Writing theses and papers of an international standard

By Arie Oskam (Emeritus Professor Wageningen University and Visiting Professor Nanjing Agricultural

University)at Nanjing Agricultural University, 20 April 2010

Theses and journal articles

Master theses PhD theses Papers and journal articles

Preparing a master thesis

What is a master thesis? How to get started? The main body of your work Supervision Final result Converting to an article?

What is a master thesis?

A master thesis is a piece of work that illustrates your ability as academic to use the principles of science in a particular area, where scientific approaches help to improve understanding of reality.

Ability of Reading and interpreting Using the knowledge and insights you gained Analytical capacities Writing and presenting

How to get started?

Develop an own idea Derive the items to be investigated by the

questions raised in society (firm, organisation, government)

Operate as part of a larger team, where particular questions can be separated and analysed in a master thesis

But always: start with an outline or plan to be discussed with your supervisor(s)

The main body of your work

Depends on the type of thesis; but at least it should consists of: Link to the available knowledge / literature Should show your ability to do scientific

analyses in the area of your own study (specialisation)

Provide a coherent and well written document that can be provided later to potential employers

Supervision

Supervision by persons who are familiar with the area of your master thesis (and have sufficient time and ability to supervise)

Always start with discussing and developing an outline (including main question(s) to handled in the thesis), availability of information, background (theory) / methodology, timelines

Supervision is a delicate task (it differs from writing – parts of the thesis – by your supervisor!)

Final result

Master thesis; Concise summary is highly important! Introduction and Conclusions (should be

possible to read them and derive the main result)

Referencing and (if used) citing, should be according to the standards of scientific research

Information for further analysis (if relevant); good documentation is required (see starting from a team!);

Converting to an article?

If results are highly informative for society? Try to prepare a professional article on the basis of

your master thesis If your research leads to new scientific insights

Try to prepare a congress presentation or journal article

It could also be a chapter / paper of a PhD thesis

(Advise: do not spend too much time on this; broadening your scope is often more interesting/rewarding)

Intermezzo; questions?

Preparing for a PhD thesis I

Different types of PhD theses Coherent thesis (declining share) PhD thesis on the basis of 3 essays (USA) or

papers/journal articles =>receives most attention What is the international standard?

USA / Canada / Australia Netherlands/Wageningen? Elsewhere in an English language environment Differences between disciplines (here focus on

social sciences)

Preparing for a PhD thesis II

The main purpose of the PhD thesis is that a researcher shows to be capable to do independent scientific research Individual research Research in teams

Multidisciplinary research receives more attention, but requires capable disciplinary researchers who can work in teams

Starting a PhD thesis

It is always best to start with an own idea (say a one to two page description of your basic idea for a PhD thesis)

As an alternative: Doing a PhD within a group of researchers (develop

it within a team), but where? Apply for a Master/PhD program in a University with

a strong teaching program (USA, Canada, Australia, etc.)

Apply for a Research Masters (Wageningen) or a Mphil in for example a University in the Netherlands

Short intermezzo; questions?

After this we will concentrate on writing papers / articles (PhDs; Postdocs, Staff)

Is starting a PhD thesis of international standard sufficiently clear? But what if your research environment is

important and you are already fluent in English?• Sandwich PhD• Joint degree?

Some preliminary remarks

Alternatives to articles Papers at Congresses, Seminars, etc. (first

step?)Different types of papers Literature overview Models / descriptions Descriptions of a data set / survey Description / elaboration of a theory (+

hypotheses) Paper based on a research question

Definition of article / paper

Article Published piece of work in a journal

- refereed scientific journal- professional journal- popular journal / newspaper

Paper Any piece of coherent scientific work Definition smaller / broader than an article

Theory

Derived hypotheses (deduction)

Operationalisation

Research

Data / Results

Theoretical consequences

/ Generalisation

s

(induction)

The empirical cycle: for positioning

Structure of a paper based part of the empirical cycle Introduction

- research question- theory / literature- what is new?

Theory / Methodology Research design / Survey method Data Analysis of the data / testing hypotheses Conclusions of the research / adjusting theory

Or even more simple: Outline of an empirical paper Introduction Literature review Theory / model Methodology and data Results Conclusions

Write your paper together with your research!

Getting started

Write first an outline of the paper: what to do in each of the sections

The next step is a preliminary version of an abstract (usually not more than 100 words) and contain the following: Problem background Objective/contribution Theory/Method/Data to achieve objective (Summary of main findings)

Only two sentences per item on average Let read your abstract by a critical colleague!

Introduction I

Problem background The problem that is perceived The questions that have arisen as a result

of the problem objective of the paper contribution of the paper relative to the literature

The steps taken to answer the questions The structure of the remaining sections

Introduction II

Read a number of published papers in your area and see how they structured their introduction!

