Bede Music Box

HowtoWriteaThesis: AWorkingGuide RChandrasekhar AustralianResearchCentreforMedicalEngineering(ARCME) TheUniversityofWesternAustralia 35StirlingHighway,Crawley,WA6009,Australia chandra@arcme.uwa.edu.au Written:24Feb2000;Revised:30April2002 Contents 1Introduction3 1.1Whatisathesisandwhywriteone?.....................3 1.2Dierencesbetweentheundergraduateandpostgraduatetheses......4 2Structure5 2.1ThesisstructureatUWA............................5 2.2Rationaleforstructure.............................6 2.3Thehypothesisunderpinsthethesis......................6 2.4Doesanengineeringthesisneedahypothesis?................7 3Substance8 3.1Beginatthebeginning:keeprecords.....................8 3.2Writewiththereaderinmind.........................9 3.3Think-Plan-Write-Revise............................10 3.4Attikiouzel'saphorisms.............................10 3.5Lindsay'slaws..................................11 3.6Hartmann'shints................................12 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS Contents 3.14Polishingupyourthesis............................17 3.15Thetimeelement................................18 3.16Do'sandDon'tsinScienceandEngineering.................18 4Style:Language18 4.1ThecraftofwritinggoodEnglish.......................18 4.2AmbiguityandClarity.............................19 4.3Precision.....................................20 4.4Brevity......................................20 4.5Examplesofwhattoavoid...........................20 4.6Punctuation...................................22 4.7TheI/WeActive/Passivecontroversy.....................23 4.8Examplesofgoodwriting...........................25 4.9Spellingandgrammar.............................26 5Style:Layout27 5.1Format......................................27 5.2WordProcessorvsMarkupLanguage.....................27 5.3Diagrams,GraphsandTables.........................27 5.4TableofContents,BibliographyandIndex..................28 6Conclusions28 7Acknowledgements29 References29 QuickReferenceGuide32 Abstract Thisisashortguideonhowtowriteathesisatboththeundergraduateand postgraduatelevels.Itisaimedatstudentsofengineeringandscience.Athesis maybeanalysedintothreeS's: structure,substance and style .Structureconfers logicalcoherence;substance,signicanceanddepth;andstyle,eleganceandappeal. Stateyourhypothesisclearly,ensuringthatitisbothreasonableandtestable. HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 1Introduction 1Introduction Thisisaworkingguideonwritingathesis.Itisintendedtoassistnalyearandpost- graduatestudentsinElectrical/Electronic/ITEngineeringattheCentreforIntelligent InformationProcessingSystems(CIIPS),andtheAustralianResearchCentreforMedi- calEngineering(ARCME),atTheUniversityofWesternAustralia(UWA).Theguideis dividedintothreemainparts: IStructure; IISubstance;and IIIStyle Thestructureofathesisisgovernedbylogicandisinvariantwithrespecttosubject.The 1 Thisguidedoesnotcovertheearlierphases,suchasselectingasupervisorandresearchtopic,doing HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 1Introduction Mostofall,athesisisanattemptto communicate .Sciencebeginswithcuriosity, followsonwithexperimentandanalysis,andleadstondingswhicharethensharedwith thelargercommunityofscientistsandperhapseventhepublic.Thethesisistherefore notmerelyarecordoftechnicalwork,butisalsoanattempttocommunicateittoalarger audience. 2 Pununintended! 3 Contrarytocustomelsewhereintheworld,thecandidateforamaster'sordoctoraldegreeatUWA isgenerallynotrequiredtomakeanoralpresentationanddefenceofherorhiswork.Bycontrast, thenal-yearElectrical/Electronic/ITEngineeringstudentisrequiredtomakeanoralpresentationthat contributesasmallpercentagetothetotalmarksforthethesis. 4 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 2Structure 2Structure 2.1ThesisstructureatUWA TheUWAPhDregulations[4]givethefollowingformatforthedoctoralthesis: 1.Titlepage:givesthetitleofthethesisinfull,thecandidate'snamesanddegrees,a statementofpresentationintheform`ThisthesisispresentedforthedegreeofDoctorof PhilosophyoftheUniversityofWesternAustralia',thedepartmentandyearofsubmission. 