Organizing and Writing Your Thesis

7/31/2019 Organizing and Writing Your Thesis

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Organizing and Writing

August 2011

Organization

Within the thesis

Writing style and form

Getting started, keeping going

(personal advice from writers) Resources

General hiloso h :

Hierarchy of importance

Content

the message given

Style

the wa that messa e is resented(structure, language, and illustration)

Form

the appearance of the message (grammar,

punctuation, usage, spelling, and format).

knowledge

A reader will expect that:

you have identified a worthwhile problemor uestion which has not been reviouslanswered

you have solved the problem or answered

the question.


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A thesis is an attempt to persuade

rea er rev ewer w as :

what is the research question?

s t a goo quest on as t eenanswered before? is it a useful question to

did the author convince me that the

has the author made an adequate

Style and structure

Organization

Depth

rans ons e ween sec ons

Organization: the key to persuasion

Start by writing down the single most important concept.

Outline the critical observations and reasoning that

support that concept Test the organization by careful evaluation of the outline

Expand the outline to greater detail, then test it again

Write the body of the text : methods first, observationsnext, interpretations last.

,introduction next, abstract last.

Insert carefully composed transitional sections,paragraphs, and sentences.

Organization of the thesis Abstract

Introduction

Background and Literature review

Problem statement/research uestion

Methods

Data presentation

Interpretation

Discussion

Conclusions

References**Different types of writing might have more/less

emphasis on each of these elements


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Write this LAST!

-be self-contained

Model after a a er in our field

Written to attract readers to your thesis,gives a good initial impression

Summary of the contents of the thesis

Brief but contains sufficient details

motivation for the work (problem statement) project objectives

main results and conclusions

Introduction

Write this second to last!

s s a genera ntro uct on to w atthe thesis is all about -- it is notjust aescr pt on o t e contents o eac

section.

Briefly summarizethe question (you willbe statin the uestion in detail latersome of the reasons why it is aworthwhile uestion and erha s ive abrief overview of your main results.

Introduction Topic?

Defines sco e and limitations of stud

Importance?

Arrangement of thesis?

in your field

reference citations--put your thesis in

Background

A brief section giving background

information ma be necessar .

Your readers may not have any

needed to follow your thesis, so you need.

A more informative title will usually help


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Review of the State of the Art(Literature review)

.

Again, a specific heading is appropriate; e.g.,Previous work on Fabrication of Light Weight

".major ideas in the state of the art right up to, but notincluding, your own personal brilliant ideas. You

,publication.

Some advisors think this section should come after

t e pro em statement next sect on Some advisors do not expect a long lit. review for the

thesis - be sure ou ask our su ervisor!

Literature review

Provides context for and details aboutthe motivation for the project

States w y t e pro em is important

Sets the scene for the work described in

Describes what others have done andhence sets a benchmark for the current

project Justifies the use of specific techniques

or problem solving procedures

Make it a point to keep on top of your

the library and to the electronic journals

When reading a technical paper, jot

the journal or technical publicationwhere the paper was published.

Devise a cataloguing system that willallow ou to retrieve the a er uickl .

Make sure that you have read and understoodc te wor

Organize your content according to ideas.

Do not simply quote or paraphrase thecontents of ublished articles. Weave theinformation into focused views.Demonstrate your deeper understanding

.

Do not be tempted to summarizeever thin ou have read onl includethose relevant to your main points.


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Problem Statement

1. A concise statement of the question thatyour thesis tackles

2. Justification, by direct reference to previouswork, that your question is previously

.information which you presented in thestate of the art section

3. Discussion of why it is worthwhile to answerthis question.

. g g e sec on w a ea ng us ngwords such as problem or question

Data and interpretation

No standard form. But still organized! One or several sections and subsections.

Methods, Data, Interpretation sections areseparate

n y one purpose: o conv nce ereader/reviewer that you answered theuestion or solved the roblem stated in the

previous section.

Data and Interpretation

Present data that is relevantto

answering the question or solving theproblem: if there were blind alleys and dead ends,

o no nc u e ese, un ess spec ca yrelevant to the demonstration that youanswered the thesis uestion.

Note for some theses it may be important

to include these in an appendix

Methods

Depending on your topic this may be

one ara ra h or a lon section

your study, state how this was

.


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Data presentation

Draft your figures first: (A picture is worth athousand words)

Make captions stand alone

Use enough figures to present the data thatjustifies your interpretations and conclusions.No more, no less. (Dont use 1000 words

Write your text around your figures

research AND your writing)

Spreadsheets, analysis tools

Graphics programs

ENDN TE

Writing resources

in each paragraph

Each paragraph needs a topic

Contents of ara ra h should onlrelate to that topic

Interpretation

Keep separate from data, clearly

distinguished by paragraph, section, and/or .

Depending on your topic, it is often useful tosu v e nterpretat on nto a oca or smascale (directly flows from your data) and are ional or bi icture scale that flowsfrom consideration of your data with that of

others. This latter type is usually included ine scuss on sec on.


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Discussion

oo a scuss on sec ons n papers n yourfield. See what they cover.

just your data (relate to previous publishedresults)

Addresses the bigger problems of yourresearch topic and how your study fits into

Is NOT a conclusion section

Conclusions 1. Conclusions

2. Summary of Contributions

3. Future Research

thesis: they are short, concisestatements of theinferences that you have made because of yourwork.

It helps to organize these as short numbered

paragraphs, ordered from most to leastimportant. All conclusions should be directly

References

All references cited, including those in

Tables and Fi ure ca tions. No moreno less.

. .al. OR and others, not both)

, Follow the Grad. School guidelines for a thesis,

journal guidelines for a paper Plan ahead! (e.g. do you really need 50 color

figures?)

Grammar

Usage

Punctuation

Spelling

Documents

Organizing and Writing Your Thesis