How to Write a Better Thesis
David Evans • Paul Gruba • Justin Zobel
© Springer
International Publishing Switzerland
2014
Introduction
Thesis writing can be challenging for students and supervisors, but one of the many rewards for both parties is to receive positive examiners’ reports. I was there when Brian found out that his PhD thesis required just a few minor corrections. He was clearly relieved after years of hard work to discover he had passed with little fuss, but he shouldn’t have been too surprised. Brian had written a thesis that, from the start, was well-motivated and purposeful; it was well situated in the field and fluent in the current debates in the discipline; was based on sound principles for data collection; presented results that made it clear what he had achieved; and concluded with his own insightful contributions to the field and observations on how others could pursue further research in the area.
From the start, Brian knew that he had a straightforward task: to convince the examiners that his work had merit, that his data collection and analysis was sound, and that his recommendations were based on firm evidence. In practice, of course, he encountered challenges and worked hard to convey his thinking. Few people have the gift of getting it all down with ease, or with polish. Most students need guidance and editing and criticism, and many struggle during their early attempts to construct and sustain a coherent academic argument. The purpose of this book is to help you to produce a thesis that passes examination.
From the start, good students tend to be independent, confident, and are in the habit of thinking like a researcher. Some students have such skills at the beginning, but most have to learn them, and do so by working with their supervisors and other students. In this book, I provide examples of what successful students have done as they have made progress in their work. I point out, too, some of the mistakes that are possible if the task of writing a thesis is not approached in the right way. My examples are based on the students, like Brian, that I have worked with for several years each.
Completion of a thesis, especially a PhD thesis, involves mastery of a range of technical accomplishments, from learning an appropriate writing style to managing references, and from developing techniques for writing quickly to being effective at self-criticism and at criticizing the work of others. There is also the basic issue of learning what a finished thesis should look like. This book is structured as a discussion of the components of a thesis, and of the sequence of tasks you need to complete to get the thesis finished. The emphasis is on what you need to learn in order to do these tasks well, rather than on technicalities; other resources, including excellent books and websites, can provide help with different aspects of producing a thesis.
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