How to write papers and proposals based on paragraph writing and issue analysis

From “The Dissertation Classroom: From Report to Thesis” this paper discusses how to write a dissertation or proposal based on paragraph writing and issue analysis.

This book is written by Kazuhisa Todayama, the author of “Making a Thesis”. Since Todayama is a researcher whose main field of study is analytic philosophy, he takes a slightly different approach to “thesis” than other knowhow books. At the beginning of the book, he states that he will discuss the following four approaches in order to answer the question, “What is a thesis?

Clarify the kind of mindset one should have when writing a dissertation
Approach “what is a thesis” in terms of content
A thesis cannot be written down
Approaching a dissertation from the standpoint of form

The first one, preparedness for the dissertation, is, as the saying goes, three ironclad rules to consider when writing a dissertation

Position your dissertation as a means to improve yourself.
Don’t spare the investment in a dictionary.
Plagiarism is a foolish act of giving up a chance to improve yourself. If you want to live proudly, you must never do it.

The price for writing a thesis is only the enhancement of the self, not earning external points by doing so. The second, investment in a dictionary, can be easily understood as a means of self-improvement. The third goes without saying.

The second approach from the standpoint of the content of the paper is that the first thing that is necessary is that the paper must have a question, an assertion, and an argument. By “question,” we mean “Why …? or “Should we…? Should we…? What is the difference between… and…? A “claim” is the answer to those questions, and an “argument” is an effective array of evidence that logically supports your answer.

Among these, Todayama states that one should think about the “question” in particular with clear logic and thorough analysis. This “question,” especially in the area of humanities, is stated to be the most difficult “to find a problem and discuss it on one’s own.

Here, Todayama recommends that not all dissertation beginners need to go through such a hard time and that, as the first problem setting, they should not think of a problem from scratch by twisting their own minds, but search for one from the outside. In doing so, he says to be careful to look at books (new books, encyclopedias, etc.) rather than the Internet or other information whose reliability is difficult to assess.

Furthermore, even if you find (or think you find) a problem in a book, he recommends that you examine it more closely and analyze the problem in depth. The key to analysis is to break down the problem into as much detail as possible, and to narrow down the problem to the level of “What? and examine the problem in depth. By dividing the problem in this way, the scale of the problem can be made concrete and accessible, and the problem can be divided into (1) problems that are too large to be answered in a lifetime, (2) problems for which there are probably no clues or research methods, (3) problems for which there is no answer in the first place, and (4) problems that cannot be studied even if it takes a considerable amount of time, if not a lifetime. (4) Problems that cannot be examined even if it takes a considerable amount of time, if not a lifetime, and that should be avoided as abstract and general discussions.

In fact, in “theses” other than those in the humanities, which Todayama is mainly referring to, such as proposals made in the corporate world, it is often the case that the problems are written down in a large state, resulting in abstract, generalized, and lacking in substance. It is very important to break the problem down into smaller pieces so that concrete measures can be described.

As one of the methods for this detailed analysis, he states that the “billiard method,” which he calls the “question-asking method,” is very important. For example, when considering the initial topic of “the problem of declining academic achievement among university students,” he asks the question, “Really? and as a result, the question, “Is the phenomenon of declining academic achievement really occurring? or “What do you mean? the question “What does it mean?” leads to questions such as “When people talk about declining academic achievement, what do they mean, and do they all use the term in the same way?

These variations on the same question are similar to the aforementioned “Really? (credibility) and “What do you mean?” (definition), but also “When (from/to)?” (time), “where” (place), “who?” (subject), “how?” (how), “how?” (method), “why?” (cause and effect), “What about elsewhere?” (comparison), “What about this?” (specialization), “Only this?” (generalization), “Is that all?” (limitation), “What should we do?” (to be done), and so on. The famous “Why-Why analysis” (when a problem occurs, the question “Why?” is asked five or more times to analyze it) is a famous part of Toyota’s Kaizen activities. (When a problem occurs, the question “Why?” is asked five or more times and analyzed), which is famous for Toyota’s improvement activities, can be said to be one of these “billiard methods.

With the introduction of this “billiard method,” the first subject becomes a hierarchical structure linked by questions.

Furthermore, Todayama states that one of the most important things in putting together this hierarchical structure is to avoid “category mistakes. This term was coined by a philosopher named Gilbert Ryle. As an example, when one goes to a university information session and is shown around the university for the first time, after being shown around the classrooms, library, grounds, laboratories, and offices, one may ask, “But where is the university? But where is the university?” He answered, “I have seen the places where students study and scientists conduct experiments, but I have not yet seen the university itself. What is wrong with this is that classrooms, libraries, and grounds belong to the same category, that is, facilities and buildings, but the university is clearly a different category from them, and the different categories were put together as belonging to the same category, and such a thing is what is called a “category mistake Such a category mistake is what is called a “category mistake.

When such a category mistake occurs, the relationships between items become muddled, and it becomes impossible to follow them and “make an argument” (i.e., to infer that a given judgment is true with reasonable arguments). In order to prevent “category mistake” from occurring, it is stated that for each question (category) in a hierarchical structure, the same hierarchy should contain only items in the same category.

By analyzing problems with the above points in mind, as described in “Systems Thinking Approach and SDGs,” it is possible to see problems from the perspective of the overall structure (system) and not just the phenomenon (problem) in front of us (see the forest, not the trees). Furthermore, by considering concrete responses based on individual branches and leaves, we can think of the problem as one that can actually be solved, rather than abstract and general.

