This document summarizes an orientation workshop for beginning a thesis or dissertation. It provides an overview of the purpose, format, structure, and process of writing a thesis/dissertation. Key points include: clarifying the purpose and format of a thesis, demonstrating a common outline structure, emphasizing the importance of organization and goal-setting, addressing common misconceptions, and introducing resources for support.

1. Welcome to
Thesis Workshop 1
“How to Begin Your Thesis or Dissertation”
JANUARY 26 TH, 2021
TAMIU ADVANCED RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM (ARC)
GRADUATE SCHOOL
WRITING CONSULTANT, FRANCO ZAMORA

2. Purpose: Where are we going?
Clear up misconceptions about the thesis and writing
Help you prepare both mentally and practically for early research and writing
Ask you to consider your goals and deadlines
Demonstrate organization techniques that you can keep for your research process
Introduce you to support in the form of ARC staff and your peers
Provide you with a list of resources and contacts for afterwards

3. Well, what is it?
How is a Thesis or Dissertation Different from a
Seminar or Research Paper?
1. Longer (obviously)
2. You have to come up with the topic and structure, as the expert.
3. Different genre of writing, different formal elements and organization
4. Research-focused, theory-focused
5. Asks the student to do a full literature review and research study, to fully
understand problems in the field.
6. May or may not involve experimental design (depends on major)
7. Written for a specific audience of professional academics

4. Manuscript: What’s it made of?
Format and the Thesis or Dissertation
What citation style should you use for your manuscript?
Your Journal model and the Thesis Manual.
For in-text citations, the Bibliography, endnotes, footnotes, and Tables and Figures
(whether text is above or below), follow the Journal Model, which you should select
with your advisor’s help.
This might overlap with one of the common styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), but it often
does not. Examine the way your journal model handles citations very closely.
For all other things, including page numbers, headers, footers, Table of Contents,
headings and subheadings, Title Page, Abstract, margins, and spacing follow the
Thesis Manual.
See Thesis Manual Guides at the end.

5. How is it made?
Outlining Your Thesis –
The Loose Structure
Thesis Proposal (Thesis I)
◦ Introduction – Historical background, the problem, the research question, the hypothesis
◦ Literature Review – full breakdown of seminal texts, and their relevance to your question
◦ Methodology (often) – How you intend to structure the rest of the work
Analytical/Theoretical (Thesis II)
Argument + Evidence 1
Argument + Evidence 2
Argument + Evidence 3
Conclusion
Experimental Design/Scientific Method (Thesis II)
Data
Results
Analysis
Discussion
STEP
ONE:
STEP
TWO:
Ship’s
Schematic
See how other people in
your discipline structure
their thesis at TAMIU Thesis
and Dissertation Repository!

6. Where to Begin? – The Topic
Do you have the tools you need?
1. Your own writing process.
◦ How much research do you normally do before writing? How do you outline or draft your regular
papers? How much revision do you normally do?
2. Your Purpose
◦ Why did you choose to write about this topic?
◦ How does it fit into your field at large?
3. How ideas connect:
◦ What interests you about it? What bothers you about it? What do you want to know more about it? What
do other people in the field know about the topic? What controversies exist in your topic? What are the
shortcomings of the research done on your topic so far?
4. If you are still thinking about a topic, what papers have you written lately that you found
interesting? Which do you think you could stand to say more about? What texts have you read
that you found interesting (good or bothersome)?
Pre-Launch
Checklist

7. How will you get there? Setting Goals for Your
Research and Writing Progress
Set your goals early, and try to stick to them as much as you possibly can.
◦ Set a page goal.
◦ Set a chapter number goal.
◦ Set a source number goal.
◦ Determine who will read your thesis, how you want to present it to them, and what
will happen after.
Goals should be realistic. Know your deadlines and split up the time.
Add to and shift your goals as you discover your topic through research and
writing about it.
Be flexible with your goals. Life gets in the way, and it happens to everyone
ESPECIALLY THESE DAYS.
Map
of the
Stars

8. How long? Time and Goal Setting
Set Deadlines either with yourself or your advisor. Monthly, weekly, either.
Semesters are 14 weeks long. Most people don’t start writing until 4 or sometimes more weeks of research.
And for Thesis II, you need to reserve the last 4 weeks of your last semester writing to get edits to COAS/Grad
School. So you have about 24 weeks or less. (Some people get more by writing between semesters.)
If you wanted to write a 75 page thesis, (25 page proposal + 50 additional pages), you could write about 5
pages per week, for example. This is usually preferable to writing 0 pages for 10 weeks and then 30 pages all
at once.
How long will
the journey
take?

