How To Write Your First Thesis Paul Gruba · Justin Zobel How To Write Your First Thesis Paul Gruba Justin Zobel School of Languages & Linguistics School of Computing & Information University of Melbourne Systems Parkville, Victoria University of Melbourne Australia Parkville, Victoria Australia ISBN 978-3-319-61853-1 ISBN 978-3-319-61854-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61854-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952060 © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recita- tion, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or infor- mation storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publica- tion does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to our children, Tobias Gruba and Anna, Alex, and Sonia Zobel, who sometimes have to tell their fathers to get away from the keyboard.
Preface Completion of a minor thesis involves mastery of a range of accomplishments. It requires that you read other theses, undertake an investigation, manage a large number of references, assess the work of others, objectively interpret data, criti- cally reflect on your own work, and master basics such as writing a long document efficiently on a computer. Throughout this book we discuss the components of a minor thesis—typically, the first thesis that a student ever writes—and set out the various tasks that you need to complete in order to finish the work successfully. This isn’t our first book on thesis writing; we are also the authors of the compa- nion volume, How to Write a Better Thesis, originally written by David Evans and published in 1995, and revised by us in 2003 and 2011.
That book is primarily intended for senior research students undertaking a thesis across a period of years. In writing this new book, we focus solely on first theses. Although we have relied on content from the other volume (from which about half of this book is taken), we have observed that the challenges of writing a minor thesis, especially given the time and resource constraints, are very different. Another factor is that senior research projects such as PhDs take a range of forms, whereas a minor thesis is— and should be—the product of a more or less standard approach.
Our goal here is to help guide you through your first piece of substantial research. As in the earlier book, we have blended our voices to make the reading easier, so we write ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ (except in this preface). We have blended our research perspectives too, as one of us (Paul) has a background in the social sciences and the other (Justin) works primarily in computer science. By combining our perspectives and backgrounds, we believe that the book is made more accessible, and captures the best of what each of us has to offer across the disciplines.
David’s voice is prominent in our companion volume, and we are deeply grate- ful to him and his estate for his text, and for inspiring us in our supervision of stu- dents. While this new volume contains fewer of his words, it is strongly influenced by his approach. We are also grateful to Anna Zobel for the illustrations. Her sketches capture for us the spirit of intensity and joy that successful study can bring.
vii viii Preface Two Introductions In this book, we draw on the experiences of two of our students. We introduce you to them here, so that, when you come to our discussion of issues they faced, you understand their background. Let us first introduce you to Anouck. Although she had been in Australia for a few years, she was originally from France.
Fluent in French and English, she had also studied some Chinese. Anouck had completed one semester of a Master’s degree, and during that time she earned good marks in each of her four subjects. Having been in one of my (Paul’s) classes, she approached me before the start of her second semester to discuss a minor thesis. Anouck told me that she was inter- ested in language and media, a subject that I taught, and we agreed to meet to dis- cuss some ideas.
Later, at our first meeting, she told me that she wanted to do a minor thesis because she was considering doing a PhD. Anouck didn’t, however, know much about theses, how they are structured, or how they are examined. As her supervisor, I knew that she would need some guidance, but I was certainly interested in her project. Like Anouck, Mickey also had an interest in language, but his interests stemmed from being an avid reader of stories, such as fiction published free by authors on the internet.
As an IT student, Mickey had observed that web search tools were unhelpful for the task of finding new things to read, and that recom- mendations on websites were unreliable. When he first spoke to me (Justin), he brought a broad question: What are the alternatives to conventional search meth- ods for finding fiction? This question combined some of my own interests, so, after a couple of meetings in which we talked through possible approaches, we decided to work together, and in the process turned his rather vague idea into a well-defined project. The experiences of Mickey and Anouck (and our many other research students) have helped us to appreciate the challenges of undertaking a minor thesis, and this is why we use their experiences as examples throughout this book. How to Use This Book In Chaps.
1–3, we explain what a minor thesis is and how the task of undertaking a minor thesis should be approached. 4–8, we review the components of a minor thesis in turn, from the introduction to the conclusion, and discuss what is expected in each. 9, we give guidance on editing and on preparation of your thesis for submission. You can read the book cover to cover, or dip in and out of the chapters.
