2. HOW TO WRITE THE THESIS
All progress is born of inquiry.
Doubt is often better than overconfidence as it
leads to inquiry and inquiry leads to invention.
4. WHY THESIS IS NEEDED?
Curriculum requirement
Development of scientific attitude
Chance of in-depth study
Contributing new knowledge
5. WHY THESIS IS NEEDED?
Development of special interest and skills
Critical reading
Publication for successful career
6. HOW TO SELECT A TOPIC?
No bigger problem than selecting a topic
for thesis.
If more student – greater problem
7. FOLLOWING POINTS ARE IMPORTANT
1. Discuss it with seniors, faculty besides guide.
2. Interest- your own to maintain enthusiasm
Guides interest and experience
Avoid topic outside the department
3. Relevance – Local , regional and national
needs. Results may improve
patients care.
8. FOLLOWING POINTS ARE IMPORTANT
4. Avoidance of duplication- go for literature-find major
flaw. Repeat it .If no major fault – select other topic.
Facilities- equipment – available & working condition
Collaboration – explore possibility with other dept.
Feasibility – time limit
Ethical consideration
9. BASIC SEQUENCE OF THESIS WRITING
1. Title page
2. Certificate
3. Acknowledgement
4. Introduction
5. Aims and objectives
10. BASIC SEQUENCE OF THESIS WRITING
6. Review of literature
7. Material and methods
8. Results
9. Discussion
10.Limitation
12. TITLE
Clear, precise and not too long
Put maximum information in minimum words
Avoid abbreviations
Simpler the better
13. TITLE
Consider the audience
Should convey essence of study
Include important key phrases- facilitate
electronic retrieval
Provoke curiosity
14. ABSTRACT
Work done, written in past tense.
Structured abstract
Non structured abstract
Should be a single paragraph
16. BASIC STRUCTURE
IMRAD – to avoid confusion
Introduction
Material and methods
Results
Discussions
17. Why did you start? - Introduction
What did you do? - Methods
What did you find? - Results
What does this means? - Discussion
18. INNTTTTT
Why did you start?
What did you do?
What did you find?
What does this means?
-Introduction
- Methods
- Discussion
- Results
19. INTRODUCTION
Describe research problem
Specify need for research in present context
Include only few relevant reference from lit
20. INTRODUCTION
First para – Motivate your reader
Second para – Cite previous research and more
recent and relevant work
Third para – Why more work needed
21. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
Include precise Aim, Objective and Hypothesis
Specifying what you want to be studied
Primary or Secondary
22. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Why needed?
What information already existed on topic?
Refers to exhaustive, extensive and systematic
examination of publication related to topic
Find out strength and weakness of article
23. REVIEW OF LITERATURE HELPS FOR
Work done by other in that field
Similar study carried out or not
What were the methods they used?
Where there any difficulties? if yes, at what stage.
If similar study, how does your work differs
24. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
If repetition, would you like to confirm the
results or expect different result due to racial or
geographical variation
To discover what is known and what remains to
be learned.
To find a well written thesis for guide
25. HOW TO DO EFFECTIVE LITERATURE SEARCH?
Search all current publication ( last 5 years)
To summarize and record content
Perform critical review
26. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Describe research design and setting of patients
Mention actual design used
Specify inclusion and exclusion criteria
Sampling methods
Blinding
27. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sample determination and intervention
Details of procedures- assess validity and repeat
the study.
If standard technique – reference. Any
modification – clearly explain.
29. MATERIALS AND METHODS
If drug trial – single , double blind.
Phase – I, II,III.
Consult statistician before starting study or
during interim analysis
30. RESULTS
Organize in logical sequence
Use text, table and figures judiciously
Avoid repetition
Cite table and figure in the text
Give details of statistics
31. RESULTS
Crucial part of thesis
Relates to important finding to question
Often written first
Entire paper depends on results- scientific merit.
Restrict yourself to really important finding
32. TABLES
Core of the results
Carry lot numerical data and statistical validity
Readers need lot of time to examine
Title is important and reveal something what tables shows
Clear and focus
Should give sufficient information to draw conclusion
33. FIGURES
Show comparison and relationship
Better in showing trends, frequencies
relationship
Prepare only if they are truly necessary
35. PRESENT DATA IN NATURAL ORDER
Organize the result from patient perspective
(maternal, fetal)
Clean up messy data before writing
Be careful that your rational is not contradictory
36. STARTS WITH MAJOR POSITIVE FINDING
No. of patients meet inclusion criteria
States what percentage died
Which patients excluded & why from analysis
Negative association- at the end of result
In RCT- study baseline should be first described
37. Statistical significance should be given
CONSORT
Discussion and interpretation should not be
included
Avoid repetition from methods and discussion
38. DISCUSSION
Structural conventions
1. State the main findings.
2. Relate study results to research hypothesis.
3. State strength and weaknesses of study.
4. Compare results with other studies
5. Indicate implications for future research
39. FOCUSSING THE DISCUSSION
Begin with the most important point
Confine discussion to the subject studied
Focus the central point on each topic
Highlight merit/stregth of the study
40. TIPS TO WIN OVER EXAMINER
Provide practical information
Compare with studies-diplomacy in criticise
Overcome initial negative reaction-extra support
Keep the discussion short-a,an,the cautiously
Discuss application of findings
42. CONCLUSIONS
Describe practical importance
State recommendations clearly
Support conclusions by data
Give directions for future research
43. SUMMARY
Include aims and objective
Main points of methods and results and main
conclusion
Make summary precise and clear so that readers
get overall view of the work
400 words
44. REFERENCES
Cite all references included in bibliography and
vice versa
Commonly used vancouver style e.g
http://library.vcc.ca/downloads/VCC_Vancou
verStyleGuide.pdf by Vancouver
Community College Library, Last revised: 2
July 2009
http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/
vancouv.pdf
45. APPENDICES
Put master charts and very large tables as
appendices to avoid interrupting the flow of text
Cite appendices in text at appropriate places
46. LANGUAGE GUIDELINES
Make prose clear, concise and accurate
Convey one main idea in each paragraph
Avoid too short or too long paragraph
Choose short and familiar words
47. LANGUAGE GUIDELINES
Avoid excessive use of passive words
Use past tense for completed action mainly to
describe method and results of experiment
Present tense should be used for generalization
and well established facts.
