How to Write a Thesis

THESIS WRITING

PROF. ABD KARIM ALIAS

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Abd Karim Alias@2010 [akarim@usm.my]

What is a Thesis?
“A written work resulting from
original research, especially one
submitted for higher degree in a
university”


Why write a thesis?
• Science aims to find pattern, trends,
and structure in the experiment
• Good scientific writing aims to bring
forward in the text
• structure
• organization of scientific knowledge


What’s in the thesis?
• Addresses a problem or series
of problems
• Describes what was known
about the problem(s)
• What you did to solve the
problems


What’s in the thesis?
• What you think the results means
• How further progress can be
made


Structure of a Thesis


Getting started
1. Prepare a thesis outline
• Break the thesis into chapters; list the
major sections in each

2. Discuss with your supervisor
3. Prepare a chapter outline
• Assemble all the data, tables, figures
• Organise them into a sensible sequence


Getting started (cont’)
4. Write
• Do a section at a time
• Start with something easy


Thesis title
• Title reflects content of the thesis
• Use concise but informative title

Example
Physicochemical and Functional
Properties of Ozone-Oxidized Starch


Thesis title
• Be specific & accurate
• Avoid phrases such as “A study
of...”, “An investigation of...”
• Avoid jargon and acronym


Chapter 1 - Introduction
"The purpose of the Introduction should be
to supply sufficient background
information to allow the reader to
understand and evaluate the results of
the present study without needing to refer
to previous publications on the topic. The
Introduction should also provide the
rationale for the present study. Choose
references carefully to provide the most
salient background rather than an
exhaustive review of the topic." (R.A. DAY)


Chapter 1 - Introduction

• A description of the general
problem followed by a statement
of the specific problem and the
motivation for the study


What to write in the Introduction?
• What do we know about the topic?
• Provide comprehensive & critical review of the
major findings in the area
• What we don’t know (gap in knowledge)
• Identifying what the gaps in our current
understanding of the field are, and why it is
important that these gaps be closed
• What we are now showing
• A clear statement summarizing what’s known,
what needs to be learned, and what your paper
aims to accomplish

Writing Good Introduction
• The first paragraph should provide a brief
background in present tense to establish
context, relevance, or nature of the problem,
question, or purpose (what is known)
• The second paragraph may include the
importance of the problem and unclear issues
(what is un-known)
• The last paragraph should state the ratio-
nale, hypothesis, main objective, or purpose
(why the study was done).


Start by giving a general background

... Alkalising agents are important in the
preparation of many traditional starch-based food
products. Examples include the use of lime in the
production of tortillas and kansui (a mixture of
sodium and potassium carbonate) in the
preparation of Chinese wheat noodles and waxy
rice dumplings……


Rational & problem statement

…….Despite the age-old usage of alkalising agents,
there is still much which is not known concerning
the effects of these reagents on starch properties.
Although the ability of aqueous alkali in inducing
starch swelling is common knowledge, most of
the work has been centred on NaOH in systems
containing relatively low starch concentrations
(<25%, w/w) …….


Connecting the problem statement to the objective (reason
for undertaking the study)

….. The influence of alkalising agents (especially
kansui) on the thermal properties of starches has yet
to be studied in any great detail. Therefore, the
specific objectives of the present study were:
•To differentiate the effects of sodium carbonate
on the thermal profiles associated with
gelatinisation of starch;
•To quantify...
•To characterize...


What is literature review?

‘…a systematic…method for
identifying, evaluating and interpreting
the…work produced by researchers,
scholars and practitioners.’



