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Writing the Thesis |
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Mark
C. Griffin, Ph.D. |
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This guide is
designed to give you a procedural outline for working on your thesis. Every thesis project will have special
considerations that are not covered here.
You should consult with your committee early and frequently to resolve
how to handle these special considerations. No one document can cover all the bases.
There are three other excellent documents on the Web that you should also
read: How to Organize Your Thesis by John W. Chinneck, How to Write a Ph.D. Thesis by Joe Wolfe, University
of New South Wales |
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First Things First |
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If your thesis
research involves human subjects, you must file the Human Subjects Protocol
Approval Form. The form is available on the university website. Research
may not proceed until authorized by the Committee for the Protection
of Human Subjects. You will be notified of the action be the
committee following receipt of the Protocol Approval Form and required
supplementary information in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (Adm.
447). For a copy of complete regulations, contact the Office of Research and
Sponsored Programs. You should also read the American Anthropological Association statement on ethics. |
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Before preparing a draft of your thesis, pick up a copy of the Guidelines for the Preparation and Submission of Theses at Rapid Copy. You should also carefully read the Thesis Preparation and Submission Guidelines on the Graduate Division website. Do not use a previously prepared thesis as an example of the approved style or format. |
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What is the Thesis? |
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The culmination of
the M.A. is the Master's Thesis. Chinneck (How to Organize
Your Thesis, 1999) asserts that "The distinguishing mark of graduate
research is an original contribution to knowledge. The thesis is a
formal document whose sole purpose is to prove that you have made an original
contribution to knowledge. Failure to prove that you have made such a
contribution generally leads to failure." The M.A. thesis is the demonstration of your ability to conduct original research and present the written results. It is not a class that you simply take and get credit for. Nor is it a glorified term paper that you can wait to the "eleventh hour" to finish. You should ask around… many of our current and past students have taken this approach, only to find out much to their dismay that the eleventh hour draft of their thesis is roundly rejected by their committee. |
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How Long Will it Take? |
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Chinneck (1999)
answers this with: "Longer than you think. Even after the research itself is
all done -- models built, calculations complete -- it is wise to allow at
least one complete term for writing the thesis. It's not the physical act of
typing that takes so long, it's the fact that writing the thesis requires the
complete organization of your arguments and results. It's during this
formalization of your results into a well-organized thesis document capable
of withstanding the scrutiny of expert examiners that you discover
weaknesses. It's fixing those weaknesses that takes time." In general from
initial research to final draft, you should allow from |
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Getting Started |
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Once you have
talked with your committee members and established a topic the very first
thing to do is start library research. One of your goals from the outset
should be to track down and read every reference that you possibly can.
Ideally you should start this task in your first year. You will be working on
this aspect of your thesis right up to the final draft, so get an early
start. The way to start this process is to find several recent articles or
books that pertain to your study. Read them thoroughly and take notes. Then
turn to their literature cited. Cull through and find the references that are
pertinent to your research. Get those references, read them, take notes, and
mine their references. Continue this process until you have amassed all of
the references that you can find. It is important
that you start this process as soon as possible because interlibrary loan can take a long time in the case of hard to
find books or articles. You should familiarize yourself with the journals that are available through the electronic resources at the library. This will make the research phase of your project much easier. |
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The Hypothesis |
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At this point, you should be ready to formulate a hypothesis that you can (realistically) test. Spend some time carefully crafting this and formulating exactly how (your methodology) you are going to test the hypothesis. Write a few pages regarding this and present it to your committee for feedback. Do this early so that you have adequate time for feedback and revisions. |
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The Outline |
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After several
weeks of researching and reading the literature you will be ready to
construct an outline. This is the roadmap for your thesis. The outline will
provide the chapter headings and subheadings for your thesis. Construct the
outline with two general guidelines in mind. First, most theses will follow
the general sections described below. Secondly, add headings and subheadings
based on what you've discovered in your literature review. Once you have an
outline, give it to your committee for comments and revisions. You now have a tangible place to begin writing. For each of your headings and subheadings, write a paragraph or more. This should be very informal at this point. Write down what you plan to cover and why. |
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Make a Timetable |
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Make a timetable (example timeline) and plan when you will have each phase of your project finished. This will help you to budget your time. This structure will help you get things done on time. Otherwise, the temptation is to set a date when the final draft is due and turn in the draft at the last minute. See above. This won't work. |
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Data Collection |
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If your thesis involves data collection (measurements, observations, interviews), you will need to build in extra time for this. Data collection is tremendously time consuming. Make sure that you allow enough time. Invariably, measurements have to be redone, statistics recalculated, and interviews followed up on. A general rule is to allow twice as much time as you think you need. |
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Mechanics of Writing |
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Before you begin
writing you should get the two essential writing manuals listed below. Get
them and read them. Keep them where you write for reference. Turabian, Kate L.
