Thesis writing workshop Wojtek Gierlotka, MS&E. Outline The Format of a Thesis Subjects/Materials...

Thesis writingworkshop

Wojtek Gierlotka, MS&E

Outline The Format of a Thesis

Subjects/Materials

Data Collection Procedure

Data Analysis

Questions and Answers

Important!

This is a WORKSHOPSo let’s have some interaction.

The Format of a Thesis

This is not easy to talk about a thesis here.

Why? Because you are from different departments


Let’s take a look at the word a car.What do you imagine?

The Format of a ThesisExactly the same we can say about a Thesis

Thesis

Science and Engineering

Applied Mathematics

Physics

Life Science

…

Management Humanities and Social Science

Indigenous study Marine Science Education Art Environmental

StudyTeacher

Education

Each department will promote a slightly different format of a thesisMore…each teacher has its own style!


General rule:

Always respect reader – explain your work, even you think that something should be known.


Even the details can very from Department A to Department B,There are still general rules for writing thesis in English.

Let’s take a look at the rules:

The Format of a ThesisGeneral format:

Font - The recommended fonts are Book Antiqua or Times New Roman. Font size in the text must be 12. A larger font (14) can be used for headings.

Spacing - The recommended line spacing is 1.5. Longer quotations should be single-spaced and separated from the text.

Margins - The Master’s thesis is printed and bound for examination. When preparing the final draft of the Master’s thesis, make sure that the settings are set for 2-sided printing. Under page layout, choose ‘Mirrored’ Margins and set the ‘Inside’ margin at 4 cm. The other margins (top, bottom, outside) should be set at 2 cm.


Paragraphs - Paragraphs can be divided either by leaving a blank line between paragraphs, or by indenting the first line of a new paragraph by five spaces.

If the paragraph follows a new section heading, the first line is not indented.

Page numbering - Page numbering should be visible from the first page of the introduction. Previous pages such as the abstract and contents are counted but are not given visible page numbers. The title page is not counted. Page numbering continues until the end of the document, including the bibliography and appendices.


Highlighting - For highlighting or emphasis, use italics. Bold print can also be used for clarity if necessary (for instance if you use a lot of linguistic examples that require italics)..

Footnotes - Endnotes and footnotes should be used sparingly. If you do use notes, they should be placed at the bottom of the page using smaller font size (10) and single-spacing

The Format of a ThesisOrganization of the text

Sections and headings - The work should be divided into sections and, if necessary, subsections. All sections and subsections should have a clear and concise heading. The headings serve as guidelines of the overall organization of the thesis. Therefore headings that reflect the topic and content of the work are better than very general ones (e.g. Analysis). Chapter headings should be typed in capitals using bold print. Section headings are also typed with bold print, but not capitalized.

The Format of a ThesisThe level of the section is indicated with numbers. The number of levels depends on the length of the work and the complexity of the subject matter. However, too much complexity should be avoided: the number of levels should not be more than three or four.


2. Theoretical background

2.1 Gibbs Energy

2.1.1 Gibbs energy of a one-component phase

The Format of a Thesis Organization of sectionsThe main sections of Master’s thesis should be:

1. Title page2. Abstract3. Table of Contents4. List of Tables5. List of Figures6. List of Illustration/Maps/Slides7. Text8. Appendix9. Bibliography

The Format of a ThesisThere is possible to make it more complex:

1. Title page2. Dedication3. Acknowledgment4. Abstract5. Table of Contents6. List of Tables7. List of Figures8. List of Illustration/Maps/Slides9. Text10. Appendix11. Glossary12. Bibliography13. Vita

The Format of a ThesisThe Table of Contents must be placed before the text and any lists of tables, figures, etc. It consists of:• section titles, • chapter titles, • and as many or few subheadings as the author feels are necessary.

