How-to-Write-a-Better-Thesis

Tables and Figures
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another, but, if you do make such changes, make sure the sentences with citations
still parse correctly.
Wherever you put them, the notes have to be backed up by a consolidated alphabetical
listing of all the references. A typical PhD thesis will end up with two
hundred or more references (yes, you will read that many, and understand them).
Even a minor thesis may have thirty to sixty references. Keeping track of these is
a daunting task. For this reason alone it is worth learning how to use an effective
bibliography tool. Word-processing programs can collate and maintain references,
using bibliography software that builds up a catalogue of references. Each entry
consists of elements such as, in the case of a journal article, the author (or authors),
the title of the article, the journal name, year of publication, and publisher and place,
together with an optional abstract and keywords. This reference database can be
used independently of your thesis as a way of recording the papers you have read,
where they can be accessed, and your views or comments on the content.
Whichever system of referencing you use, the word processor offers the advantage
that it helps you to maintain the match between the references cited in the text
and the references appearing in your consolidated bibliography. It helps to prevent
you from inadvertently omitting references from your list that have been referred
to in the text, and also helps to prevent you from retaining references in the list that
are no longer referred to.
Make sure you capture full bibliographic details, and perhaps a permanent URL
such as a DOI < doi.org >. I recommend keeping a softcopy (that is, an electronic
version) of all papers that you find online. You will end up with hundreds, so be sure
to organize them carefully. If you really feel that you need paper versions to help
keep you organized, consider strategies such as just printing the first page.
Tables and Figures
Word processing software includes rich mechanisms for assembling tables, whether
of numbers, images, survey responses, or some other data. It is up to you to ensure
that your tables have an obvious logical structure that readers can easily understand,
and it also up to you to ensure that you make good use of the software, not simply
use the defaults.
Consider the breadth of uses of Microsoft Word: school children drawing pictures;
managers dashing off memos; journalists typing up articles; clubs producing
membership lists; and on it goes. It is hardly surprising that the default settings
aren’t particularly well suited to the specific, niche task of thesis writing, and yet in
many theses the author has made no effort to improve the look of the work. Tables
in particular often seem to be poor, with upper case headings as if the author is
SHOUTING, bad vertical alignment of values in the columns, illogical and inconsistent
organization, and heavy lines everywhere. Such tables are a sad contrast with
the presentation in a typical professionally typeset journal, and yet the effort to turn
one into the other may be only a few minutes.