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Organizing a Thesis
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Organizing a Thesis
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Registration & Credits Finding a Good Idea Selecting an Adviser Methods of Study Organizing a Thesis |
You should strive for a paper that is between 35 and
50 pages. It seems like a lot. But once students get into their topics,
they often find themselves writing more. Believe it or not, almost every
semster, I've had students hand in papers more than 100 pages long.
How does that happen? You divide the paper into smaller parts -- chapters -- that make the writing more manageable. I will offer here a traditional division of chapters and even include some possible page lengths, so you can see how a thesis can be done. But you should know that you can write your thesis in any form that is acceptable to you and your adviser. The following method, however, is very common for research theses, dissertations and academic articles. No matter how you organize your work, you should include these elements: Chapter One is an “Introduction.” In 3 to 5 pages or more, you will introduce your topic and raise some interesting questions about it. You might want to cite a relevant and recent example. You should make your writing interesting and readable. Remember: your parents, friends and future employers may want to read it. By chapter end, readers should understand what you will be studying. Chapter Two is a “Review of Literature.” You look at -- and write about -- what has been done before on your topic. Depending on your topic, this chapter can sometimes be long – 10 to 12 pages. Some topics have been studied often. I almost hate to tell you this. My doctoral dissertation looked at U.S. news coverage of the Soviet Union. Lots of people had studied this from the 1950s through the 1980s. The review of literature was 120 pages long. Don't worry. You won't have to do that. At the end of this chapter, you would discuss where YOUR proposed study fits in with previous studies. You are adding to the research tradition. Lit reviews are so important that I've provided additional information and an example here. Chapter Three discusses your "Method." You would talk about how you would study your particular topic. This chapter is usually short. It can be 2 to 4 pages. Are you doing a survey? Of who? How were they selected? What will you ask them? Whatever you plan to do, explain it fully and well. Chapter Four presents the “Results” of your study. You tell what you found. You explain the results of your content analysis. You summarize the interviews. You discuss each of the films of a particular film maker. You trace the cases of an area of law. This chapter is large and detailed, perhaps 12 to 15 pages. Chapter Five is a “Discussion.” You tie in Chapter 2 with Chapter 4 and discuss how your results fit with the review of literature. You write about how your study complements or disputes other studies that you found in your review of literature. Did your study agree with some authors? Disagree with
others?
Chapter Six is a “Summary and Conclusion.” You can summarize what you’ve done. You can discuss things you might do differently. You can suggest other areas of research. This chapter might be 4 or 5 pages. You should also include a "Bibliography" that shows the influence of other work. You don’t need to follow the above format exactly. But do try to break down your thesis into manageable parts. It’s hard to write a 50-page paper. It’s not that difficult to write six chapters. Remember, over the last ten years, we’ve had more than
hundred students do theses. They always say it was one of their
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