Writing a Dissertation

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Writing a Dissertation

• Dr. Lorna Uden
• FCET
• Staffordshire University
• L.uden_at_staffs.ac.uk

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Why do you need to write a dissertation?

• To document work you have done, so that others
  might benefit from it, use it and cite it.
• As part of course requirements.
• To demonstrate your ability to put the coursework
  into practice.
• To establish a claim for originality.
• Not necessarily the only reasons, but a fairly
  good set of explanations as to why a dissertation
  is normally required in degrees.

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• The General Idea
• A thesis is a hypothesis or conjecture.
• A PhD dissertation is a lengthy, formal document
  that argues in defense of a particular thesis.
• The dissertation must be original and
  substantial.
• A dissertation highlights original contributions.
  
• The scientific method means starting with a
  hypothesis and then collecting evidence to
  support or deny it.
• Before one can write a dissertation defending a
  particular thesis, one must collect evidence that
  supports it.
• The most difficult aspect of writing a
  dissertation consists of organizing the evidence
  and associated discussions into a coherent form.

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• The essence of a dissertation is critical
  thinking, not experimental data. Analysis and
  concepts form the heart of the work.
• A dissertation concentrates on principles it
  states the lessons learned, and not merely the
  facts behind them.
• In general, every statement in a dissertation
  must be supported either by a reference to
  published scientific literature or by original
  work.

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• A dissertation does not repeat the details of
  critical thinking and analysis found in published
  sources it uses the results as fact and refers
  the reader to the source for further details.
• Each sentence in a dissertation must be complete
  and correct in a grammatical sense.
• Each statement in a dissertation must be correct
  and defensible in a logical and scientific sense.
  
• Moreover, the discussions in a dissertation must
  satisfy the most stringent rules of logic applied
  to mathematics and science.

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• Hints for Success
• a) Ideas for the Introduction
• a clear statement of your subject
• an explanation of why the research is worthwhile
• an outline of methods used
• an indication of the limitations of the study
• a summary of the chapters to follow
• b) Ideas for the Chapters
• each one should answer a major question
• each chapter should contain lots of answers to
  smaller questions
• use sub-headings to guide your reader
• develop points carefully, step by step
• each chapter should make sense if it were to be
  read on its own
• give chapters introductions and conclusions as
  well

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• c) Appendices
• are designed to let you include material which
  could not be fitted easily into any chapter.
• a large document would look awkward in the middle
  of a chapter, so it should be included as an
  appendix.
• important material referred to in more than one
  chapter should go in as an appendix.
• check with your supervisor that appendixes are
  acceptable, and discuss the material you wish to
  include in them. Also check on whether material
  included in your appendixes counts towards the
  wordage for the dissertation.
• d) Bibliography
• set out all sources used - printed or otherwise,
• everything referred to in the text must be cited
  in the bibliography.
• use the appropriate referencing system as advised
  by your supervisor or module leader.

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What might we be seeking to convey to the reader ?

• An understanding of why the work/project done is
  worthwhile and useful.
• That our own work was performed competently.
• Awareness of any related work performed elsewhere
  (and how it relates to our own work).
• An appraisal of the significance and degree of
  success/relevance of our own work.
• Ideas for future work.

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Keep the readers attention

• Will be aided by a good logical structure,
  including the use of
• lists
• diagrams
• headings
• emphasis

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...but...

• ...beware of
• using too many typefaces/fonts
• overuse of emphasis
• excess clutter (redundant figures, over-detailed
  sub-headings, too many bullets)
• using citations as a means of avoiding explaining
  something

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Components of a document
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Contents of a document

• Logical structure determines how the document is
  organised and partitioned. This is fairly
  independent of content.
• Technical content determined locally and
  specific to a given project.
• Presentation style individual, but needs to
  consider some rules.
• Assumptions (context) determined by the intended
  audience/readership, their expected level of
  knowledge and familiarity with each aspect.

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Logical structure an example

• 1. Preamble
• 2. Introduction
• 3. Background
• 4. Literature Review
• 5. Solution
• 6. Results
• 7. Project Management
• 8. Conclusion
• 9. Bibliography/References
• 10. Appendices/Glossary

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1. Preamble

• Likely to include
• Abstract.
• Acknowledgements (optional).
• Table of content.
• List of figures and tables.

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2. Introduction

• Short and to the point
• Gives summary of
• why the work was done.
• major features of the problem and solution.
• any significant aspects of the solution that the
  reader might need to anticipate when reading the
  rest.
• the structure of the rest of the document.

