Guidelines for writing a master thesis, how to write a master thesis?
Process:
You cannot just work: Have a clear goal and Make a plan of your process (not the plan of your Thesis!).
First, have a clear idea about what problem you want to solve (before you begin). You probably don’t know precisely what goal you will pursue or how.
The plan of your process:
1. Literature survey:
Read up on previous solutions to your problem. Decide what is your precise goal.
2. Design:
Think about how you will reach your goal. Make a design for an implementation that should make you reach that goal. Your design should be based on previous work.
3. Implement the design:
The output is a testable implementation.
4. Test the implementation:
The output is a set of test results.
5. Analyze the results from your test:
Based on the results you can now argue that the goal is reached.
6. Write report:
Based on your statement on motivation and goals, literature survey, design notes, implementation notes, and analysis of tests results you can now write the thesis.
7. Revisit all phases:
Set aside some time to make changes to the design and implementation, new tests and changes to the report. Improve were needed.
When you divide your work into these phases you should consider how much time to set aside for each phase.
Structure:
1. Motivations (why):
You have a goal, There are problems you are trying to solve. Explain them. What people in the real world are affected by the problem that concerns you? Your grandmother must understand this section.
2. Goal (hypothesis):
Explain in detail what the goal is. If your project contains an element of research (which is good) your goal is to (verify the hypothesis) investigate some particular method to verify its usefulness for some particular purpose
3. RelatedWork:
Describe what has been done before, discuss the theory that your work is based upon. Also explain why these theories are needed.
4. Method:
Describe your own work (how you reached your goal), motivate your choices (tell us why).
5. Results:
Document that you have reached this goal (or verified your hypothesis).
6. Conclusion/Discussion/Future work:
You can conclude that you have reached your goal or discuss why not (if that is the case). Also discuss hindsight: What were better or worse than expected regarding the methods. How could your project be improved by further work.
Source:
http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/~jab/MastersThesisAdvice.pdf
Guidelines of a typical science thesis, how to write a typical science thesis?
• A PhD thesis shall be
Substantial,
An original contribution to scholarship, (discovery of knowledge, the formulation of theories or the innovative re-interpretation of known data and established ideas)
• Will be judge for
The quality of research,
The significance of the contributions
The style of presentation (writing and layout)
• A bachelor thesis will be judge for
The originality,
The independence,
The mastery
• Structure
1. Title page:
Gives the title of the thesis in full, the candidate’s names and degrees, a statement of presentation in the form ‘This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of XXXXX’, the department and year of submission.
1.5. Letter:
The format of the undergraduate thesis is similar, except here take place a letter from the candidate addressed to the Executive Dean of the Faculty saying ‘This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (with Honours)’ and certifying that it represents the candidate’s own work.
2. Summary or Abstract:
Approximately 300 words. (not over 700) It should summarize headings, aims, scope and conclusion of the thesis.
3. Table of Contents
4. Acknowledgements:
Should include sources of financial support and all those whose help you have sought and got, and all those whose work you have directly built upon
5. Main Text:
….(a) Chapter 1: Introduction
….(b) Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
….(c) Chapter 3: Materials and Methods
….(d) Chapters 4 to n: Experimental Chapters
……..i. A brief introduction (Aim What did you do and why?)
……..ii. Experimental procedure (methods and materials) (How did you do it?)
……..iii. Results (What did you find?)
……..iv. Discussion (What do your results mean to you and why?)
….(e) Chapter (n + 1):
General Discussion or Conclusions (What new knowledge have you extracted from your experiment?)
6. Bibliography or References
7. Appendices
Source: http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/pub/HowToWriteAThesis.pdf
More about literature review:
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Literature_review – http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literature-review
More about style writing in english:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style
More about methodology, process and motivation: http://www.tadafinallyfinished.com/how-to-write-a-masters-thesis.html
More about thesis proposal: http://www.fdewb.unimaas.nl/aim/downloads/pdf/How%20to%20write%20a%20thesis%20proposal.pdf