Organize Your Thesis

Organize your Thesis

Rushdi Shams Lecturer Department of Computer Science and Engineering Khulna University of Engineering & Technology

Introduction Introduces the reader to the research Provides generic overview of what is written

in the rest of the parts. The most vital part of any dissertation/thesis writing. If you fail to write a good introduction, you will fail to persuade your reader, your supervisor, your co-supervisor, your external This will lead to a failure of a research work even if it is the best in the universe.

Introduction: Prelude In a paragraph or two describe the background in

short. What are the key areas your reader may need to get familiarity What are area of problems your research field is suffering from What particular area of problems you have chosen for your research Describe jargons but not one by one- more like in a formal way

Introduction: Problem Statement What problem are you trying to solve Only positive words should go in here, no

drawbacks, no negative words No trace of achievements (Never use we have done this, done that…) Many problem solving may require many other problems solving which is not your particular aim. Include them. And again, only focus on the exact problem or set of problems that you solved and you are going to let us know in the rest of your thesis.

Introduction: Motivation What are the motives to conduct your

research What are the justifications of doing this research What advantage your research will bring In this section, you describe every solution of problems (you stated in previous section) in serial (1,2,3…) and answer each of the 3 questions above

Introduction: Thesis Organization This section is pretty straight. It describes

how you have organized your thesis. You will have to provide a summary of each chapter with 2-3 sentences

Background This chapter is optional. Say, your research work is extension of research of

other people. Then, you will have to briefly summarize their work here. Say, your research work is based upon some techniques which need to be clarified to the user, you have to explain them here Say, you made a comparison with other work done so far. To realize the difference and praise you, the reader may need to understand those work. In that case, include them here. Most of your references go in here

Background In cases where you are describing just one

research, the chapter name can be changed to “Overview of RESEARCH_X” Even in cases where you need to describe the whole field which may not known to the reader, you can rename this chapter to “Overview of FIELD_X” Of course, “Overview of Network Protocol Design” (you will not focus on just one protocol, in this case) or “Overview of AI” (AI is well known field is not acceptable

State of the Art  This cannot be, of course, the name of a chapter.  But a chapter like this should contain the current trends    1. 2. 3. 4.

and technologies used in your research field You have organize this section by ideas, not by author/publication. Most of your references go in here, too. If you are working with a protocol to enhance network performance, then you can categorize them as followsProtocols to enhance reliability Protocols to enhance data reachability Protocols to mitigate flooding Protocols to reduce broadcasts

Research Methodology  So, with optional background and state of the art,



 1. 2.

your reader probably is now familiar with where your research is going to be. In this stage, use a research methodology section to tell the reader the steps you will take to solve the problem of interest. This section can be includedIn the end of Background if you don’t have state of the art (pretty unusual case) In the end of the state of the art (normal case)

Your own work Now, it is time to describe your own work. You describe it exactly in the same serial you

have promised your reader in Research Methodology This chapter should be plain and simple This chapter is the heart of your writing Make sure, you have written everything you have done Make sure, you have written enough to prove that you have solved your problem

Conclusion: Thesis Summary In a paragraph or two, summarize the whole

thesis And then again in serials, summarize each of the chapters with 4-5 sentences (1. in chapter 2, we presented… 2. in chapter 3, we proved…. )

Conclusion: Key Limitations and Possible Solutions If you think your research has limitations

(mostly, you will have as you are not superman, no one is ), then state each of them in subsections. This part is crucial as the evaluator will obviously take a look at this section. You have to narrate them briefly- the limitations and realistic solutions

Conclusion: Future Works In serial, state what extensions the thesis can

form into. Vital for other researchers to extend your work as well as for you to carry your own research further

Special Issues Except Introduction, all other chapters will begin with

a section called Introduction Every chapter will have a section called Summary at the end- summarizing the chapter in a paragraph; Summary of Conclusion will summarize the whole research in a paragraph Chapter headings should contain the highest font size, then Section Headings, then Sub-section Headings and then the actual contents. Always maintain them throughout your writing

Special Issues Every page in your thesis should contain

Running Header/ Running Footer- means the header/footer that contains the name of the chapter. Don’t use running header/ running footer on the page where your chapter begins. Supplementary pages like Abstract, Declaration, Acknowledgement, Table of Contents, List of Tables/ Figures should have roman page numbers (i, ii, iii…) and numeric page numbers (1,2,3…) should start when your chapter starts.

How to put reference  1. 2. 

There are 2 ways to put reference in your writingTraditional Style Harvard Style Traditional style is straight. You’ll have to put numeric in side braces like [1], [2]. Methods described by Johnson & Hogard [1] improved the version of the protocol described by researches [2],[4] and [10] whereas [8] is the improvement of outcomes of [5]

How to put reference  Harvard style is what now preferred by most,

easy to point out research papers both for writer and reader.  There are varieties in ways you put references in Harvard Style  I will give you a PDF file that will guide you towards Harvard Style

How to put reference  Okay, so far, we have seen how to put

references.  Now we will take a look at how you will put them in Reference Section (Right after the Conclusion chapter)  A simple rule of thumb Always follow the same sequence throughout your Reference Section

How to put reference  & the most common style is-

Author 1, Author 2, “Research Paper Title”, Proceedings/Journal Name, Year, Country (Not required for Journal), Page No. Author 1, Author 2, Book Title, Publisher, Edition, Year, Country of Publication, ISBN number. Web page conductor, “Title of the Page”, URL [Date of collection]

More on Reference If you fetch a complete sentence from any of

your reference (which is not intelligent), then you will have to put quotation marks around it (“ ”) If you fetch any figure/table from any research paper directly or with modifications, you will have to refer it

Appendix/ Appendices Use this section in the end if you want to

elaborate something which is not actually for reading but for analysis (robust graphs, tables, coding portion, application screenshots) Organize your appendix with letters A, B, C with appropriate contents (Appendix A will contain graphs, B will contain codes, and so on)

Figures Be clear When you are putting figure number, use the

generic style- Figure 3.1 means first figure of chapter 3 Just don’t finish the title of the figure with a single sentence. Elaborate it with 2 or 3 sentences.

Tables Don’t use fancy table style (use the regular

style) When you are putting table number, use the generic style- Table 3.1 means first table of chapter 3 Just don’t finish the title of the table with a single sentence. Elaborate it with 2 or 3 sentences.

Abstract  Typically, an informative abstract answers 1. 2. 3. 4.

these questions: Why did you do this study or project? What did you do, and how? What did you find? What do your findings mean?

Abstract abstract will nearly always be read along with the title,

so do not repeat or rephrase the title. It will likely be read without the rest of the document, however, so make it complete enough to stand on its own. Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose, methods, and main findings. Emphasize the different points in proportion to the emphasis they receive in the body of the document. Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document.

Abstract Avoid using I or we, but choose active verbs

instead of passive when possible (the study tested rather than it was tested by the study). Avoid if possible avoid trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would need to explain them, and that takes too much room. Use key words from the document. (For published work, the abstract is "mined" for the words used to index the material--thus making it more likely someone will cite your article.)

The World is not Enough http://

www.kuet.ac.bd/cse/writingthesis.htm#submiss http://

www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html