The 3-Part Thesis Statement HOW TO WRITE AN A-GRADE THESIS STATEMENT.
How to Write a Thesis
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Transcript of How to Write a Thesis
THESIS WRITING
PROF. ABD KARIM ALIAS
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
What is a Thesis?
“A written work resulting from original research, especially one submitted for higher degree in a university”
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Why write a thesis?• Science aims to find pattern, trends,
and structure in the experiment
• Good scientific writing aims to bring forward in the text
• structure
• organization of scientific knowledge
Thursday, February 24, 2011
What’s in the thesis?
•Addresses a problem or series of problems
•Describes what was known about the problem(s)
•What you did to solve the problems
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What’s in the thesis?
•What you think the results means
•How further progress can be made
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Structure of a Thesis
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Getting started
•Break the thesis into chapters; list the major sections in each
1. Prepare a thesis outline
2. Discuss with your supervisor
•Assemble all the data, tables, figures
•Organise them into a sensible sequence
3. Prepare a chapter outline
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Getting started (cont’)
•Do a section at a time
•Start with something easy
4. Write
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Thesis title
•Title reflects content of the thesis
•Use concise but informative title
ExamplePhysicochemical and Functional Properties of Ozone-Oxidized Starch
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Thesis title
• Be specific & accurate
• Avoid phrases such as “A study of...”, “An investigation of...”
• Avoid jargon and acronym
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Chapter 1 - Introduction "The purpose of the Introduction should be to supply sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the results of the present study without needing to refer to previous publications on the topic. The Introduction should also provide the rationale for the present study. Choose references carefully to provide the most salient background rather than an exhaustive review of the topic." (R.A. DAY)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Chapter 1 - Introduction
• A description of the general problem followed by a statement of the specific problem and the motivation for the study
Thursday, February 24, 2011
What to write in the Introduction?•What do we know about the topic?•Provide comprehensive & critical review of the
major findings in the area
•What we don’t know (gap in knowledge)• Identifying what the gaps in our current
understanding of the field are, and why it is important that these gaps be closed
•What we are now showing•A clear statement summarizing what’s known,
what needs to be learned, and what your paper aims to accomplish
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing Good Introduction
• The first paragraph should provide a brief background in present tense to establish context, relevance, or nature of the problem, question, or purpose (what is known)
• The second paragraph may include the importance of the problem and unclear issues (what is un-known)
• The last paragraph should state the ratio- nale, hypothesis, main objective, or purpose (why the study was done).
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing Good Introduction
... Alkalising agents are important in the
preparation of many traditional starch-based food
products. Examples include the use of lime in the
production of tortillas and kansui (a mixture of sodium and potassium carbonate) in the
preparation of Chinese wheat noodles and waxy
rice dumplings……
Start by giving a general background
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing Good Introduction
…….Despite the age-old usage of alkalising agents, there is still much which is not known concerning
the effects of these reagents on starch properties. Although the ability of aqueous alkali in inducing
starch swelling is common knowledge, most of the work has been centred on NaOH in systems containing relatively low starch concentrations (<25%, w/w) …….
Rational & problem statement
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing Good Introduction
….. The influence of alkalising agents (especially
kansui) on the thermal properties of starches has yet to be studied in any great detail. Therefore, the
specific objectives of the present study were:
•To differentiate the effects of sodium carbonate
on the thermal profiles associated with
gelatinisation of starch;
•To quantify...
•To characterize...
Connecting the problem statement to the objective (reason for undertaking the study)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
‘…a systematic…method for
identifying, evaluating and interpreting
the…work produced by researchers,
scholars and practitioners.’
What is literature review?
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
What is literature review?
Literature is about telling a
story…kind of a chain story where
each writer starts with a partial story
created previously by others and
expand on it…the existing literature is
the story so far…
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Literature review is…
‘an interpretation and synthesis
of published work’ - Merriam (1988:6)
What is literature review?
