Better English Writing - Geddes Grosset Webster’s Word Power 2014

Theses/dissertations
Writing for learning

If you have completed postgraduate research, or are completing your Master’s, PhD or doctorate, then you will have to write a thesis or a dissertation. This will be the culmination of in-depth study in your chosen subject or discipline. You will probably already have gathered a lot of research data and will have been writing as you go - so you’re not starting with a blank sheet of paper.

Some people find the thought of writing a thesis quite daunting. It’s a good idea to review other theses in your research area, to see how these have been tackled.

This section will help you to plan, structure and write a high quality thesis.

The following principles are the same for writing essays as they are for writing a thesis:

✵ planning and structuring your work

✵ creating a powerful introduction

✵ developing the argument

✵ linking ideas from one section to the next

✵ writing strong and authoritative conclusions.

It is therefore worth revisiting the examples in the ’Essay’ section before you read this section.

The process of writing a thesis

As with essay writing, think of writing your thesis as a process to go through. This should help to give you focus if you are feeling stressed and don’t know where to start.

✵ Think about a general structure for your thesis as soon as you can. It will help you to focus your research and write material that is relevant to your topic/argument.

✵ Write as you go along. This is an important part of the research process because it makes you think about what you are doing, analyse information and make connections. It also means that you will be tackling your thesis in small chunks, rather than doing it all at once at the end.

✵ Remember while you are doing this to record all your references. It’s much easier to do this just now, rather than try to go back and locate sources at the end.

✵ Develop a filing system. This should reflect the general structure of your thesis and could be organised around different chapters or research data.

Each time you produce writing or notes on a particular aspect of your thesis, put it in here. Use envelopes, plastic folders, paper folders - anything that works for you. That way you have the beginnings of your thesis, ready to work on.

✵ Report back to your supervisor regularly and show them your writing. Ask for feedback. Better to do this gradually rather than in one huge chunk at the end.

✵ Write a first draft. Remember to apply the rules of plain English. Go back to Chapter 2 to remind yourself of these.

✵ Revise and edit your thesis. Check your word limit, and keep this in mind while you are doing this. You’ll probably have to go through this loop a few times before you are finished. Go back to chapter 2 to remind yourself of techniques for revising and editing your work.

✵ Published thesis. Congratulations!

Planning your thesis

Planning your thesis is essential if you want to:

✵ create a logical, consistent argument

✵ stay relevant to your theme

✵ make it concise and easy for the reader to understand.

We’ve already looked at using a mind map to help you plan your writing (see section on ’Essays’).

You could also try the following method:

✵ Brainstorm all the ideas and information that you need to include in your thesis on a large sheet of paper - include ideas for chapter headings and how you are going to analyse and represent your research. Don’t bother about perfect writing - just get everything down.

✵ Start to sort this into chapter headings and sub-headings. For example, you might have used a number of different metho ds to conduct your research, so each method will need its own sub-heading. You could have another sub-heading at the end of the chapter to bring together all these methods.

✵ Add notes, references and conclusions as you go.

You have now built up a plan that will help you to see where you have gaps in your research and also where you have irrelevant information that you can drop.

Remember to get regular feedback from your supervisor - this will also help the planning process.

Now you are ready to use this plan to help you create a more detailed structure.

Structuring your thesis

Here is an example of a suggested structure, although your institution might have variations on this. You are best to check with your supervisor before you begin.

✵ Title page

✵ Abstract

✵ Acknowledgements

✵ Contents page

✵ Introduction

✵ Literature review

✵ Materials and methods

✵ Results/Findings

✵ Discussion

✵ Conclusions

✵ References

✵ Appendices

Sections within the structure

Let’s look at what each of these sections involves in more detail. Ask your supervisor to give you examples of published theses in your research area to find out how other people have tackled these sections.

Title page

This tells your reader straightaway what your thesis is about. Make it concise, and clear. It must describe to your reader quickly and effectively what your research is about. Your institution will probably have a standard format that you have to follow, so check this with your supervisor.

Abstract

An abstract is the summary of your research. It needs to summarise clearly and succinctly what you did and why you did it, and it needs to be able to stand alone - if your thesis is registered within a database, it becomes a document in its own right.

You should probably write your abstract last, when the whole thesis is fresh in your mind. Remember that it usually has a word limit, and is often only one page long. Plain English is essential here.

Acknowledgements

This is where you acknowledge people who have helped and advised you.

Contents page (can also include lists of tables, illustrations and figures)

This is basically the structure of your thesis, and should show how balanced (or not!) the sections are.

Introduction

The introductio n should give the reader more detail about the research summarised in the abstract and flag up the content in the thesis.

The literature review

This chapter shows where your particular piece of research fits into the overall context of your research field. What does your thesis add to this area of research? You need to identify this and state the research question or problem you will be addressing in your thesis.

Materials and methods

This is a clear and concise description of how you conducted your research. For example, you could have used particular equipment, processes or materials. It’s a fine balance here - you need to give enough detail for another researcher to understand what you have done.

Results/Findings

Ask your supervisor about this. Science theses usually have separate sections for the results and the discussion of the results. A psychology thesis, however, might combine both in one chapter called findings.

Discussion

This section is where you review your own research in the context of your chosen field and discuss what it has added.

Conclusions

This section should summarise your research, describe the main points that have emerged and suggest what they mean for your chosen field.

References

Keeping note of your references as you go along is even more important when you are writing a thesis. When you are going through the revision and editing process, you will probably add and take away some references, so before you submit your thesis, check that all the references in your reference list are actually in the text, and all the references in the text are in the reference list.

Your supervisor will tell you which referencing style to use.

Appendices

Appendices usually contain information that is important to your research, but which takes up too much space or doesn’t sit happily in the main body of the text.

Good luck if you are writing a thesis. This will probably be the most challenging thing that you do in your academic career. Follow these tips, work with your supervisor and you will be the proud owner of a bound copy of the culmination of your work that other people will use in their research.