2.SummaryorAbstract|ofapproximately300words.(Itshouldnotexceed700words.) TheAbstractorsummaryshouldsummarizetheappropriateheadings,aims,scopeand conclusionofthethesis. 3.TableofContents 4.Acknowledgements 5.MainText 6.BibliographyorReferences 7.Appendices Theformatoftheundergraduatethesisissimilar,exceptthatthetitlepageisfollowed HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 2Structure Thisstructurere ectsthetime-honouredformatofscienceexperiments: I.Aim Whatdidyoudoandwhy? Howdidyoudoit? Observations/Results Whatdidyound? Discussion Whatdoyourresultsmeantoyouandwhy? Conclusions Whatnewknowledgehaveyouextractedfromyourexperiment? Table 1: Thistableshowstherelationshipbetweenthestructureofanexperimentalchapter inathesis,anditsunderlyinglogic. Any awinthereasoningorgapinthelogicwillbeeasilyspottedifthisstructure isstrictlyfollowed. Thus,thestructureofthethesisisdesignedtoenforcelogicaland scienticrigourandmakeiteasytoread. Followthestructureandyoucanbesurethat youaretellingyourstoryintherightorder.Butwhatexactly is yourstory? 2.3Thehypothesisunderpinsthethesis The hypothesis isallimportant. Itisthefoundationofyourthesis. Itgivescoherence andpurposetoyourthesis.Gobacktosection1.1toreviewthemeaningandetymology ofthisword.Ifitishardtograspwhathypothesismeans,theseexplanationsmighthelp:  Thehypothesisdenestheaimorobjectiveofanexperiment,thatifsomelikely butunprovenpropositionwereindeedtrue,wewouldexpecttomakecertainobser- vationsormeasurements. 6 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 2Structure  Ahypothesisisanimaginativepreconceptionof whatmightbetrue intheformof adeclarationwithveriabledeductiveconsequences[7,p18].  Hypothesesarethelarvalformsoftheories[7,p20].  `Ineveryusefulexperiment,theremustbesomepointinview,someanticipationof aprincipletobeestablishedorrejected'; suchanticipationsarehypotheses [7,John GregoryquotedbyMedawar,p22]. Indeed,thegreatFrenchphysiologist,ClaudeBernard,haswritten: Ahypothesisis...theobligatorystartingpointofallexperimentalreasoning. Withoutit,noinvestigationwouldbepossible,andonewouldlearnnothing: onecouldonlypileupbarrenobservations.Toexperimentwithoutprecon- ceivedideasistowanderaimlessly.[7,p30] Your hypothesis must ttheknownfacts 4 and betestable .Tocomplywiththerst,you musthavereadtheliterature.Tocomplywiththesecond,youmustdotheexperiment. Thisiswhythehypothesisiscentraltoscienticinvestigation[5]. Ifyoundtime,readanaccountofthefamousMichelson-Morleyexperiment[8]to understandthatifhypothesisandexperimentareincon ict,itisexperimentthatprevails andhypothesisthatfalls.Ifanexperimentshowsthatahypothesisisincorrect,thenthat hypothesismustbeerroneous,nomatterhowattractive.Moreover,failureofahypothesis mayleadtoare-examinationofassumptions,refutationofshakytheories,andultimately tonewknowledge,ashappenedinthiscase. 2.4Doesanengineeringthesisneedahypothesis? Hypothesesmayberelevanttosciencetheses,butaretheyrelevanttoengineeringthe- ses?Becauseengineers invent ratherthan discover ,doesanengineeringthesisneeda hypothesis? Yes,allthemoreso,becauseinventionisamoretightly directed activitythandiscov- ery;andthetwoarenotmutuallyexclusiveanyway!Ipreferthewordhypothesis: that whichunderliesathesis ;youmaybemorefamiliarorcomfortablewith aims or objectives . Thehypothesisisthe electromotiveforce or emf foryourthesis. 4 Butyoushouldnotbeafraidtoexploretheunknown.Ifthe\knownfact"that\atomsareindivisible" HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance forfurtherinvestigation.Yourownprojectwouldhavedemonstrated 5 thecorrectnessof ahypothesislike`Itispossibletosortgoodgreenapplesfrombadgreenapples,withan 5 Philosophersofsciencecontend[7]thatahypothesiscannotbeprovedconclusively,butonlyfalsied. Wewillsteerclearofthiscontroversyhere. 6 \Beginatthebeginning,"theKingsaidgravely,\andgoontillyoucometotheend:thenstop." Alice'sAdventuresinWonderland byLewisCarroll[9,p158] 8 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance thesis.Thematerialthatfollowsisthecoreofthisworkingguide:sopayattentiontoit andtrytounderstanditthoroughly. 