5
Filtering & sorting the essentials from the irrelevant…
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
See the wood for the trees…
Image source: http:// sciencebhakta.wordpress.com
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Skills for “digesting” the literature Select, differentiate,
break up
Integrate, combine,
formulate, reorganize
Understand, distinguish,
explain
Define, classify, describe
Dissecting data into their constituent part.
Rearranging the elements derived from analysis to identify relationship.
Interpreting & distinguishing between different types of data , theory & argument to describe the substance of an idea
Describing the principles, uses, & function of rules, method, etc.
ANALYSIS
SYNTHESIS
COMPREHENSION
KNOWLEDGE
Adapted from Hart, 1998
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Any critical review should incorporate…
An assessment of the strengths & weaknesses
of some of the theories
A clear understanding of the topic
A citing of all key studies in the subject
territory
A clear indication of how the review links to
your research questions
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Any critical review should incorporate…
A definition of the boundaries of your
research
A selection & synthesis of existing arguments
to form a new perspective
Through gradual refinement, a clear
demarcation of the research problem
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Scope & length of lit. review…
Be selective
State the current state of the theory
How far back?(Master’s ~10 years; PhD –
further back)
Avoid verbosity
Demonstrate ability to synthesise the body of
literature – brief but focused.
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Components of lit. review…
Background information
• Introduce topic
• Describe scope & organization
• Review past & present literature
• Clarify purpose
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Components of lit. review…
Theory
• All research has a precedent
• Integrate key points & make appropriate
inferences
• Be aware of relationship to your topic
Abd Karim Alias@2010 [[email protected]]
Components of lit. review…
Critical appraisal/synthesis
• Not jus a list of the work of others
• Identify issues highlighted
• Highlight differences & similarities
• Identify consensus
Materials & Methods section
• Provide detailed methodology used to conduct the experiment
• Provide sufficient details but it is not expected to be written like a laboratory manual!
• Describe control used
• Highlight critical steps or precaution
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Results section
• It contains all of the data to support (or refute) the hypothesis that was proposed in the introduction section
• It serves to weave a coherent story and must communicate the findings to the reader in a logical, transparent manner.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Results sectionData presentation - Graph or Table?
• Tables can be used to display precise numeric values
• Figures are better for conveying trends or proportions
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Results sectionData presentation
Clear, succinct graphs, charts, photographs, and drawings can quickly convey the primary findings of research
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Results section
•The figure legends should provide a detailed description of the corresponding figure
• Explain each symbol in the figure (typically arrow heads, arrows, asterisks)
•Label should be clear (e.g., scale bar on SEM)
Data presentation
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Results section
•Tables shoud be self-explanatory
•Textual description should summarise & highlight table content (not to repeat)
Data presentation
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Results section
•Arrange data in logical manner (in table)
•Cross-check reference to figures/tables in the text
•Give proper credit to figures/tables taken from other sources
•All statistical analyses, where appropriate, should be described
Data presentation
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Describe results succintly
...In higher moisture (1:4) systems, the presence
of Na2CO3 appeared to significantly (p<0.05 or better) decrease ΔHG of all of the starches studied
(with the exception of wheat and waxy rice
starches, which showed no significant change in
ΔHG), while NaOH had no effect on ΔHG of most of the starches studied. However, in the less hydrated (2:3) systems, Na2CO3 did not significantly (p >0.05) affect ΔHG except, ...
Describe specific trends, significant effect, similarity/contrast, exception, limitation, etc.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Results section - Common pitfalls
•The same data are presented in figure (graph) and table
•Data presented in the table are simply stated (without describing the trend, making comparison, highlighting anomaly, etc.)
•Unusual trend in data is ignored (not highlighted)
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Discussion section
• To communicate the significance of your findings
• To indicate how they support (or refute) the experimental hypothesis
• To describe how these results advance the field of study
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How to Discuss?
•Have the main point to emerge from the results been picked for discussion?
•Are there links made to the literature?
• Is there enough evidence in your data to attempt at theory building or reconceptualization of the problems?