The section and chapter titles listed on the Table of Contents must exactly match the titles as they appear within the text. Chapters labeled in the Table of Contents with Arabic numbers (Chapter 3) must not lapse into Roman numerals (Chapter III) when they appear again in the text. Page numbers for chapters and subheadings are right justified on the Table of Contents and preceded by a dot leader.


Chapter One: Title……………………………………………………….…….1Chapter Two: Title……………………………………………………………18

Subheading Title…………………………………………………………19Chapter Three: Title…………………………………………………………...25


Footnotes and Bibliography

A Bibliography, or Reference, section must always appear at the end of the thesis or report, even in theses where chapter end notes have been used. When an author chooses to include the optional Vita page, the bibliography immediately precedes the Vita, which will be the last page in the thesis or report. The bibliography is the last page in theses and reports that do not include a Vita page.

Footnote citations must be sufficiently exact to enable the reader to find the source with ease. Any standardized form for footnotes and bibliography approved by your supervisor is acceptable if followed consistently.


TextChapter 1: Purpose and Significance of the Study

In the first chapter, clearly state what the purpose of the study is and explain the study's significance. The significance is addressed by discussing how the study adds to the theoretical body of knowledge in the field and the study's practical significance for communication professionals in the field being examined.


Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

The purpose of the study should suggest some theoretical framework to be explained further in this chapter. The literature review thus describes and analyzes previous research on the topic. This chapter, however, should not merely string together what other researchers have found. Rather, you should discuss and analyze the body of knowledge with the ultimate goal of determining what is known and is not known about the topic. This determination leads to your research questions and/or hypotheses. In some cases, of course, you may determine that replicating previous research is needed.


Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter describes and justifies the data gathering method used. This chapter also outlines how you analyzed your data. Begin by describing the method you chose and why this method was the most appropriate. In doing so, you should cite reference literature about the method. Next, detail every step of the data gathering and analysis process.

The Format of a ThesisAlthough this section varies depending on method and analysis technique chosen, many of the following areas typically are addressed:

description of research design: internal validity, external validity description of population and description of and justification for type of sample used or

method for selecting units of observation development of instrument or method for making observations (e.g., question guide,

categories for content analysis) pre-test, reliability and validity of instrument or method administration of instrument or method for making observations (e.g., interviews,

observation, content analysis) coding of data description of data analysis: statistical analysis and tests performed, identification of

themes/categories (qualitative or historical research)

The Format of a ThesisChapter 4: Findings

This chapter addresses the results from your data analysis only. This chapter does not include discussing other research literature or the implications of your findings. Usually you begin by outlining any descriptive or exploratory/confirmatory analyses (e.g., reliability tests, factor analysis) that were conducted. You next address the results of the tests of hypotheses. You then discuss any ex post facto analysis. Tables and/or figures should be used to illustrate and summarize all numeric information.

The Format of a ThesisChapter 5: Discussion

The purpose of this chapter is not just to reiterate what you found but rather to discuss what your findings mean in relation to the theoretical body of knowledge on the topic and your profession. Typically, students skimp on this chapter even though it may be the most important one because it answers the "So what?" question. Begin by discussing your findings in relation to the theoretical framework introduced in the literature review. In some cases, you may need to introduce new literature (particularly with qualitative research). This chapter also should address what your findings mean for communication professionals in the field being examined. In other words, what are the study's practical implications?


FinishingDo not expect to begin and finish your thesis in the same semester. You need to make significant progress (which usually means you are already collecting data) the semester before you want to graduate.

The defense is scheduled when the thesis has been completed successfully - not when it is convenient for the student to graduate. Even if nothing goes wrong (and things often do), a quality thesis takes about six to nine months to complete (from inception to graduate school clearance).

The Format of a ThesisDo not expect your chair or committee members to copy edit your thesis or dissertation. Before turning in any drafts, you should carefully edit and spell check your work.