1996. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th
edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing). Strunk, William Jr., E. B. White, Charles Osgood, and Roger Angell. 2000. The Elements of Style. Allyn and Bacon. |
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Begin Writing |
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Probably the most
common mistake that beginning writers make is trying to write from page one.
Taking a look at the general sections described below, THE LAST thing that
you should write is the abstract. This is the hardest part of the thesis and
is largely dependent on the work being done. Save it till last. In general, the easiest things to write are the literature review, materials, and methods sections. |
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Sections of a Thesis |
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The following are sections that most theses should contain. |
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Abstract |
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This is the synopsis of your thesis. It should state your hypothesis, your methods (how you went about testing the hypothesis), a brief summary of your findings, and a brief conclusion. This is the LAST thing that you write. Wait until everything else is written before attempting the abstract. |
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Introduction |
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The introduction
should introduce the thesis. This is not a summary of the thesis. It
is not a brief version of each chapter. It is an introduction to the topic.
Introduce the subject. In general
terms, what does your study address? Why is it important? Where does is fit
in the overall field? Be sure to include in the introduction a clear
statement of your hypothesis and how you are going to address it. Throughout the introduction you should use
citations from the research literature to support your study. These citations should include but not be
limited to research presented in the Literature Review. The following are suggested topics that are
usually covered in the introduction.
Statement of the Problem. You
should succinctly state the problem that your thesis is going to address. You should also present relevant
information about why this is an important problem.
Background and Need. You should
present relevant literature that supports the need for your project. Research articles, books, educational and
government statistics are just a few sources that should be used here. This section can include brief overviews of
articles covered in the literature review that support the need for your
project
Rationale. You should carefully
present the model or theory that underlies the project. The rationale should define the larger
problem being investigated, summarize what is known about the problem, define
the gap(s) in the knowledge, and state what needs to be done to address the
gap(s).
Purpose of the Project. Based on the above background information,
explain the purpose of the study.
Explain what you hope the study will accomplish and why you chose to
do this particular study. This should
be supported with citations and specific information related to the study.
Research Questions/Hypotheses. Given the background above, you
carefully state the hypothesis(ses) that will be tested in your thesis.
Methods. Briefly (as you will cover this in-depth in a later chapter)
describe the methods that were used in your study (i.e., research methods,
variables, instrumentation, participants, pilot, analysis of data).
Limitations. Begin this with a summary of the document thus far to
provide a background for any limitations to this study. Be very specific, for example the
population to which your findings will be limited. |
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Literature Review |
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The literature
review should discuss all of the research that has been
done on the subject. How you group the discussion will depend on your
project, but be sure to come up with a logical organization before you begin
writing. This is the discussion and analysis of the library research you've
been doing for the past 12 months. How many studies should be included will
depend on the topic, but a general baseline is 75 to 100 references (although
many topics will appropriately have many more than this). The literature
review should begin with a reiteration of the purpose of your study. This should be followed by a preview of
what is to come in the literature review.
