How to Organize a Thesis
A thesis is generally the central part of your graduate degree, and often times the most stressful part of your entire university experience. In order to make thesis writing easier and less stressful, you must first understand how to properly organize your writing. Read on to learn how to organize a thesis.
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Instructions
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1
Pose your central question. Before solidifying your idea, be sure that there is material available for your research and that your idea is unique in the material you find. While you need to present resources for your thesis, your idea must be original and not directly presented in other written works.
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2
Summarize the question that you have chosen in your introduction and explain why you feel it is a worthwhile research topic. Your introduction may also include a brief summary of your findings, the details that you will be describing in the thesis body and a review of how you will organize your thesis.
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3
Include a section following your introduction that describes your topics background information. You should organize your thesis as if the readers have no experience in the field, so it is best to summarize the topic, its history and any material the readers may need to understand the topic. This is particularly important if your thesis topic spans two or more traditional fields of study.
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4
Follow the background information with a section describing completed research ideas that have lead you to your own unique discovery. Describe your influences by noting writers and their research, making a guide that explains how you came to your point of view. This section should be organized by ideas and not by author or specific publication.
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5
Restate your thesis question and justify the statement by cross-referencing step four, explaining that your question remains unanswered in the research and work of other scholars and professionals. This section should be an analysis of the previous works mentioned and a discussion describing why your statement is worthwhile.
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6
Convince the readers that you have solved or answered your thesis question by explaining your research and what you did to tackle the question as well as your discoveries. Limit this section to your victories, that is, do not mention dead ends that you may have encountered along the way unless it is directly related to how you came to your conclusion.
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7
Write a short and concise conclusion to your thesis that includes three important parts--your definite conclusions, a summary of research contributions and future research ideas that your thesis work has inspired.
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Tips & Warnings
Remember that all of the research material that you have used in your thesis must be noted on a separate "References" page in proper APA or MLA format.
Include appendices only if there is important information that for some reason impedes the smoothest possible development of your thesis but is necessary to justify your thesis.
