Nehemia University, Rruga Nehemia, Bucimas, Pogradec, Albania

Reader- Workshop Writing the B.A. thesis January 24th 2012

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Table of Contents Cover page of the B.A. thesis .............................................................................................. 2

Formalia for the B.A. thesis ................................................................................................. 3

o General ....................................................................................................................... 3 o Translations ................................................................................................................ 4 o References / Bibliography .......................................................................................... 4 o Footnotes .................................................................................................................... 4 o Books .......................................................................................................................... 4 o Chapters in a book / collection ................................................................................... 5 o Journal Articles ........................................................................................................... 5 o Newspapers / Magazine Articles ................................................................................ 5 o Dissertations and thesis ............................................................................................. 5 o Electronic publications ................................................................................................ 6 o Graphics and tables .................................................................................................... 6

Guidelines: Expose for the B.A. thesis ............................................................................... 7

Tips on how to write the B.A. thesis ................................................................................. 10

o Writing a thesis and how to survive it ....................................................................... 10 o Getting started: thinking about the thesis ................................................................. 12 o How to organize a thesis .......................................................................................... 13

Introduction .......................................................................................................... 13

Background Information ....................................................................................... 14

Methods ............................................................................................................... 14

Review of the state of the art ............................................................................... 15

Project work problem and project work question ................................................. 15

Analysis of your findings ...................................................................................... 15

Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 15

References ........................................................................................................... 16

Appendices .......................................................................................................... 16

o Getting started .......................................................................................................... 16 o Writing the thesis ...................................................................................................... 17 o Which order of writing ............................................................................................... 19 o Editing your thesis .................................................................................................... 19 o Handing over the thesis ............................................................................................ 20

Code of Ethics ..................................................................................................................... 21

Sources ................................................................................................................................ 22

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Faculty of Business and Technology

Business and Technology Department

The Thema xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

x

Coach: Name, Surname

Mentor: (Title) Name, Surname

Presented by:

Arlinda Merdani

Matriculation No. _______

Address: Rruga XY, Pogradec, Albania

Tel.: 06xxxxxxxxxx

E-Mail: a.merdani@daad-alumni.de

Study course: Business and Economics

Place and Date: Pogradec, November 4th 2012

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Formalia for the BA thesis

A. General

1. The BAs thesis has to be submitted in 2 bounded hard copies and 1 electronical

version on CD-Rom. The color of binding is dark blue.

2. Microsoft Word is the preferable electronic file format; WordPerfect, RTF, PDF and Mac

files are acceptable (Mac users please make sure to include a file extension (.doc) in the

file name in order to assist conversion). The hard copy should be A4 (210x297 mm).

3. The BAs thesis should be written in English.

4. The entire BAs thesis should comprise between 30 and 50 pages.

5. The font should be typed in Arial (font size 11) or Times New Roman (font size 12) with

line spacing 1,5 and in block.

6. Margers should be 2 cm above, 2 cm bottom, 2,5 cm left and 2 cm right.

7. The cover page should not be counted. The numbering of the pages begins after the

cover page.

8. The BAs thesis must include a table of contents indicating chapters and

subchapters (if available), the bibliography and annexes (if available) with page numbers

where they begin.

9. The BAs thesis must include an alphabetically ordered bibliography of all the literature

and primary sources that were used in writing the text (positioned after the body

text). Within the bibliography different species of literature (f.e. monographs,

collections, articles) and sources may be put into different chapters.

10. If many abbreviations are used the BAs thesis must include an alphabetical list of

abbreviations. In the text abbreviations must be explained when they are used for

the first time. F. e. UNO (United Nations Organization).

11. The BAs thesis may include annexes (positioned at the end of the thesis), f. e. to

present more extended source material, statistics, pictures etc. If the material in

the annexes is typed this should be done in Arial (font size 11 or 9) or Times New

Roman (font size 12 or 10), single spaces according to the contents.

12. Do not use more than two styles (f. e. bold, italics, underlining etc. to highlight etc.)

in addition to the normal style, and be careful to employ these styles (this style) in a

consequent way.

13. Style for years: f. e. 1492-1501 (except in titles).

14. Style for dates: according to the language of the BAs thesis, f. e. (English)

December 7, 1942; (German, Deutsch) 7. Dezember 1942; etc.

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B. Translations

All quotations in the text must be in English.

Translate all titles (of books, articles etc.) in the notes and in the bibliography

into English, with the exception of those in German.

