Thesis Design
Tips for Thesis Writing by Dr Fredy Valenzuela
• Literature review - the first and last thing to be done.
• First because you need to review the relevant literature and understand the topic area.
• Last because you will pull “bits” out of it and put into chapters. These must be removed or altered to avoid repetition.
• Last because you will find more papers/articles during your research to review.
• Last because you learn more about your topic as your research progresses and you will continually review what you should have included.
It is important to remember that the literature review is a review, not a list of papers/articles that support/justify your work. Be critical and don’t be afraid to identify weaknesses in other peoples work or the approach you are using, discuss (review) these.
• Conclusions and Introduction. - These are the most important sections of the thesis/chapter and will be what an examiner will focus upon. Therefore, they should be written at the end after you have a full idea of the scope and results of the study.
• Thesis outline – Use conceptual (mind) maps (flow diagrams of ideas) to link ideas in order to achieve a logical flow to your thesis. You want your thesis to tell a story about the topic and, as such, each chapter (and the ideas within the chapters) must flow from one to another.
• Consistent use of headings/sub headings and referencing. Check style guides or previous theses in your topic area.
• Logical backups - Save files under distinctive names (e.g., include a date in the filename) in order to prevent confusion, and to know which is the most recent version in case you have to go back to it.
- Multiple copies in multiple locations. For example, saving a backup to a cd/dvd kept in the same location as the computer the main version is stored on is no use if there is a fire (or if the computer/cd/dvd/usb is, in any other way, destroyed) in that location.
• Supervisor’s comments – Upon receiving a “bad” comment, ignore it for a couple of days until you can look at what is being said dispassionately. It is easy to take offence to well-intentioned and justifiable comments when you know what you meant to say and/or have put so much work into it.
- Keep corrected drafts, dated and filed properly. Useful to see what changes you have made particularly if you have to reverse them (NB. although annoying, supervisors will change their minds about whether a correction is required at times).
• Focus on outcomes (Chapters, Conference Papers, Journal Articles). There are two purposes to this: time management (gives some landmarks along the way to be reached before reaching the final goal way off in the distance) and each of these outcomes may require a different format (the layout of writing may change, a presentation may be required, the level of detail required will be different, etc).
Planning a paper (also loosely applicable to planning a chapter or a thesis)
This is a series of questions that when answered will help prepare the backbone of your paper.
How to answer the questions.
a) Take your time, “an ounce of planning is worth a pound of hard work and a ton of rectification.”
b) Pitch your answers to the educated layperson, not disciplinary experts.
c) Do not use dot points unless you have a genuine list; each answer must be in full sentences (sentences are complete thoughts, dot points are thought fragments).
d) Present the questions in the order shown below (and reproduce the headings).
e) Just text, no graphs, figures, tables etc.
f) Avoid generalities and be as specific as you can.
g) Stick to the word limits (this is essential to separating the “need to know” from the merely “nice to know.”
The questions.
1. The working title of your paper (20 words)
Avoid titles along the lines of: “Effects of …”, “The role of …”, etc. Be specific about the effect and its significance so that your reader knows what is on offer. E.g. rather than “The effect of factor X on the astrophysical properties of green cheese”, be specific about the effect and write something more like … “Factor X halves the lunar thermal diffusivity of green cheese.”
You will usually find it easier to write an effective title if you make your title a sentence.
2. Authors (in order of appearance with yourself as senior author. Normally the head of the project (e.g. your supervisor) is named last).
3. Intended readers (the target).
Name 4 or 5 potential readers – give their names and why they would be interested (e.g. “Ichabod Crane, paleo-fudgologist interested in polygalactic fudginomaility”, not “assorted paleo-fudgologists”).
Your nominated readers should be from outside your institution.
This list gives an indication of the level of language and understanding of your target audience.
4. Anticipated Journal/s
Ensure that all readers are likely to read your nominated journal(s) (e.g. few non academics read referred journals whereas politicians simply don’t read).
Is the paper suitable for each journal suggested? (subject area, level of technicality, uniqueness and importance).
Be aware of the style formats for each journal. These are commonly found on either their website or at the back of a paper version of the journal.
5. (a). What is the most important question your paper will pose? (30 words)
NB It is essential that your answer is framed as a direct question. Your response must end in a question mark.
This is the main aim of your study and as such, should be included in your introduction.
(b). What is the answer to question (a)? (30 words)
The answer to questions 5 (a) and (b) will form the basis of your abstract.
6. If your readers were offered one sentence to summarise your article, what should it be? (25 words)
Focus on the outcomes of your work, not the inputs.
Your answer should be the germ of you conclusion.
7. (a). Why is the question/issue/problem worth examining? (70 words)
Briefly outline the problem you are tackling and explain why the problem is important to knowledge in general. “Nothing much is known” is not sufficient justification by itself. You have to show why the gap in the knowledge is important. Expect to draw heavily on your reading of the literature in framing your answer but do not get into the detail of referencing.
This will be the germ of your introduction.
(b). How did you gather the evidence? (70 words)
Briefly outline the methods used to gather the evidence
(c.) What is the main evidence? (100 words)
Briefly outline the key results. Focus on outcomes.
(d). What can you add to theory? (70 words)
A research paper has to add to broader understanding. What will yours contribute? Think about how your results and conclusions will change how people see the world.
Many people have trouble with this section. Do not recycle the results. Focus on the conceptual methods that explain why your results are as they are, or why they are different from what might be expected. Your contribution may be something new or it may be confirmation of something already known but in a slightly different context.
Sometimes the contribution to theory is not a simple answer but a better understanding of what questions must be asked in the future and how to ask those questions.
Again, expect to draw heavily on the literature when framing your answer, but cite the literature only sparingly here (you can go into full detail when you prepare your discussion).
(e). What can you add to practice? (70 words)
Superior research also has practical consequences. What are the consequences of your work? Think about how your results and conclusions might change what people do. Do not merely restate your results.
8. What remains unresolved? (no word limit)
You may or may not have a lot to say here. Some of it may be useful in your discussion.
Literature That You Will Be Citing
This section is especially important, do not cut corners.
List the most important published sources that you will cite in your article and provide one or two sentences for each to explain its relevance to your article (provide full citations for each source).
If you are writing a refereed journal article, expect to list at least 20 refereed articles (Technical notes may cite fewer). Treat all conference proceedings and books as unrefereed sources.
If using Endnote it is possible to make notes on each reference within each entry in the programme. If done correctly these entries can be searched when you are looking for references to support statements that you have written.