3.2Writewiththereaderinmind Allcommunicationinvolvestwoparties:thesenderofthemessageandthereceiver;in writtencommunication,theyarethewriterandthereader.Ifyou writewiththereaderin mind youaremorelikelytocommunicatesuccessfully.Toxthisconceptinyourmind,I willintroducetwoanalogiesfromelectricalengineeringwithwhichyou must befamiliar: 1.themaximumpowertransfertheorem:[11,p432]Thetransferofpowerfroma sourcetoaloadismaximumiftheloadimpedanceisthecomplexconjugateofthe sourceimpedance(seeFigure1).Thematchingof source and load impedancesfor maximumpower transfertooccurisanalogoustomatchingthe writer'stechnique tothe reader'sexpectations for maximumcommunication tooccur. 2.thereare nore ections onanideal,losslesstransmissionlineifitisterminatedwitha loadthatisequaltothe characteristicimpedance ofthetransmissionline[12,p355]. The re ections attheendofatransmissionlinearelikethereader's confusion at whatthewriterintendedtoconvey;suchconfusionisminimizedagainby matching whatthereaderexpectswithwhatthewriterprovides . Figure 1: Maximumpoweristransferredfromthesource V S iftheloadimpedance Z L isthe complexconjugateofthesourceimpedance Z S ,i.e.,if Z L = Z  S [11,p432]. HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance 2.Placeinthepositionofimportance(stressposition)the\newinformation"you wantthereadertoemphasizeinhisorhermind. 3.Placethepersonorthingwhosestoryisbeingtoldatthebeginningofasentence inthetopicposition. 4.Placeappropriate\oldinformation"(materialdiscussedearlier)inthetopicposition toprovide linkage withwhathasgonebeforeand context forwhatistocomelater. 5.Makecleartheactionofeveryclauseorsentenceinitsverb. 6.Providecontextforyourreaderbeforeaskinghimorhertoconsideranythingnew. 7.Matchtheemphasisconveyedbythe substance withtheemphasisanticipatedby thereaderfromthe structure . Insummary,matchthereader'sexpectationsbyconstructingsentencesskilfully. Lead thereaderfromtheknowntotheunknown. Writewiththereaderinmind:thisisusually HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance 3. Writeyourthesisfromtheinsideout. Beginwiththechaptersonyourownexper- imentalwork.Youwilldevelopcondenceinwritingthembecauseyouknowyour 7 NomanisanIsland,entireofitself;everymanisapieceoftheContinent,apartofthemain;ifa clodbewashedawaybythesea,Europeistheless,aswellasifapromontorywere,aswellasifamanor ofthyfriendsorofthineownwere;anyman'sdeathdiminishesme,becauseIaminvolvedinMankind; Andthereforeneversendtoknowforwhomthebelltolls;Ittollsforthee.|JohnDonne(1571{1631), MeditationXVII 11 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance 5. HypothesisTesting. Thehypothesismustbeframedcarefullyandexperimentsde- signedthoughtfullytotestit. 6. 8 IhavetakenpedagogiclicenceherebyextrapolatingNewton'slawsfromthephysicaltothemental. 13 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance 3.8TheExperimentalChapters Eachoftheseshouldpreferablybeself-containedandclearlyfocused.Thinkofthestory youwanttotell. Chooseandpresentonlythoseresultsthatarerelevanttoyourhypothesis. Amorassofexperimentalresultsunilluminatedbyahypothesisandunembellishedbya discussionisinsultingandconfusingtoyourreader. Figure 2: HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance Donotchangeyoursymbolsandtheirmeaningsasyougoalong:thiswillirritateyour readernoend. Checkallfactsandresultsatleastonce,twiceifpossible. UseSIunitsandthepreferredabbreviations.Itisunprofessionaltowrite75mhz HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance 3.10TheIntroductionandConclusions TheIntroductioniswhereyou\softlaunch"yourreaderontheworkdescribedinyour thesis. Leadthereaderfromtheknowntotheunknown. Statethehypothesisclearly. Giveapreviewofyourthesis,globallyandchapterbychapter.YourIntroductionhas doneitsworkifyouhavecapturedthereader'scuriosityandinterestinthisrstchapter. TheConclusionsrecordthepowerofyourscienticthinking.Youhavetouniteall thathasgonebeforewitha\threadofuniedperspective".Thisiswhereyousaywhyyou thinkyourstoryisagoodoneandpresentevidencefromyourworktosupportyourclaim. Thefateofyourhypothesisisrevealedhere:diditstand,fall,orrequiremodication? Youmaybrie ycompareyourworkwiththatofothers,presentwhatevernewknowledge hasbeengainedfromyourwork,andsuggestwhatmaybedonetofurthernewknowledge. TheConclusionsshouldgiveasenseoffullmentandnalitytoyourthesis,andgivethe readersomesatisfactionthatthetimespentonreadingithasnotbeeninvain. WritetheIntroduction after youhavewrittentheConclusionsandmakesurethetwo match(seesection3.4). 