to fit too much complex information into one. If a sentence would take more than one reading to comprehend it, edit it into something easier and simpler. Be kind to your readers, who don’t have all the time in the world to labor over a complex writing style.
And like any academic writing at any level, you should aim for conciseness. Always try to say what you are trying to say in as few words as possible. Never sacrifice clarity for conciseness, of course, but there are many ways that wordiness can sneak into your writing style without you being aware of it: wordy phrases instead of shorter ones with the same meaning, prolix explanations that could be simplified, the same long phrases being repeated unnecessarily, just to give a few examples. Be intentional about every word you write.
And if you’re not sure you can fix all these issues on your own, we’re happy to help when we work with you on your editing!