Provide the title in the original language in brackets [ ], if there is no translation

into the languages mentioned above (available). C. References / Bibliography

List all references cited in the text in alphabetic order using the following format. Refer to the

title page (not the cover) for publication details. Give the author and editors surname and

first name, but not the academic titles. Specify the edition from the second on (2nd rev.[ised]

or suppl.[emented] edition). If author, year or place of publication are not known: anonymous

[anon.], no date [n.d.], no place [n.p.]. For different publication by the same author from the

same year: Carothers 2006a, Carothers 2006b etc.. D. Footnotes

Please use footnotes, not endnotes, and enter them into the computer as

footnotes.

Footnotes should be typed in Arial (font size 9) or Times New Roman (font size

9), single spaced.

Note markers in the body text must be upper case numbers. You may

choose to start counting a new in each major chapter. E. Books

General format:

Author #1 Last Name, First Name(s) and Author #2 First Name(s) Last Name.

Year of Publication. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Single author

Carothers, Thomas. 2006. Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in

New Democracies. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Multiple authors

Chabal, Patrick and Jean-Pascal Daloz. 1999. Africa Works: Disorder as Political

Instrument. Oxford: James Currey.

Editor(s) as author(s)

Dowding, Keith; Hughes, James and Helene Margetts (eds.). 2001. Challenges to

Democracy: Ideas, Involvement and Institutions. The PSA Yearbook 2000.

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London: Pelgrave1.

Corporate author

Konrad Adenauer Foundation. 2007. Annual Report 2006. Sankt Augustin:

Konrad- Adenauer-Foundation.

F. Chapters in a book or collection

General format:

Author Last Name, First Name(s). Year of Publication. Title, in: Editor(s) Last Name,

First Name(s) (Ed(s.). Title of Book. Title of Series. Place of Publication: Publisher, page

numbers.

F.e.

Carothers, Thomas. 2006b. Examining International Political Party Aid, in: Burnell,

Peter (ed.). Globalising Democracy: Party Politics in Emerging Democracies. Abingdon:

Routledge, 69-87.

G. Journal Articles

General format:

Author Last Name, First Name(s). Year of Publication. Title, Title of Journal,

Volume/Issue, page numbers.

F.e.

Carothers, Thomas. 2002. The End of the Transition Paradigm, Journal of

Democracy, 13/1, 5-19.

H. Newspaper / Magazine Articles

General format:

Author Last Name, First Name(s). Year of Publication. Title, Title of Newspaper

[City of Publication if not in Title] / Magazine, Day Month Year, page numbers.

I. Dissertations and Theses (unpublished)

General format:

Author Last Name, First Name(s). Year of Publication. Title, Kind of Work, University,

Place of Publication.

1 For works by more than three authors write the first author and the abbreviation et al..

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J. Electronic publications

General format following applicable rules above:

Author Last Name, First Name(s) or Organization. Date of Publication or last update.

Title. (Day Month Year of access).

Eg.

o Carothers, Thomas. 2004. Political Party Aid, Paper prepared for the Swedish International Development Agency. Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment

for International Peace.

(01.10.2006).

o National Democratic Institute. 2007. Kenya.

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Guidelines: Expos for the BA thesis The expos for a thesis is essentially an outline of the project work - kind of like an

architectural blueprint for building a house. The clearer the plan, the more timely and

successful the completion of the house. And the clearer the plan, the more likely it is that it

will be approved by your men to r or evaluation commission, with a high probability that the

final paper will also be accepted. A well-done, acceptable proposal, therefore, is a kind of

personal contract between you the candidate, and your mentor. Assuming you have done a good job of "thinking about" your project work, you are ready to

actually prepare the proposal. A word of caution - those students who tend to have a problem

in coming up with a viable proposal often are the ones that have tried to rush through

the "thinking about it" part and move too quickly to trying to write the proposal. Here's a

final check. Do each of these statements describe you? If they do you are ready to prepare

your project work proposal. I am familiar with other project work that has been conducted in areas related to my

project.

( Yes, it's me)

( No, not me) I have a clear understanding of the steps that I will use in conducting my project.

( Yes, it's me)

( No, not me) I feel that I have the ability to get through each of the steps necessary to complete my

project.

( Yes, it's me)

( No, not me)

I know that I am motivated and have the drive to get through all of the steps in the project.

( Yes, it's me) (

No, not me)

Structure: 1. Project work problem (elaborate, with arguments)

Which (theoretical, practical, social) series of questions is the starting point of your

work?