3.11Linkingyourchapters Whileyouarewritingyourthesis,youmightsuddenlyrememberthatanideainChapter3 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 3Substance  onepage;and  onechapter. Thismethodissomewhatlikeaskingadyingmanforamessage:hewilltellyouonlythe mostimportantthing(s).Youbeginatthemost\compressed"levelofdescribingyour thesisandsuccessivelyrelaxtheconstraintonthenumberofwordstoachieveincreasing 9 TheAbstractis not asummaryofthe entire contentsofyourthesis,butonlyofits salient points, includingthe majorndingsandconclusions. 17 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language you.Ithelpstoreadbooksdevotedtothesubject[21{27],butithelpsevenmoretoread exemplarsofgoodwriting.Iparticularlylikeandrecommendthebooksofthechemist 10 ThoseforwhomEnglishisasecondlanguagesometimesmistakenlythinkthatgoodEnglishshould beconvoluted.Thisisnottrue.GoodEnglishisclearandeasytoreadandunderstand.Thecardinal ruleisto keepitsimple. 19 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language 4.3Precision Precisiondistinguishesscienceasaeldofintellectualendeavour.Itisvitalinquantitative work.Precisionallowsyourworktoberepeatedbyothersforvericationandextension. Vaguenesshidesinexpressionslike\quitesmall",\aconsiderablelength"etc.Avoid them.Theywillbesmirchyourwritingandyourwork. Precision,accuracyandexperimentalerrorareaninseparabletriad.Youshouldknow howtheydierandwhytheyarerelated.Ifnot,readagoodtextonthesubject,for example[34,35].Precisionisrelatedto resolution ofmeasurements;accuracy,to delity withtruth;anderrorwith departure fromtruth.Allmeasurementsembodyerrors,limited bytechnique,instrumentationandotherfactors. Donotrecordameasuredvoltage,forexample,tovedecimalplacessimplybecause 11 L ight A mplicationby S timulated E missionof R adiation. 12 SMTPsoundssomuchmorelearned(andcomplicated)than\ S imple M ail T ransfer P rotocol"when usedinthecontextofe-mail. 13 IamindebtedtoProf.DavidLindsayforintroducingmetothispricelessword. 20 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language 1. Clustersofnouns. 14 LeastSignicantBit 15 Plotofground,presumably.Myfootnote. 21 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language andweakensthesentence,whereasactivevoiceisdirect,succinctandmoreforceful. Compare\Patientswereobservedbytwopeopleforsignsofabnormalbehaviour"[5, p49]with\Twopeopleobservedthepatients..."[5,p49]. 7. Useofimprecisewords. Donotusewordslike\quite",\some",\considerable",\a HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language  Colon. Thecolonisusedbeforeoneormoreexamplesofaconcept,andwhenever itemsaretobelistedinavisuallyseparatefashion.Thesentencethatintroduced theitemizedlistyouarenowreadingendedinacolon.Itmayalsobeusedto separatetwofairly|butnottotally|independentclausesinasentence.  Fullstoporperiod. Thefullstopendsasentence.Ifthesentenceembodiesa questionoranexclamation,then,ofcourse,itisendedwithaquestionmarkor exclamationmark,respectively.Thefullstopisalsousedtoterminateabbreviations 16 Theplural,'we'somehowseemsmoreacceptable,perhapsbecauseithasroyalconnections! 23 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language upanddownintheblue,asifconnedinagroove,andfollowingthe motionoftheeyeasitmovedupordownthespectrum,butrefusingto passoutoftheblueintoothercolours.| JamesClerkMaxwell [39,p435] Itisnow,Ibelieve,generallyadmittedthatthelightwhichwereceivefrom theclearskyisdueinonewayoranothertosmallsuspendedparticles whichdivertthelightfromitsregularcourse.