TIPS FOR WRITING A (THM OR MTS) THESIS

Getting Ready

Practical Matters: Carefully read your programs thesis guidelines. Map out key dates/deadlines
Attitude: Dont be daunted by the length of the finished object. A thesis of 70 (or 30) pages is
essentially five (or two) 15 page papers.

Work Style
Work with the writing process that seems most comfortable to you, but be aware of the strengths and
weaknesses of the way you go about the task:
Planned out and organized
o Time lines (meeting realistic deadlines)
o Outlines (possibly limiting but providing structure)
o Polishing (sometimes done prematurely and a way of stalling) and documenting
Organic
o Deadlines flexible (but deadly for procrastinators)
o Evolving points (expansive)
o Not stalled by rough writing (but more work to tidy at the end)

Pointers for Writing for a Thesis

Choose your subject wisely

o As the instructions for both the MTS and ThM theses note, your area of research should
be of intellectual interest to you, and you may build upon and elaborate work done in a
previous paper in the program or may probe in the direction of future academic study
o Make sure your topic is manageable and focused. It should not be either too broad a
project (you will get lost and struggle to meet deadlines) or too narrow (you wont have
enough to say)
Become focused
o A thesis is after all a thesis statement writ large and more substantially defended
o However, dont be afraid that, at the outset, you havent arrived at a firm thesis or, if in
possession of a thesis, you have to modify it. As you research and write, it is not usual
that you have to significantly modify what you began with
o Beware of going down too many rabbit holes! That is, as you research you may come
across more and more material that you would like to know about and think you should
read. Exercise judgment. You are writing a thesis of x pages in x amount of timeyou are
not writing a dissertation.
Know your field
o Consider which thinkers, ideas, and scholarly approaches are currently fundamental in
your area of enquiry. This knowledge will determine what you should read, what
evidence you should collect, and what methodology to use
o Also, immerse yourself in the customary style of writing used for your area of research.
Writing systematic theology, for example, is different from writing biblical exegesis
o Make full use of your advisor and other academic/theological interlocutors

Keep track of your data

o Get in the habit of keeping good bibliographical records. When you have written down a
quote but not its source, you may have to do a lot of back-tracking to rediscover the
author, work, etc. (Consider using a program such as EndNote.)
o Take notes and map out ideas, connections, and questions for further research. If you
dont record an idea or piece of information, you are likely to forget it
Balance fact, reasoning, critical thinking, application, etc.
o A thesis should evidence a critical engagement with your subject
o Do not simply passively present facts. Question them. Use them to create arguments.
Explore what lies beneath your facts and the warrants upon which claimsand your
argumentsrest

Elements of Good Writing

Clear and direct prose: make sure your prose communicates clearly and that difficult ideas are
adequately explained:
o Define key concepts fully
o Explain key points in sufficient detail. Also
order your explanations in a logical way so that if a reader needs to understand X
before being able to understand Y, X is first adequately explained
o Consider your audience:
Technical language vs. obfuscation
o Dont feel you have to gussy up your prose style
Support: a thesis or dissertation constitutes the acme of research writing; therefore, the points
you make need to be supported by solid research that you will draw on using
o Paraphrase (cite source)
o Quotation (cite source)
Balance (too much/too little)
Integration (mechanical and substantial) (see Use of Quotation on Writing
Center web pages)
o . . . interwoven with your own critical engagement
Coherence/Synthesis: Coherence refers not only to whether your writing makes sense, but to
whether the relationships between the points you make in any one section of your thesis make
sense. If you simply lay out facts, quotations, ideas, etc., and dont link them, your thesis will be
disconnected, hard to follow, and may resemble a list of statements and claims.
o Micro: keep clearly before you the focus of each chapter and then monitor whether the
points you make actually connect to and support your focus.
Use words and phrases that signal relationships. For example: and, also,
additionally; thus, consequently, therefore; but, however, nevertheless, on the
other hand; as I pointed out in the previous paragraph
o Macro: revisit your thesis often and make sure
the content of any one chapter is doing the job of supporting the thesis
you are explicitly linking the content of each chapter not only to the overarching
thesis but also to points made in other chapters: as I established in chapter one,
this claim . . . ; as I will show in the next chapter . . .
Organization:
o Your thesis should be divided into chapters
o Make use of headings and sub-headings to mark distinct sections within chapters

Use different patterns of organization such as narrative, compare and contrast, process
analysis, cause and effect, etc., as needed
o Make clear to your reader how the different parts of your thesis connect and build into a
complete statement; use signposts
Revising and Editing: Allow time to re-see your thesis and how the parts do truly connect to
the whole. By the time you get to the end of what you write, you may find you have shifted your
perspective and need to do some significant rewriting in certain sections. Finally, read through
with an editors eye and look for typos, misspellings, misplaced commas, etc. Make sure your
format accords with the requirements described under Thesis Style Guide. Double-check your
quotations and documentation.
o

Use of the Writing Center

Given the limited resources of the Writing Center, we are unable to provide extensive feedback on your
complete thesis. However, tutors can help you at the outset of the writing process, especially if you need
advice about communicating clearly.
I encourage you to get in touch with me (jheyhoe@div.duke.edu) if you would like to set up a longer
meeting.

It is expected that the student will work closely with the faculty thesis
advisor in order to shape the thesis precise topic, coordinate the necessary
research, and reach agreement about the thesis exact length, format, and
style (e.g., Turabian, Chicago, Society of Biblical Literature, etc.).
The thesis does not receive a letter grade unless it is written as part of a
course or a directed study. In these contexts, the responsibility for
determining a letter grade lies solely with the instructor of the course or
directed study, and the grade does not, on its own, signal approval of the
thesis as a paper.
Submitting a Final Draft of the Thesis
A final draft of the thesis will be due to the thesis advisor no later than noon
on the first day of the final reading week in the semester which the student
will graduate. The thesis should be accompanied by a cover page that
includes space for the signatures of the thesis advisor, any second reader,
and the M.T.S. director. Students should submit the thesis by emailing
the final version to the thesis advisor and copying the M.T.S. director
and the Director of Academic Formation and Programs. A thesis
advisor may request that the student also submit a hard copy of the thesis.
After receiving the thesis, the faculty advisor and any second reader should
communicate approval or rejection of the thesis to the M.T.S. director, who
will then communicate the results to the Office of Academic Formation and
Programs. It is also acceptable for the thesis advisor to notify the Office of
Academic Formation and Programs directly of approval or rejection of the
thesis, who will then verify approval or rejection with the M.T.S director. If
the thesis is approved, the M.T.S. director will submit a copy of the signed
cover page to the Office of Academic Formation and Programs. Except in
those cases where the M.T.S. director is also a reader, the M.T.S. directors
signature does not indicate an evaluative judgment but serves only an
administrative function that aids in tracking the completion of the final
thesis.
The faculty thesis advisor is responsible for providing a written evaluation
of the thesis to the student. Especially in light of the fact that many M.T.S.
students hope to pursue further academic work, thesis advisors are
encouraged to supply ample comments when they review a thesis. Second
readers (if applicable) should also seek to provide student paper writers
with analytical comments on their work. Copies of these written evaluations
should be given to the Office of Academic Formation and Programs for
inclusion in students academic records.