What is the concrete project work question to which your work should provide a practical

answer?

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Why did you choose this topic, what motivates you for this project work? 2. State of the Art

Which work into your topic has already been done and how will your own contribution

relate to it? 3. Methodology

Which working steps and which approaches should lead to the desired results?

Which methods are available? 4. Sources

Which sources are available and which do you want to work with?

How are you going to evaluate the sources?

In which form are they available to you?

Which limits do you want to set for your research of literature and sources? 5. Timetable

Until when should the most important steps of your project work be completed? Which

external factors could cause a delay? 6. Bibliography 7. Length: 5 9 pages

Arial, type size 11 and 1,5 line space and in block

Times New Roman, type size 12 and 1,5 line space and in block 8. Submission: March 2nd 2012

Do not forget to include a title on your expos. It is amazing how often the title is left for the

end of the student's writing and then somehow forgotten when the proposal is prepared. A

good expos has a good title and it is the first thing to help the reader begin to

understand the nature of your work. Use it wisely! Work on your title early in the process

and revisit it often. It's easy for a reader to identify those proposals where the title has been

focused upon by the student.

It's important that your project proposal be organized around a set of questions that will

guide your project work. When selecting these guiding questions try to write them so that

they frame your proejct and put it into perspective with other projects. These questions

must serve to establish the link between your project work and other project works that has

preceded you. Your project work questions should clearly show the relationship of your

project work to your field of study. Do not be carried away at this point and make your

questions too narrow. You must start with broad relational questions.

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It is also recommended that you always have in mind, what the practical outcome is

supposed to be. You may read your ideas with the eyes of a non-experienced person, who

wants to know what, how and why you do what and what you are working on. Is what you

do relevant, applicable, and necessary and will it make a difference? Is it cost cautious,

efficient a.s.o.? Will your coaches and mentors like your project and would they be excited

to implement it? Now here are a few more ideas regarding the defining of your project work through your

proposal:

o Choose your methodology wisely. Don't be too quick in running away from using a quantitative methodology because you fear the use of statistics. A qualitative

approach to research can yield new and exciting understandings, but it should not be

undertaken because of a fear of quantitative research. A well-designed quantitative

research study can often be accomplished in very clear and direct ways. A similar

study of a qualitative nature usually requires considerably more time and a

tremendous burden to create new paths for analysis where previously no path had

existed. Sometimes a combined methodology makes the most sense. You can

combine a qualitative preliminary study (to define your population more clearly, to

develop your instrumentation more specifically or to establish hypotheses for

investigation) with a quantitative main study to yield a project work that works well.

o This small checklist might support self-appraisal: a. Does the proposal have imagination?

b. Is the problem stated clearly?

hypothesis clear? testable?

if no hypothesis, are objectives clearly stated? Can they be accomplished?

problem perhaps too large?

c. Is the methodology feasible?

can data be collected?

how will data be analyzed?

d. What might the results of the analysis look like? (tables, graphs, etc.)

e. What are the consequences if

the experiment fails;

data cannot be obtained;

analysis is inconclusive;

hypothesis is rejected or accepted?

f. Can major project work activities be listed?

g. Can a time estimate be made for each activity?

h. Again, are the dimensions of the project manageable?

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Tips on how to write the BA thesis 1. Writing a thesis and how to survive it!

The thesis is the single most significant achievement of your graduate degree.2 It is a

formalized expression of the fact that you have required theoretical, practical and

methodological academic knowledge. A successful thesis has three main qualities:

1. first, it identifies a good question;

2. and second, it provides a satisfactory answer to that question.

3. It shows the way of implementation

For most writers, the thesis is the longest manuscript they've written, so its very length is

often the most overwhelming aspect of the task. Yet the task won't overwhelm you if you

adhere to the following advice.

a. Think of the thesis as a series of small-related tasks. Do not think of the whole task.

