How To Write Thesis

Prakash Adhikari Final Year Resident (ENT- HNS) GMS Memorial Academy of ENT and Head and Neck Studies, TU Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal

 Introduction  Choosing

topic  Supervisor  Starting thesis  Thesis structure  Further readings  Take home message

•"a proposition that is maintained by argument" •“a lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral degree at a university" •Thesis is a contention or principle of which you would like to convince your reader •A dissertation is a written presentation of it.

An argument An exposition of an original piece of research The product of an apprenticeship Probably the largest piece of work you’ll ever do Something that could be published:  No

matter how good your research is, you MUST write a good thesis

 Part

of a university degree  Formal scientific report whose purpose is to show an original contribution to knowledge

 Cultivating

an inquiring mind  Encouraging in depth study of common problems afflicting our people  Generation of scientific data locally  Keeping abreast of new developments locally and abroad  Understanding the fundamentals of research

 Contestable  Proposing

an arguable point  A strong thesis is provocative  Takes a stand and justifies the discussion you will present.  Specific and focused.  Asserts your own conclusion based on evidence.

 Provides

the reader with a map to guide him/her through your work.  Anticipates and refutes the counterarguments  Avoids vague language (like "it seems").

Specific topic + Attitude/Angle/Argument = Thesis What you plan to argue + How you plan to argue it = Thesis

 Self

interest  Identify problem and its relevance  Common problem  Applicable  What information is available  Ethical acceptance  Methods of data collection  Analysis of data  Expected outcome  Usefulness of your thesis

 www.hinari.com  Login-

nep002  Password:44374  www.pubmed.com  www.google.com

 you

must present a thorough review of the existing literature on the subject, and on closely related subjects.  make direct reference to your literature review  you must demonstrate that your question  has

not been previously answered  is worth answering

 the

examiners read your thesis to find the answers to the following questions:  What

is this student's research question?  Is it a good question? (has it been answered before? is it a useful question to work on?)  Did the student convince me that the question was adequately answered?  Has the student made an adequate contribution to knowledge?



Maintain regular contact with your supervisor(s)



You should show sections, or preferably complete chapters with a reference list, of your thesis to your supervisor(s) at regular intervals



At the end of each discussion with your supervisor, make an appointment for your next meeting.

 Consult

with supervisor  First- thesis protocol presentation in the Department.  After approval- Presented to IRB of our hospital.

 Thesis

to be done in following sub-speciality.

Name of Resident

Unit

Arun KC

I

Robin Acharya

I

Shiva Kumar Shahi

II

Lit Joy

II

Saloni Sinha

III

Ramesh Parajuli

IV



 

 



Thesis should be presented and started within first six months of residency Completed in 2 ½ of residency Submitted at that time Total six presentation in the Department One presentation in ethical approval committee Presentation should be submitted to guides and co-guides:: 7- 10 days before presentation

 Timetable

and Milestones  Experience tells us (the supervisors) that thesis work always takes longer than expected by the students

Problem / Interest To set your research question, first you have to set the problem you want to deal with.  You can start from checking those experiences that you feel unsatisfactory about. 

Or something you feel you are interested in.  Or something unclear you want to clarify.  Or something you want to make better. 

Important:  You are not to study the problem  You are to address one or several of the questions that explicate the problem.

Problem Questions / Questions of Interest  You

then develop problem questions/ statements around the problem.

 Problem

questions / statements of what you want to know about the unsatisfactory situation.

 Choose

from the problem questions to form your research questions.

Formulating Your Thesis Topic Research Question / Thesis Topic • Select a few of the problem questions you generated. Integrate them to form your research question / thesis topic. • Refine your research question concisely to form your thesis title.

 Comparison

of once daily mometasone furoate and fluticasone propionate aqueous nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

Developing Your Thesis Purpose / Rationale / Aim • You need to state the problem / interest that triggers your research. • You also need to state, after addressing the research question, your rationale / purpose in pursuing that research question.

Developing Your Thesis Hypotheses / Models / Relationships You have to break down your research question

into a number of hypotheses / relationships to examine.

Hypotheses are to state your

expectations/affirmations about the nature of some situation regarding your research question.

They are tentative propositions / models for

investigation.

They are to be confirmed or denied by the

evidence collected from your research inquiry.

Significance & Limitations of Study Significance of Study is to extend the utility and value of your study beyond the context you are studying & applying. Limitations of Study is to state the boundaries of your study to stop readers from arguing with you on something out of your remits or difficult to carry out in the context of your study.

 Capital

letters  Short, understandable without abbreviations  Less than 10 words  Indicative and informative

COMPARISON OF ONCE DAILY MOMETASONE FUROATE AND FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE AQUEOUS NASAL SPRAYS FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALLERGIC RHINITIS.

 Dedicated

to my patients

I would like to express my sincere thanks an gratitude to various people who have helped and guided me on my thesis work. I am indebted to my guide.....................

