The document provides an outline for a manual on writing a Ph.D. dissertation. It discusses introducing the dissertation, how to write and organize it, dissertation style, and good habits for writing a dissertation. Key sections include outlining the dissertation process and milestones, differences between papers/theses, common dissertation skeleton structures, principles for organizing sections, and tips for writing early and getting feedback.

1. A Manual for Ph.D Dissertation
Yong Zheng
DePaul University
May 17, 2011
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2. Outline
1. Introduce Dissertation
2. How to Write & Organize Dissertation
3. Dissertation Style
4. More About Dissertation
5. Good habits for Dissertation
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3. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the process and milestones:
Course Credits Ph.D. Degree
Directed Research Further Research
Ph.D. Exams Graduation
Proposal Defense Dissertation Defense
General Research Career
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4. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the purpose and significance:
To fulfill the promises in your dissertation proposals;
To clearly document an original, substantial, innovative
contributions to knowledge;
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5. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the differences among papers and Master thesis:
Paper Proposal MS Thesis/Dissertation
Length/Time Short/Depends Short/Depends Longer/Longer
Examiner Reviewer Proposal Thesis Committee
Committee
Audience Researchers, Experts Proposal Thesis Committee
Interested People Committee Generalist
Focuses Specific problem Academic Systematized problems
Purpose Quick publication; Recognition General and Thorough
Academic communication & Supports Cover specific & trivial aspects
Significance Targeted on specific A plan/direction MS Thesis: incremental improvement
Contribution smaller problems; for further Ph.D. Thesis: More difficult problems;
research Original, Substantial, Innovative
Contributions to prior knowledge
Hypothesis (Problem+Solution) + Convincing Evidence + Organized Literature 5

6. 2. How to Write Dissertation
1st Question: When to start writing Ph.D. thesis?
Start as early as possible, do not wait you are fully ready.
Write early, write often, writing is thinking!
 Assumption: successfully defend the proposal;
 At least start with an outline or skeleton;
 Do not have to start from the 1st section to the end;
 Start taking notes of problems, goals, brief descriptions,
experimental designs and expected outcomes;
 The theories, algorithms or experiments, as well as the thesis
may require numerous revisions to cover weaknesses/errors;
 Set deadline/due dates for each stages!! 6

7. 2. How to Write Dissertation
Common Skeleton (formal structure depends on Universities):
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Background and Literature Review
 Research Questions/Problem Statement
 Solutions, Methodologies and Experiments
 Evaluations and Discussions
 Conclusions
 References
 Appendices
 Others: Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, etc 7

8. 2. How to Write Dissertation
Principles of Thesis Organizations:
 Take the readers’ views/focuses into account;
 Logically Clear, Sound, Thorough, Reasonable;
 Be honest and justified;
 Highlight the novel ideas and main contributions;
 For each section, ask yourself relevant questions to
validate whether your writings have meet the
requirements of each section
 Basic Routine: Goal->Writing->Question
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9. 2. How to Write Dissertation
1). Abstract
 General introduction of the background
 Briefly introduce the problem you want to address
 Summary of your solution and methodologies
 State a bird view of your results/conclusions
 Highlight your novel ideas and main contributions
 Is it concise? Is it clear and easy to learn the background
and the targeted problem?
 Did you clearly indicate your solutions, conclusions and
highlight your contributions?
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10. 2. How to Write Dissertation
2). Introductions
 General introduction to what the thesis is about
 Summarize the research questions/problems
 Indicate why this is a worthwhile problem
 Give an overview of your solution, experiment and main
results/conclusions
 Can general readers easily understand the introduction?
 Did you explain some terms to avoid readers’ confusion?
 Did you briefly introduce your solutions and contributions?
 Did you highlight the novelty?
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11. 2. How to Write Dissertation
3). Background and Literature Review
 Give the background to let the readers know and
understand your topic & the knowledge of this area
 The state of the art; related work, existing research
 Organize these by logical and reasonable ideas, not
simply by time/author, etc
 Is the background clear enough?
 Is the literature review well organized?
 Is the literature review thorough enough?
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12. 2. How to Write Dissertation
4). Research Questions/Problem Statements
 Concise statement about the problems you want to address
 Justified, the problem should be unanswered/not well solved
based on the previous literature review
 Thoroughly discuss why it is worthwhile to solve this problem
 Will readers be convinced to agree with your view on the
problems, about the originality, novelty and applicability?
 Did you refer to some literature references to convince your
points?
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13. 2. How to Write Dissertation
5). Solutions, Methodologies and Experiments
 Main purpose: to convince the examiners that you have answered
the question or solved the problem by your own solutions
 It may require several sections to thoroughly explain the solutions,
experiments and evaluations; here I simply split them into two.
 Show prior & current methodologies/work to your solution
 If there were blind alleys or dead ends, do not include them unless
they can be used to serve that you have solved the problem
 Can readers clearly understand your solutions?
 Did all these parts have a logical basis and convinces?
 Did you mention the experimental conditions and limitations? 13

