writing your thesis

School of Engineering and Informatics

Ronald Grau

Department of Informatics

November 2014

agenda

The significance of the thesis to your PhD

The overall process of writing-up and handing in

Tips on how to structure and compose your thesis effectively

Advice on style, writing about software, and the use of figures and tables

Useful techniques to help you starting to write and maintaining progress

Practical tips from experience

Copyright issues

Some of the formalities to keep in mind

a quick reminder – what is this all about?

Merriam-Webster encyclopaedia on „thesis“:

“A dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating

a specific view; especially: one written by a candidate for an academic degree.”

“A position or proposition that a person (as a candidate for scholastic honors)

advances and offers to maintain by argument.”

The thesis is the documentation of your PhD research endeavour

in general, and your work and achievements in particular.

It is the basis of examination and required for obtaining your

academic degree.

composing your thesis – a journey

A substantial piece of writing

Requires time and motivation to put together

Writing is creative work: Cannot be laid out entirely in advance

Don’t Panic!

Can be made a feasible task by splitting into manageable chunks

Progress is usually increasing towards the end

Making and sticking to plans helps

Being organised helps, too

Your supervisor will guide you along the way

planning and organisation

Make a plan with milestones and concrete deadlines.

http://ithinkwell.com.au/PhDToolkit/index.html

Esp. useful: Overall outline, chapter tasks, weekly and daily to-do lists

Organise references, notes, summaries, and other materials.

Use software like Endnote, Zotero, Evernote, etc.

Explore the suitability of different working environments for writing.

Library, Lab, Bed, Kitchen, Pub, … ?

Make a writing times schedule and stick to it.

Get any required tools, software, and a reliable file backup regime in place.

Meet with your supervisor on a regular basis to discuss progress.

writing – your audience

Question: Who are your readers?

writing – your audience

Your readers:

Supervisor

Thesis Committee

Examiners

The scientific community in general

writing – your audience

Your supervisor

Encourages and guides you along the way to make sure you’re not going off-track in your

research. Cannot make your argument for you but point out possibly fruitful directions to

explore. Will tell you whether what you have written is convincing but may be less

critical towards your research than other people in the scientific community.

The people on your thesis committee

They read your annual reports, sometimes also selected chapters of the thesis.

They can be an invaluable source of constructive criticism.

Your examiners:

One internal and one external

They will read your work in time slices – keep this in mind when writing.

What are they looking for in your thesis?

writing – your audience

Examiners’ expectations (1 of 2)

Knowledge of the field and the literature

Reviewed literature must be understood, and relevant to your work.

Critical appraisal rather than descriptive “I know all about topic x”-style

The reviewed literature should be relevant for your own methodology

Methodology

Appropriate for collecting data / addressing the research question

Bias / Justification

Allows for a suitable and consistent analysis

Adapted and condensed from Steve Easterbrook: “How Theses get Written: Some Cool Tips”

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~sme/presentations/thesiswriting.pdf

writing – your audience

Examiners’ expectations (2 of 2)

Results

Is the presentation of results clear?

Do the results relate to the hypotheses / research questions asked?

Are the results reproducible / do they fit the analysis?

Does the software work? (if you created any)

Discussion and Conclusions

Is there a discussion of achievements as well as limitations of the work?

Have the main points to emerge from the results been picked up for discussion?

Is there evidence of attempts at theory building or reconceptualisation of problems?

Has it been made clear how the thesis extends any previous work?

Adapted and condensed from Steve Easterbrook: “How Theses get Written: Some Cool Tips”

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~sme/presentations/thesiswriting.pdf

writing – how to start?

“Layered Writing” technique

Produces a structured outline of your thesis content

1. Find some main chapter headings.

2. Write bullet points and/or sentences to indicate the contents of each section.

3. Categorise and order the above to find sub-headings for every chapter.

4. Write a short introductory paragraph for every section.

5. Make notes on how you want to develop each section.

6. Go back to 1 or 2 and repeat, as necessary.

Refinement and revision of structure is an ongoing process.

Adapted from R. Murray: “How To Write a Thesis”,

2nd ed., Open University Press, 2007, p125.

writing – create an outline

Question: What are chapters that are commonly found in a thesis?

writing – create an outline

Example chapters:

Introduction

Background/Literature Review/Related Work

Approach/Method/Theory/Synthesis

Experiment/Data/Case Study/Materials/Subjects

About your software

Analysis/Findings/Evaluation/Results

Interpretation/Discussion

Conclusions/Implications/Recommendations/Outlook/Future Work

Adapted from R. Murray: “How To Write a Thesis”,

2nd ed., Open University Press, 2007, p123.

writing – start developing your sections

Example chapter: Literature Review

Ask yourself:

Why do you write about related work?

