SEMINAR FYP ON THESIS WRITING.pdf
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Transcript of SEMINAR FYP ON THESIS WRITING.pdf
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3rd April 2015
1
Dr. Radiah Abdul Ghani Department of Biomedical Science Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences
How Theses Get Written & some cool tips
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OUTLINE
1. Writing your thesis Context: What is a thesis (for)?
How do I get started?
What should my thesis contain?
How do I get finished?
Summary
2. Examiners View Uh no, not another thesis to read
Whats this one about?
Now there must be some corrections
Checklist for the chapter
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Introduction
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What is a thesis?
An argument.
An exposition of an original piece of research.
The product of an apprenticeship.
Probably the largest (most self-indulgent) piece of work youll ever do.
Something that could be published.
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Examination Issues
Your examiners need to appreciate your work
Your examiners need to be told about your research.
If its not in your thesis, they wont find out about it
No matter how good your research is, you MUST write a good thesis
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How do I get started?
Do this today (in case you were not)
- Decide and confirm your title.
- Write your title page.
- Do all the appendices and easy part of the thesis.
- Plan your argument.
Then:
Chapter by chapter
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No matter how hard is your project or how busy you were, your FIRST STEP is very important as it is a
basis for the following steps !!
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Overview on your project
One sentence for each Example
Introduction (area of study)
The problem (that I tackle)
What the literature says about this problem
How I tackle this problem
How I implement my solution
The result
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One sentence for each Example
Introduction (area of study)
A completion of BSc Biomedical Sc degree is examined by submission of FYP thesis.
The problem (that I tackle)
Many students fail to complete the thesis within final year.
What the literature says about this problem
Empirical studies indicate that late submission is highly correlated with delaying the start of the write-up...
How I tackle this problem A model of FYP study that encourages an early start to the thesis writing task is clearly desirable
How I implement my solution Such a model encourages the student to plan a structure for the thesis and collect material for each chapter throughout their study
The result Application of this model dramatically improves submission rates.
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One sentence for each Example
Introduction (area of study)
The problem (that I tackle)
What the literature says about this problem
How I tackle this problem
How I implement my solution
The result
Ok, now lets try on yours!
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PLAN YOUR THESIS
Convert this argument into a chapter outline
Start a binder with a division for each chapter
Collect material in this binder
Set out clearly what each chapter should say
Dont be afraid to change your mind
As you write the thesis, your ideas will evolve
Dont wait for them to stop evolving:
Its much easier to change an outline that youve written down than one you havent.
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Of course, your plan will
evolve as you proceed with
the research.
Or some of you might change the topic due to some obstacle along the way!
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Component of Your Thesis
Title
Abstract (English and Malay)
Approval Pages
Acknowledgement
Table of Contents
List of Figures/Tables/Symbols and Abbreviation.
List of Appendices
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Component of Your Thesis (Cont..)
Chapter 1 : Introduction
Chapter 2 : Materials and Methods OR Methodology
Chapter 3 : Results & Discussion
Chapter 4 : Conclusion & Future Work
Reference or Bibliography
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Let us seeTitle
Cytotoxicity Study Of Piper porophyrophylum (Sireh rimau) On Human Cancer Cells
Factors That Influence Breastfeeding Practice Among Various Ethnic Mothers
Preliminary Screening of Cytotoxic Properties of Baccaurea angulata In Cervical Cancer Cell Line In Vitro
Hepatotoxicity Effect of Oyster, Crassostrea iredalei Lipid Extract In Mice
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General Format of Thesis
Must follow the guideline (Please check).
Spacing 1.5.
Content Outline and chapters must have numerical. (This can be done when you finish your writing).
Eg : 1.0 Introduction
1.1 Problem statmenet
1.2 Aim and Objectives
Etc..
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X
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Chapter 1: Introduction Introduction - says I am going to look at
the following things. General background the research/study.
- CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Research Background (1-3pages)
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Hypothesis
1.3 Research Questions
1.4 Literature Review
1.4.1 Overview on Cancer
1.4.2 Cervical Cancer
1.4.3 Plants as Anti-Cancer Agents
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What is Research Background?
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What is Literature Review?
A detailed literature review that embrace all aspects of the study, including theories, models, and techniques used.
You can decide the sub-title.
Ensure this part has a flow and highly related to your project.
Citation is very important.
You are reviewing other previous studies..
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Citation in Text
- How to cite?
1 author : Ibrahim (2013) reported that..
2-4 authors : Hopkin & Law (2013) .
5 and more authors:
Pitt et al., (2013)
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Chapter 2: Materials and Methods
- Or, Methodology for non-lab work
- Description of the work - details, so that others can follow what you did.
- Detailed experimental procedures (work done to test hypothesis), data collection, and statistical analysis.
- Materials is one section, and methods is another section. Do not mix them!
- Please include vouchering procedure and reference number (if any).
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Chapter 3 : Results and Discussion
You have TWO section here.
- 3.1 Results
Description of your findings.
Think the best way to present your data. (Type of graphs/table?)
Must be easy for reader/examiner to interpret your data.
Dont show the raw data in results section.(but you can locate in appendix if really interesting :P)
- 3.2 Discussion
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How to display your data?
Demographic Data
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Common Mistakes in Chapter 2
No valid description.
Statistical analysis not valid..n ?
No error bar on the graph.
Tend to discuss the results here.
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Chapter 3 : Results and Discussion
- 3.2 Discussion - The most important part of your thesis.
- Discuss the most significant results.
- Relate back with your objective and hypothesis.
- Is the objective achieve? If yes/no, how you proof and justify according to your findings and review from other peoples work?