 Figure

1.  Figure 2.  Figure 3.  Figure 4.  Figure 5.

 Type

one side of paper, double spacing, 12- pint

font  Leave margin 1 ½ inch on each side  Write page numbers  From declaration to abstract – Roman no. (I,II)  From introduction onwards- Arabic (1,2,3,...)  Divide into sections  Begin each section in new page  Write with a good English  Short and simple sentence  Around 20,000 words

 Keep

the patient information- confidential  Take consent from patients/ caretakers/parents  Measurement – SI unit  Take ethical approval from IRB

 Verbosity  Tenses  singular

and pleural forms  Technical jargon  Slang terms

 Typically

300 - 350 words  Concise, short, informative, explanatory, interesting  Summarizes thesis research and conclusions  Structured abstract (IMRC)  First sentence should introduce the most important concept  Last sentence should be the “take home” message.  Past tense  Keywords: 3-7.

IMRAD

 Start

with a paragraph outlines the general theme of the subject and acts almost as a ‘thesis statement’  Introduce your topic, in a way that indicates its importance  Indicate briefly the research that has been done on the topic  Identify a gap, problem, controversy, etc., in the existing research

 Explain

how the present research will fill that gap, solve that problem – Usually done by an overview of the relevant literature. – Be through, but not exhaustive  Enough information but not too much

 Current

status of knowledge  Review relevant literature both positive and negative  Go to the depth of your topic  Review literature of last 5 years (Preferably)  If relevant and historical – older references  If available - local literature  Reference the other’s literature

 Related

to the statement of the problem  Starts with To.......  E.g.  Don’t use vague terms- to study, to understand etc.

General objective  To compare efficacy of once daily mometasone furoate nasal sprays with that of fluticasone furoate for treatment of allergic rhinitis. Specific objectives  To determine the efficacy of once daily mometasone furoate nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.  To determine the efficacy of once daily fluticasone propionate nasal sprays for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.  To compare efficacy of once daily mometasone furoate nasal sprays with that of fluticasone furoate for treatment of allergic rhinitis.

 Make

your study powerful  Past tense  Follow a logical order  Correct measurement units

 Study

design  Settings  Duration of the study  Inclusion criteria  Exclusion criteria  Sampling method  Sample size calculation  Patient selection ( Study group/ control group)  Techniques used- explain it in details.  Instrument used--------details  Statistical analysis

Present it in orderly manner- according to your objectives  Express in tables, text or figures  Number it  Analyze it with suitable statistical methods and their significance  Provide data whether it is significant e.g express pvalue, CI etc.  Emphasize or summarize important observations but do not repeat all the data shown in tables or figures.  Do not give explanation of your result. Do not describe it  If patient lost for F/U: mention it  Legends: in table::above and in figures::below 

LYMPHADENOPATHY CORRELATION 25

No of Patients

25 20

19

20 14

15

9

10

FNAC HPE

5 0

9

Tubercular

Granulomatous disease PATHOLOGY

Reactive LN

GENDER DISTRIBUTION OF LYMPH NODE IN NECK FEMALE MALE

23 25

 Revisit

your hypotheses  Were they confirmed or not?  Interpret your findings in light of your objectives  Ask and answer the “why” questions  Discuss implications of your results  Comment on the limitations of study, if it warrants it.  Be very careful here.  Discuss directions for future research or action.  Sometimes people end with an conclusion paragraph.

 Relate

your findings with other study  Weakness of your study  Future work  (do not write results again- you compare with other study, present in a logical flow as per your aims and results)  State any new hypothesis, but make it clear that they are new.

 As

per objectives  Based on your results  Recommendations for future studies

 Should

be in consecutive order in which they are first mentioned in the text.  Reference in text should be identified by Arabic numerals as superscript  Use Vancouver system.  Controversial: abbreviation of journal as per index Medicus. ( But there should be uniformity)

 Usually,

most oesophageal foreign bodies in children have been removed with rigid oesophagoscopy under general anaesthesia.1 ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………removal by foley’s catheter, use of balloon catheter in conjunction with tooth forceps, …………… use of bougie to advance into the stomach and surgery apart from a few other innovative practices.2,3

1. Marrow SE, Bickler SW, Kennedy AP, Syndler CL. Baloon extraction of esophageal foreign bodies in children. J Pediatr Surg 1998;33:266-70. 2. Dunlap LB. Removal of an esophageal foreign body using a foley catheter. Am Emerg Med 1981;10:101-3. 3. Calkins CM, Christians KK, Sell LL. Cost analysis in the management of esophageal coins: endoscopy versus bougienage. J Pediatr Surg 1999;34:412-4.

 Be

consistent in your references  Use relevant references that: Applies to your study site(s)  Supports your argument why your study is interesting  Do not over-use or under-use references (e.g. more than 3 references in 1 sentence is too many, but don’t  Make a lot of unsupported statements  Use the same citation method throughout the thesis, even for manuscript style thesis.  All chapter references all go into the back in its own section. This saves a lot of pages!