| LordRayleigh [40,p87] 2.Therstpersonpluralpronoun,`we'isusedwhenstatingfacts,assumptionsor previouslyderivedresults;in(mathematical)proofs;andespeciallyintextbooks whereadidactictoneisnormal.Theuseof`we'conveystheimpressionofadia- HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 4Style:Language existenceandpropertiesofmolecules.Ifyoucandrawyourreaderintoyourworklike this,youhavewrittenagoodthesis. Nowforthesecondexample: Astructureisanarrangementofparticles,suchasatoms,molecules,orions. Forexample,acrystalisadenitestructure.Itisdistinctfromagas,aliquid, orevenasplodge 17 ofbutter,becauseinthesethearrangementsofparticles areindenite.Whereasinacrystalwecanbesuretondaparticleatsome denitelocationrelativetoanother,...inthe\structureless"statesofgases, liquids,andamorphoussolids,therelativelocationsofparticlesareindenite ... Wecansummarizetheseremarks(andsowtheseedforthegeneralization)by sayingthattheparticlesofcrystallinesolidsarearranged coherently :thelo- cationsare correlated .Incontrast,ingases(andtoasmallerextentinliquids) thelocationsareuncorrelated.Theideathat structuresigniescoherence, withorderlyregimentsofparticles,whereas lackofstructuresigniesinco- herence, withahodge-podgeoflocations,neatlycapturessolidsasstructures butallowsgasestoescapeasstructureless.| 17 Theuseofacolloquialexpressionlike\splodge"ispermissiblebecausetheextractisfromabook writtentopopularizescience. 26 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 5Style:Layout 5Style:Layout Thelayoutisthepackagingforyourthesis.Apleasingfontandadequatemarginsmake yourthesisvisuallyattractive.Theconventionistochooseafontwithserifs(e.g.,Times 18 WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet 27 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS 6Conclusions Agraphshouldbereservedforexcitingndingsorinteresting,butunexpectedre- HOWTOWRITEATHESIS References 7Acknowledgements HOWTOWRITEATHESIS References [12]B.P.Lathi, Signals,SystemsandCommunication .NewYork,USA:JohnWiley& Sons,1965. [13]G.D.GopenandJ.A.Swan,\Thescienceofscienticwriting," AmericanScientist , vol.78,pp.550{558,1990. [14]Y.Attikiouzel,\WritingthePhDThesis."Privateverbalcommunication,asthe author'sPhDsupervisor,CentreforIntelligentInformationProcessingSystems,De- partmentofElectricalandElectronicEngineering,TheUniversityofWesternAus- tralia,Nedlands,WA6907,Australia,1993{1996. [15]D.Lindsay,\WritingandPublishinginScienticJournals."StaDevelopmentPro- grammeentitled\WritingandPublishinginScienticJournals"organisedon3June 1999bytheCentreforStaDevelopment,TheUniversityofWesternAustralia, Nedlands,WA,Australia,1999. [16]P.Hartmann,R.Fraser,andP.Maddern,\Thecharacteristicsofagoodthesis." DiscussionduringStaDevelopmentProgrammeentitled\SupervisingPostgraduate Students"organisedon29March1999bytheCentreforStaDevelopment,The UniversityofWesternAustralia,Nedlands,WA,Australia,1999. [17]T.BuzanandB.Buzan, Themindmapbook .London,UK:BBCBooks,reviseded., 1995. [18]D.HoltomandE.Fisher, EnjoyWritingYourScienceThesisorDissertation!:A stepbystepguidetoplanningandwritingdissertationsandthesesforundergraduate andgraduatesciencestudents .London,UK:ImperialCollegePress,1999. [19]M.R.Schroeder, Fractals,Chaos,PowerLaws:MinutesfromanInniteParadise . NewYork,USA:WHFreeman,1991. [20]E.M.PhillipsandD.S.Pugh, HOWTOWRITEATHESIS References [27]M.Cutts, HOWTOWRITEATHESIS QuickReferenceGuide QuickReferenceGuide  Writingathesiswellissimpleifyouknowhow.  Therearethreeaspects: { structure { substance { style butallthreeareentwined.  Startatthebeginningbykeepinggoodrecords.  Understandwhatitisyouaredoingandwhy.  Beclearwhatstoryyouaregoingtotell.  Keepthehypothesistotheforealways.  Sticktothethesisstructureyouhavebeengiven.  StartwritingyourExperimentalChaptersrst.  IfyouhavedoneaLiteratureReview,writeitnext.  Thencompletetherest: { Conclusions { Introduction { Summary inthatorder.  TheotherbitsandpiecesliketheAppendicesmaybewrittenasyougoalong.  Think,planwrite,revise.  Thinkclearly.  Writecarefully.  Thethreewatchwordsare: { Clarity { Precision { Brevity 32 HOWTOWRITEATHESIS QuickReferenceGuide inthatorder.  Leavenogapsinthechainoflogicorideasyouexpress.  Avoidverbiage.  Avoidclutter.  Developyourownwritingstyleby { carefulreadingand { evenmorecarefulwriting.  Polishwhatyouhavewrittenbyrepeatedreadingandrevision.  Askyoursupervisortocritiqueyourthesisdraftandamenditaccordingly.  Submityourbesteortasyourcompletedthesis. 33