You don't have to "write the thesis"; instead, you have a series of tasks to perform,

many of which you have probably performed in the past. Do some research of the

literature similar in scope.

b. Summarize and perhaps comment upon the literature that you have examined. You

have probably done literature searches for classes before.

c. Perform some experiments or do some fieldwork. Again, these are tasks you are

probably already familiar with from classes.

d. Write up the results of those experiments or fieldwork.

e. Draw conclusions from what you have done.

f. See how your results and conclusions fit in with the literature and work in your field.

g. Look for other projects written

h. Put all these pieces together into a coherent whole, following a format that your

department will give you.

i. Edit your document carefully for format, spelling, grammar, and mechanics. Seen from this perspective, writing a thesis is merely performing a series of tasks with which

you are already familiar. A typical and costly mistake that thesis writers often make is trying

to do all the other (more familiar) tasks first (e.g., performing experiments, conducting the

literature search) before they write a word. This is not a productive approach. Start writing

now, even if it is only your random thoughts about what you'd like the thesis to prove. As you

search through the literature, for example, keep comprehensive notes. On a day when you

can't get to the library or lab or when you've looked at all possible sources, start writing your

summaries of the literature. Also write long notes to yourself about how you think your project

2 You can also find more information on http://thesis-guidance.blogspot.com [accessed January 23rd 2008].

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work will connect to the literature you've read. These notes will do two things:

1. first, they may be a valuable source of information later on in the process;

2. second, they get you writing. In short, any task that you are performing can be written

about. Try to write 15 minutes every day. This writing may be the extensive notes mentioned

above, a description to yourself of the experiment you performed today, or perhaps thoughts

about the project as a whole. By writing every day you accomplish at least two things: first,

you reduce anxiety about writing by proving to yourself that you can do it every day; second,

much of what you write will probably be, either directly or indirectly, the source of material for

your thesis. Even more important, you are not alone. Almost every thesis writer, including many of the

professors and managers, whose work you admire and whose guidance you seek, has felt

overwhelmed by the task. So Do not isolate yourself during the thesis process. Although it may

feel difficult at first to discuss your fears or doubts, talk to other thesis writers, other students,

your supervisor or faculty members. You will discover that they too have fears and brief bouts

with writer's block. Sharing your feelings will get rid of much of the anxiety by showing that

you are just like everyone else. Also, share suggestions about how to overcome obstacles. One final note: In deciding what goes where and what to include, you will have to make many

judgment calls. There are no cut-and-dried formulas for making these decisions. You have to

think carefully about the purpose of your thesis and who will be reading it. Ask your thesis

coach or mentor for advice on any such issues.

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2. Getting started: thinking about the thesis

Be inclusive with your thinking. Do not try to eliminate ideas too quickly. Give yourself

the luxury of being expansive in your thinking at this stage - you won't be able to do this

later on. Try and be creative. Even if it might seem like a lot of work: Write down your

ideas! This will allow you to revisit an idea later on. Or, you can modify and change

an idea. If you don't write your ideas they tend to be in a continual state of change

and you will probably have the feeling that you're not going anywhere. What a great

feeling it is to be able to sit down and scan the many ideas you have been thinking

about, if they're written down.

Try not to be overly influenced at this time by what you feel others expect from you.

You have a much better chance of selecting a topic that will be really of interest to you if

it is your topic. This will be one of the few opportunities you may have in your

professional life to focus in on a project work topic that is really of your own choosing.

Don't begin your thinking by assuming that your project work will draw international

attention to you!! Instead, be realistic in setting your goal. Make sure your expectations

are tempered by:

a. The realization that you are fulfilling an academic requirement,

b. The fact that the process of conducting the project work may be just as

important (or more important) than the outcomes

c. The idea that first and foremost the whole project w o r k should be a

learning experience for you.

If you can keep these ideas in mind while you're thinking through your project you stand

an excellent chance of having your project turn out well.

At the same time, be realistic about the time that you have to commit to your

project work. If the project you would like to do is going to demand more time than your

deadlines will allow then you have a problem.

Even if it is still early in your thinking it is never too early to create a draft of a timeline.

Try to put a start and a finish time for each. Post your timeline in a conspicuous place

(above your computer monitor?) so that it continually reminds you how you're doing.

Periodically update your timeline with new dates as needed.

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3. How to organize a thesis

In the following, the organization of the written thesis will be outlined. In general, keep

in mind that the mentors read your thesis to find the answers to the following questions:

a. What is this student's project work question?

b. Is it a good question? (has it been answered before? is it a useful question

to work on?)

c. Did the student convince me that the question was adequately answered?

d. Has the student shown that s/he is well grounded in the respective academic

requirements? 3.1. Introduction

This is a general introduction to what the thesis is all about - it is not just a description of the

contents of each section. Your goal is to introduce the reader to the particular question your

thesis is seeking to answer. Unlike in the traditional five-paragraph essay, in thesis

writing the introduction is not merely a summary of points to be elaborated on in later

sections. Rather, your objective here is to inform the reader of what the question is, why it is

important, and how your thesis will provide an answer. So briefly summarize the question

