How do you write a master's thesis? Prof. Laura Black guides students from the Master of Advanced Studies in Humanitarian Logistics and Management through the process.

1. First-year Thesis Workshop
Laura J. Black, Ph.D.
April 2014
©Greer Black Company 2014

2. Overview of Today’s Workshop
What are you trying to accomplish?
•How might it be accomplished?
•How can you improve basic skills necessary for
the process?

3. Overview of Today’s Workshop
•What are you trying to accomplish?
•Getting a clearer picture of the goal
•How might it be accomplished?
•How can I improve basic skills necessary for
the process?

4. From Dictionary.com
the·sis: noun, plural the·ses [thee-seez]
1. Proposition stated or put forward for consideration, especially one to be
discussed and proved or to be maintained against objections: He vigorously
defended his thesis on the causes of war.
2. A subject for a composition or essay.
3. A dissertation* on a particular subject in which
one has done original research, as one presented
by a candidate for a diploma or degree.
*dissertation: a written essay, treatise or thesis, especially one written by a candidate
for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy

5. From Wikipedia.org
“A thesis or dissertation is a document
submitted in support of candidature for an
academic degree or professional qualification
presenting the author’s research and
findings…. The required complexity and/or
quality of research of a thesis or dissertation can
vary by country, university, or program.”

6. From Wikipedia.org
•What is the document’s content?
The document reports “on a research project or
study, or an extended analysis of a topic.”
•How is the document structured?
“The structure of the thesis … explains the
purpose, the previous research literature … on
the topic …, the methods used and the findings
of the project.”

7. From Wikipedia.org
•“Most world universities use a multiple chapter format :
–a) an INTRODUCTION, which introduces the research topic, the
methodology, as well as its scope and significance;
–b) a LITERATURE REVIEW, reviewing relevant literature and showing how this
has informed the research issue;
–c) a METHODOLOGY chapter, explaining how the research has been designed
and why the research methods/population/data collection and analysis being
used have been chosen;
–d) a FINDINGS chapter, outlining the findings of the research itself;
–e) an ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION chapter, analysing the findings and
discussing them in the context of the literature review (this chapter is often
divided into two—analysis and discussion);
–f) a CONCLUSION.”
–Also: a comprehensive bibliography of all REFERENCES used in the thesis

8. What are you trying to accomplish?
•The thesis document is finite: It has 7 sections,
plus an abstract.
–Aim for 50 to 75 space-and-a-half or double-spaced
pages with reasonable font size

9. 7 Sections [estimated pages]
1.You must explain why the research question is
important to the world
This is the Introduction [12]
1.You must explain why existing research is helpful
but not sufficient to answer the question
This is the Literature Review [15]
1.You have to describe your approach (what and
why) to designing and doing the research
This is the Methods [8]

10. 7 Sections [estimated pages]
1.You have to describe what you learned from doing
the research
This is the Findings—often includes tables, graphs,
charts, and sometimes quotations—“just the facts” [12]
1.You have to say why we should care about what
you found
This is the Analysis and Discussion—often describes
the “so what?” for scholars and for practitioners, references
to others’ research, and your own recommendations [15]

11. 7 Sections [estimated pages]
1.You have to explain the extent to which you did
what you set out to do—and what you might do if
you continued the research
This is the Conclusion [5]
1.You have to provide enough information on your
citations that anyone can find and read what you
referred to
This is the Bibliography [2]

12. Therefore what?
Some parts of the thesis can be assembled
before, and simultaneously with, other parts.
•In a thesis you do not write what you already
know….
•You write WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING.

13. Overview of Today’s Workshop
What are you trying to accomplish?
•How might it be accomplished?
•The iterative nature of research and writing
•How can I improve basic skills necessary for the
process?

14. The Linear Approach Is a Myth!
From Conklin, J., 2006, Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, John
Wiley & Sons, citing Guindon, R, 1990,“Designing the design process: Exploiting opportunistic thoughts,”
Human-Computer Interaction, 5: 305-344.

