Thesis/ Project

Writing

Presentation By

Anshu Singh
Project/Thesis

– A Project or Thesis involves research carried out by an individual or a team.

– It is a planned activity that spans over a short or long period of time.
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– For instance, a student may take two years to complete a research project on
setting up a biogas plant on her university campus while she may take five years
to complete her thesis on a topic.
Importance of Research Analysis and
Findings
– To inform others about the research
– To record the research process and results
– To provide a detailed insight into the various concepts and steps involved .
– To publish the report to get approval from experts
– To ensure that the research is not reproduced
– To enable the readers to pursue further research
Though the project report or a thesis may vary in length, the style of writing
involved is the same—factual, precise, concise, clear, well-structured, free from
grammatical and syntactical errors and supported by appropriate illustrations.
Hence, the project report and thesis strictly adheres to the elements of effective
technical writing.
Steps Involved/ Structural elements
of Project
– Problem / Need for the project/ Background
– Literature Review
– Description of the project
– Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
– References
Problem / Need

– Introduction, Statement of the problem, Purpose & Scope, Limitations, Concept/

definition, Significance
– Introduction This section provides a general introduction to the project topic. It
throws light on the answers to the following questions:
– What is the need for this project or why is this project important?
– What is the problem involved?
– What are the objectives?
– What is the scope and what are the limitations?
– What concepts and definitions does the topic area involve?
Statement of the problem

– Here you need to be very specific to the problem. Focus on the significance of
the problem or how it impacts the environment. For instance, if you are taking
up a project on setting up solar water systems for various hostels in your
campus, the problem would be—the difficulties faced on campus with frequent
power cuts, the increasing electricity charges, maintenance of geysers, etc. All
problems need to be described in detail. If your pursue a project on some
research topic, you need to explain the problems that the existing research are
posing and the need for looking into the topic from a different angle.
Purpose, Scope and Limitations

– Very important part of your report, this topic requires your clear and sound thinking to
arrive at the project objectives. You can write down questions or statements to tell the
readers what your project aims at. Keep in mind the following:
– Emanate from your reading of previous works on the topic in hand
– Clarify the problem statement stated in the previous section
– Are clear and unambiguous
– Are specific and not repeated
– Are verifiable
– Are completely relevant to the topic without any deviation
– Concept definition Most of the academic research projects involve
various terms and concepts. Analyze and define each one of them
in simple terms. A project on biogas plant installation may involve
concepts and terms such as renewable energy, sustainable
investment, anaerobic digester, landfill gas, etc. Definitions enable
the readers understand the project in its true perspective.
– Significance Every project should have some value and should be
useful to the society, industry or academia. The introductory
section of your project ends by stating the significance, value or
usefulness of your project—how it is going to help your
organization or how it can enrich the knowledge on a particular
topic.
Literature Review

– The term Literature Review refers to the process of reading, analyzing, evaluating
and summarizing scholarly materials pertinent to the project topic. In other words,
it is an account of what has been published on the topic by reputed scholars and
researchers. It is the first step in your project research and helps you formulate
your research questions which eventually turn into your project objectives.
Answer the following questions while conducting literature review
– What—exact views of the author on the topic
– Why—reasons for the views or opinions
– Where—context in which the views are expressed
– For instance, when you are taking up a project on setting up a biogas plant on
your campus, you need to go through the books, journals, newspaper articles,
reports, etc., to understand what concepts are involved, why the system is
beneficial, what are the difficulties involved, etc., so that you can come up with
some remedies through your project thus helping future researchers
Description of the project

– Describing the project details, include Design, Target population, Project

evaluation and Timeline. Design refers to the plan and its specifications. For
example, the design for a project on Biogas system installation would give a
detailed explanation of the steps involved with detailed illustrations—
flowcharts, diagram, pictures, etc.
– In fact, the design serves as a roadmap for the readers to understand the
various steps, equipment, process, end product, etc., clearly. If necessary, you
can also include the relevant detailed documents in the Appendix part of your
report
– Discuss how your project would benefit your target audience. In case of biogas
installation, for instance, you need to discuss how your campus residents would
get benefitted and how the environment would become more hygienic with the
recycling of waste. Justify that your project is effective and efficient by
comparing your product with the other popular products. Also include the
timeline or time taken to complete your product.
Summary, Conclusions and
Recommendations
– The summary section gives an overall view of the entire process and procedures
you had discussed. You need to draw inferences from your project evaluation
and present them logically as conclusions. Use the recommendations section to
give some suggestions to modify or improve upon the product/ system.
References

– All research-based writing such as project writing, dissertation and thesis

writing include a References section which informs the readers the sources you
have consulted and used in your research. Sources, as you are aware may be
books, journals, newspaper articles, government reports, web sources, etc.
Thesis Writing

– Thesis is a long research report. The report concerns a problem or series of

problems in your area of research and it should describe what was known
about it previously, what you did towards solving it, what you think your results
mean, and where or how further progress in the field can be made. A thesis is
not an answer to an assignment question. One important difference is this: the
reader of an assignment is usually the one who has set it. She/he already knows
the answer (or one of the answers), not to mention the background, the
literature, the assumptions and theories and the strengths and weaknesses of
them. The readers of a thesis do not know what the ‘answer’ is.
Structure of Thesis

– Title page
– Declaration/Certificate
– Acknowledgements
– Table of Contents
– Abstract
– Introduction
– Literature Review
Structure of Thesis

– Middle Chapters
– Materials and Methods
– Theory
– Results and Discussion
– Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Work
– References
– Appendices
Title page

– More or less similar to cover page.