Editing occurs at two different levels at least. Micro editing involves correcting spelling and grammatical errors. It also involves checking for proper paragraph and sentence structure, consistent use of terms, and variety in word choice.Macro editing assesses the overall structure of the thesis. This includes making sure each chapter flows logically from the previous chapter, headings and subheadings are used properly and consistently, and transitions are included between major topics. Macro editing also determines whether any parts of the thesis need to be streamlined or expanded.


Leave time for the chair to read your completed thesis or dissertation at least twice before giving it to your committee members. Don't expect to submit the completed thesis or dissertation for the first time to the chair and defend in the same or following week.

Also, it is customary to give the thesis or dissertation to committee members at least a week before the defense.


It is the student’s responsibility to reserve a room for the defense and to bring the signature page and the examination form to the defense.

Be prepared for revisions after the defense. You can expedite clearance by the graduate school by letting the staff examine a draft of the thesis or dissertation before you defend.

It is customary to provide your chair and committee members with a bound copy of the final version of the thesis or dissertation.

Subjects/Materials

The following subjects are proposal – they usually will be included.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter I. INTRODUCTION.A. Broad introduction to thesis topic and method. Page or two. Write after remainder of proposal is completed.B. Research problem. State broadly, in question form. Give sub-questions. Explain carefully. In one sense, usually the problem is to expand the body of knowledge examined in the literature review.C. Need for the research. Who will benefit? Discuss applied and scientific contributions.D. Nominal definitions. Define central terms.E. Context. Add further info to clarify the research problem.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter II. THEORY. Literature review. Organize by idea; avoid stringing together abstracts of articles.A. Overview. Theoretical foundations.B. Literature. Group articles by ideas. For a given idea, first discuss common strands in the literature, then departures.C. Model. Of a process, usually. Based on the literature reviewed.D. Hypotheses (in broad sense of the term; also called Propositions). For each, give brief restatement of justification tied to earlier sections; explain derivation and implications. Include assumptions. Explicitly state plausible rival hypotheses (explanations of process) of a substantive nature.E. Scope of the study. Theoretical assumptions; discuss limitations they impose.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter III. METHODS. Outline in a few pages.A. Introduction. General description of method and design.B. Design. Experiment, quasi-experiment, survey, and so forth. Detailed description.C. Sample. Universe, population, element, sample design, tolerance, probability.D. Measurement. Operational definitions. Include, as applicable, detailed discussion of indexes/ scales. Specify methods used to assess validity and reliability.E. Analysis. Techniques to be used; justification. Nature of relationships expected (e.g., asymmetrical, symmetrical, reciprocal; linear, monotonic, other curvilinear; necessary, sufficient, necessary and sufficient). Include dummy tables and worked examples of statistics.F. Validity. Design: Internal and external, with relevant subtypes.G. Methodological assumptions. Discuss limitations they impose.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter IV. FINDINGS.A. Brief overview.B. Results of application of method; any unusual situations encountered. Nature of sample. C. Descriptive analysis. One-way frequency distributions on central variables.D. Validity/reliability analysis.E. Tests of hypotheses. ANOVAs, crosstabulations, correlations, and such, depending on techniques used; give in same order as hypotheses.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter V. DISCUSSION. When discussing implications, deal with both the theoretical and the practical. Present only interpretations of the findings, not opinion.A. Brief overview.B. Discussion of results of application of method. Implications.C. Discussion of descriptive analysis. Implications. D. Discussion of tests of hypothesis. Implications. E. Post-hoc analysis. Implications.

Subjects/Materials

Chapter VI. CONCLUSION. May include writer's opinion.A. Summary of entire thesis in a few pages.B. Conclusions. Refer to lit review.C. Implications. Speculate about broadest possible consequences, both theoretical and practical. Label speculation clearly.D. Limitations. Theory, method.E. Suggestions for future research.

Subjects/Materials

APPENDICES.A. Schedule. In Gantt Chart form.