How can you write about related work?

writing – start developing your sections

Example chapter: Literature Review - Objectives

Establish an understanding of the state of the art.

Select work that is relevant for your research.

Evaluate this other work in the context of your own research.

Link your work to the existing literature.

Show the reader where your own ideas originate.

Justify why you omitted certain work.

Identify gaps that would allow you to make a contribution to the field.

Inform and justify the synthesis of your own theoretical contribution or

specific methodology with an analysis and critique of related work.

writing – start developing your sections

Example: Literature Review – Try to find phrases to answer these questions:

Whose work is this? What is the argument made here?

Why is this work relevant for my research problem?

Which part of my research does this work relate to?

Are there specifically defined terms that are important for my research?

How does the subject or method compare to my own?

Has someone else found a better way of doing x?

What in this work can be adapted to be of use for my own research?

Is there anything missing in this approach that I would provide or develop?

Adapted from R. Murray: “How To Write a Thesis”,

2nd ed., Open University Press, 2007,p114,115.

other writing techniques

Free-Writing and Generative Writing

Write for 5 minutes

Without stopping or correcting mistakes

In full sentences

Informal - no particular structure needed

No external reader (FW) / optional external reader (GW)

About anything (FW) / About a specific topic (GW)

Adapted from R. Murray: “How To Write a Thesis”,

2nd ed., Open University Press, 2007, p88,99.

other writing techniques

Task: Try 5 minutes of free or generative writing about your research

Topic suggestions

About your research question / main hypothesis.

Why is your research original?

What are the main schools of thought in your research area?

About an interesting paper you have read recently.

Why are you finding it difficult to write?

other writing techniques

Summary: Free-Writing and Generative Writing

A good warm-up for writing, gets you into the habit

Develop fluency without correcting too early

Discover and interrelate topics through writing

Frees your thinking & allows articulating problems you may have

May help you change your behaviour towards becoming a serial writer

Usefulness of either technique may vary depending on the task & your preferences

Adapted from R. Murray: “How To Write a Thesis”,

2nd ed., Open University Press, 2007, p94.

writing – tips on style

In your formal writing, communicate effectively with your audience.

Communication = translation of ideas into messages that your readers can understand.

Try to be precise, clear, and concise – especially if your subject is complex.

Avoid repetition of content within the same section.

When writing about your own work, decide whether to use the active or the passive

voice and then stick to it.

Make sure you actually build and support your overall argument.

Your writing should transform existing knowledge, not just restate it.

writing – more tips on style

Frequent signposting and summarising makes your thesis readable.

In the introduction

At the beginning of each chapter

In between larger sections

At the end of each chapter

writing – avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism can spoil your entire effort – be careful

It is important to make clear when you used somebody else’s ideas

(Not for common knowledge)

Plagiarism is often unintentional: Be disciplined when creating notes or

summaries for your literature review. Mark any phrases and sentences that

are not your own.

Check your manuscript before submission

TurnItIn (via Study Direct)

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/ideas/assessment/turn/use

figures and tables

How to make good use of figures and tables in your thesis

Summarising (usually larger) bodies of information

Structuring information according to certain criteria

Explaining a complex concept or idea

Illustrating relationships between concepts or ideas

When using diagrams, pick those types that represent the information effectively

for your task or objective (e.g., to make some data comparable in a diagram).

Do not leave figures or tables to stand uncommented. This will attract criticism.

Use figures and tables effectively by utilizing them in your writing:

Reference them to support an argument, highlight facts, explain relations, etc.

figures and tables

Software for creating figures and tables

Your text processing software will usually have good integrated features for the

handling of tables

Use a separate, specialised program to prepare figures – e.g., Adobe Photoshop, MS

Visio or PowerPoint, Open Office Draw, etc.

Keep copies in formats that retain individual objects / layers should you have to make

changes later (e.g.: PSD, PPT, ODG)

Save figures in appropriate file formats (e.g.: PNG, JPG - depending on content) before

importing them into your manuscript

Printing quality: Make figures in a sufficiently large resolution (~300dpi), disable

picture compression in your text processing software, if applicable.

writing about your software

Tell the reader what the purpose of your software is early on in your thesis.

Tell them again in more detail before referring to any technicalities.

