Thesis Paper Writing
What is a thesis?
A thesis declaration states what you accept as true and what you intend to demonstrate. A good thesis statement differentiates between a well-done research project and mere repetition of facts.
An excellent interim thesis will assist you to focus your search for data. You should never be in a hurry! Carry out enough background reading prior to identifying the core or critical questions? Examine the evidence before taking a stand on an issue. You will probably start your research with a functional, initial or tentative thesis that you will keep on refining until you are sure where the evidence is leading.
The thesis declaration is usually situated at the end of your opening paragraph. (The opening paragraph sets the background of your thesis.)
Remember that the reader will be keen to see your thesis. Therefore, make it vivid, robust, and easy to locate.
Attributes of a good thesis:
- It should be contestable, proposing an arguable point with which people could reasonably take issue. A strong thesis is provocative; it occupies a stand and justifies the treatment you will deliver.
- It takes on a topic that could be adequately compensated in the format of the project assigned.
- It should be based and limited to a particular scope. An excellent thesis substantiates a point without deliberating everything about it.
- It expressly declares your deduction based on data. Be flexible to change your thesis if it directs you to a conclusion that you did not mean.
- It supplies the reader with a map to steer him/her through your study.
- It anticipates and refutes the counter-arguments
- It shuns ambiguous language (i.e., “it seems”).
- It shuns the first person. (i.e., “I believe,” “In my thinking”)
- It should not fail the “So what” Or “Who cares” test.
Title Page
The Title (together with subtitle), writer, institution, department, date of delivery, research mentor(s) and advisor, their institution’s and email addresses
Abstract
An excellent abstract describes in one line the importance of the paper. It then proceeds to summarize your main results. The concluding sentences clarifies the major implications of your work. A good abstract should be concise, readable, and quantitative with a length of 1-2 paragraphs of approximately 400 words. Abstracts do not have citations. Information in the title should not be repeated. Be explicit and use numbers where appropriate |
Table of Contents
The table of contents, lists all headings and subheadings with page numbers and indent subheadings. |
Introduction
A good introduction can only be possible after knowing the content of the paper. Write the introductory section after completing the rest of the paper.
Let your introduction be catchy. This is a motivational statement to have the reader hooked to the rest of the paper. It is an interesting scientific problem which your paper addresses. The following paragraphs in the introduction should point to previous research in this same area.
Methods
What is entailed in the “methods” segment of a scientific paper? Information to let the reader evaluate the credibility of your outcomes. Information that can be useful to another researcher to replicate your experiment. Explanation of materials used, procedure, theory, calculations, technique, equipment, and calibration plots. Limitations, assumptions, and range of validity. Details about your analytical methods, including reference to any specialized statistical software. Citations in this section should be limited to data sources and references of where to find complete descriptions of procedures. |
Results
Isolate your remarks from your interpretations. The writer must be clear to the reader as to whether statements are observations or interpretations. In most cases, this is achieved by separating observation statements from statements give meaning to those observations.
Discussion
Start with a few sentences that give the summary of the most significant outcomes. The discussion section should be a brief essay in itself. This division should be rich in references to similar work and setting required to give answers. However, interpretation sections are often too long and verbose. Is there material that does not contribute to one of the ingredients listed above? If then, this may be material that you will require to consider canceling or deleting. Make use of subheadings for segments that are logical |
Conclusions
What is the most significant statement that you can make from your observations? If you met the reader at a meeting six months from now, what do you want them to remember about your paper? Refer to the problem stated, and describe the outcome of your investigation, summarize emerging observations, new interpretations, and new insights that are a resulted of the present work. Include the wider implications of your results. Do not repeat the abstract in the exact words, introduction or discussion. |
Recommendations
Include remedial action that you will use to solve the problem. Need for further research to fill in gaps in our understanding. Directions for future investigations on this or related topics. |
Acknowledgments
Consultant(s) and anyone who helped you technically, intellectually and financially. |
References
Cite all ideas, concepts, text, data that are not your own. |
Appendices
Include all your data in the appendix. Reference data/materials not easily available, tables, and calculations. You may include a key article as the appendix. In the case that you consulted a vast number of references, and you were unable to cite all of them, you may want to add a list of additional resource material. List of equipment that were used for an experiment or details of difficult procedures .
Take Note: The figures and tables, together with captions, should be put in the text and not appear in the appendix, unless they are more than 1-2 pages and are not critical to your argument. |