Richard de Neufville's TPP SM Thesis Manual - Title Page - MIT

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2. ABSTRACTAn abstract is a short account of the key elements of a thesis, professional paperor report. Its principal purpose is to communicate rapidly the significance of aparticular effort.An abstract is generally easiest to write when the report is done. Then you knowwhat you have accomplished, and what you can summarize.It is a good discipline, however, to write abstracts both at the beginning andduring the progress of the research. You ought to be able to describe to yourselfwhere you are going, how you propose to get there, and why thisaccomplishment is worthwhile. To the extent you cannot, your research is out ofcontrol. That is not a good situation to be in on a major project like a thesis. Thisobservation motivates the discussion of abstracts at the beginning of theseguidelines for research.LengthThe length of an abstract should not exceed 200 or 300 words, maximum.Professional media are ordinarily quite strict about the length of the abstract, andyou should get in practice. The rationale for the limitation in length is that theabstract loses its purpose if it is too long. Readers scanning dozens of abstractsto find a publication that will interest them are reluctant to read something morethan a paragraph or so.Even the most important discovery can be summarized in relatively few words.Anyone having difficulty doing so has not really focused on the important portionsof their work. Knowing what your essential contributions are is the key to writinga good abstract.TitleThe title of the work is always associated with an abstract and should beconsidered an integral part of it. As the abstract itself, the title is part of yourmeans of communication to potential readers.The title of a professional report should refer to its key ideas. The title is mostuseful when it contains the keywords by which you want people to think aboutyour work. Readers often decide whether or not to read an abstract simply bylooking at the title. Librarians certainly catalog works largely on the basis oftitles. If you provide an inappropriate title you will lose a portion of your potentialaudience.Thesis Definition and Preparation -- Richard de Neufville 12
Titles that do not describe the subject should be left to literary efforts such asfiction and poetry. Particularly avoid clever titles that amuse you – but confusethe reader. For example, consider the thesis titled “Enlightened Tunnel Visions”:what is it about? New discoveries in ophthalmology? Plans for developingmining machines? Some kind of religious experience? Actually it was anexcellent analysis of a system of one-way tolls for the tunnels under Bostonharbor – but how would you have guessed? Ambiguities and opaqueness of thistype should be avoided. When writing professionally, your objective should be toinform the reader.ContentAfter the title has defined the subject matter, the abstract covers the rest of theinformation required of the summary. This includes:• The point made by the thesis;• The method used;• The evidence presented, together with a brief description of how it wascollected;• The results obtained;• The conclusions and recommendation; and• Any special circumstances about the research.The abstract in Exhibit 2.1 illustrates these guidelines.Exhibit 2.1: Example of a Reasonable AbstractAirport Privatisation or Corporatisation? lessons from the British AirportsAuthority Plc and Recommendations for Kenya Airports Authorityby Philip WambuguMany governments, airport owners/managers, and international bodies agreethat airports should be run as economic entities. However, there is littleagreement on the structure of the ownership/management for airports toaccomplish this goal. Some see privatisation as the only hope for the economicrehabilitation of major airports, others prefer the status quo, yet others prefer jointprivate sector/government ownership or other hybrid solutions. To complicatematters, a policy success in one country may not translate to a similar success ina different country or time. Hence, world governments disagree on whichpolicies to adopt for their airports.Thesis Definition and Preparation -- Richard de Neufville 13
Page 1 and 2: The following pages were supplied b
Page 3 and 4: Experience validates the usefulness
Page 5 and 6: superficial attributes of a thesis
Page 7 and 8: Judging by what many student resear
Page 9 and 10: Ask yourself first of all: What are
Page 11: Exhibit 1.1: Basic Checklist for Fo
Page 15: the ‘critical’ technologies. In
Page 19 and 20: Research is Also IterativeReaders m
Page 21 and 22: your effort, you can then determine
Page 23 and 24: 4. LITERATURE SEARCH AND BIBLIOGRAP
Page 26 and 27: A most important remark for anyone
Page 28 and 29: Exhibit 4.1: Ways to Refer to Mater
Page 30 and 31: If the citation has not been publis
Page 32 and 33: instruments, or between observers,
Page 34 and 35: departure lounge. Such a sample wou
Page 36 and 37: • A heterogeneous population (alm
Page 38 and 39: new algorithm or procedure by const
Page 40 and 41: Use of a case study as part of an i
Page 42 and 43: have contacts in a specific situati
Page 44 and 45: Making the PointTo make your point
Page 46 and 47: 8. DESIGN OF ILLUSTRATIONSAn illust
Page 48 and 49: Exhibit 8.1: The Table to be revise
Page 50 and 51: the point no longer concerns the
Page 52 and 53: LiteratureFirst, draw up a bibliogr

Richard de Neufville's TPP SM Thesis Manual - Title Page - MIT

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