(you will be stating the question in detail later), some of the reasons why it is a worthwhile

question, and perhaps give an overview of your main results. This is a birds-eye view of the

answers to the main questions answered in the thesis (see above). The next paragraphs in the introduction should cite previous project work 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 was

necessary (your work, of course.) What else belongs in the introductory section(s) of your paper?

a. A statement of the goal of the paper: why the study was undertaken, or why the

paper was written. Do not repeat the abstract.

b. Sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand the context and

significance of the question you are trying to address.

c. 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.

d. Explain the scope of your work, what will and will not be included.

e. A verbal "road map" or verbal "table of contents" guiding the reader to what

lies ahead.

f. Is it obvious where introductory material ("old stuff") ends and your contribution

("new stuff") begins?

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Remember that this is not a review paper. We are looking for original work and

interpretation/analysis by you. Break up the introduction section into logical segments by

using subheads.

Also, you can not write a good introduction until you know what the body of the paper says.

Consider writing the introductory section(s) after you have completed the rest of the paper,

rather than before. 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/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. 3.2. Background Information (optional)

Thesis writing often produces works of very specialized content. Depending on the nature of

your work, it may be necessary to provide the reader with some measure of background

information relevant to the topic. This is particularly useful when your work is

interdisciplinary, in which case it is even more likely that the reader will benefit from a

section that contextualizes the question and supplies the history and terminology so that

the reader will be better able to follow the pages the come. It is often more engaging to use

a topic-specific title for a section on background information, e.g. A General Overview of the

Proto-Germanic Vowel System.

3.3. Methods

What belongs in the "methods" section of a Project paper?

a. Information to allow the reader to assess the believability of your results.

b. Information needed by another researcher to replicate your experiment.

c. Description of your materials, procedure, theory.

d. Calculations, technique, procedure, equipment, and calibration plots.

e. Limitations, assumptions, and range of validity.

The methods section should answering the following questions:

a. Could one accurately replicate the study (for example, all of the optional and

adjustable parameters on any sensors or instruments that were used to acquire the

data)?

b. Could another researcher accurately find and reoccupy the sampling stations or

track lines?

c. Is there enough information provided about any instruments used so that a

functionally equivalent instrument could be used to repeat the experiment?

d. If the data is in the public domain, could another researcher lay his or her hands

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on the identical data set?

e. Could one replicate any laboratory analyses that were used?

f. Could one replicate any statistical analyses?

g. Could another researcher approximately replicate the key algorithms of any

computer software?

Citations in this section should be limited to data sources and references of where to

find more complete descriptions of procedures. 3.4. Review of the state of the art

Here you review the state of the art relevant to your thesis. The idea is to present (critical

analysis comes a little bit later) the major ideas in the state of the art right up to, but

not including, your own personal brilliant ideas. You organize this section by idea, and

not by author or by publication.

3.5. Project work problem and project work question

Formulating a Project task and finding a project work question proves to be one of the most

difficult tasks for research beginners.

You will also find very valuable information on it in Kumars Research Methodology (2003),

especially in chapter 2 and 3, which you can also find as a pdf file and as hard copy in the

library. 3.6. Analysis of your findings

What did you do to answer the question, and what results were obtained? The structure of

this section is highly flexible, and will depend much on the nature of your work. Whatever

the format, the goal is the one and the same: convince your reader that you have done what

you set out to do in writing the thesis. Show all relevant evidence to support your position,

and avoid weakening it with the mention of dead ends or blind alleys, unless they too are

relevant to demonstrating that you answered the question. 3.7. Conclusions

Conclusions are not a rambling summary of the thesis: they are short, concise statements

of the inferences that you have made because of your work. It helps to organize these as

short numbered paragraphs, ordered from most to least important. All conclusions should

be directly related to the Project question. The Summary of Contributions will be much sought and carefully read by the

examiners. Here you list the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis makes. Of

course, the thesis itself must substantiate any claims made here. There is often some

overlap with the Conclusions, but that's okay. Concise numbered paragraphs are again

best. Organize from most to least important.

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3.8. References

Most examiners scan your list of references looking for the important works in the field, so

make sure they are listed and referred in order. All references given must be referred to in

the main body of the thesis. Note the difference from a Bibliography, which may include

works that are not directly referenced in the thesis. Organize the list of references either

alphabetically by author surname (preferred), or by order of citation in the thesis.

