Thursday, 22 June 2017

How to Write a Thesis

When you are at the end of your studies for your degree it will be necessary for you to write your thesis. Writing a thesis is a very important part of your schooling and more times than not it will account for much of your grading. A well written thesis and a poor written thesis can mean the difference between a degree and no degree.

Just knowing that your thesis will go in front of the great minds of the thesis committee for review is enough to stress out even the most level-headed person, but with a little bit or planning and a lot of hard work your thesis can come out perfect and impress even the most staunch person on the committee.

For the most part a thesis can be broken down into different parts and these parts are as follows:

• Title Page: Items such as your name as the author, your institution, and your department go on the title page.
• Abstract: This is a concise and readable explanation of the importance of your thesis.
• Table of Contents: List of all headings and subheadings with page numbers.
• List of Figures: Here you will list all figures in your thesis with a page number.
• List of Tables: Here you will list all tables in your thesis with a page number.
• Introduction: Many choose to write this section last as you can't write a good introduction without knowing what the thesis will be about.
• Methods: This is where all calculations and other information go that will allow the reader to formulate the believability of your results.
• Results: This will be your actual statement of your observations. Include graphs and tables to backup your work.
• Discussion: Written in brief essay style this is where you will compare trends, compare past works, and use other such methods.
• Conclusions: This will be the strongest and most compelling statement you can formulate drawn from your observations.
• Recommendations: Here you will want to offer further research resources to fill in any possible gaps.
• Acknowledgments: Anyone such as an advisor who helped you will go in this section.
• References: Here is where you give credit where credit is due.
• Appendices: This makes for a quick reference for those reviewing your thesis.

When writing your thesis critical analysis is the key. Those who review it will be looking for you to answer a specific question or hypothesis by gathering vast amounts of evidence and then turning it all into a judgment or interpretation. Your results should be clearly discussed and if there is any relevant source that you use you needs to be sure that you cite it.

Perhaps the biggest mistake that some make when preparing for their thesis is in estimating the time it will take to write it. You should start early and give yourself the time you will need in order to write the best thesis possible. Remember, your thesis will be one of the last things standing in your way when it comes to obtaining your degree so you need to be sure that it is well thought out, well planned for, and written in the best possible manner.

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