A thesis proposal is an academic paper which is used to present the research topic or subject of study. Just like business proposal examples & samples, thesis proposals are supposed to be precise, direct to the point and specific. It is important for a thesis proposal to be well thought of as it can showcase the relevance of the study to the field that the researchers are immersed in We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow blogger.com more A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin philosophiae doctor or doctor philosophiae) is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is an earned research degree, those studying for a PhD are required to produce original research that expands the
The Kibitzer's Cafe - Chess Discussion Forum
John W. Chinneck Dept. of Systems and Computer Engineering Carleton University Ottawa, Canada. Translations into other languages are available. This note describes how to organize the written thesis which is the central element of your graduate degree.
To know how to organize the thesis document, you first have to understand what graduate-level research is all about, so that is covered too, how lengthy is a phd thesis document. In other words, this note should be helpful when you are just getting started in your graduate program, as well as later when you start to write your thesis. The distinguishing mark of graduate research is an original contribution to knowledge.
The thesis is a formal document whose sole purpose is to prove that you have made an original contribution to knowledge. Failure to prove that you have made such a contribution generally leads to failure. Because the purpose of the graduate thesis is to prove that you have made an original and useful contribution to knowledge, the examiners read your thesis to find the answers to the following questions:. A very clear statement of the question is essential to proving that you have made an original and worthwhile contribution to knowledge.
To prove the originality and value of your contribution, you must present a thorough how lengthy is a phd thesis document of the existing literature on the subject, and on closely related subjects, how lengthy is a phd thesis document. Then, by making direct reference to your literature review, you must demonstrate that your question a has not been previously answered, and b is worth answering.
Describing how you answered the question is usually easier to write about, since you have been intimately involved in the details over how lengthy is a phd thesis document course of your graduate work. If your thesis does not provide adequate answers to the few questions listed above, you will likely be faced with a requirement for major revisions or you may fail your thesis defence outright.
For this reason, the generic thesis skeleton given below is designed to highlight the answers to those questions with appropriate thesis organization and section titles. The generic thesis skeleton can be used for any thesis. While some professors may prefer a different organization, the essential elements in any thesis will be the same.
Some further notes follow the skeleton. Always remember that a thesis is a formal document: every item must be in the appropriate place, and repetition of material in different places should be eliminated.
This is a general introduction to what the thesis is all about -- it is not just a description of the contents of each section. Briefly summarize the question you will be stating the question in detail latersome of the reasons why it is a worthwhile question, and perhaps give an overview of your main results. This is a birds-eye view of the answers to the main questions answered in the thesis see above. How lengthy is a phd thesis document brief section giving background information may be necessary, especially if your work spans two or more traditional fields.
That means that your readers may not have any experience with some of the material needed to follow your thesis, so you need to give it to them. A different title than that given above is usually better; e. Here you review the state of the art relevant to your thesis. Again, a different title is probably appropriate; e. You organize this section by ideaand not by author or by publication.
For example if there have been three important main approaches to Zylon Algorithms to date, you might organize subsections around these three approaches, if necessary:. Engineering theses tend to refer to a "problem" to be solved where other disciplines talk in terms of a "question" to be answered. In either case, this section has three how lengthy is a phd thesis document parts:.
a concise statement of the question that your thesis tackles 2. justification, by direct reference to section 3, that your question is previously unanswered 3. discussion of why it is worthwhile to answer this question. Item 2 above is where you analyze the information which you presented in Section 3. For example, maybe your problem is to "develop a Zylon algorithm capable of handling very large scale problems in reasonable time" you would further describe what you mean by "large scale" and "reasonable time" in the problem statement.
Now in your analysis of the state of the art you would show how each class of current approaches fails i. how lengthy is a phd thesis document handle only small problems, or takes too much time. In the last part of this section you would explain why having a large-scale fast Zylon algorithm is useful; e. Since this is one of the sections that the readers are definitely looking for, highlight it by using the word "problem" or "question" in the title: e.
This part of the thesis is much more free-form. It may have one or several sections and subsections. But it all has only one purpose: to convince the examiners that you answered the question or solved the problem that you set for yourself in Section 4.
So show what you did that is relevant to answering the question or solving the problem: if there were blind alleys and dead ends, do not include these, unless specifically relevant to the demonstration that you answered the thesis question. You generally cover three things in the Conclusions section, and each of these usually merits a separate subsection:, how lengthy is a phd thesis document.