15. From Conklin, J., 2006, Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, John
Wiley & Sons, citing Guindon, R, 1990,“Designing the design process: Exploiting opportunistic thoughts,”
Human-Computer Interaction, 5: 305-344.
The Linear Approach Is a Myth!

16. Many Cycles Are Useful!
Act
Observe
Orient
Decide

17. Clarity Increases with More Cycles
clarity of writing
clarity of thinking
+
+
How do I know what
I think until I see
what I say?
R

18. Kinds of Theses (not exhaustive)
•Output / outcome
–Theoretical
–Applied
•Types of data used
–Qualitative
–Quantitative
•Types of analysis
–Qualitative, statistical, model-based, simulated

19. Therefore what?
•The thesis is finite, addressing a specific
question in a particular way.
•You want a research question that
–Interests you
–Allows you to do something tangible (research) to
produce a plausible answer/insight/solution to it
–Is pretty darn specific

20. Overview of Today’s Workshop
•What are you trying to accomplish?
•How might it be accomplished?
•How can I improve basic skills necessary for
the process?
–Focusing the research question
–Navigating the literature
–Giving credit appropriately to others
–academic honesty
–Matching the methods to the question

21. Focusing the Research Question
Topic ≠ Research Question

22. Focusing the Research Question
Topic
•Noun phrase
•No verbs
•No increasing or
decreasing, before or
after, more or less
Research Question
•Ends with a question
mark
•Has nouns and verbs
•Starts with something like…
–To what extent…
–What are…
–[not a yes-no question]
Topic ≠ Research Question

23. How to Focus the Research Question
•Write a question about the topic (even if it is not
a good question) in the middle of a page
•“Lasso” each main word and off to the side write
what that means (also what it doesn’t)
•Write another, more specific question based on
what you learned from seeing what you wrote

24. Navigating the Literature
•True or False: The best time to look for articles
and chapters on my thesis topic is AFTER I am
SURE what my topic will be.

25. Navigating the Literature
•How many articles or chapters or class activities
do you think you SHOULD read related to the topic
or approach by the time you complete the thesis?
“as many as possible”
yes…but no

26. Navigating the Literature
•How many….?
–Choose a goal—make it a finite number
–Recognize you will need to draw on different kinds of
articles
•Topic—context
•Different elements of research question
•Methods
•Theories about what you care about
•Practical advice about what you care about

27. Navigating the Literature
•You do not need to love all you read. You will
probably find 2 to 5 articles you really admire.
•You need to be familiar with what others have
said about your topic.
•You need to read what others have said about
your research question.
•You need to draw on methods others have used.

28. Navigating the Literature
Making the most of GoogleScholar
• scholar.google.com
•Search on topic terms
•See what appears
•Click through and read abstracts (plenty)
•Note if they are books, articles, reports,
webpages

29. Navigating the Literature
•Making the most of GoogleScholar…
•In a Word document,
–Freewrite what you learned about how other people
use these terms
–Freewrite what YOU mean
–Copy the citation for GoogleScholar entries that
pique your curiosity and write several sentences about
why you think each might be important
•Given what you see, refine your search terms…

30. Iterative Nature of
Writing and Research
•This process will help you
–Scope your thesis to something doable
–Identify the important thinkers — scholars and
practitioners — about your topic / question
–See the Big Picture of what others say about the topic
–Get a feel for methods others have used to study it
–Generate pages, give you something to work with later

31. How to Cite Others’ Works
•True or False: It is possible to plagiarize when
paraphrasing another's ideas.

32. How to Cite Others’ Works
•True or False: If you refer to the source, then it
is impossible to plagiarize when paraphrasing.

33. How to Cite Others’ Works
•Plagiarizing is presenting another’s ideas as
your own.
–Paraphrasing without citing
–Using another’s words without quotation marks,
even if you cite
•Even inadvertent plagiarism is viewed as
academic dishonesty.

