How to turn a thesis chapter to a conference submission and vice versa
Transforming between publication and thesis chapter is a problem that almost all PhD candidates will have to face. Some people prefer to start with the thesis write up and then focus on publications after, others prefer to work to the deadlines submission dates offer. Either way, there are some key concepts to consider. No matter which way you go, either thesis-publication or publication-thesis, it is not a direct translation, not only due to the issues surrounding plagiarising your own work but because the two mediums are fundamentally different.
Within your thesis, it is your opportunity to demonstrate the depth of your knowledge in the specific area of your thesis topic. You have set up a specific problem, scoped the relevant literature and outlined the fundamentals of your methodology. Moreover, the goal of the document is to demonstrate yourself as a doctoral-level researcher.
On the other hand, in your conference or journal submission, you are first most likely space limited and won’t have the luxury of scoping out your very specific research area. More importantly the goal is fundamentally different, what you are demonstrating is the strength of the work itself, not your strengths as a researcher. To some that may not seem to big a difference, but in this post (based on discussions from our QUDDLE series) we will outline the key areas where your write up will differ to meet these different goals and hopefully help you to translate between your thesis chapters and your next great paper.
Audience
In essence, your thesis has one specific audience: your examiners. These will likely be people who are fairly related to the field of study, will have a (hopefully) sufficient time to read the whole thing and will be guided by one main question: “Has this person done work worthy of a doctorate?”.
Conversely, in a paper, your audience will undoubtedly be more general. The specific nuances of your thesis topic are likely less important. In a paper it is the work itself that is on show and the main question asked of it is: “what does the offer to the research community as a whole?”.
What this means for your writing itself is largely to do with emphasis of contribution. In your thesis, you should focus on the specific details from your findings and big-picture impacts you work could have on future work in this area. In a paper, there is a slightly more practical flavour to your contributions, what has this paper brought to the table and how is it beneficial to the research (or broader) community.
Narrative
Following on from this is the issue of narrative. In your thesis, there is lots of room to create and explore a grand over-arching narrative. A paper’s narrative has to be much more succinct. Compared to other forms of storytelling and thesis is more akin to a television series, each chapter explores a specific aspect which plays into overall themes of the series. The paper is more like a feature film, there is a single narrative that needs to set up, explored and resolved by the end of the paper.
This is most obvious in the set-up and discussion sections. A paper’s related work section needs to concisely survey the literature and set up a focus for the paper. Your thesis will have a more in-depth discussion of methodology and related research areas. In your discussions, the paper may give some general overview of some future directions, whereas the thesis will probably focus on setting up the next chapter.
Other considerations
There is also the issue of co-authors on papers if presenting work in your thesis. This is something that should be considered in the first instance and is particularly important for papers that may contribute to numerous people’s dissertations.
Summary
Regardless of which way round you go about it, as a PhD candidate, you will certainly have to overcome the hurdles of translating your work between your thesis and publications. The main things you should consider in this translation are 1) the audience, who is reading it and why, and 2) the narrative, what are the key points you want people to take away.
More advice:
https://thesiswhisperer.com/category/on-writing/
https://explorationsofstyle.com/2011/02/09/reverse-outlines/
Contributors: Joe Newbold