Literature is about telling a
story…kind of a chain story where
each writer starts with a partial story
created previously by others and
expand on it…the existing literature is
the story so far…



Literature review is…

‘an interpretation and synthesis
of published work’
- Merriam (1988:6)


See the wood for the trees…

Filtering & sorting the essentials from the irrelevant…
5
Image source: http:// sciencebhakta.wordpress.com Abd Karim Alias@2010 [akarim@usm.my]

Skills for “digesting” the literature
Select, differentiate,
ANALYSIS Dissecting data into their constituent part.
break up

Integrate, combine, Rearranging the elements derived
SYNTHESIS from analysis to identify relationship.
formulate, reorganize

Interpreting & distinguishing between
Understand, distinguish, different types of data , theory &
COMPREHENSION
explain argument to describe the substance of
an idea
Describing the principles, uses, &
KNOWLEDGE Define, classify, describe function of rules, method, etc.
Adapted from Hart, 1998


Any critical review should incorporate…
 An assessment of the strengths & weaknesses
of some of the theories
 A clear understanding of the topic
 A citing of all key studies in the subject
territory
 A clear indication of how the review links to
your research questions


Any critical review should incorporate…
 A definition of the boundaries of your
research
 A selection & synthesis of existing arguments
to form a new perspective
 Through gradual refinement, a clear
demarcation of the research problem


Scope & length of lit. review…
 Be selective
 State the current state of the theory
 How far back?(Master’s ~10 years; PhD –
further back)
 Avoid verbosity
 Demonstrate ability to synthesise the body of
literature – brief but focused.


Components of lit. review…

 Background information
• Introduce topic
• Describe scope & organization
• Review past & present literature
• Clarify purpose



 Theory
• All research has a precedent
• Integrate key points & make appropriate
inferences
• Be aware of relationship to your topic



 Critical appraisal/synthesis
• Not jus a list of the work of others
• Identify issues highlighted
• Highlight differences & similarities
• Identify consensus


Materials & Methods section
• Provide detailed methodology used to
conduct the experiment
• Provide sufficient details but it is not
expected to be written like a
laboratory manual!
• Describe control used
• Highlight critical steps or precaution


Results section
• It contains all of the data to support (or
refute) the hypothesis that was
proposed in the introduction section
• It serves to weave a coherent story
and must communicate the findings to
the reader in a logical, transparent
manner.


Results section
Data presentation - Graph or Table?

• Tables can be used to display
precise numeric values
• Figures are better for conveying
trends or proportions


Results section
Data presentation

Clear, succinct graphs, charts,
photographs, and drawings can
quickly convey the primary findings of
research


Results section
Data presentation

• The figure legends should provide a
detailed description of the corresponding
figure
• Explain each symbol in the figure (typically
arrow heads, arrows, asterisks)
• Label should be clear (e.g., scale bar on
SEM)


Results section
Data presentation

• Tables shoud be self-explanatory
• Textual description should summarise
& highlight table content (not to
repeat)


Results section
Data presentation

• Arrange data in logical manner (in table)
• Cross-check reference to figures/tables
in the text
• Give proper credit to figures/tables taken
from other sources
• All statistical analyses, where appropriate,
should be described


Describe results succintly
Describe specific trends, significant effect,
similarity/contrast, exception, limitation, etc.
...In higher moisture (1:4) systems, the presence
of Na2CO3 appeared to significantly (p<0.05 or
better) decrease ΔHG of all of the starches studied
(with the exception of wheat and waxy rice
starches, which showed no significant change in
ΔHG), while NaOH had no effect on ΔHG of most of
the starches studied. However, in the less
hydrated (2:3) systems, Na2CO3 did not
significantly (p >0.05) affect ΔHG except, ...


Results section - Common pitfalls
• The same data are presented in figure
(graph) and table
• Data presented in the table are simply
stated (without describing the trend,
making comparison, highlighting
anomaly, etc.)
• Unusual trend in data is ignored (not
highlighted)


Discussion section

• To communicate the significance of
your findings
• To indicate how they support (or
refute) the experimental hypothesis
• To describe how these results
advance the field of study


How to Discuss?
How thorough is your discussion &
interpretation?

• Have the main point to emerge from the
results been picked for discussion?
• Are there links made to the literature?
• Is there enough evidence in your data to
attempt at theory building or
reconceptualization of the problems?


How to Discuss?
How thorough is your discussion &
interpretation?