34. How to Cite Others’ Works
•To paraphrase without plagiarizing, 80 percent
of the words and sentence structures must be
YOUR OWN.
•It is hard (nearly impossible?) to paraphrase
effectively when you are looking at the
quotation you are trying to paraphrase.

35. How to Cite Others’ Works
Practice:
Climate change adaptation is defined as adapting
means adjusting to a new set of climatic
attributes, either new or unfamiliar from those
already existing, or changed parameters of
existing attributes.

36. How to Cite Others’ Works
Practice:
•Indigenous knowledge systems have not been exploited enough
to fit into the current scientific framework for environmental
conservation and natural disaster management in Africa. As a
result, there is a general lack of information and understanding of
the need to integrate or mainstream indigenous knowledge into
scientific knowledge systems for sustainable development in the
continent. Sustainable development would only be achieved by
blending of approaches and methods from science and
technology and from indigenous knowledge systems.

37. How to Cite Others’ Works
Practice: Natural Region I, which represents 1.6% of the
country, receives an annual rainfall of more than 1,050mm. It is
the prime region which is suitable for a variety of agricultural
activities such as dairying, tea, coffee and intensive livestock
production. The region is well endowed with rivers and forms part
of the country’s watershed. Annual rainfall in Natural Region II
ranges from 700 to 1,050 mm, and supports significant
agricultural production of tobacco, maize, cotton and horticultural
crops. The region also possesses a significant amount of water
resources and forms part of the country’s watershed. Natural
Region III receives annual rainfall of between 500 and 700 mm,
and is subject to periodic seasonal droughts, prolonged mid-
season dry spells and unreliable starts of the rainy season.

38. How to Cite Others’ Works
•Even when you paraphrase you MUST
include a citation to the source!
–or else it is plagiarism
•Cite when you paraphrase (put another’s thoughts
in your own words)
•Cite when you quote (use another’s exact words
with quotation marks around them)

39. How to Cite Others’ Works
•Options for citation
–Footnotes
•Superscript number in the text with full reference at the
bottom of the same page
•Complete list of all references at the end
–In-text citations
•Author’s last name and year of publication in the text
•Complete list of references, listed alphabetically by
author’s last name, at the end

40. How to Cite Others’ Works
•A URL is not enough for a reference!
–Start with the name of the author (if one is listed),
or the title of the report (if no author is named)
–Include as the date the date of the report or the
date the website was last updated
–Also include the date you accessed the website
(because web content can change!)
–Example: Economist Intelligence Unit. 2010. Enabling efficient policy
implementation: A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit,
sponsored by Oracle http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/public-
sector/economist-report-193495.pdf. Accessed July 21, 2013.

41. How to Cite Others’ Works
•Choose a style
•Be consistent
•Include at the end of the thesis ONLY
references you cited in the text
•For EVERY reference cited in the text, include
that reference at the end of the thesis

42. How to Cite Others’ Works
•https://owl.english.purdue.edu/

43. Project Planning
•The value of planning lies not the plan, but in the
ways that the act of planning changes your
thinking.
•Plan; share your plan
•Executing your plan badly is far better than not
having a plan!

44. Working with a Supervisor
•Ask early—be specific about why you are asking
THAT person
•Set regular meetings / for asking questions,
sharing drafts, getting feedback
•The more specific your questions, the more
helpful the answers
•After EVERY meeting, immediately send an
email to your advisor summarizing what you
agreed to do next, and by when.

45. You can do this.
You can do it well.
You can do it without going crazy.

46. Laura Black is Associate Professor at Montana State
University, and Principal, Greer Black Company. She
teaches the Strategic Planning class at the Master of
Advanced Studies in Humanitarian Logistics and
Management (MASHLM).
You can watch highlights from her thesis workshop here:
http://youtu.be/oAyIlwxhEJg
http://youtu.be/RoNkOdlZZU8