Say what your paper does and how it contributes to knowledge in the first couple of pages

Editors will read intro and conclusion sections before assigning referees. Doing a good job will avoid desk rejections and help get the paper to the right referees

Rejection is the default outcome, so you need to convince reviewers from the outset that your paper has something to offer

Actually DO what you claim you will do in the introduction Don’t “oversell” the paper

Literature review

You need not have a separate section to review literature (it can go in the introduction), but you must position your paper in the scholarly literature

Know the literature and cite the relevant papers. Your discussion of literature should indicate its

“gaps” or incompleteness that you intend to fill, at least in part

A good literature review DOES NOT consist of writing a paragraph on each paper you cover You need to concisely synthesize the relevant

literature Europeans generally treat literature reviews with

more importance than Americans

Model development

Avoid gratuitous math even in technical papers Increasingly math and proofs are in appendices,

either at the end of the paper or published ‘on line’ But you cannot skip crucial steps in derivations.

Referees will be frustrated if they cannot follow what you do

Provide a verbal explanation for mathematical results Assure a clear connection between your theory/model

section and your empirical section Don’t replicate well-known theory just to give your

paper a “theory section” (better to refer to a well-known paper or book) An empirical paper does not require a theory

section

Methodology and data

Methodology Motivation of the methodological choice (either

state-of-the-art approach or ‘new and better’) Ideal: reader should be able to reproduce exactly

what you did

Data (types of data) Population: time and cross sectional units,

variables with precise definition, sources of secondary data

Sampling (if primary data): sample selection, survey design, sample size, variable definition

Empirical analysis

Discuss your data and provide sources Provide a table with summary statistics on your data Journals may require you to provide your data so it can be

made available to researchers for purposes of replication Your methodology and analysis are often the ‘core’

of an empirical paper Provide context and interpretation to empirical

results; what do they mean? Make tables and figures clear and informative If possible, report sensitivity analysis, i.e., show that

your results are robust to slightly different specifications

Conclusion (and discussion)

Conclude your results and link that to the introduction What has been achieved? (Abstract contains the main conclusion)

Optional: discuss limitations and further possible research direction, but don’t overdo it!

Reference list

It should contain a citation for every paper mentioned in your text

It should not include any papers not mentioned in your text—it is not a bibliography

It should have a consistent citation style, ideally the style used by the journal, although this is not required in a first submission

For yourself: Keep the page numbers of references! (Saves work)

Style

The paper should be free of grammatical and spelling errors and typos Make it appear that you care

Each journal has its own style but initial submissions need not conform precisely So make your submission as readable as possible—e.g.,

use footnotes not endnotes, embed figures & tables in text, not at the end

Don’t cheat on fonts and margins to make the paper look shorter. These actions fool no one and make the paper harder to read

You should attract first the editor and the referees and then the readers!

Further style issues

Short and simple sentences Avoid repetitions, irrelevant fill words Not only the paper, but each sentence /

paragraph / section should have a logical structure Avoid the use of unnecessary/pretentious

professional jargon, overworked metaphors (‘invisible hand’…) and clichés (‘farmers are traditional’…)

Note: The problem of most authors is NOT having English as second language but not observing the principles of scientific/technical writing

Keep in mind what matters most

Title Read by most people and is part of table of contents and

used by most referencing services If it doesn’t capture attention, article will not be read

Abstract About 80% of researchers only read abstracts

Introduction/Conclusions(Discussion) First (and last) paragraphs of these sections are read the

most invest enough thought and time Generally, try to start a paragraph with the key message of

the paragraphTheory and Methods

Mainly read by referees, graduate students and those engaged in similar work, but the clear minority of all readers

Where to submit?

Where similar papers have appeared What you like to read by yourself Where you expect attention for your paper Try to determine the preferred journal in advance

Saves work; gives focus Administators (and some researchers) look often

at Impact Factors (IFs) Not unimportant; in particular the long-term IFs Still most important is whether your article will be

used / cited

Final advice

If you get a ‘revise and resubmit’ decision, then give this the highest priority possible

If you get a ‘reject’, revise paper based on useful referee comments, submit again to another journal and give it a high priority: papers ‘fade quickly away’

Don’t let rejection get to you, you are not evaluated as a person, but your paper is judged

Thanks (I borrowed also some slides of Richard Sexton – AJAE and Thomas Heckelei - ERAE)Email: Arie.Oskam@wur.nlWebsite: http://www.aep.wur.nl/UK/Staff/Oskam/ PhD theses of Wageningen at: http://library.wur.nl/wda/ © Wageningen UR