This PowerPoint file shows the steps for writing a Master thesis.

1. How to Write a Master Thesis
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Republic of Iraq
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
University of Kerbala
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

2. Outline
• Acknowledgement
• Abstract
• List of Contents
• List of Symbols
• List of
Abbreviations
• List of Figures and
Tables
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• Chapters
• Equations
• Figures and Tables
• References
• Appendix

3. Acknowledgement
• The acknowledgement is a statement of
gratitude for assistance to accomplish the work.
• It may mention (e.g. Allah, supervisors, parents,
instructors and friends) for their support.
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4. Abstract
• An abstract can be either descriptive or
informative.
– A descriptive abstract summarizes the motivation,
scope and methods used to attain the solution or
findings.
– An informative on the other hand, is almost like the
table of contents written in paragraph.
• It also includes the results, conclusions and
recommendations.
• The abstract should not exceed 300 words and its
contents are italicized.
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5. List of Contents
• A list of contents usually includes the titles or
descriptions of first-level headings (chapters in
longer works), and often includes second-level
headings (sections or A-heads) within the
chapters as well, and occasionally even includes
third-level headings (subsections or B-heads)
within the sections as well.
• The depth of detail in tables of contents depends
on the length of the work, with longer works
having less.
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6. List of Symbols
• A list of symbols usually is a table that includes
all the symbols used in the report and there
meanings.
• It may be arranged alphabetically.
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7. List of Abbreviations
• A list of abbreviations is a table that includes
all the acronyms used in the report and there
meanings.
• It may be arranged alphabetically.
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8. List of Figures and Tables
• A list of figures or tables looks like a table of contents,
but it’s a table of anything to which you can add a
caption.
• It is sorted by page number, of the captions pulled
from figures, images, graphics or tables in your
document.
• Adding a list of figures is a useful tool for allowing the
reader to quickly navigate to specific parts of the
document (or as a personal quick reference guide).
• Adding a list of figures or tables is only possible if you
add captions (not to be confused with alternative text)
to your figures, images, and tables.
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9. Chapters
• The report may include five chapters:
1) Introduction
2) Background and theory
3) Proposed work
4) Experiments
5) Conclusion and Future work
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10. Equations
• Equations should be consecutively numbered
depending on Chapter’s number as in (2.1) and
(2.2).
• A center tab and a right tab stops are used so that
the formula is centered while the number is right
aligned.
• The word “equation” is used at the beginning of
the statement when referring to (2.1) but is not
included when mentioning a formula inside the
statement like (2.2).
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11. Figures and Tables
• Place figures and tables directly after the
paragraph where they are cited.
• You may use the abbreviation “Fig.” to cite the
figure.
• Choose “insert caption” from the right click menu
of figure or table to insert titles.
• A table’s title should be written on top, while a
figure’s title should be at the bottom.
• In numbering both tables and figures, prefix the
chapter number. For example, the 2nd table in
chapter 3 should be numbered as 3.2.
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12. References
• A reference or bibliographical reference is a piece of
information provided in a footnote or bibliography of a
written work such as a book, article, essay, report, oration
or any other text type, specifying the written work of
another person used in the creation of that text.
• A bibliographical reference mostly includes the full name of
the author, the title of their work and the year of
publication.
• The primary purpose of references is to allow readers to
examine the sources of a text, either for validity or to learn
more about the subject. Such items are often listed at the
end of a work in a section marked References or
Bibliography.
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13. References
• References are particularly important as for the use of
citations, since copying of material by another author
without proper reference and / or without required
permissions is considered plagiarism, and may be
tantamount to copyright infringement, which can be
subject to legal proceedings.
• A reference section contains only those works indeed
cited in the main text of a work. In contrast, a
bibliographical section often contains works not cited
by the author, but used as background reading or listed
as potentially useful to the reader.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference
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14. Appendix
• This is an optional section dedicated to add
more information about the theory of some
topics.
• It may include datasets, datasheets, and
derivations of formulas.
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