General
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About this course
Three short lessons for postgraduate students who are researching and writing in English as a second language. Each unit answers one question that supervisors are asked repeatedly, and each is written to be read in about an hour.
- Unit 1 — How to write a theoretical framework. What the section is for, how it differs from a conceptual framework, the four steps from concepts to a defended choice, how examiners read it, and the five mistakes that most often weaken it.
- Unit 2 — Preparing for a viva voce defence in a second language. What the viva decides, how the format differs between the UK, Australia and Vietnam, the three questions that open most vivas, three moves for a question you do not understand, answer-length budgets, and how to handle push-back.
- Unit 3 — APA 7th edition referencing. In-text citations, reference list entries, missing authors and dates, citing generative AI tools, and the four recurring errors that cost marks.
Who wrote this and how to reuse it
The lessons were written and edited by MAAS Education Technology JSC, an academic support company working with postgraduate students in Vietnam and abroad. They are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, so you may copy, adapt and redistribute them, including commercially, provided you credit the source.
The full versions, each with its complete source list, are published open access on the MAAS site: writing a theoretical framework, preparing for a viva voce defence, and APA 7th edition referencing. Citable snapshots with permanent DOIs are archived on Zenodo.
Generative AI tools assisted with drafting and structuring the text. Subject matter, worked examples and sources were directed by MAAS Education Technology JSC, and the final text was reviewed and approved by MAAS editors before publication.