How to Write a Thesis I. The introduction part—writing

How to Write a Thesis
    Today, I will talk about the most important parts of thesis writing. That is, introduction, methods, results and discussion. First, it’s the introduction part. You can’t write a good introduction until you know what the body of the paper says.(1) Consider writing the introductory section after you have completed the rest of the paper, rather than before.(2) Be sure to include a hook at the beginning of the introduction. This is a statement of something sufficiently interesting to motivate your reader to read the rest of the paper: it is an important and interesting scientific problem that your paper either solves or addresses. You should draw the reader in and make them want to read the rest of the paper.(3) The next paragraphs in the introduction should cite previous research in this area. It should cite those who had the idea or ideas first, and should also cite those who have done the most recent and relevant work. You should then go on to explain why more work is necessary. What else belongs in the introductory section of your paper?(4) First, it’s a statement of the goal of the paper. That is why the study was undertaken, or why the paper was written. Do not repeat the abstract. Second, you should present sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand the context and significance of the question you are trying to address.(5) Third, you’d better give a proper acknowledgement of the previous work on which you are building. Sufficient references such that a reader could, by going to the library, achieve a sophisticated understanding of the context and significance of the question. Fourth, the introduction should be focused on the thesis questions. All cited work should be directly relevant to the goals of the thesis. This is not a place to summarize everything you have ever read on a subject.(6) Fifth, explain the scope of your work, what will and will not be included? Sixth, you may draw a verbal "road map" or verbal "table of contents" guiding the reader to what lies ahead. Seventh,(7) make it obvious where introductory material ends and your contribution begins.
    Remember that this is not a review paper. We are looking for original work and analysis by you. Break up the introduction section into logical segments by using subheads.
    The following important part is the method part.(8) This section should contain information to allow the reader to assess the believability of your results and information needed by another researcher to replicate your experiment.(9) Hence you should describe clearly your materials, procedure, theories, calculations, technique, equipment, and calibration plots. Besides,(10) this section also includes limitations, assumptions, and range of validity, as well as description of your analytical methods, including reference to any specialized statistical software.
    Remember, citations in this section should be limited to data sources and references of where to find more complete descriptions of procedures. Do not include descriptions of results.
    Next, I’d like to talk about the result part.(11) The results are actual statements of observations, including statistics, tables and graphs. It should indicate information on range of variation and mention negative results as well as positive. Do not interpret results and save that for the discussion. Present sufficient details so that others can draw their own inferences and construct their own explanations. Break up your results into logical segments by using subheadings. And remember, key results should be stated in clear sentences at the beginning of paragraphs. Besides, describe the nature of the findings. Do not just tell the reader whether or not they are significant.
    Finally, it is the discussion part.(12) This section should start with a few sentences that summarize the most important results.(13) The whole section should be a brief essay in itself and answer the following questions: First, what are the major patterns in the observations? Second, what are the relationships, trends and generalizations among the results? Third, what are the exceptions to these patterns or generalizations? Fourth, what are the likely causes underlying these patterns resulting predictions? Fifth, is there agreement or disagreement with previous work? Sixth, interpret results in terms of background laid out in the introduction—what is the relationship of the present results to the original question? Seventh, what is the implication of the present results for other unanswered questions in earth sciences, ecology, environmental policy, etc. Eighth, what are your hypotheses: There are usually several possible explanations for results. Be careful to consider all of these rather than simply pushing your favorite one. If you can eliminate all but one, that is great, but often that is not possible with the data in hand. In that case you should give even treatment to the remaining possibilities, and try to indicate ways in which future work may lead to their Discrimination. Ninth, avoid jumping a currently fashionable point of view unless your results really do strongly support them. Tenth, what are the things we now know or understand that we didn’t know or understand before the present work? The final one is what the significance of the present results is. In other words, why should we care?
     (14) This section should be rich in references to similar work and background needed to interpret results. However, the discussion section is often too long and wordy.(15) Is there material that does not contribute to one of the elements I mentioned above? If so, this may be material that you will want to consider deleting or moving. Remember to break up the section into logical segments by using subheads.
    Thesis writing is not an easy thing, because each part is important and they are so closely interrelated that you cannot neglect any of them. However, if you can grasp the points I mentioned just now, you may find it much more controllable. I hope today’s lecture is helpful to you more or less. And next time I will talk about the problem of word choice in thesis writing. Thank you for your attention.