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Steps to prepare a thesis

Author: Beverly Peyton
by Beverly Peyton
Posted: Feb 11, 2020

1. Introduction.

Writing a thesis seems like a long and difficult task. It is so because it is long and complicated. Fortunately, you will feel better once you have a couple of written chapters. Towards the end, you will find that you enjoy it. It is an enjoyment based on the satisfaction of the duty fulfilled, on the pleasure in having contributed to scientific knowledge and, of course, the imminence of a happy ending. Like many other tasks, writing a thesis usually seems terrifying, so let writeessaytoday.com help you on how you should start.

First, outline your thesis: Write a sketch of the chapter titles, subtitles, some illustrations titles, and some other notes. Once you have an outline, you should discuss it with your thesis advisor. Make the first contact with your advisor immediately, it is important because:

  • You will have it from that moment to attend a constant flow of drafts of chapters that you will probably present in disorder.

  • It will allow you to set an agenda to meet your demands, according to your time availability.

Make a work calendar: Temporary planning in detail is necessary. A strict work schedule must be prepared, agreed upon with your advisor. For those who know them, PERT and CPM methods are of suitable application. However you can make your calendar, you must indicate rigid deadlines with dates for which the fulfillment of stages or intermediate goals is proposed.

Make your ideas flow: You must imagine yourself as a machine to produce brilliant ideas. Open a file with your word processor by baptizing it with the name "Ideas". Have it open online (in another window) with the main file.

While your normal writing goes by, any idea you can think of, write it down in this file quickly, regardless of the wording. Use abbreviations to make it faster. You must write to the rhythm of the flow of ideas, that fast!

2. What is a thesis? Who is it written for? How should it be written?

A thesis is a research paper. The report concerns a problem or set of problems in a defined area of science and should explain what is known about it previously, what was done to solve it, what its results mean, and where or how progress can be proposed, beyond the field delimited by work.

Don't be stunned by your student fears on the exam!: A thesis is not an answer to an exam question. The reader of an exam is usually having the answer. He already knows the answer (or some of the answers), not to mention the background, bibliography, assumptions and complementary theories. You also know your strengths and weaknesses in the subject.

No one knows more than yourself.

Enough more than for a scientific article! Once your thesis has been evaluated and your friends have read the first three pages, the only readers who will want to continue will be the people who are seriously investigating in the area.

The text must be clear: Good grammar and reflective writing will make the thesis easier to read. Scientific writing has to be a bit formal - quite more formal than this text. Native English speakers should remember that scientific English is an international language, which is especially true for science. The writing of very long paragraphs does not always keep a sense of unity. But I think that this "defect" is rather a problem in which the " saving " of paper prevails, which does not necessarily lead to the concept of brevity.

3. Some practical suggestions.

There is no obligation for a thesis, to be a masterpiece of publication. Your time can be more productive if you use it to improve the content, much more than the appearance. But think that a good presentation will invite a more pleasant reading. These copies should be sent to other scientists working in the same field of research so that:

  • You can take note of the work you were doing before it appears in the specialized magazines

  • You can look for the fine details of partial works that make up your thesis, the methods, and results that will be or have been published, synthetically elsewhere

  • You can finally discover the wonderful scientist that you are! This discovery will be useful if there is an offer of post-doctoral studies available in your environment. You must place your name on these applications, immediately!

4. A suggested thesis structure.

The list of volumes and chapter titles are appropriate for a thesis. In some cases, one or two of them could be irrelevant. Results and Discussion are usually combined in several chapters of a thesis. Think about the chapter plan and decide what is best to inform in your work. Then make a list, in the form of highlights, of what will come into each chapter. Try to do this well detailed, so that you end up with a list of sub-sections or the paragraphs of your thesis.

5. Preliminary aspects.

Check the wording required by your institution, and if there is a standard form. Many universities require a statement something like: "I hereby declare that this proposal is my work and as far as we know and believe, it does not contain material previously published or written by another person, nor material that has been substantially accepted for the awarding of prizes from any other degree or diploma of the university or other institutes of higher education, except where due recognition has been made in the text. (signature / name / date) ".

The title page: One of the universal requirements in the presentation format of a thesis is the title page. The title page may vary between institutions, for example, it should contain: Title / Author / "A thesis proposed for the Ph.D. degree in the Faculty of Science / The University of United States " / Date.

The summary: It usually does not contain references. When a reference is necessary, its detail should be included in the text of the same summary. Check the limit on the number of words, which for a thesis ranges from 200 to 300.

Many thesis authors include a page of thanks to those who have helped them in specific scientific topics and also indirectly for providing the essentials such as food, education, money, help, advice, friendship, etc.

6. Review of the literature.

Where did the problem come from? What is already known about this problem? What other methods have been tried to solve it? Ideally, you will have much of the hard work done, if you have continued with the literature when you swore to do it three years ago, and if you have made notes on important documents throughout these years.

A political point: be sure not to omit important documents for your examiners, or for potential employers to whom you can send the thesis in the coming years.

7. The elementary structure.

The intermediate chapters: In some theses, the intermediate chapters are the articles of specialized journals of which the thesis was the main author, and to which the illustrations have usually been reduced. There are several disadvantages in this format of a few figures:

  • One is that a thesis is expected to have more detail than an article in a specialized magazine. In these, it is necessary to reduce the number of figures. In many cases, all the interesting and relevant data can enter the thesis, and not only those that appeared in the magazines. Another disadvantage is that in your articles you may have some common materials in the introduction and the Materials and Methods section.

The structure of chapters: In some theses, it is necessary to establish some theories, describe the experimental techniques, and then report what was done in several different problems or different phases of the problem. And in the end, present a new model or theory based on the new work :

  • For such a thesis the chapter titles can be: Theory, Materials and Methods, {first problem}, {second problem}, {third problem}, {theory / proposed model} and then the chapter of {conclusion}.

  • For another thesis, it may be appropriate to discuss different techniques in different chapters, rather than having a single chapter of Materials and Methods.

8. The Bibliography.

Bibliography, Literature Cited, Bibliographic Citations, Consulted Bibliography, Bibliographic References, are all synonymous phrases, as regards a scientific thesis (or work). It is the presentation of a list ordered alphabetically by the author's last name, of the works cited in the text. It serves to allow the reader to verify the existence of the sources of his work. It is a direct indicator of the degree of depth of research. There are rules for the correct writing of bibliographic citations. You should consult those available to your university, although there are international standards. For convenience, it is tempting to omit the titles of the cited articles, and the university may allow it, do not make this mistake!

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I am working as a writer at Write Essay Today. We provide all kinds of writing services to students. Free of plagiarism work, is available at an affordable price. Our native US writers understand student's academic needs very well.

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Author: Beverly Peyton

Beverly Peyton

Member since: Feb 08, 2020
Published articles: 1

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