How-to-Write-a-Better-Thesis

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72 5 The Introductory Chapter 3. Aim and Scope – Be sure that your aim responds logically to the problem statement. – Stick rigorously to a single aim. Do not include elements in it that describe how you intend to achieve this aim; reserve these for a later chapter. – When you have written the conclusions to your whole study, check that they respond to this aim. If they don’t, change the aim or rethink your conclusions. – If you change the aim, revise the motivation for studying it. – Be sure to establish the scope of your study by identifying limitations of factors such as time, location, resources, or the established boundaries of particular fields or theories. 4. Significance of the Study – Explain how your thesis contributes to the field. – There are four main areas of contribution: theory development, tangible solution, innovative methods, and policy extension. One of these contributions must be identified as the basis of your primary contribution to the field. – In contrast to reports for industry, theory development is an expected and required contribution; for PhDs in particular, it must be ‘original’. 5. Overview of the Study (or Structure of the Thesis) – Sketch out how the thesis is structured. Don’t confine yourself to a list of the chapters, but show how they are linked and that one section logically leads to another. – Check whether the reader can see from this sketch how the aim will be achieved. Revising your introduction, aligning your conclusion: • To avoid making promises to the examiner that you can’t keep or that you do not later address, regularly review your introductory chapter and revise it accordingly. • Consider starting your conclusion chapter on the same day that you begin your introduction, and, each time you work on one, work on the other, thus keeping them in alignment.
Chapter 6 Background Chapters Depending on the nature of your thesis, the background sections or chapters can take any of several different forms. However, their functions are always the same: to provide the context for your own work and to be the starting point for an examiner to think about your position in relation to the work, that is, to be the ‘you’ that you were at the start of the research project. The four most common elements in the background chapters are: • Establishment of a context to locate a study in time, location, or culture. • Identification of current theory, discoveries, and debates, including an evaluation of those most useful and salient to your topic, as well as a nomination of gaps in literature. • Understanding of current practices and technologies in your field that highlight, and perhaps synthesize, a selection of the appropriate methods to gather data for your study. • Preliminary investigations done by you or others to help clarify research techniques, formulate hypotheses, or focus areas of investigation for the major research program to follow. You may have one or more of these, depending on the type of research you are doing. For example, if you were investigating ways that vitamins have been promoted as a regular dietary supplement, you would certainly need a descriptive section—or, perhaps a full chapter—on the development of the understanding of vitamins. You would also have a section (or chapter) that sets out many of the current controversies that surround the taking of food supplements and surveys a range of expert studies on the topic. Next, you would need to have a section (again, or chapter) that details ways in which studies concerning the promotion of vitamin supplements have been conducted. If these are unsatisfactory in some way, for example, questionnaires in them are out of date or not applicable to your intended participant group, then you would need to conduct a preliminary study to clarify instruments and other aspects of methodology, including research questions. These background sections, or chapters, would provide the basis for the design of your own work, which then could be understood in context, located within a theoretical framework, and conducted using techniques backed with solid justification. D. Evans et al., How to Write a Better Thesis, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2_6, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 73
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How to Write a Better Thesis
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David Evans † University of Melbo
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Preface to the Third Edition When I
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Introduction Thesis writing can be
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Contents 1 What Is a Thesis? ......
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Contents xiii 8 Outcomes and Result
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Chapter 1 What Is a Thesis? Simply
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Types of Thesis 3 These questions
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Examiners’ Reports 5 layout. See
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Summary of Chapter 1: What Is a The
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10 2 Thesis Structure Research is u
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12 2 Thesis Structure Some of these
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14 2 Thesis Structure are ‘finish
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16 2 Thesis Structure 2. Background
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18 3 Mechanics of Writing that even
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Page 50 and 51: Chapter 4 Making a Strong Start In
Page 52 and 53: Creating a Structure 41 are trying
Page 54 and 55: Initial Efforts 43 of it in detail
Page 56 and 57: Starting, and Starting Again 45 ad
Page 58 and 59: The Creative Process 47 you must a
Page 60 and 61: Writing an Individual Chapter 49 H
Page 62 and 63: Literature 51 From ‘Chapter Five
Page 64 and 65: Styles of Working 53 And don’t f
Page 66 and 67: Working with Your Supervisor 55 Th
Page 68 and 69: Working with Your Supervisor 57 pa
Page 70 and 71: Summary of Chapter 4: Making a Stro
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Page 84 and 85: 74 6 Background Chapters Developing
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Page 88 and 89: 78 6 Background Chapters Throughout
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Page 94 and 95: 84 7 Establishing Your Contribution
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Page 108 and 109: From Data to Results 99 Jackie’s
Page 110 and 111: Presentation 101 Presentation In t
Page 112 and 113: Analysis 103 haste, and overconfid
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Page 116 and 117: Reflection 107 in his thesis, wher
Page 118 and 119: Illustrations 109 interpreted, and
Page 120 and 121: Illustrations 111 they can read an
Page 122 and 123: Chapter 9 The Discussion or Interpr
Page 124 and 125: Structuring the Discussion 115 can
Page 126 and 127: Writing with Authority 117 criteri
Page 128 and 129: Summary of Chapter 9: The Discussio
Page 130 and 131: 122 10 The Conclusion One way that
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Chapter 11 Before You Submit You ha
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From First to Second Draft 127 abo
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Dotting the ‘i’s and Crossing t
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Chapter 12 Beyond the Thesis Studen
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Kinds of Dissemination 139 Feedbac
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Dissemination Plans 141 • Primar
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Seminar and Conference Presentation
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Being a Graduate Student 145 more
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The Arc of a Research Degree 147 t
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Summary of Chapter 12: Beyond the T
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Appendix Afterword The creation of
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Appendix 153 Appendix: Analysis of
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Appendix 155 • The text is unnece
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158 Notes on Further Resources Phil
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160 Index Books, writing, 25 Bracke
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162 Index H Harvard reference syste
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164 Index Proper names, 20 Punctuat
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166 Index discussion of results, 12
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