THESIS

Flashback
Do you remember What is the difference between research paper and dissertation?

What is thesis?
It is a long research report. The report concerns a problem or series of problems in your area of re3search it should describe what was known before and what you did towards solving it ,what you think your result means and where and how further progress in the field can be made.

 A thesis is not an assignment , as the reader of the assignment is the one who sets it and mostly knows all the answers to the questions if not has the knowledge and back ground know how of the subject If the thesis is for PhD, the university requires that it makes an original contribution to human knowledge and discovers something unknown.

 Your examiner will read the thesis but its you who is the authority on that subject , therefore you have to be clear Your thesis will also be used as a reference point, they can be stored as .pdf on your universitys server and can be consulted by researchers around the world.

structure
Organization Timetable Iteration Style Presentation Structure Writing a thesis is a long and difficult task

Outline
Several pages containing chapter headings, sub headings One you have a outline discuss it with your supervisor

Organization
Start a filing system A file for each chapter Keep a back up of all files Its advisable to have both hard and soft copy

Timetable
Make a schedule A list of days on which you will give your first and second draft This provides intermediate targets

Iteration
As you write your thesis , your scientific writing skills improve, there is an enormous improvement form the first draft to the last chapter. The process of writing a thesis is like a course in scientific writing and in this sense each chapter is an assignment. Before you submit your draft run a spell check

Style
Text should be clear Good grammar and thoughtful writing makes reading easier Avoid slang and informal writing Use short and simple phrases Use bullets where needed instead of long and awkward paragraphs.(but not all the time)

 Avoid active voice ie usage of I did this. Why ? Due to two reasons 1) many thesis are written in the passive voice 2)the use of I is considered to be immodest ( though it is not forbidden)

Presentation
There is no need for your thesis to be a master piece of desktop publishing Spend time in improving the content rather than appearance Neatly drawn diagrams are a better option than photographs as they take more space due to bitmap format , instead use jpg or .gif formats

Struture
Title page Declaration/certificate Acknowledgements Table of content Abstract Introduction Literature review: where did the problem come from? What is already known about it? What other methods have been applied to solve it?

 Materials and methods Theory: basic theory on which your thesis is built Result and discussion Conclusions and suggestions for future work References appendices

Do you agree
Thesis and dissertation are the terms used for the same document? A research paper contains only references and no bibliography? Thesis and dissertation contain cover pages and research paper doesnt?