This lays out the overall organization of specific topics you will
cover. The purpose of the literature review is to concisely demonstrate your level of understanding of the research related to your project. You should not discuss all of the literature in-depth. Rather you should group your literature according to some general topics and only discuss specific studies if they are “landmark” studies for your area of research (there should be 6-10 of these). Each of these specific discussions should include specific information about the group involved in the research project, data, and results reported. Often a review of literature will include several of these in-depth reviews with “mini-reviews” of studies that came to the same or similar conclusions. The literature review should end with a discussion of how the literature relates to your study. |
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Materials and Methods |
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This section
should provide an in-depth discussion of your materials (e.g., if this is an
archaeological thesis, you should discuss the history, etc. of the
populations that you are dealing with). The methods portion of this section
should carefully and methodically discuss the methods that you are going to
use, the precedent for these, and the reasons why you are using them. A
general guideline is that you should discuss your methods in sufficient
detail that another researcher could take your data and duplicate your
results. One of the expectations of performing original research is that
someone in the future will do further research on this topic. Such a
researcher should be able to use your methodology without having to consult
any other source. If you are using statistical analyses, explain
the statistical methods. What do they mean? How are they used? Why are they
more applicable here than other similar methods? For some theses, the materials and methods should be discussed in separate sections. |
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Results |
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This is a
narrative presentation of your findings. This is where you present your
statistics, tables, figures, etc. that show what the specific findings of
your study are. Present them in detail. Remember that someone should be able
to duplicate your study based solely on this document. This requires
considerable description. It is very important not to try and combine this chapter with the next one. You need to carefully present your results first with no further interpretation. Once you have presented the data you are ready to move on to the next section. |
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Discussion |
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This chapter should begin with a concise restatement of your study’s purpose along with any needed background information. You should restate each of your hypotheses. Now that you have presented the results in the previous section, discuss them in this section. What, specifically, do the results mean? How can they be interpreted? Can they be interpreted in multiple ways? What do the findings tell you about your hypothesis? Do not claim more for your results than the data really shows. Avoid speculation. |
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Conclusions |
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This should summarize your results and discussion. You should include a list of the most important findings of your study in descending order of importance. You should also provide a statement about the possibility of future study. What needs to be done and what does this study contribute? |
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Literature Cited |
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This is all of the literature that you have cited in the text, tables, and figures. This is not a bibliography. Do not include works that have not been cited in the body. Keep careful track of this as you write. When you use a source, add it to this section. Before you begin compiling this section, find out what style you are expected to use. In general, anthropologists should use the style of the journal Current Anthropology. Make a hard copy of the style and tape it above your computer. Carefully adhere to it or you will (deservedly) raise the ire of your committee (this is a pet peeve of most academics). |
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Appendices |
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If you have material that is too long to include in a table (raw data, field notes, etc.) or not appropriate to a particular section it should be included as an appendix. |
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Tables and Figures |
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Tables and figures should appear in the text after they are first mentioned. Appending them at the end of the thesis is a very awkward arrangement and makes the thesis difficult to read. Material presented in tables and figures should not be duplicated in the text. |
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Raw Data |
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Your raw data should always appear as part of the thesis. This should appear as an appendix at the end of your thesis. Another researcher should be able to duplicate your work with no other documents at their disposal. |
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The Editorial Process |
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You need to
develop a "thick skin" now. Your first draft will
be returned to you covered in red. Your committee has a vested interest in
producing a graduate with professional level research and writing skills.
These are a reflection not just on you but also on your committee and
department. You should count on at least five or six drafts
(many of them swimming in red) before the final draft. Every writer begins the process quite convinced that they are an accomplished writer with little need for improvement. Scientific writing is an art form that must be constantly refined (regardless of your level). Take your committee's criticisms and learn from them. Don't set up an epic battle between you and your committee. You are supposed to be learning while completing the thesis. Take each editorial comment and fix the problem. Joe Wolfe (How to Write a Ph.D. Thesis) offers the following observations in regard to the editorial process: |