14. 2. How to Write Dissertation
6). Evaluations and Discussions
 Analyze your experimental results and evaluate your
assumptions/performance of solutions
 Focus on the positive contributions of the results, also explain
the negative results
 Reasonably discuss the limitations of your solution, focus on the
scale of the applicability
 Did you thoroughly evaluate the experimental results?
 Did you thoroughly discuss the relevant issues, such as
limitations, flaws, etc?
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15. 2. How to Write Dissertation
7). Conclusions
 Conclusions: short concise statements about the results of work
you have done; must be directly relevant to the problem you
raised in this thesis; How you complete your promise?
 Summary of contributions: whether your results can contribute
to the knowledge of your area; organize from most to least
important. Original? Novel? Thorough? Meaningful?
 Future research: in order to let other researchers pick up relevant
work and follow your tracks. Feasible? Reasonable?
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16. 2. How to Write Dissertation
8). References
 Closely tied to the literature reviews in previous sections
 Examiners usually scan this list looking for important works in
the field, which may be considered as a preliminary assessment
 If your examiners are one of the experts in your topic, it may be
necessary for you to read their relevant papers and put some into
the references
 Do not just list them, make sure you have referred them in the
main body!
 Organize them either alphabetically by author surname or order
of citation in your thesis 16

17. 2. How to Write Dissertation
9). Appendices
 This part may include materials impede the smooth development
of your thesis but can contribute to justify the results of the
thesis.
 For example: program listings, huge tables of data,
mathematical proofs or derivations
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18. 3. Dissertation Style
The formal structure/format depends on the University;
Be logically clear, sound, reasonable as academic literature style;
Latex tool is recommended for writing; Grammar & logic written;
Keep the figures and tables clear enough and well organized;
Check spells, as well as missing chapter or figure references;
Avoid simply use “obviously/clearly”, etc;
Avoid simply use “XX is the most important …”;
Avoid personal moral judgements and self-assessment;
More: How to Write A Dissertation or Bedtime Reading for
People Who Do not Have Time To Sleep
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19. 4. More about Dissertation
 Results of your dissertation defense:
Pass, Fail, Major Revision, Small Revision, etc
 Evaluate your thesis by yourself:
Did you clearly and reasonably describe all?
Did you logically demonstrate your solution?
Were all questions well answered?
Is there a significant contribution to previous knowledge?
 Ethical Issues: Original, Honest, Justified
Thorough literature review
Keep original, honest & justified about ideas & evidences
Take references seriously (literature, figure, table, etc) 19

20. 5. Good Habits/Tips
 Write early, write often, do not wait all things to be ready;
 Grow your Ph.D. thesis from previous research;
 Keep notes about your ideas daily;
 Keep the reader’s backgrounds and views in mind;
 Predict examiners’ questions and answer them in thesis;
 Keep asking yourself questions about the thesis;
 Get feedbacks from others, especially advisors & committees;
 Submit early to committees in order to get feedbacks early;
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21. Thanks!
Any Questions?
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