Thesis Writing
Thesis Writing
Prof. Dr. Armin Gruen Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich agruen@geod.baug.ethz.ch, www.photogrammetry.ethz.ch
1. Before you start writing 2. Guidelines and Tips 3. Nine steps in developing a draft manuscript 4. Checkpoints to consider 5. General advice 6. The best part of thesis writing Appendices: Literature, webpages, writing tips
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Advice for students: How to do research Research: To know To know what to do To do it To make it known Department of Physics, Trinity College, Dublin
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Before you start writing (1)
Defining your topic
+ Width of topic. Broad enough to address an important and interesting issue, but narrow enough to address the issue in the time allotted. Watch out: Your topic seems to get bigger once you are in it! + Understand the limitations of your situation (your capabilities, motivation, experiences, additional classes to be taken, supervision, required labwork, dependence on others, etc.) + Do some previous readings. Make sure you understand at least roughly what you are getting into. Study the state-of-the-art of the issue.
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Before you start writing (2)
Creating a timetable
+ Coordinate with your other commitments. How many hours per time unit can you effort? Discuss the timetable early enough with your advisor. He/she may have experiments, travel or other activities on his/her mind which you should know.
Reading strategies
+ Understand that you are not going to know exactly what you are looking for in the beginning. Research is not fully planable. + First read to explore. Then read to focus. Finally read to understand all the details of previous relevant work. + Read critically. Research is not about believing, but about asking questions. Try to get to the primary sources. A topic may be misinterpreted by secondary sources. + Read always – you can never do enough reading! This holds especially for a PhD thesis: You should finally know more about
Prof. Dr. Armin Gruen Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich agruen@geod.baug.ethz.ch, www.photogrammetry.ethz.ch
1. Before you start writing 2. Guidelines and Tips 3. Nine steps in developing a draft manuscript 4. Checkpoints to consider 5. General advice 6. The best part of thesis writing Appendices: Literature, webpages, writing tips
1
Advice for students: How to do research Research: To know To know what to do To do it To make it known Department of Physics, Trinity College, Dublin
2
Before you start writing (1)
Defining your topic
+ Width of topic. Broad enough to address an important and interesting issue, but narrow enough to address the issue in the time allotted. Watch out: Your topic seems to get bigger once you are in it! + Understand the limitations of your situation (your capabilities, motivation, experiences, additional classes to be taken, supervision, required labwork, dependence on others, etc.) + Do some previous readings. Make sure you understand at least roughly what you are getting into. Study the state-of-the-art of the issue.
3
Before you start writing (2)
Creating a timetable
+ Coordinate with your other commitments. How many hours per time unit can you effort? Discuss the timetable early enough with your advisor. He/she may have experiments, travel or other activities on his/her mind which you should know.
Reading strategies
+ Understand that you are not going to know exactly what you are looking for in the beginning. Research is not fully planable. + First read to explore. Then read to focus. Finally read to understand all the details of previous relevant work. + Read critically. Research is not about believing, but about asking questions. Try to get to the primary sources. A topic may be misinterpreted by secondary sources. + Read always – you can never do enough reading! This holds especially for a PhD thesis: You should finally know more about
References: and Bibliographies •Citation and Style Guide •Citing Electronic Resources •Citing Internet Sources •Citation using the Harvard System - the fuss free way (IMHO) •Guide to referencing - covers a number of styles •Plagiarism - preventing, detecting and tracking General Tips and Advice •Collaborative writing guidelines, for when you have to produce a group report •Collaborative writing strategies and resources (from Uni. Texas) •Group work and collaborative writing (from UC Davis) •Guidelines on collaborative Writing (from Uni. North Carolina at Pembroke) •Guide for Written Communication is written by Edward G. Wertheim, Associate Prof. in Human Resources Management, Northeastern University, Boston. •Guide to Grammar and Style (Jack Lynch) •Guide to Grammar and Writing (Charles Darling) •How to Write Right is an article aimed at engineers written by G. Blair. This page also contains links to matters related to Basic Management Skills •Writing tips - covering a wide range of issues, from abbreviations, to punctuation, to writing style. 34