The above approach can also be used in various problem-solving situations as described in “KPI, KGI, OKR (1) Methods for clarifying issues” and “Problem Solving PDA“.

After the analysis has been sufficiently completed, the third item necessary for the paper is that “the paper cannot be written down,” which means that it should not be written in a spur-of-the-moment manner, but should be written from the bottom up with a firm arrangement. The arrangements here are as follows.

Understand the main purpose of the paper assignment (for example, whether it is a “report-type” or “argumentation-type” paper, or if it is an argumentation-type paper, whether it is “given a problem and then discussed” or “find a problem and discuss it by yourself”).
Finding and reading material that will give you a good overview of the topic.

The important point here would be the first item, to whom and for what purpose the paper (or proposal or report) is being done. For example, as noted above, the content and conclusions written will differ greatly depending on whether it is a “report-type” or an “argument-type” paper. Also, when writing a report or a proposal for a client, the granularity and logic of the content to be discussed will vary greatly depending on the interests and position of the person to whom the report or proposal is addressed. For example, when making a proposal to a client, if the proposal is to be made to a member close to the front line, it is required to report more specific measures and effects, while if the proposal is to be made to a higher-level client, a managerial perspective (organizational improvement or overall optimization of costs) is required.

Once the tasks and arrangements have been determined, the next step is to write the paper. Todayama encourages the students to write as “unconventional” a paper as possible.

The first step in writing a paper is to create an “outline. The outline is the blueprint or seed of the paper, and it is important to carefully nurture it. The thesis is a text that has a clear structure, and this “structure” is what distinguishes it from other texts. The paper itself consists of three parts: abstract, body, and summary, each of which has a different role. In addition, the “main body” consists of three parts: “statement of the problem, conclusion, and argumentation.

In other words, in writing a paper, it is important to first of all create such a structure, rather than just admitting what comes to mind in a haphazard manner, and this process is what distinguishes a paper that is easy to understand from one that is difficult to understand.

The aforementioned outline is the skeleton that creates the structure of the paper, and what is fleshed out on the skeleton is what makes up the main body of the paper. Examples include the following.

Title (tentative): "Why did the Challenger Explosion Happen?

1. Introduction 
　　・Issue Setup 
　　・Overview of Contents of Each Section
2. Overview and background of the Challenger explosion 
　　・Outline of the accident 
　　・Causes of the accident
3. Why was the accident not prevented? 
　　・The decision-making process leading to the launch decision 
　　・Why did Sa change its attitude to launch III at a meeting held just before launch?
4. What to do to prevent 
　　・Lessons learned from analysis of Challenger accidents 
　　・Comparison with other major accidents 
　　・Role of engineers
5. summary

It is stated that it is important to write such an outline and change it as the research progresses and thoughts deepen during the course of writing the paper. The outline clarifies what needs to be done next, and as the outline itself expands and becomes closer to the paper through research, thinking, and writing, it is important to change it little by little as you approach the paper.

At this point, the overall flow is rarely a sequential relationship as follows.

The partial order may be stacked into an inverse tree-like form, as shown on the right side below, or it may be a rhizome-like structure that does not converge into one, as shown on the left side of the diagram.

When they are examined in detail, they often lead to complex correlations as shown in the figure below.

To make this into a thesis, the flow of thinking about the outline is to select and discard items of high importance in the overall flow in order to make the final product similar to a sequential flow.

As the outline is written, each item will grow into a paragraph. The next step in writing a paper is to make the sentences that make up these paragraphs more or less readable and easy to understand.

Paragraph writing,” which is a method of writing papers using paragraphs, is the foundation of composition education in Europe and the United States, and various reference books have been published on the subject.

Paragraphs are usually translated as “paragraphs,” but they are apparently quite different from the Japanese term “paragraphs. Todayama explains that a paragraph is not a “paragraph” in Japanese, which is a sentence that is cut off to make it easier to read later, but is the smallest structural unit used to create a thesis, and that a thesis is composed of paragraphs that are assembled with good use of conjunctions and other logical relationships. The paper is the result of assembling paragraphs with good use of conjunctions, etc., while maintaining logical relationships. In other words, if a “paragraph” is a lump of clay that is easily torn into pieces, a paragraph is like a brick, which is used to build a structure.

When writing a paragraph, it is important to write “one thing per paragraph,” and this one thing can be said in a single sentence, which is called a “topic sentence. In addition, sentences other than “topic sentences” that appear in a paragraph should be either (1) a more detailed explanation or specific example of the content of the topic sentence, (2) a brief rationale for the content of the topic sentence, (3) another way of looking at the topic sentence, or (4) a sentence that connects to the paragraph before and after the topic sentence. These sentences are called “sub-sentences.

The topic sentence should be placed at the beginning of the paragraph. In other words, the topic sentences should be placed at the beginning of the paragraph. In other words, by reading only the beginning of a paragraph, the entire flow of logic can be understood.

This writing style can also be applied to the writing of PowerPoint proposal materials. In other words, one sheet becomes one topic, the title of which is the topic sentence, and what is written in it should be one of the sub-sentences (1) to (4).

In “From the Dissertation Classroom Report to the Thesis,” he goes on to discuss how to construct an argument. For more information, please refer to “Scientific Thinking (2) Reasoning Patterns for Testing Hypotheses,” which is based on “Lessons in Scientific Thinking,” also written by Mr. Todayama.

For more information on how to write a peer-reviewed paper, please refer to “How Peer Review Works and How to Submit a Paper” and ” Gumi Matsuo’s How to Write a Paper: English Paper“.