B. Facilities. Faculty and staff expertise, library and computer resources, other special facilities contributing to a successful study.C. Budget.D. Bibliographic essay. Sources searched (indexes, abstracts, bibliographies, etc.). Strengths and weaknesses of literature.

Subjects/Materials

BIBLIOGRAPHY. Include all relevant sources examined, whether cited or not.

Data collection procedure

Before we go to data collection from our own experiment, let’s talk about collection of literature data


Where to find references:


How to decide which reference is good?

Impact factor of the Journal

Ranking of the Journal


There are so-called “open access” journals.Be careful! In general these journals work as follow:

You pay, you publish

You never can be sure if the paper has a good quality. Check authors in Scopus or Web of Science


Never include to your references papers you didn’t read!!!!!

To do it, it’s like playing Chinese whispers (or deaf telephone). Let’s play and we will see the result.

One person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group. You can not repeat the message, you whisper ONLY once.

Data collection procedureMethods of data collection:

Census. A census is a study that obtains data from every member of a population. In most studies, a census is not practical, because of the cost and/or time required.

Sample survey. A sample survey is a study that obtains data from a subset of a population, in order to estimate population attributes.

Experiment. An experiment is a controlled study in which the researcher attempts to understand cause-and-effect relationships.

Observational study. Like experiments, observational studies attempt to understand cause-and-effect relationships. However, unlike experiments, the researcher is not able to control it.


Each method of data collection has advantages and disadvantages.

Resources. When the population is large, a sample survey has a big resource advantage over a census. A well-designed sample survey can provide very precise estimates of population parameters - quicker, cheaper, and with less manpower than a census.

Causal inference. Cause-and-effect relationships can be teased out when subjects are randomly assigned to groups. Therefore, experiments, which allow the researcher to control assignment of subjects to treatment groups, are the best method for investigating causal relationships.


Generalizability. Generalizability refers to the appropriateness of applying findings from a study to a larger population. Generalizability requires random selection. If participants in a study are randomly selected from a larger population, it is appropriate to generalize study results to the larger population; if not, it is not appropriate to generalize.

Observational studies do not feature random selection; so generalizing from the results of an observational study to a larger population can be a problem.


ProblemWhich of the following statements are true?I. A sample survey is an example of an experimental study. II. An observational study requires fewer resources than an experiment. III. The best method for investigating causal relationships is an observational study.(A) I only (B) II only (C) III only (D) All of the above. (E) None of the above.


The correct answer is (E). In a sample survey, the researcher does not assign treatments to survey respondents. Therefore, a sample survey is not an experimental study; rather, it is an observational study. An observational study may or may not require fewer resources (time, money, manpower) than an experiment. The best method for investigating causal relationships is an experiment - not an observational study - because an experiment features randomized assignment of subjects to treatment groups.


Collecting data from experiment: Always provide raw data! Provide conditions of the experiment, so everyone can repeat Calculate or estimate experimental error Graphs are easier to understand than tables


Each field of science will have its own specific data collection procedure. However there is one very smart sentence:

If you have two different datasets from the same experiment, only one is correct. It’s impossible that both are correct.

Data analysis

The data analysis is a huge part of a science. You can learn it if you join the Statistics class (1 or 2 or even more semesters!!!).

Every “more advanced” software like Matlab, Mathematica, StatGraph, MathCad or even Excel provide a set of tools for data analysis.

Data analysis

Since everyone has access to Excel, let’s take a look at very simple data analysis that can be done using this software.

Data analysis

The Analysis ToolPak is an Excel add-in program that provides data analysis tools for financial, statistical and engineering data analysis.To load the Analysis ToolPak add-in, execute the following steps.

1. Click on the green File tab. The File tab in Excel 2010 replaces the Office Button (or File Menu) in previous versions of Excel.

