In a message of , Matt Smith (1:3644/6) writes:
 MS>MS>  MS>    Or to the many grad students who write text-quality 
 MS>material 
 MS>MS> as 
 MS>MS>  MS>theses and dissertations.
 MS>MS> 
 MS>MS> Wrong.  None of these are textbooks for learners.  They are reports 
 MS>
 MS>MS> of  
 MS>MS> research, a totally different kind of publication.  Have you ever 
 MS>MS> read one?
 MS>
 MS>    Yes.
 MS>    And there being a totally different kind of publication no more 
 MS>makes them unsuitable for class use than the fact that a HS English 
 MS>anthology is composed of pieces that weren't intended for classroom use 
 MS>make the anthology unsuited for such use.
That's silly.  The class is studying English lit.  What else could you use???
 MS>
 MS>MS> They are 
 MS>MS> intended for a totally different purpose, although one could 
 MS>MS> certainly 
 MS>MS> learn  something from them.
 MS>
 MS>    Which is my point.
 MS>    A HS teacher I had just read to his history class articles on 
 MS>different nations from the World Book.  It wasn't intended as a text 
 MS>either.  (He was a poor teacher for other reasons!)
Why do you use the example of a bad teacher to justify your statement that  
dissertations could have value as texts?  While it could be true in isolated  
cases, by and large they would be totally unsuitable.  The intended reader of 
 a dissertation is a knowledgeable expert in the general field -- biology,  
history, or whatever.  It is not written for a precollege student or even a  
college student.  
 
--- msged 1.97S ZTC
---------------