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"As you write your thesis, your scientific writing is almost certain to improve. Even for native speakers of English who write very well in other styles, one notices an enormous improvement in the first drafts from the first to the last chapter written. The process of writing the thesis is like a course in scientific writing, and in that sense each chapter is like an assignment in which you are taught, but not assessed. Remember, only the final draft is assessed: the more comments your adviser adds to first or second draft, the better." |
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Healthy Paranoia |
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Joe Wolfe (How to Write a Ph.D. Thesis) makes the following suggestions regarding maintaining files (computer and paper) while writing your thesis. This is good advice. Follow it and save yourself trouble later. |
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"It is encouraging and helpful to start a filing system. Open
a word-processor file for each chapter and one for the references. You
can put notes in these, as well as text. While doing something for Chapter n,
you will think "Oh I must refer back to/discuss this in Chapter m" and
so you put a note to do so in the Chapter m file. Or you may think of
something interesting or relevant for that chapter. When you come to work on
that chapter, the more such notes you have accumulated, the easier it will be
to write. Make a back-up of these files and do so
every day at least (depending on the reliability of your computer and the age of your
disk drive). Never keep the back-up disk close to the computer in case the
hypothetical thief who fancies your computer is smart enough to think s/he
could use some disks as well. You should also have a rotating master back-up:
use two disks, back-up one of them every week, and keep them physically
separate from your main computer. That way you always have back- ups that are
1 and 2 weeks old, and if a file becomes corrupted you will have an older
version of it available. If you want to be really careful, you could transfer
your back-ups to a machine at some geographically remote location (using FTP
or an email attachment), without of course telling the system administrator
that I suggested this. (For Macintosh files use Binhex to convert the files
to ASCII form and FTP in ASCII mode. For Dos/Windows files, transfer using
binary mode). A simple way of making a remote back-up is to send it as an
email attachment to a (consenting) email correspondent. You could send it to
yourself if your server saves your mail (in some email packages like Eudora
this is an optional setting). In either case, be careful to dispose of
superseded versions so that you don't waste disk space. You should also have a physical filing system: a collection of folders
with chapter numbers on them. This will make you feel good about getting
started and also help clean up your desk. Your files will contain not just
the plots of results and pages of calculations, but all sorts of old notes,
references, calibration curves, suppliers' addresses, specifications, speculations,
letters from colleagues etc which will suddenly strike you as relevant to one
chapter or other. Stick them in that folder. Then put all the folders in a
box or a filing cabinet. As you write bits and pieces of text, stick the hard
copy, the figures etc in these folders as well. Touch them and feel their
thickness from time to time - ah, the thesis is taking shape. If any of your data exist only on paper, copy them and keep the copy
in a different location. Consider making a copy of your lab book. This has
another purpose beyond security: usually the lab book stays in the lab, but
you may want a copy for your own future use. Further, scientific ethics require
you to keep lab books and original data for at least ten years, and a copy is
more likely to be found if two copies exist. While you are getting organised, you should deal with any
university paperwork. Examiners have to be nominated and they have to agree
to serve, various forms are required by your department and by the university
administration. Make sure that the rate limiting step is your production of
the thesis, and not some minor bureaucratic problem." |
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Dr. Wolfe also offers good advice regarding managing personal life while writing the thesis. The link to his page is above and below. |
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Sites with Helpful Information on Writing a Thesis |
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How to Write a Ph.D. Thesis by Joe Wolfe, University
of New South Wales "Writing and presenting your thesis or
dissertation" by
Joseph Levine at Michigan State University Writing a Thesis in the Social Sciences by Graduate Schools
Office, University of York The Dead Thesis Society Thesis
Support Group How Theses Get Written: Some Cool
Tips Online
by Steve Easterbrook, University of Toronto. Postgraduate Student Resources by University of Canberra |
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Some Theses Online |
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Our Ancestors Talk Among Us: Indigenous Knowledge in International Repatriation by Thomas A. Biron, Michigan State University Maintaining Ethnicity: A Case Study in the Maintenance
of Ethnicity Among Chilean Immigrant Students by Stephanie A. Corlett, HUJPU-ST: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of
Anthropogenic Fire in Yosemite Valley by Linn Gassaway, Dental Variation of Native Populations from Northern Spanish Florida by Mark C. Griffin, Northern Illinois University The Tabun C2 Mandible: An Assessment of Mandibular Ramus and Retromolar Space Morphology by Nathan E. Holton, Northern Illinois University Anthropology and Creationism: A Cultural Analysis by Sherry A. Norton, California State University, Fullerton Using Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis to Determine Age at Death by Jennifer E. Riddle, University of Nevada, Las Vegas A Test of Non-Metric Ancestry Determination in Forensic Anthropology: Should the Current Categorization of Individuals of European Descent be Reconsidered? by Valerie Nicole Yavornitzky, Michigan State University |
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Last
Updated 9 June 2007 |
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