How to write good thesis statements
Thesis writing, with its inevitably objective nature makes it a little difficult to prepare one – right from how and where to start to its logical end. Well, here is some help coming your way.
The tips on thesis writing are included as short, crisp bullet points so as to not drift away from the chief objective of this blog in the process of paragraph formation, formatting and so on. Here we go:
1. Focus on quality rather than quantity
2. Standard structure must be followed: One can use help from professional service providers:
- Acknowledgment
- Abstract
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Background
- Literature review
- Data gathering
- Analysis
- Results
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- References
3. Including references is a must wherever necessary while writing a thesis statement. Take care never to mix different styles while citing references – stick to the chosen one from start to finish (eg. Harvard Referencing System)
4. Never ever quote online references like the Wikipedia as such data is subject to change. Online references cited from personal / official websites / blogs, with the date of publishing / appearance, can be cited.
5. Always write theses in the past tense and in the 3rd person.
6. Data or information used as illustration should not be vague.
7. No abbreviations. If they are to be definitely included, then have them within parentheses, preceded immediately by the expanded form.
8. No sentence should start with a numeric character – for eg; 5mg of NaCl was added to…. (Wrong!).
9. Ideal font size is12 but one can use any other suitable size without compromising on readability.
10. Line spacing or indenting should be 1.5.
11. Always follow the dissertation guidelines (below) :
- Table of contents should come at the beginning and the index right at the end (and never ever the other way round).
- Abstract and conclusion should never be the same (quite a few make the mistake of including almost the same points / information in both).
12. Since the evaluation process flow is as follows: Abstract, Conclusion, Results, Analysis, focus should be more on these segments keeping the background as concise as possible. Lengthy background write-ups may end up being counter productive.
13. Do not dash while preparing the thesis; take as much time as required and space the process well (consume at least eight to ten days) and have it proof-read once or twice before submission.
14. Never be shy or afraid to seek advice from others; one can even share one’s thesis with his/her peers – if they are able to see what you want them to see and make sense of it – then it is a good thesis.
15. And finally – always remember – a thesis can only be good, never perfect.