1. Adhikari P, Sinha BK, Bhattarai H, Shrivastav RP. Myiasis infestation in postoperative mastoid cavity. Nepal Med Coll J 2007; 9(4): 284-5. 2. Adhikari P, Guragain RPS. Lateral Sinus Thrombophlebitis: Review of Literature.Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2007; 11: 477-80

 Pramanik

T, Adhikari P. Resistance Vs aerobic exercise- is the later better choice? (Short communication) Nepal Med Coll J 2006; 89(1): 59-60.  Sinha BK. Technology transfer for hearing impaired (Editorial). J Inst Med 2006; 28:1.

 Healthy

Human Society Research Team. Pattern of ear diseases in rural school children: Experiences of free health camps in Nepal. Lancet 2008; 398: 11-20.

 Adhikari

P. School health program: a new perspective. In: Lennard V. Seebeki, editor. Leading Edge Health Education Issues (Ist ed.). Newyork: Nova Publishers 2006: 47-60.

 Adhikari

P. Accuracy of references in indexed journals of Nepal. Nepal Med Coll J (in press).

 Ethics

clearance or whatever key paperwork that the committee feels should be included with thesis  Supporting materials, such as unpublished analytical methods, long tables of CRM results.  Raw data (very useful for future researchers looking to mine historical data 20 years down the road!)

THESIS PERFROMA Serial No.

I.P./OPD No:

Date of FNAC:

Date of surgery:

Name:

Age/Sex:

Address:

Occupation:

Ethnic Group:

DOA:

Clinical presentation 1. Swelling-a. Onset (Congenital/ acquired) b. Site:

c. Duration

d. Number

e. progression

  2. Associated symptoms Pain/dysphagia/disfiguring /SOB/chronic cough/fever/weight loss/loss of appetite/hoarseness/hemoptysis 3. Other symptoms: if any Past history: TB/DM/HTN Family history: Socioeconomic history: Clinical Examination Site Shape Size

Number

Surface

Consistency

Mobility

Tenderness

Clinical Diagnosis: FNAC Report: (No-

)

  HPE Report: (No-

)

Fig:1. Histopathology of LN showing Langhan’s giant cells (40HPF).

SN

IP No

Name

Age/Sex

Date of surgey

FNAC No.

FNAC Dx

HPE No.

HPE Dx

Correlation

1.

6285

PMJ

51/F

064/5/19

189

RLN

2936

RLN

Y

2.

720065

MM

41/F

064/6/2

708

TBL

294

TBL

Y

3.

356911

MKT

18/F

“

466

Schwannoma

732

Schwannoma

Y

4.

763222

AS

29/F

“

917

TBL

3119

TBL

Y

5.

403315

ST

22/F

“

967

GLN

594

TBL

N

6.

698706

BS

20/F

064/6/9

581

TBL

2451

TBL

Y

7.

355564

THB

42/M

064/6/23

489

Inconclusive

3411

AV malfn

N

8.

743270

RB

24/M

“

541

GLN

3123

GLN

Y

9.

720121

NA

19/M

“

1121

RLN

RLN

Y

10.

404412

SM

28/F

“

449

GLN

3732

GLN

Y

11.

529234

SS

29/M

064/8/12

1178

Epidermoid

3902

Epidermoid

Y

12.

811464

PA

40/F

“

1257

Epidermoid

Epidermoid

Y

13.

864136

NL

26/F

“

TB

4016

TB

Y

14.

355563

PMM

40/F

064/6/23

Fibrosarcoma

596

Fibrosarcoma

Y

14.

358096

GMR

70/F

064/6/23

470

Warthin

547

Warthin

Y

15.

352232

KT

26/M

“

936

Met Sq Cell Ca

547

Met Sq Cell Ca

Y

 Look

for mistakes  Start giving to your supervisors in sections  Mistakes are more found out by others.  Hard cover binding  Make ready of electronic version also  Colour illustrations if possible

8 3 1 1 1 2

copies copies- examination section copy guide /2 copy – co- guide/s copy - department copies- authors

Be constructive (diplomatic) in reviewing others’ work; don’t blast all previous work, don’t be dismissive and definitely don’t single out anyone with scorn. Chances are they are reviewing your proposal. BAD: All previous studies are worthless because they failed to recognize the effect of X on Y. Chen and Smith (1998) tried but their approach was simply wrong. Ours is the first study to address this question correctly. BETTER: Previous studies have made important contributions to this challenging problem, however none of the published studies appear to have completely accounted for the effect of X on Y. A pioneering effort in this direction is described by Chen and Smith (1998), highlighting the need for additional investigation of the system properties when the full set of interacting factors are incorporated in the model.

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    

A Guide to Research Methodology, Biostatistics and Medical Writing – CPSP How to write thesis- by PR Sharma Guidelines of University of Toronto Guidelines of Fayetteville State University ASEE SEMINAR, 2002. University of Texas Writing a thesis. Linda Campbell. Queen’s university

 Start

finding your Guide and co- guides  Start searching a topic  Try to reach your targeted sample size soon  Start writing your thesis----never say tomorrow

THANK YOU