more help required with proof reading db's dissy

[scaryteacher]

I am losing the will to live with this...and my brain cells are even more fried than earlier!

It's the following sentence that is causing me problems, as I can't decide if he means practice (his original word) or practise. When I asked which he meant, he didn't know the difference between the two, and said I could pick! Help! Which should it be?

'This forms the general approach known as the research paradigm ? referring to the basic practice based on peoples? philosophies and assumptions about the world and the nature of knowledge, thus ensuring basic beliefs are reflected in research design, the analysis of data and authoring of the thesis.

TYVM in advance!

[NotQuiteCockney]

Practise.

Is he saying that the research paradigm is what ensures that research design etc reflect their basic beliefs?

I'm not sure that makes any sense, tbh ... What is it a paper on?

[littlefrog]

Practice!
I thought that c was a noun and s was a verb; how can it be a verb in that sentence?
(as a marker of dissertations i would be in despair at that sentence...)

[NotQuiteCockney]

Weird - I thought practice, as in habit, was spelt 'practise'. Yet, looking it up, I see I am totally wrong. Sorry.

Deffo practice, the UK rule is practice is the noun.

In the US, the two spellings seem a bit more interchangeable. Nobody seems to follow the rule I was trying to follow.

[Bink]

Yep, practiS/Ce is a world-class brain frier. But given he means the noun, practice is the better one to go for.

I think one problem with the sentence is that it's not clear what "referring to" is referring to. And/or whether that section of the sentence is actually "referring" to anything, or instead defining a term.

[WanderingTrolley]

Practice is right.

wtf is a 'dissy?'

[scaryteacher]

I am proof reading my db's MSc dissertation on
'Contractors on deployed Operations - Do they add resilience?'

I suggested he sent it to me a chapter at a time, so it could be proof read and returned, and then there would not be a last minute rush to get it done. He sent it to me yesterday, and I am aiming to get it back to him tomorrow night, all corrected with annotations for him to consider.

NQC, I am in despair at his English and some of the mistakes I am correcting. When I rang him to query some phraseology he'd used and pointed out that it wasn't terribly academic, he said he'd not been picked up for it yet, and wasn't too worried!!! He's nearly 40 fgs, and did 'O' levels too, so there is no excuse! I'm not in the UK so I can't even go and belt him for sloppy grammar.

Thank you for the help all of you. I have been doing this all day and have another day of it tomorrow. I may be back with more questions

[Janni]

Bloody hell - I thought helping with my 11 year old's homework was bad enough; you mean I'll still be doing it when he's 40!!!

[WanderingTrolley]

My God that sounds dull arduous.

Does he really mean 'resilience'? Seems an odd choice of word...but then I know bugger all about contractors on deployed operations of any sort

[picky]

[tearinghairout]

Easy way to work out whether it's practice or practise - in your head, substitute advise & advice. So, in your sentence, is immediately abvious that advise would be wrong.

I'm a proofreader. If there are any other queries I'll see if I can help.

[tearinghairout]

Obvious. Keyboard is clogged up with peanut butter

[scaryteacher]

Thanks for the help - it's all done and dusted. I am cross with him though, as I did all the corrections, put 50 comments in boxes for things I was unsure about, checked his quotations and told him he needed to put in the date he'd accessed the various websites for the online stuff he'd used, and he said 'Well, I've not been picked up yet, so I'm not bothered.'

Remind me not to do my MA with Cranfield as they are obviously shite. What is the point of having academic rules and conventions, if one doesn't abide by them?

Katie, got confused about ontology because in my discipline it's to do with arguments for the existence of God!