Resumen

GARCIA-CALVO, Javier. The development of an on-line research course as a strategy to support university thesis writers. Rev. Ped [online]. 2006, vol.27, n.78, pp.9-32. ISSN 0798-9792.

This paper describes research on the use of an on-line virtual course to train university thesis writers suffering from the All But Dissertation (ABD) Syndrome, which affects those students who have finished their course credits but have not presented their thesis. The course, which lasted 3 months, was designed to give students three types of support: a) student training support, regarding the process of writing a thesis; b) emotional support; and c) motivational support. 20 graduate students and 13 tutors participated in the study. Interviews and focal groups were used to collect the data, as well as information sent by students electronically. The results indicate that the ABD students who participated in the study show traits similar to ABD students in other countries, based on a previous review of the literature, which seems to assign a universal character to the ABD Syndrome. Also, it was observed that each of the areas of the course both motivated and supported students in the process of writing their thesis.

Palabras clave : Communication and information technologies; university students; on-line training; ABD Syndrome; thesis writing.