A core challenge in the paper-based dissertation is ensuring that the individual papers are connected by relating to an overarching research question, systematically supplementing  each other, and collectively enabling a solid onclusion – without being too repetitive. This course focuses on establishing robust linkages between the papers in a PhD dissertation by composing and writing an effective framework (”kappe”). This process is creative and experimental, involving movement back and forth between the whole and its parts to identify a clear and engaging narrative within the disicplinary domain of the project. Participants will learn what different types of readers in the field of organization and management studies expect from a dissertation, and how to craft a framework that meets these expectations.

The course adopts a pragmatist approach to composing a coherent paper-based dissertation within a given research domain. It centers on the question: How can a framework be written to engage readers and withstand “assaults from a hostile environment” (Latour, 1987)?

Four tools are introduced: “framing” (what is the domain and approach of the dissertation?), “storyline” (what is the relationship, logic structure, or golden thread across the papers?), “enrolment” (how can readers be engaged and objections minimized?), and “narration” (what the type of story should be told, and how should it be told in terms of time and space?). The participants will employ the tools to each others’ framework outlines to help make them as effective as possible. 

• To identify the overarching narrative of the participant’s PhD dissertation and craft a framework that makes this narrative clear and compelling.

• Howard Becker (1986) Writing for Social Scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book, or article. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,  Chapter 3: One Right Way, pp. 43–67.
  
• Murray S. Davis (1971) That's Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1(2), pp. 309–344. 
  
• Bruno Latour (1987) Science in Action, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Chapter 1: Literature, pp. 21–63.
  
• Richardson, L. (2000). Writing: A Method of Inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edition. Sage, pp. 923–948.
  
• Reading the text of the participants