• Are there speculations? Are they well
grounded (can be substantiated with your
own data)?


Discuss results succintly

…. The signiﬁcant increases in gelatinisation
transition temperatures in the presence of Na2CO3
or NaOH (Table 1 and Table 2) suggest an
enhancement of starch granule stability, probably
through electrostatic interactions between Na+
ions and hydroxyl groups of starch...


Give supporting evidence/information from
previous works

…. The signiﬁcant increases in gelatinisation
transition temperatures in the presence of Na2CO3
or NaOH (Table 1 and Table 2) suggest an
enhancement of starch granule stability, probably
through electrostatic interactions between Na+
ions and hydroxyl groups of starch...


Use phrases such as...

…. One possible interpretation of the results
shown in Figure...include the possibility that...

...The results shown in Figure 5 are in
contradiction to the work of Karim et al. (2000)...

These data suggest that...

In contrast, Williams et al. (1998) reported that...


How to write a conclusion?
Should include the followings:
•What is the strongest and most important
statement that you can make from your
observations?
•Refer back to problem posed, and describe
the conclusions that you reached from
carrying out this investigation
•Summarize new observations, new
interpretations, and new insights that have
resulted from the present work.

Should include the followings:
• What are the contributions of new
knowledge that your thesis makes
• Does your work suggest any interesting
further avenues?
• Are there ways in which your work could
be improved by future researchers?
• What are the practical (broader)
implications of your work?


Example:
In conclusion, gaseous ozone successfully
oxidized the three types of starches studied, but
the oxidation mechanism appeared to differ from
that of chemical oxidation. Ozone oxidation
introduced more carbonyl groups than carboxyl
groups in the starch granules. Under identical
conditions, the extent of starch oxidation varied
among different types of starch...


Example:
Using ozone as an oxidizing agent offers
several advantages over hypochlorite. During
ozone oxidation, starch is oxidized in a dry
state and in the “as is” moisture content
condition, whereas hypochlorite oxidation
requires use of organic solvents. The dry
oxidation process using ozone is simpler than
the hypochlorite oxidation process, and it
offers 100% product recovery compared to
hypochlorite oxidation.


Writing and effective abstract
• Identify the major objectives and
conclusions
• Identify phrases with keywords in the
methods section
• Identify the major results from the
discussion or results section
• Assemble the above information into a
single paragraph


• State your hypothesis or method used in
the first sentence
• Omit background information, literature
review, and detailed description of
methods
• Remove extra words and phrases
• Revise the paragraph so that the
abstract conveys only the essential
information


• Check to see if it meets the
guidelines
• Make sure no grammar or spelling
errors!
• Give the abstract to a colleague
(preferably one who is not familiar
with your work) and ask him/her
whether it makes sense


Start out the Abstract by telling exactly
what you did and how you did it. Focus on
the rationale and ideas of the study and why
it's important in the first two sentences

Example:
The effects of oxidation by ozone gas on some
physicochemical and functional properties of
starch (corn, sago, and tapioca) were investigated.
Starch in dry powder form was exposed to ozone
for 10 min at different ozone generation times
(OGTs).


In the next few lines, focus on the materials
and methods, and the data generated from
the study (results). Tell the reader how the
data were collected, compiled, and state
statistical significance(s).
Example:
Carboxyl and carbonyl contents increased markedly
in all starches with increasing OGT. Oxidation
significantly decreased the swelling power of
oxidized sago and tapioca starches but increased
that of oxidized corn starch.


The end of the Abstract is just as important
as the beginning! State the implications of
your studies to the field of scholarship in
which you are working.

Some examples:
These results show that under similar conditions of
ozone treatment, the extent of starch oxidation
varies among different types of starch.


State the implications of your studies...

Some examples:
…Binding of water to starch films influences their
thermo-mechanical properties

…In general, tortillas prepared with hydrocolloids had
a lower tendency for retrogradation than control
tortillas; it is important to consider this to obtain
tortillas with better texture and lower RS content.


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