– Contains
– Title of the Proposal
– Name of the writer
– Name of the person or organization to which the report is being submitted/approving
authority
– Date
 Certificate
– They vouch for the original
contribution of the thesis writer.
Acknowledgements

– Most thesis authors put in a page of thanks to those who have helped them in
scientific matters, and also indirectly by providing such essentials as food,
educational resources, genes, money, help, advice, friendship etc. If any of your
work is collaborative, you should make it quite clear who did which sections
Table of Content

– You should list all the main sections of the report in sequence with the page
numbers they begin on.

– If there are maps, charts, diagrams ,graphs, drawings included in your report,
these should be listed separately under a title such as ‘List of Illustrations’
together with the page numbers on which they appear.

– They are grouped under the heading ‘Figures’

Abstract

– Of all your thesis, this part will be the most widely published and most read
because it will be published in thesis abstracts. It is best written towards the
end, but not at the very last minute because you will probably need several
drafts. It should be a distillation of the thesis: a concise description of the
problem(s) addressed, your method of solving it/them, your results and
conclusions. An abstract must be self-contained. Usually it does not contain
references. When a reference is necessary, the relevant details should be
included in the text of the abstract. Check the word limit.
Introduction

– What is the topic and why is it important? State the problem(s) as simply as you can.
Remember that you have been working on this project for a few years, so you will be very
close to it. Try to step back mentally and take a broader view of the problem. How does it fit
into the broader world of your discipline?
– The introduction should be interesting. If you bore the reader here, then you are unlikely to
revive his/her interest in the Materials and Methods section. Go to the library and read
several thesis introductions. This section might go through several drafts to make it read well
and logical, while keeping it short. For this section, it is a good idea to ask someone who is not
a specialist to read it and to comment. Is it an adequate introduction? Is it easy to follow?
There is an argument for writing this section—or at least making a major revision of it—
towards the end of the thesis writing. Your introduction should tell where the thesis is going,
and this may become clearer during the writing.
Literature Review

– Where did the problem come from? What is already known about this
problem? What other methods have been tried to solve it? Ideally, you will
already have much of the hard work done, if you have been keeping up with the
literature as you vowed to do at the beginning of your study, and if you have
made notes about important papers over the years. If you have summarized
those papers, then you have some good starting points for the review.
– How many papers? How relevant do they have to be before you include them?
Well, that is a matter of judgement. About a hundred is reasonable, but it will
depend on the field. You are the world expert on the (narrow) topic of your
thesis: you must demonstrate this.
Materials and Methods

– This varies enormously from thesis to thesis and may be absent in theoretical
theses. It should be possible for a competent researcher to reproduce exactly what
you have done by following your description. There is a good chance that this test
will be applied: sometimes after you have left, another researcher will want to do a
similar experiment either with your gear, or on a new set-up in a foreign country.

– Please write for the benefit of that researcher. In some theses, particularly multi-
disciplinary or developmental ones, there may be more than one such chapter. In
this case, the different disciplines should be indicated in the chapter titles.
Theory

– If your thesis belongs to science category, you should include one chapter for
discussing the basic theory on which your thesis is built. Of course this chapter
is not exclusive for science subjects alone. For example when you write a thesis
on any management topic, you can as well include this section explaining the
basic concepts and theories involved in your detailed research
Results and Discussion

– The division of Results and Discussion material into chapters is usually best
done according to subject matter. Make sure that you have described the
conditions which obtained each set of results. What was held constant? What
were the other relevant parameters? Also make sure that you have used
appropriate statistical analyses. Where applicable, show measurement errors
and standard errors on the graphs. Use appropriate statistical tests. In most
cases, your results need discussion. What do they mean? How do they fit into
the existing body of knowledge? Are they consistent with current theories? Do
they give new insights? Do they suggest new theories or mechanisms?
Conclusion
– Purpose: States briefly the major inferences that can be drawn
from the discussion.
– Content:
– must be based on information presented in the discussion.
– each conclusion should be presented as a separate paragraph,
– with paragraphs numbered in sequence for easy reference
– never suggest or recommend future action.
Recommendations
– Purpose: Suggests a course of action based on the findings
and conclusions.
– Content:
– must follow logically from the conclusions
– must be supported both by the conclusions and by the data in
the discussion
Reference/Bibliography

– Purpose: Acknowledge use of materials from printed sources in the preparation of your report.
Indicate exact source of all quotations and/or results of previous work.
– Content: Author's name, title of book, year published, publisher's name, city, ISBN number,
page number.
– Bibliographic entries are listed alphabetically by the name of the author or by the first major
work of the title.
– Example: Vetterli, C. “Technical Report Guidelines”, Internship Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1,August 1992.
– Common knowledge does not require a reference, e.g. the speed of light the atomic weight of
some element. If a new value for a commonly accepted quantity is cited, the source should be
referenced.