We suggest that you turn to sections that you need at the time that you need them, and compare our advice to that of your classmates and supervisor. But remember that your minor thesis is your own work, and, when you have understood our advice (and its limitations), you should feel confident about doing what seems to best fit Preface ix your own particular project and style, even if this differs from the approach we have described. You should also seek out additional resources. Other books give detailed advice on writing style, referencing, development of effective graphs, experimen- tal design, and so on; these are issues of relevance to academic writing of every level, and our experience is that many students benefit from such resources far more than they had anticipated.
Our focus here is entirely on the challenges that are specific to a minor thesis. Use of this book will, we hope, set you on the path to completion of a successful and satisfying project. Paul Gruba Justin Zobel Contents 1 Transition to Your First Thesis. 1 Defining a Minor Thesis.
1 The Purpose of a First Thesis. 2 The Role of the Student. 3 The Role of the Supervisor. 4 The Student–Supervisor Relationship.
6 The Perfect Question?. 8 Expect the Unexpected. 13 The Right Attitude. 14 Milestones and Schedule.
15 Writing at a Computer. 21 Storage and Backups. 22 Health and Wellbeing. 23 3 The Structure of a Thesis.
25 The ‘Standard’ Thesis Structure. 25 Creating a Non-standard Thesis Structure. 28 Beginning an Individual Chapter. 29 Study or Case Study?.
30 xi xii Contents Observation or Innovation?. 33 Plagiarism and Research Integrity. 34 4 A Strong Beginning: The Introduction. 37 Context of the Study.
37 Motivation for the Study. 38 Aim and Scope. 40 Approach and Outcomes. 41 5 Situating the Study: The Background.
43 Structure of the Background. 44 Developing Critical Thinking. 49 Methods and Approaches. 50 6 Explaining the Investigation: Methods and Innovations.
55 Instrumentation Design and Use. 56 Supporting Your Arguments. 57 7 Presenting the Outcome: The Results. 60 Data Analysis Procedure.
60 Quantitative or Qualitative Analysis?. 61 From Data to Results. 65 Reasoning from Data. 66 8 Wrapping it up: Discussion and Conclusion.
71 Summary of Key Findings. 71 Discussion of Results. 73 Practice and Methodology. 74 Contents xiii Limitations of the Study and Critical Reflection.
74 Agenda for Further Research. 77 9 Before You Submit. 79 From First to Second Draft. 82 Checking the Details.
84 The Main Text. 87 Figures and Tables. 87 Notes and References. 89 And Don’t Forget ….
93 Chapter 1 Transition to Your First Thesis Study at a college or university typically consists of a sequence of degrees: under- graduate, graduate, and research. The pattern of coursework study is familiar to every student. Across a sequence of subjects, where each one is somewhat inde- pendent of the rest, you learn the fundamentals through a series of constrained and discrete assessment tasks. In a research degree, in contrast, a student typically works with a supervisor (or advisor) to undertake an investigation over a period of years with little progressive assessment.
To make the transition between course- work and research, students undertake a minor thesis. I wrote this book to help you produce a first thesis. In this first chapter, I situate the work that lies ahead by defining a minor thesis, setting out its purpose, sketch- ing the roles of the student and the supervisor, considering the work that is reported in the thesis, and indicating how it is likely to be examined. Defining a Minor Thesis A first, or minor, thesis is an extended argument of 5000–20,000 words that reports on the outcomes of a supervised, individual research project, as part of a graduate degree such as Honours or a Masters by Coursework.
A thesis, minor or otherwise, is an extended argument. That is, a thesis consists of logical, structured, and defensible reasoning based on credible and verifiable evidence. In undergraduate degrees, a key task is to show that you understand a particular concept or procedure through lab reports, tests, or essays. Much of the work is descriptive: you provide some background information, check for completeness, and then explain how you responded to the task at hand.
For your undergraduate assignments, you were responding to specific questions and prompts; in your © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 1 P. Zobel, How To Write Your First Thesis, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-61854-8_1 2 1 Transition to Your First Thesis minor thesis, you are primarily in charge of the project. To be successful in a the- sis, you need to argue, and continue to argue for thousands of words until you reach a conclusion.