In the first few weeks, our focus was on researching our possible dissertation topics and analysing how to structure our dissertation proposal. As well as Nigel also told us how to construct a properly framed thesis, as well as giving an account of example arguments as well as the academic nature of the thesis.
The structure of a thesis would be the following:
- Title page
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- Contents page(s)
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Methodology
- Themed topic chapters (main discussion)
- Results
- Discussion or findings
- Conclusions
- References
- Appendices
Before starting with the actual thesis, we will be doing a thesis or research proposal this term. This research proposal’s goal is the plan a structure for research like books, questionnaires, possible interviews, etc. It needs to explain why that research is necessary for the topic like for filling a gap in the subject, proving already existing researches, adding new knowledge to the topic, etc. Also, a literature review is important in our proposal to see if the material gathered is enough and useful for our thesis. It will let us demonstrate that we understand the key information of our goals. The proposal structure would be the following:
- Introduction
- Background significance (why research is needed and how it relates to field of study)
- Literature review (introduction to sources we plan to use in our research)
- Research design, methods, and schedule (planning)
- Suppositions and implications (what results are we expecting and how are they going to contribute to the field of study)
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
In order to develop a research topic we should be asking questions like the following:
- What motivates me to research and discover?
- How can I connect it with my previous research?
- Can this research impact the current knowledge of that topic and add new one?
- Who is going to be the audience?
- What is the reader going to learn from this research?
- Will my topic meet the assignment’s requirements?
- Will it be connected to my FMP?
Thesis objectives and structure
Before starting to write a thesis, it is important to set the targets, audience, and structure of it:
- Determine audience
- Determine what hit is the audience is going to learn
- Break down thesis into main questions
- Put questions in an order that makes sense
- Develop sub-questions
- Plan investigation two find answers
In order to build my thesis argument, I will need to use my own voice, meaning to express in a formal way but following my own style of writing. I could build my own views on its but not using my own opinions into it without any evidence to prove it. I should not use ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘mine’, only to be used when citing my own research. Before starting to write the thesis, it is good practice to try and sum the argument in a few words, so I can have it as reference to go back to check if I am still following this initial argument while writing the thesis.
In the chapters, it would be interesting to add counterarguments to our arguments that could at the same time argued again. This would prove that the analysis is not biased and it is taking in consideration all perspectives.
The conclusion should summarise the main points discussed on each chapter and should answer the question asked originally.
The methodology followed to research and gather information could be by researching peer reviewed sources, surveys, interviews, experiments, etc.
Literature review
This will help to orient ourselves and the reader towards what we want to cover in our thesis. A literature review is developed by:
- Communicating relevant research methodology.
- Showing theoretical framework we could establish.
- Detailing where our work fits into the bigger picture.
When structuring a literature review we need to state our research question and explain how we tackled it. Then a body of paragraphs will explain the research in detail. Lastly, a conclusion section will reiterate the research question while summarising the insides. Within our body sources, we will need to identify themes, patterns, and gaps.
Once we have read and understood our sources, we will need to organise a strategy for writing about how we have used them in our research. We can organise them chronologically, by themes, or according to methods used by their author. Once this outline is done, we can start writing our literature review.