10. Where am I going?
Consider Your Research Question
 A thesis is generally both argument- and research-based.
 Your research question informs the reader what answer you are
looking to provide for a problem in your field, which you will
research.
 Determine a problem or gap in your academic field of study.
Your research question should try to fill that gap with answers.
 Your argument informs your reader what you expect to show
them with your research.

11. What do I need?
Keeping Your Sources and Research Organized
◦ Develop a system that works for you—it doesn’t need to match anyone else’s.
◦ Everything is digital now, but there’s some value in printing sources and keeping a file.
◦ When organizing sources, always be as detailed as possible about author, title, year, and page
numbers! It’s very difficult to find your sources in the middle of your thesis if you lose them.
◦ The more you describe and write about your sources as you find them—even if you think your own
writing is irrelevant—the more you will be able to recycle and reuse your writing in your proposal.
• Toss out any source you are certain you won’t use. Not
everything is useful, and not everything needs to be read.
• I organize sources into “KEEP,” “MAYBE,” and “NO, BUT…”
• For “Keepers”, decide how and where you want to use it chronologically for your
Literature Review.
• For “Maybes”, ask what you find interesting and disinteresting about the source.
Maybe the author has written or references other good sources?
• “No, But…” should hopefully be your least-used category. You should keep these
if you have questions about the source you still need to answer for yourself, or
you think your source can lead to finding more sources.

12. Healthy Writing Tips
Remember that writing is a process. It does not happen all at once.
Make a mess, then worry about fixing it later.
Communicate your deadlines with your advisor or mark them visibly.
Reward yourself for completing your small goals. Bokler says “Something essential.”
Set attainable goals. If your goals are overwhelming, you’ll avoid the activity in the end.
Don’t push yourself. If your goal is 1 hour a day, stop after 1 hour.
Meeting your goal messily still counts.
Do it even when you don’t want to.
Challenge your own progress without comparing yourself to others.
Ask for help!

13. Common
Misconceptions About
Thesis Writing
1. You’re a grad student, so you should
already know what you’re doing.
2. It needs to be phenomenal and
groundbreaking!
3. You can and should try to experience it
completely alone.
4. You’re going to work on this every
chance that you get.
5. It’s just a giant paper.
Truths About Thesis
Writing
1. This is new to most students, and even
experienced students learn in the process of
writing.
2. It is built on academic field research. Most are
a stepping stone to something more.
3. You have support from peers, advisors, and
ARC staff
4. No one can work every moment; scheduling
time is more beneficial.
5. Thesis writing is its own genre, with its own
expectations.
Thesis and Space are
intimidating for the
same reason: large
and unknown.

14. What’s Next?
Begin outlining your manuscript.
Pick and day, time, and place to start writing/researching and get comfy.
Sign up for Thesis and Dissertation Support Group
writingconsultant@tamiu.edu (956) 326-2477, Pellegrino 203
Contact us for writing consultations, remote meetings, resources
Upcoming Workshops:
◦ Elizabeth Dezouche’s Refworks Workshop
◦ “Thesis/Proposal Defense Tips” Workshop 2 in March or April
◦ “Editing Your Thesis” Workshop in April or May (Dissertation, Thesis II)

15. Additional Resources
Doctoralnet!
Sign up for Motivational Monday emails, download a Boxed-Set of
resources, check out their live or downloaded webinars, or join one of their
Writing Challenges
Your digital resource packet!
Our webpage: https://www.tamiu.edu/cees/arc/pages/consultation.shtml
Our Facebook: /txamiu.arc
The TAMIU Thesis/Dissertation Repository: https://tamiu-
ir.tdl.org/handle/2152.4/1

16. Works Cited
Bolker, Joan. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and
Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis. First edition. Owl Books, 1998.
Bui, Yvonne N. How to Write a Master’s Thesis. 3rd ed. SAGE Publications, 2020.
Clark, Irene. Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation. Prentice
Hall/Pearson Education, 2007.
Fisher, Elizabeth, and Richard Thompson. Enjoy Writing Your Science Thesis or Dissertation! Second
edition. Imperial College Press, 2014.
Philpot Education. “Traits of a good research question.” [Web image]. Extended Essay Support Site.
Number 2.1.4a. Philpot Education.
https://www.philpoteducation.com/mod/book/view.php?id=1274&chapterid=1809#/. Accessed
8/14/2020
Rudestam, Kjell E. and Rae R. Newton. Surviving Your Dissertation. 4th ed. SAGE Publications, Inc.,
2015.