Data analysis

Click Options

Data analysis

Under Add-ins, select Analysis ToolPak and click on the Go button

Data analysis

Check Analysis ToolPak and click on OK

Data analysis

On the Data tab, you can now click on Data Analysis

Data analysisThe correlation coefficient (a value between -1 and +1) tells you how strongly two variables are related to each other. We can use the CORREL function or the Analysis Toolpak add-in in Excel to find the correlation coefficient between two variables.

A correlation coefficient of +1 indicates a perfect positive correlation. As variable X increases, variable Y increases. As variable X decreases, variable Y decreases.

A correlation coefficient of -1 indicates a perfect negative correlation. As variable X increases, variable Z decreases. As variable X decreases, variable Z increases.

A correlation coefficient near 0 indicates no correlation.

Data analysis1. On the Data tab, click Data Analysis.

Data analysis2. Select Correlation and click OK.

Data analysis3. For example, select the range A1:C6 as the Input Range.

Data analysis4. Check Labels in first row.5. Select cell A9 as the Output Range.6. Click OK.

Data analysisResult.Conclusion: variables A and C are positively correlated (0.91). Variables A and B are not correlated (0.19). Variables B and C are also not correlated (0.11) . You can verify these conclusions by looking at the graph.

Data analysisRegressionBelow you can find our data. The big question is: is there a relation between Quantity Sold (Output) and Price and Advertising (Input). In other words: can we predict Quantity Sold if we know Price and Advertising?

Data analysis1. On the Data tab, click Data Analysis.

2. Select Regression and click OK

Data analysis3. Select the Y Range (A1:A8). This is the predictor variable (also called dependent variable).4. Select the X Range(B1:C8). These are the explanatory variables (also called independent variables). These columns must be adjacent to each other.5. Check Labels.6. Select an Output Range.7. Check Residuals.8. Click OK.

Data analysisExcel produces the following Summary Output (rounded to 3 decimal places).

R SquareR Square equals 0.962, which is a very good fit. 96% of the variation in Quantity Sold is explained by the independent variables Price and Advertising. The closer to 1, the better the regression line (read on) fits the data.

Data analysisSignificance F and P-valuesTo check if your results are reliable (statistically significant), look at Significance F (0.001). If this value is less than 0.05, you're OK. If Significance F is greater than 0.05, it's probably better to stop using this set of independent variables. Delete a variable with a high P-value (greater than 0.05) and rerun the regression until Significance F drops below 0.05.Most or all P-values should be below below 0.05. In our example this is the case. (0.000, 0.001 and 0.005).

Data analysisCoefficientsThe regression line is: y = Quantity Sold = 8536.214 -835.722 * Price + 0.592 * Advertising. In other words, for each unit increase in price, Quantity Sold decreases with 835.722 units. For each unit increase in Advertising, Quantity Sold increases with 0.592 units. This is valuable information.You can also use these coefficients to do a forecast. For example, if price equals $4 and Advertising equals $3000, you might be able to achieve a Quantity Sold of 8536.214 -835.722 * 4 + 0.592 * 3000 = 6970.

Data analysisResidualsThe residuals show you how far away the actual data points are from the predicted data points (using the equation). For example, the first data point equals 8500. Using the equation, the predicted data point equals 8536.214 -835.722 * 2 + 0.592 * 2800 = 8523.009, giving a residual of 8500 - 8523.009 = -23.009.

You can also create a scatter plot of these residuals.

Data analysis

Descriptive StatisticsYou can use the Analysis Toolpak add-in to generate descriptive statistics. For example, you may have the scores of 14 participants for a test.

Data analysisTo generate descriptive statistics for these scores, execute the following steps.1. On the Data tab, click Data Analysis.

2. Select Descriptive Statistics and click OK

Data analysis3. Select the range A2:A15 as the Input Range.4. Select cell C1 as the Output Range.5. Make sure Summary statistics is checked.6. Click OK.

Data analysisResult:

Questions and Answers

Questions and answers

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Thesis writing workshop Wojtek Gierlotka, MS&E. Outline The Format of a Thesis Subjects/Materials...

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