242-702 Seminar II:Thesis/2 1 Seminar II Objectives – –tips on writing a thesis statement and an...

242-702 Seminar II:Thesis/2 1

Seminar II

• Objectives– tips on writing a thesis statement and an

overview

242-702, Semester 2, 2014-2015

2. Thesis Statement and Overview


Overview

1. Before you Write Your Proposal

2. Organizing Your Notes

3. What's a Thesis Statement?

4. Organizing an Overview

5. Outline Writing Tips

6. Two Possible Outline Formats


1. Before you write your Proposal

• Writing a proposal can be easier if you do some simpler tasks first:– organize your research notes– write a thesis statement– write a research overview

organized notes

thesisstatement

overviewresearchproposal


2. Organizing Your Notes

• I'm assuming that you learnt about making research notes in 242-500 RDM and in 242-701 Seminar I– very quickly the notes become very large– organizing them will help you develop research

ideas


2.1. Using Note Cards

• If you've used note cards to record your reading/thoughts, they can be:– arranged on a table/floor– grouped into categories– sorted in different orders– pinned to a wall


Note Card Formats



Note Taking Freeware

• Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/)– a Firefox extension to help you collect, manage,

and cite your research sources

• SuperNotecard (http://www.mindola.com/snc/)– hierarchical notecards– limited version is free; full version US$29


2.2. Keywords

• Go through your notes, and write down common keywords and phrases:– e.g. network congestion, denial-of-service,

virtual networks, micro payments, content throttling

• These keywords may suggest a thesis idea.


2.3. Visualization• Visuallly organize keywords into clusters or

mind maps.



Elements of a Mind Map


• FreeMind – free mind-mapping software written in Java

• see the screenshots and the Mind Map Gallery• http://freemind.sourceforge.net/


2.4. Asking Yourself Questions

• Common question types:– comparison questions– definition questions– cause/effect questions– questions about the process– classification questions– evaluation questions


Example: Neural Nets in Games

• Comparison:– How do neural networds compare and contrast

with standard game techniques such as collision detection?

• Definition– What kinds of neural network are used in

games?


• Cause/Effect:– How is game design affected when neural

networks are added?

• Process:– What are the steps involved in integrating

neural networks into games?


• Evaluation:– What speed or memory benefits are there when

neural networds are added to games?


The 5W+H Questions

• Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?– Who? researchers in neural nets / games– What? what games types use them– Where? as part of game logic / UI– When? time-lines for major

developments– Why? speed, memory benefits– How? scripting, special hardware


3. What's a Thesis Statement?

• A thesis statement is another name for the "problem statement" inyour thesis– i.e. the sentences that appears in the abstract

and introduction of your research proposal


• A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences) that summarizes the point (purpose, direction, aims) of your research.

• It gives a direction to your work.– Bad: "Several factors extend network speeds."– Good: "Internet protocols that increase through-put

are not always desirable for system administrators."


• The thesis statement is specific.– Bad: "Illegal downloading is bad."– Good: "Illegal downloading is ethically and legally

equivalent to stealing, and will eventually stifle artistic creativity."

• The thesis statement combines all the main ideas in the research– e.g. it uses all your keywords


• The thesis statement is an aid to keeping your research on track, focussed on the important ideas.


3.1. What a Thesis Statement is Not!

• It is not a promise to do something, or a statement of future plans.– Bad: "In this work I will show that hardware

costs are not too high."– Good: "The high cost of hardware development

and research justifies high margins when selling existing hardware."


• A topic/subject on its own is not a thesis statement:– Bad: "iPhone Sales in Thailand"– Good: "iPhone Sales in Thailand reflect the

iPhone's technological superiority to other products aimed at the same markets."


• Words added to a title, but not forming a complete sentence, cannot be a thesis statement:– Bad: "The potential of music for education."– Good: "Since kids remember the words of

music they listen to most often, pop songs should be used more in education."