How thorough is your discussion & interpretation?
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How to Discuss?
•Are there speculations? Are they well grounded (can be substantiated with your own data)?
How thorough is your discussion & interpretation?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Discuss results succintly
…. The significant increases in gelatinisation
transition temperatures in the presence of Na2CO3 or NaOH (Table 1 and Table 2) suggest an
enhancement of starch granule stability, probably
through electrostatic interactions between Na+
ions and hydroxyl groups of starch...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Discuss results succintly
…. The significant increases in gelatinisation
transition temperatures in the presence of Na2CO3 or NaOH (Table 1 and Table 2) suggest an
enhancement of starch granule stability, probably
through electrostatic interactions between Na+
ions and hydroxyl groups of starch...
Give supporting evidence/information from previous works
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Discuss results succintly
…. One possible interpretation of the results shown in Figure...include the possibility that...
...The results shown in Figure 5 are in
contradiction to the work of Karim et al. (2000)...
These data suggest that...
In contrast, Williams et al. (1998) reported that...
Use phrases such as...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to write a conclusion?
•What is the strongest and most important statement that you can make from your observations?
•Refer back to problem posed, and describe the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation
•Summarize new observations, new interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from the present work.
Should include the followings:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to write a conclusion?
• What are the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis makes
• Does your work suggest any interesting further avenues?
• Are there ways in which your work could be improved by future researchers?
• What are the practical (broader) implications of your work?
Should include the followings:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to write a conclusion?
In conclusion, gaseous ozone successfully
oxidized the three types of starches studied, but the oxidation mechanism appeared to differ from
that of chemical oxidation. Ozone oxidation
introduced more carbonyl groups than carboxyl groups in the starch granules. Under identical conditions, the extent of starch oxidation varied
among different types of starch...
Example:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to write a conclusion?
Using ozone as an oxidizing agent offers several advantages over hypochlorite. During
ozone oxidation, starch is oxidized in a dry
state and in the “as is” moisture content condition, whereas hypochlorite oxidation
requires use of organic solvents. The dry
oxidation process using ozone is simpler than
the hypochlorite oxidation process, and it offers 100% product recovery compared to
hypochlorite oxidation.
Example:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
• Identify the major objectives and conclusions
• Identify phrases with keywords in the methods section
• Identify the major results from the discussion or results section
•Assemble the above information into a single paragraph
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
• State your hypothesis or method used in the first sentence
• Omit background information, literature review, and detailed description of methods
• Remove extra words and phrases
• Revise the paragraph so that the abstract conveys only the essential information
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
•Check to see if it meets the guidelines
•Make sure no grammar or spelling errors!
•Give the abstract to a colleague (preferably one who is not familiar with your work) and ask him/her whether it makes sense
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
Start out the Abstract by telling exactly what you did and how you did it. Focus on the rationale and ideas of the study and why it's important in the first two sentences
The effects of oxidation by ozone gas on some physicochemical and functional properties of starch (corn, sago, and tapioca) were investigated. Starch in dry powder form was exposed to ozone for 10 min at different ozone generation times (OGTs).
Example:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstractIn the next few lines, focus on the materials and methods, and the data generated from the study (results). Tell the reader how the data were collected, compiled, and state statistical significance(s).
Carboxyl and carbonyl contents increased markedly in all starches with increasing OGT. Oxidation significantly decreased the swelling power of oxidized sago and tapioca starches but increased that of oxidized corn starch.
Example:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
The end of the Abstract is just as important as the beginning! State the implications of your studies to the field of scholarship in which you are working.
These results show that under similar conditions of ozone treatment, the extent of starch oxidation varies among different types of starch.
Some examples:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Writing and effective abstract
State the implications of your studies...
…Binding of water to starch films influences their thermo-mechanical properties
…In general, tortillas prepared with hydrocolloids had a lower tendency for retrogradation than control tortillas; it is important to consider this to obtain tortillas with better texture and lower RS content.
Some examples:
Thursday, February 24, 2011