Thesis

How to Write Your Thesis compiled by Kim Kastens, Stephanie Pfirman, Martin Stute, Bill Hahn, Dallas Abbott, and Chris Scholz I. Thesis structure | II. Crosscutting Issues | III. Editing Your Thesis | | Title Page | | What We Are Looking For | | Copy Editing | | Abstract | | Planning Ahead for Your Thesis | | Content Editing | | Table of Contents | | Writing for an Audience | | Avoiding Ambiguity | | List of Figures | | Skimming vs. Reading | | Thesis Length | | List of Tables | | Order of Writing | | Writing for an International Audience | | Introduction | | Figures and Tables | | | Methods | | Tying the Text to the Data | | | Results | | Giving Credit | | | Discussion | | Final Thesis | | | Conclusions | | Resources | | | Recommendations | | | | | Acknowledgments | | | | | References | | | | | Appendices | | | | |
I. Thesis structure
Title Page
Title (including subtitle), author, institution, department, date of delivery, research mentor(s) and advisor, their instututions and email adresses Abstract * A good abstract explains in one line why the paper is important. It then goes on to give a summary of your major results, preferably couched in numbers with error limits. The final sentences explain the major implications of your work. A good abstract is concise, readable, and quantitative. * Length should be ~ 1-2 paragraphs, approx. 400 words. * Absrtracts generally do not have citations. * Information in title should not be repeated. * Be explicit. * Use numbers where appropriate. * Answers to these questions should be found in the abstract: 1. What did you do? 2. Why did you do it? What question were you trying to answer? 3. How did you do it? State methods. 4. What did you learn? State major results. 5. Why does it matter? Point out at least one significant implication. |

Table of

Citations: Sigma Xi, 1984, Honor in Science  Yale University pamphlet on plagiarism