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• What is the topic and why is it important?
• State the problem(s) as simply as you can.
• How does it fit into the broader world of your
  discipline?
• The introduction should be interesting.
• This section might go through several drafts to
  make it read well and logically, while keeping it
  short.
• Your introduction should tell where the thesis is
  going, and this may become clearer during the
  writing.

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3. Background

• Elements may involve
• Historical aspect (previous work in the area).
• Technical features (specific aspects of the
  problem that make it of interest).
• Specific techniques that the reader needs to be
  reminded of (have explained to them) in order to
  understand the solution.
• Also has the effect of identifying the level of
  understanding expected of the reader.

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4. Literature Review

• An examination of existing work related to your
  topic area
• To include aspects of
• Theory
• Practice
• Experience
• MUST BE PROPERLY REFERENCED (see later)
• Up to date references preferred

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• The literature review should ask
• Where did the problem come from?
• What is already known about this problem?
• What other methods have been tried to solve it?

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5. Solution
your bit! (needs to be structured)
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6. Results

• Main purpose is to capture information about
• what happened
• what was learned from this
• This should be presented in as objective a form
  as possible, which might include a degree of
  analysis (this might be the topic of another
  section)

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7. Project Management

• You need to describe how you managed your
  project.
• Did the original plan need to be altered? If so,
• Why did you need to alter it?
• How did it affect the progress of your project?
• Provide a final project plan.

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8. Conclusion

• Keep it brief.
• Provide a structure.
• Look back.
• Be analytical.
• Draw conclusions.
• Suggest further work/consequences.

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9. Bibliography/references

• Bibliography sections are mainly suited to
• books
• review articles
• but may be appropriate where the project involves
  a large degree of surveying of a field.
• A reference section should always be included,
  and used to support your arguments by means of
  citation (see later).

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...citations

• Two questions
• when?
• how?
• When involves the decision about whether we
  should acknowledge the source(s) of ideas, and
  how often this should be repeated.
• How is a question of labelling.
• Journals use different styles
• YOU MUST USE Harvard Style.

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Harvard referencing style

• The University standard
• Labelling by author name and year (Uden, 1995).
• The References section of the dissertation will
  be in alphabetic order (not the order introduced
  in the text).
• See
• http//www.staffs.ac.uk/services/library_and_info/
  geninfo.htm

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10. Appendices/glossary

• Any material that is so voluminous or detailed
  that it will change the level of abstraction
  within a section, or is likely to overwhelm the
  reader, should go in an appendix.
• When in doubt, provide a summary in the section
  and provide an appendix.
• Use of a glossary maybe helpful where the topic
  involves specialist use of language, especially
  where this comes from the application area.

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Technical content

• A few points to remember
• Try to have one key message (usually the goal of
  the project) and concentrate on this.
• Dont obscure this message, present it so that it
  cannot be misunderstood.
• Dont try to say too much, especially about
  related areas that are not directly relevant.

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Presentation style

• Relevant factors might include
• Sentence length.
• Sentence structures.
• Vocabulary.
• Use of headings and subheadings to help the
  reader to navigate through the work.
• Use of citations.

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Assumptions

• Remember, it is unlikely that the readers will be
  as familiar with the detailed material as you
  are,
• So
• spell out those things that are important for
  understanding the problem and your solution.
• where you refer to some item of standard
  knowledge, a brief summary as a reminder might be
  helpful, but not a tutorial!

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How to do it...

• Have a plan that describes the structure of the
  dissertation (sections, subsections), and a list
  of the topics to be covered in each one.
• Be prepared to modify the plan!
• Dont feel it necessary to begin writing at the
  first section, order of development is personal.
• Make notes as you write, especially where you
  realise that something will need to be covered in
  another section, or that an item is missing, or...

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What to do it with...

• Really a matter of personal taste and of
  availability
• Text formatters allow you to manage the
  documents logical structure, but are less visual
• Word processors allow you to see what the
  finished document will look like, but it is easy
  to get diverted into typesetting niceties as an
  alternative to thinking about content!

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To Summarise

• (A suggested thesis structure from Joe Wolfe)
• Title page
• This may vary among institutions, but as an
  example Title/author/ "A thesis submitted for
  the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty
  of Computing, Engineering and Technology/at
  Staffordshire University " /date.

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• Abstract
• Of all your thesis, this part will be the most
  widely published and most read because it will be
  published in Dissertation Abstracts
  International.
• It is best written towards the end, but not at
  the very last minute because you will probably
  need several drafts.
• It should be a distillation of the thesis a
  concise description of the problem(s) addressed,
  your method of solving it/them, your results and
  conclusions.
• An abstract must be self-contained.
• Usually they do not contain references. When a
  reference is necessary, its details should be
  included in the text of the abstract.
• Check the word limit.