Conclusions 2. Summary of Contributions 3. Future Research. Conclusions are not a rambling summary of the thesis: they are shortconcise statements of the inferences that you have made because of your work. It helps to organize these as short numbered paragraphs, ordered from most to least important. All conclusions should be directly related to the research question stated in Section 4.
The problem stated in Section 4 has been solved: as shown in Sections? The principal mechanism needed in the improved Zylon algorithm is the Grooty mechanism, how lengthy is a phd thesis document. The Summary of Contributions will be much sought and carefully read by the examiners. Here you list the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis makes. Of course, the thesis itself must substantiate any claims made here.
There is often some overlap with the Conclusions, but that's okay. Concise numbered paragraphs are again best. Organize from most to least important. Demonstrated the first use of the Grooty mechanism for Zylon calculations. The Future Research subsection is included so that researchers picking up this work in future have the benefit of the ideas that you generated while you were working on the project. Again, concise numbered paragraphs are usually best. The list of references is closely tied to the review of the state of the art given in section 3.
Most examiners scan your list of references looking for the important works in the field, so make sure they are listed and referred to in section 3. Truth be known, most examiners also look for their own publications if they are in the topic area of the thesis, so list these too.
Besides, reading your examiner's papers usually gives you a clue as to the type of questions they are likely to ask. All references given must be referred to in the main body of the thesis. Note the difference from a Bibliography, which may include works that are not directly referenced in the thesis.
Organize the list of references either alphabetically by author surname preferredor by order of citation in the thesis. What goes in the appendices? Any material which impedes the smooth development of your presentation, but which is important to justify the results of a thesis, how lengthy is a phd thesis document.
Generally it is material that is of too nitty-gritty a level of detail for inclusion in the main body of the thesis, but which how lengthy is a phd thesis document be available for perusal by the examiners to convince them sufficiently.
Examples include program listings, immense tables of data, lengthy mathematical proofs or derivations, etc. Again, the thesis is a formal document designed to address the examiner's two main questions.
Sections 3 and 4 show that you have chosen a good problem, and section 5 shows that you solved it. Sections 1 and 2 lead the reader into the problem, and section 6 highlights the main knowledge generated by the whole exercise.
Note also that everything that others how lengthy is a phd thesis document is carefully separated from everything that you did. Knowing who did what is important to the examiners. Section 4, the problem statement, is the obvious dividing line. That's the main reason for putting it in the middle in this formal document. The best way to get started on your thesis is to prepare an extended outline. You begin by making up the Table of Contents, listing each section and subsection that you propose to include.
For each section and subsection, write a how lengthy is a phd thesis document point-form description of the contents of that section. The entire outline might be 2 to 5 pages long. Now you and your thesis supervisor should carefully review this outline: is there unnecessary material i.
not directly related to the problem statement? Then remove. Is there missing material? Then add. It is much less painful and more time-efficient to make such decisions early, during the outline phase, rather than after you've already done a lot of writing which has to be thrown away. Longer than you think. Even after the research itself is all done -- models built, calculations complete -- it is wise to allow at least one complete term for writing the thesis, how lengthy is a phd thesis document.
It's not the physical act of typing that takes so long, it's the fact that writing the thesis requires the complete organization of your arguments and results. It's during this formalization of your results into a well-organized thesis document capable of withstanding the scrutiny of expert examiners that you discover weaknesses.
It's fixing those weaknesses that takes time. This is also probably the first time that your supervisor has seen the formal expression of concepts that may have been approved previously in an informal manner. Now is when you discover any misunderstandings or shortcomings in the informal agreements.
What to do if you only have 3 months left to finish your PhD
, time: 15:24Thesis - Wikipedia
Again, the thesis is a formal document designed to address the examiner's two main questions. Sections 3 and 4 show that you have chosen a good problem, and section 5 shows that you solved it. Sections 1 and 2 lead the reader into the problem, and section 6 highlights the main knowledge generated by the whole exercise Feb 12, · An abstract is a short summary at the beginning of the PhD that sums up the research, summarises the separate sections of the thesis and outlines the contribution. It is typically used by those wishing to get a broad understanding of a piece of research prior to reading the entire thesis Mar 30, · This post is by DrJanene Carey, a freelance writer and editor based in Armidale NSW. She occasionally teaches academic writing at the University of New England and often edits academic theses, articles and reports. Her website is blogger.com Arguably, this question is a classic time waster and the student who poses it should be told
No comments:
Post a Comment