- Impact of your study: relate with the problem statement, or with Mission and vision of our country or worldwide.
- Others.. (as required by supervisor)
- This section must have a story to tell.
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How to discuss?
Depends on your supervisor.
It can be:
a) Integrated discussion.
b) According to sub-topics.
However, the way to discuss really depends on your supervisor.
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OR
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Chapter 3 : Results and Discussion
- 3.3 Limitations of Study - Each study has its own limitation.
- show you know its limitations.
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Chapter 4: Conclusion and Future Direction/ Work
4.1 Conclusion
- It is a SUMMARY of what you have done.
- Include some research problem, objectives, the most significant results analysis and ending of statement.
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Chapter 4: Conclusion and Future Direction/ Work
4.2 Future Direction/ Future Work
- show you know whats missing.
- Suggest what kind of work that can be done by next researcher.
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Reference or Bibliography
Cover the field; examiners will look for the key references.
Usually we want the updated references (not more than 5 years)
But, the key paper, it is ok to have older than 5 years.
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Reference vs Bibliography
The Referencing page is where you reference all the pages, websites, journals etc which you have used and referenced in the text.
A bibliography page is all the books, journals etc which you have read but not used in the text. i.e you may of read something about other related disease (to your work) but not used it in your text.
Please choose either one, do you want references or bibliography!
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APPENDICES
Appendices are supplementary materials to the text. These include tables, charts, computer program listings, and others
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How do I get finished?
Answer: by not getting stuck.
Youve written most of it ...
... but for the bits youre avoiding ...
... you keep rewriting other bits ...
.. doing more reading ...
... tinkering with the layout ...
... seeking cute quotations ...
Q: Why are you stuck?
: Because youve set yourself too hard a task.
Dont be afraid to change your plan if it proves too hard.
Be savage in cutting irrelevant bits.
Learn how to notice symptoms of being stuck, and ask for help
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What should I do if I have a problem?
See your Supervisor.
See your Co-Supervisor(s).
See your Academic Advisor or Mentor (Personal)
See the postgrad student in your group.
Talk to friends.
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Reviewing
Get other people to read your drafts
Peers will give friendly comments (and may have the most time!)
Supervisor will steer you
Other academics will spot things your supervisor has missed.
Above all:
get the bugs out before the examiners see it.
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Summary 1
Start writing today (never tomorrow)
Make up a title page for inspiration
Write down your argument succinctly
Turn the argument into a chapter plan
Maintain a binder of stuff to put into these chapters
Dont be afraid to change the plan
Ensure you have the file back up. Use dropbox or email the latest document to yourself, or keep in thumb drive.
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From the Eyes of Examiner
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Uh oh, not another thesis to read... Your examiners are busy people
Examining theses is a chore, but:
It might help me keep up to date with an area of research
It might inspire me
I might learn something
I might gain a new colleague
Note: the reading will be done in trains, planes, with kids playing around and in the mid of
meetings!
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What are we looking in a thesis?
Whats this one about? Examiners have little time available, so they want to extract the most juice in the shortest time
: Typical Scanning Order
Title Abstract Introduction Discussion
Sounds ok or not?
What its about?
Look at problem
statement, and
objectives
Is this student able to discuss
the data?
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Then:
1) What questions now spring to mind?
2) ...read through...
3) Were the questions answered?
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Correction?
Now there must be some corrections
Some examiners dont feel theyve done the job unless they find some corrections to do.
Typical corrections
Typographical / grammatical errors
Poor presentation
Missing statements / references
(Superfluous / redundant statements)
Missing pieces of work
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Whole sections missing for example:
research questions critical review of literature
research methodology
presentation of results
validation of results
discussion and conclusions
Detecting reference which is not cited at all or not related.
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Checklist for you Adapted from Brown, G. and Atkins, M. (2010) Effective teaching in Higher
Education. London: Routledge
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English
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Writing Style
Academic writing vs non-academic.
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Checklist for Literature Review
To what extent is the review relevant to the
research study?
Has the candidate slipped into Here is all I know
about x?
Is there evidence of critical appraisal of other
work, or is the review just descriptive?
How well has the candidate mastered the technical
or theoretical literature?
Does the candidate make the links between the
review and his or her methodology explicit?
Is there a summary of the essential features of
other work as it relates to this study?
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Checklist for Methodology
What precautions were taken against likely sources
of bias?
What are the limitations in the methodology? Is
the candidate aware of them?
Is the methodology for data collection appropriate?
Are the techniques used for analysis appropriate?
In the circumstances, has the best methodology
been chosen?
Has the candidate given an adequate justification
to the methodology?
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Checklist for Results
Have the hypotheses in fact been tested?
Do the solutions obtained relate to the
questions posed?
Is the level and form of analysis appropriate
for the data?
Could the presentation of the results been
made clearer?
Are patterns and trends in the results
accurately identified and summarized?
Does the software appear to work satisfactorily?
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Checklist for Discussion and Conclusion
Is the candidate aware of possible limits to
confidence/reliability/validity of the work?
Have the main points to emerge from the
results been picked up for discussion?
Are there links made to the literature?
Is there evidence of attempts at theory building or reconceptualisation of problems?
Are there speculations? Are they well grounded
in the results?
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Please do not plagiat! We shall
use Turnitin software to check
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Summary 2
Know your audience
Help them to understand
Keep it simple but precise
Get the contents right.
Make sure youve covered the bases of your project.
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What else you can do with your FYP?
Poster / Oral Presentation at any symposium.
Article for publication.
Entering competition?
Working as Research Assistant for completing the project (if relevant).
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IRIEE 2015
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Thank You & Good Luck!