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Best Word Processor for a PhD Dissertation


Dr. Nathan Parker

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Dr. Decker,

 

Would you please post a screenshot of diagram(s) made with Easydraw, if you have time? I am trying to find out a software to draw tree diagrams for my dissertation.

 

Thank you.

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I can't offer you a tree diagram; the ones I created using Accordance are grammatical diagrams, exported as pdf and then converted to eps. (Graham's suggestion of SVG is also a good one--and EazyDraw supports SVG nicely. Which is most useful is up to your publisher.) EazyDraw uses a human readable file format (some form of XML I think), so it is fairly portable and "safe" down the road

 

This disc board does not supports eps graphics, so I can't upload anything that would show you anything meaningful (a jpg or png image of an eps file isn't very pretty!). You could go to this link and find such a file.

 

 

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End notes are a great convenience to the writer, but not to the reader. I wonder if for a dissertation it would be acceptable to put the end notes in a 2nd volume.

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Joel,

 

I am unsure which linguistic theory you are using. If you are taking a P&P approach, you might find TreeForm Syntax helpful. If you are going to use a Role and Reference Grammar, or some other variation, you might find TreeForm ill-suited to allow Periphery Structures, etc. You can find some good resources here: https://linguistlist.org/sp/SearchWRListing-action.cfm?subclassid=7221&SearchType=LF&WRTypeID=2

Edited by James Tucker
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FYI, SVG is XML (sorry about all the TLAs, I couldn't resist). iDraw is, I think, cheaper than EazyDraw and yet a very good vector graphics drawing program that reads/writes PDF, SVG as well as exporting to a range of bitmaps if you really must. There's also a version for iPads!

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Joel,

 

I am unsure which linguistic theory you are using. If you are taking a P&P approach, you might find TreeForm Syntax helpful. If you are going to use a Role and Reference Grammar, or some other variation, you might find TreeForm ill-suited to allow Periphery Structures, etc. You can find some good resources here: https://linguistlist.org/sp/SearchWRListing-action.cfm?subclassid=7221&SearchType=LF&WRTypeID=2

 

James,

 

Thank you for the info. I will check these links.

As far as the linguistic theory - I have not come to any conclusion yet. I did not take any classes on linguistics. But, the more I read about linguistic theories and using them in my dissertation, the more I am having negative impressions on them (at least for now :)) I know I have to 'learn a lot' about theories!

 

But, thanks for your help!

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Thanks again everyone for the comments! I'll answer a few questions that were asked and throw out a few more things.

 

1. When I mentioned "performance", I was referring to long, PhD, level documents. Basically what's a good program I can type a bunch of text into and ensure I can maneuver through it lightning fast and without crashing my system.

 

2. Thanks for the info on learning Mellel, as well as the links to the videos. I'll check it all out. I have some templates from my college now for writing papers. Should I try writing any of my smaller papers in Mellel now while I'm going for my M Div so I can get the feel of Mellel, or stick with Word for now then transition to Mellel later? I already own it, so all I have to do it fire it up.

 

3. Sounds good about Accordance notes as well. I may keep my research notes bare minimum in Accordance User Tools. They're not something I'd have to heavily export out, and having the search integration with Bible Software would be nice. And Accordance is faster to search and easier to build User Tools over Logos (having to build a Word document, convert to Personal Book, etc.)

 

4. Sounds good about footnotes. Only reason I mentioned end notes was I'm always worried about footnotes formatting getting off. If Mellel is pretty solid with footnotes though, I can definitely use them. They're definitely easier for readers, and I don't mind inserting them, I just want them to work right. :-)

 

5. Thanks for all the graphics info as well. I haven't gotten into building graphics much. Might be something I spend more time doing.

 

6. For times when I'm stuck exporting to docx or sending out Word docs, I could export to Word and do some minor "cleanup" work in Word. It's a little extra effort, but for the times I'd have to do it, I'd just break down and do it.

 

Thanks!

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James,

 

Thank you for the info. I will check these links.

As far as the linguistic theory - I have not come to any conclusion yet. I did not take any classes on linguistics. But, the more I read about linguistic theories and using them in my dissertation, the more I am having negative impressions on them (at least for now :)) I know I have to 'learn a lot' about theories!

 

But, thanks for your help!

 

So long as you aware that any linguistic analysis isn't devoid of theory—especially in regards to syntax. I hear folks sometimes chide that North American biblical studies is too saturated with discussions of theory. I for one welcome it. At the Ph.D. level, I am surprised your dissertation doesn't designate at least a chapter to a theoretical discussion of syntax. Of course, I don't know what you're doing exactly, but anytime a researcher tells me how s/he is going to produce meaning, it's always a high mark so that I can reproduce those results for analysis.

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