• A question is not a thesis statement:– Bad: "What is James Gosling's place in

computing?"– Still Bad: "James Gosling plays a major role in

computing." (not specific)– Good: "James Gosling's contribution to

programming language design, with his development of Java, has had a major effect on the development of more recent languages."


3.2. Types of Thesis Statement

• A "defending" statement:– "Contrary to what some AI researchers believe,

computers will never be intelligent."

• A "because" statement:– "Logic Programming will never be mainstream

because it lacks imperative features."

• A "testing" statement:– "Image processing operations can be made

substantially faster by using map-reduce concurrency."


4. Organizing an Overview

• Writing an overview can be thought of as expanding the thesis statement– the tricky aspect is how to organize the ideas


• There are some standard organizations:– problems/issues → solutions– cause → effect effect → cause– general → specific specific → general– comparison and contrast– simple → complex– known → unknown– time-line (past → now → future)


4.1. Arrangement by Problems/Issues

• Thesis: Myths about Java have prevented it from being used widely in games programming.– Issue 1. Java is slow and a memory hog.– Issue 2. Sun Microsystems does not support

Java as a games platform.– Issue 3. Java has not been ported to games

machines.


4.2. Arrangement by Cause/Effect

• Thesis: Computer games have positive effects on a child's language development.– Cause 1. Games introduce new words.– Cause 2. Games reinforce word usage and

proper syntax.– Cause 3. Game audio teaches the correct way to

say words.


4.3. General to Specific

• Thesis: Functional Programming will solve the Crisis in Concurrent Programming.– General 1: increase in multi-core hardware– General 2: lack of concurrency features in

conventional languages– Specific 1: complexity of libraries such as PVM– General 3: concurrency support in FP– Specific 2: map-reduce in Haskell


4.4. Comparison and Contrast

• Comparison focuses on similarities.

• Contrast focuses on differences.

• Outline ordering:– introduce topic A– introduce topic B– compare and contrast the two– state thesis using comparisons/contrasts as

support


• Thesis: Computer Games are Weakening Kid's Reading Skills – topic A: computer games– topic B: reading– comparisons: need to understand words,

sentences, situations, stories– contrasts: CGs have limited domains, less

complexity, less ambiguity


5. Outline Writing Tips

• 1. Every word in the outline should relate to the thesis statement, and really mean something.

• Thesis: Environmental damage from the inadequate disposal of PC hardware is a major problem in Thailand.


• Bad (empty words):– 1. Introduction– 2. Problems with PC hardware

• 2.1. Where it is• 2.2. Who does it

• Better (content-filled words)– 1. Sources of PC hardware waste– 2. Current disposal methods

• 2.1. Landfills• 2.2. Incinerators


• 2. The information for each subheading must be related to the heading above it– related in the sense of the outline structure

• e.g. cause → effect, general → specific

• Thesis: James Gosling used elements borrowed from C++ and Simula as the main ingredients of Java.


• Bad (poor ordering):– 1. C++was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup

starting in 1979 at Bell Labs • 1.1. Java's imperative features come from C• 1.2. James Gosling is a Canadian

• Better:– 1. Java was developed by James Gosling

starting in 1991 at Sun Microsystems– 2. Java features inspired by C++– 3. Java features inspired by Simula


6. Two Possible Outline Formats

• 1. Topic outline– each line is a word, phrase, or point

• punctuation isn't necessary, but grammar helps organize your thoughts

• 2. Sentence Outline– each line is a grammatically complete sentence

with a full-stop (no questions allowed)• better for first-time writers


Topic Outline Example

• 1. Issues of game censorship– 1.1. intellectual freedom– 1.2. values taught

• 2. Censorship in the past

Confusing since the lack of grammar adds ambiguity.


Sentence Outline Example

• 1. The issues of computer game censorship arise from two main sources.– 1.1. Some people feel that games must have the

same intellectual freedoms as other media, such as books and movies.

– 1.2. Some people feel that games have an obligation to impart values since they are so important to young children.


• In both formats, nest headings using numbered sub-sections.

• The numbering can be removed when you convert the outline to a proposal.

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