Sunday, April 5, 2009

How to Write a Thesis

I'm finally getting down to diving into writing up my Master's dissertation, even though I don't quite have all the results I need yet (yeah, I'm slow, but it's totally been worth it). I have been searching around the 'net for some advice and ideas that will hopefully get me in the mood, if nothing else. Here are some of the links that I found most useful:
  • How To Write a Dissertation from Purdue University; especially useful for its list of words to avoid and other grammar tips
  • How Theses Get Written: Some Cool Tips from the University of Toronto; includes great tips for getting started early (which I didn't do this time around, but will for the PhD!), and gives great insight into the process from the examiner's point of view.
  • Resources for Thesis Students from the University of Aukland; while not an article about how to write a thesis, this page has many valuable resources in addition to thesis-writing links (beware: many are, unfortunately, dead links!).
  • How to Write a PhD Thesis from University of New South Wales; though this one isn't specific to computer science, it is still relevant. You should read the section called Personal, about halfway down - it makes some suggestions about keeping yourself in good mental and physical condition while spending many hours working on your writing.
  • Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation from Michigan State University; this one is long and detailed, so I didn't read through it all, but it looks promising.
I hope some of these resources come in handy for any of you that still have any dissertations to write (whether it's for a Masters or a PhD). I know that a lot of people are probably most scared of this stage of their degree, since many people feel they are not very good at writing. This is where I'm really lucky - as you can see from this blog, I'm quite used to writing. But everyone can do it, even if it takes some a little longer. Just keep at it!

4 comments:

  1. I DEFINITELY need to check out some of these links. Thanks Gail!

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  2. I hope they're useful Phizzle! Best of luck doing your write-up. Did you also do a Master's thesis? If so, are you finding the PhD harder?

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  3. I actually did not do a Master's Thesis, so I can't say which is harder for me, but I kind of like to write (or at least, I dont' hate it like some colleagues do) so it hasn't been horrifying so far. But there is a lot of other stuff to do, so I get distracted sometimes.

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  4. Thanks a lot for this links, they will definitely help me.

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