It is ok to use screen shots of your software as figures to illustrate parts of your

method/approach before you explain everything else about it in a later chapter.

Link the software development to your research by justifying your design decisions.

Routine technical/implementation details are usually not written about in a thesis.

If you want to look for inspiration: Find journal articles about software applications

and compare how the authors presented theirs.

Apart from the writing: Make sure it actually works.

(You may have to give a demo in your viva)

Thanks go to Prof. Peter Cheng for his

constructive input on this matter.

finalising

Knowing when to stop

When “sufficient” work has been done – consult with your supervisor

When there’s little left to improve on the big scale – don’t get caught up in details

Double-check your references

Double-check formatting

Proofreading

Your readers expect proper use of language

Don’t rely solely on your supervisor for this: Your friends and colleagues may be

willing to read some parts of your thesis and provide feedback, too

If uncertain about your language proficiency, consider using a professional

proofreading service

tips for survival

How to maintain your motivation to complete

Try to stick to your overall plan but don’t panic if you fall behind somewhat - the

amount of progress you make will often vary

As you progress, try to work out and refine concrete tasks for every chapter

If you feel overwhelmed by a task, try to break it down into parts

Reward yourself for parts completed: Try to take breaks without feeling guilty.

Have a change of activity from time to time: Do the dishes, go for a walk, or get

some exercise. Do make sure you go back to work afterwards, though.

more tips for survival

Procrastination

Mental + physical state that can be destructive to your progress

Symptoms: Occupying oneself with easy or repetitive activities (either related or

unrelated to the thesis), instead of working on planned or more important issues,

hiding from supervisor, feeling guilty for not progressing

How to deal with it

Try to find out why you are procrastinating:

Low spirit / motivation? Overwhelmed by a task? Unable to make a decision? Lack of

knowledge or ideas? Tiredness?

Take action (see also the previous slides) to attack the problem without further delay.

Resist the temptation to let yourself be distracted. You must break the vicious cycle!

Putting on music may be useful, as this helps some people focus, and prevents them

from engaging with more distracting things (videos, news websites, games, etc.)

more tips for survival

Writer’s block

You’re not procrastinating but still don’t know what to write / how to proceed

You may have over-structured your content without actually producing much text

You may need to get new ideas or a new perspective on things

How to deal with it

Try free-writing and/or generative writing to kick-start a creative process

Re-reading some related literature may help you get new insights

Talk to a colleague about the problematic subject in an informal setting

See if you can write after restructuring the current section

more tips for survival

If you really, really can’t

If you’re physically or mentally exhausted, there is little point in trying to soldier

on – you are unlikely to achieve much when you’re tired.

Do not remain at your desk doing unproductive things.

Take a proper break. Go outside, get some exercise, meet friends, or catch up on

some sleep. You will feel better and more ready to continue work afterwards.

some formalities

2 months before submission

Hand in “Intention to submit”

Attach the abstract of your thesis

How many copies?

3 required for Sussex House (Supervisor, Internal examiner, External examiner)

Submit final-bound copies after successful viva + completed corrections (if any)

Don’t forget to get one bound for yourself, too

Find all details and more useful advice here:

Engineering and Informatics Research Student Handbook http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ei/internal/documents/enginf-handbook-for-research-students.pdf

University Handbook and Regulations for Doctoral Researchers http://www.sussex.ac.uk/doctoralschool/internal/codesandhandbooks

further information

Other workshops offered by the doctoral school http://www.sussex.ac.uk/doctoralschool/internal/researcherdev/events/

School of Engineering and Informatics: Postgraduate Course in Research Methods and Skills (Prof. Peter Cheng)

Rowena Murray: “How to Write a Thesis”, and other related works Search the University Library Catalogue

John Cochrane: “Writing Tips for Ph. D. Students” http://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-voice-weasel-words-duplicates/

3 shell scripts to improve your writing http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/phd_paper_writing.pdf

Bundy et al.: “The Researcher’s Bible” http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/bundy/how-tos/resbible.html

There are many more such guides on the Web - feel free to explore but make sure you spend your time effectively (i.e.: mostly working on your thesis)

Many thanks to

Miro Batchkarov

for pointing these out

Related workshop:

Exploring academic writing

(for science researchers)

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/doctoralschool/internal/researcherdev/events/

E: researcher-development@sussex.ac.uk

T: 01273 873366

Related online modules:

Writing your thesis

Writing tips for researchers

Visit the Workshops and Events page to view workshop

recommendations by research stage