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• Acknowledgments
• Most thesis authors put in a page of thanks to
  those who have helped them in matters scientific,
  and also indirectly by providing such essentials
  as food, education, genes, money, help, advice,
  friendship etc. If any of your work is
  collaborative, you should make it quite clear who
  did which sections.
• Table of contents
• The introduction starts on page 1, the earlier
  pages should have roman numerals. It helps to
  have the subheadings of each chapter, as well as
  the chapter titles. Remember that the thesis may
  be used as a reference in the lab, so it helps to
  be able to find things easily.

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• The First Chapter should give
• The general background of your work,
• A review of the work done by other people,
• The objective of your own work,
• The reasons why your work is interesting and
  useful.

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• The Middle Chapters should give detailed
  information about your work so that other people
  could repeat what you have done, or could do
  further work starting where your work finished.
• In these chapters you should
• Explain the theory,
• Describe exactly how you did the work,
• Give the results you obtained.

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• In some theses, the middle chapters are the
  journal articles of which the student was major
  author.
• The exact structure in the middle chapters will
  vary among theses.
• In some theses, it is necessary to establish
  some theory, to describe the experimental
  techniques, then to report what was done on
  several different problems or different stages of
  the problem, and then finally to present a model
  or a new theory based on the new work.

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• For such a thesis, the chapter headings might be
  Theory, Materials and Methods, first problem,
  second problem, third problem, proposed
  theory/model and then the conclusion chapter.
• For other theses, it might be appropriate to
  discuss different techniques in different
  chapters, rather than to have a single Materials
  and Methods chapter.

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• Materials and Methods vary enormously from thesis
  to thesis, and may be absent in theoretical
  theses. It should be possible for a competent
  researcher to reproduce exactly what you have
  done by following your description. There is a
  good chance that this test will be applied
  sometime after you have left, another researcher
  will want to do a similar experiment either with
  your gear, or on a new set-up in a foreign
  country. Please write for the benefit of that
  researcher. In some theses, particularly
  multi-disciplinary or developmental ones, there
  may be more than one such chapter. In this case,
  the different disciplines should be indicated in
  the chapter titles.

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• Theory
• When you are reporting theoretical work that is
  not original, you will usually need to include
  sufficient material to allow the reader to
  understand the arguments used and their physical
  bases. Sometimes you will be able to present the
  theory ab initio, but you should not reproduce
  two pages of algebra that the reader could find
  in a standard text. Do not include theory that
  you are not going to relate to the work you have
  done. When writing this section, concentrate at
  least as much on the physical arguments as on the
  equations. What do the equations mean? What are
  the important cases?

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• When you are reporting your own theoretical work,
  you must include rather more detail, but you
  should consider moving lengthy derivations to
  appendices. Think too about the order and style
  of presentation the order in which you did the
  work may not be the clearest presentation.
• Suspense is not necessary in reporting science
  you should tell the reader where you are going
  before you start.

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• The Last Chapter should
• State the conclusions you have drawn from your
  work.
• Compare your conclusions with the opinions of
  other people (Are your conclusions the same or
  different?).
• Suggest what new work should be done to answer
  questions raised by your work and extend our
  knowledge further.

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• What to avoid
• Excessive description. The dissertation should
  offer an analytical treatment of the subject
  under investigation. This is probably the most
  common weakness cited by examiners.
• Poor definition of the question. One of the
  biggest differences between a dissertation and an
  essay or exam is that it is up to you to define
  the research question you wish to answer. Often,
  this is the most difficult task of all. It is
  also one of the most important. A fuzzy question
  often results in a weak overall structure, since
  the structure of the dissertation should be
  designed so that each section contributes to the
  argument you are making in response to the
  question.

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• Poor integration of theoretical and empirical
  material. This is probably the second most common
  weakness. Many dissertations contain theoretical
  discussions that are meant to inform the analysis
  of the material under study but that are never
  rigorously and clearly applied to it. All too
  often, the theoretical section simply stands
  isolated from the rest of the text - a summary of
  some political science theory that is never
  referred to again in the dissertation. Its
  inclusion reflects an awareness that it is
  somehow relevant but it is never brought to bear
  on the case or cases under discussion.

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Final thoughts...

• Have a plan.
• Produce a draft outline before writing any
  sections.
• Be prepared to
• modify the plan
• reorganise the outline
• rewrite each and every section
• scrap what you have written for a section and
  start again!