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An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Abstract

This paper has explored difficulties of Jordanian university postgraduate students in writing theses and dissertations, from the viewpoint of supervisors and discussion committees members. To that end, the researchers developed a nine-domain questionnaire: title, introduction, study problem statement and questions, findings and analysis, limitations and determinants, methodology, suggestions, recommendations, the relationship between student and supervisor, and references documentation. The researchers administered the questionnaire to faculty members in four public universities who have long experience in theses and dissertations discussion and supervision. The results have shown that the postgraduate students faced difficulties in nine areas in varying degrees, ranging from great difficulty to moderate difficulty, arranged in a descending order as follows: Introduction, results and analysis, title, problem statement and questions, suggestions and recommendations, methodology, references documentation, limitations and determinants, and the relationship between the postgraduate student and the supervisor. Moreover, it was also found that the degree of difficulty faced by postgraduate students in humanities and social sciences in five domains: (title, introduction, problem statement and questions, findings and analysis, and documentation) was higher than the degree of difficulty faced by postgraduate students in sciences colleges. In the light of study results, the researchers recommend to modify rules of awarding the higher degrees in the Jordanian universities, by allocating part for theses and dissertations discussion in thesis an hour. Furthermore, adding 3 hours to the compulsory courses for postgraduate students to introduce them to the basics of scientific research and scientific research writing methods

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