3.9. Appendices

What goes in the appendices? Any material which impedes the smooth development of

your presentation, but which is important to justify the results of a thesis. Generally it is

material that is of too nitty-gritty a level of detail for inclusion in the main body of the thesis,

but which should be available for perusal by the examiners to convince them sufficiently.

Examples include immense tables of data, lengthy mathematical proofs or derivations, etc. 4. Getting Started

One way to get started on your thesis is to prepare an extended outline. You begin

by making up the Table of Contents, listing each section and subsection that you propose to

include. For each section and subsection, write a brief point-form description of the contents

of that section. The entire outline might be one to two pages long. Now you should carefully

review this outline: is there unnecessary material (i.e. not directly related to the problem

statement)? Then remove. Is there missing material? Then add. It is much less painful and

more time-efficient to make such decisions early, during the outline phase, rather than after

you've already done a lot of writing which has to be thrown away. It is advisable to have a thorough estimation of how long it will take you to write the thesis

but keep in mind: Longer than you think! It's not the physical act of typing that takes so long,

it's the fact that writing the thesis requires the complete organization of your arguments and

results. It's during this formalization of your results into a well-organized thesis document

capable of withstanding the scrutiny of expert examiners that you discover weaknesses. It's

fixing those weaknesses that takes time. Bottom line: leave yourself enough time. A rush job has painful consequences at the

end.

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5. Writing the thesis

Now this is the part everyone has been waiting for. Assume that you have come up with a

good idea for project work, had your expos approved, collected the data, conducted your

analyses and now you're about to start writing the thesis. If you've done the first steps

well this part shouldn't be too bad. In fact it might even be enjoyable!

As already mentioned, the major myth in writing a dissertation is that you start writing at

Chapter One and then finish your writing at Chapter Five. This is seldom the case. The

most productive approach in writing the dissertation is to begin writing those parts of the

dissertation that you are most comfortable with. Then move about in your writing by

completing various sections as you think of them. At some point you will be able to

spread out in front of you all of the sections that you have written. You will be able to

sequence them in the best order and then see what is missing and should be added to the

dissertation. This way seems to make sense and builds on those aspects of your study

that are of most interest to you at any particular time. Go with what interests you, start your

writing there, and then keep building!

If you prepared a comprehensive expos you will now be rewarded! Pull out the

proposal and begin by checking your proposed project work methodology. Change the tense

from future tense to past tense and then make any additions or changes so that the

methodology section truly reflects what you did. You have now been able to change

sections from the proposal to sections for the dissertation. Move on to the Statement of the

Problem and the Literature Review in the same manner. A brief note filing your work-in-progress: As you get involved in the actual writing of your

dissertation you will find that conservation of paper will begin to fade away as a concern.

Just as soon as you print a draft of a chapter there will appear a variety of needed changes

and before you know it another draft will be printed. And, it seems almost impossible to

throw away any of the drafts! After a while it will become extremely difficult to remember

which draft of your chapter you may be looking at. Print each draft of your dissertation

on a different colour paper. With the different colours of paper it will be easy to see which is

the latest draft and you can quickly see which draft a committee member might be reading.

One area where one should be cautious is using a word processor is in the initial creation of

elaborate graphs or tables. Too many students spend too many hours in trying to use their

word processor to create an elaborate graph that could have been done by hand in 15

minutes. So, the simple rule is to use hand drawing for elaborate tables and graphs for the

early draft of your dissertation. Make sure your data are presented accurately so your

advisor can clearly understand your graph/table, but don't waste the time trying to make it

look word processor perfect at this time. Once you and your advisor agree upon how the

data should be graphically represented it is time to prepare "perfect" looking graphs and

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tables.

As cruel as it might sound, thesis-style writing is not designed to be entertaining. Thesis

writing should be clear and unambiguous. To do this well you should prepare a list of key

words that are important to your project work and then your writing should use this set of

key words throughout. There is nothing so frustrating to a reader as a manuscript that

keeps using alternate words to mean the same thing. If you've decided that a key phrase for

your project work is "educational workshop", then do not try substituting other phrases like

"in-service program", "learning workshop", "educational institute", or "educational program."

Always stay with the same phrase - "educational workshop." It will be very clear to the

reader exactly what you are referring to. Review two or three well organized and presented bachelor theses. Examine their use of

headings, overall style, typeface and organization. Use them as a model for the

preparation of your own dissertation. In this way you will have an idea at the beginning of

your writing what your finished dissertation will look like. A most helpful perspective!

A simple rule - if you are presenting information in the form of a table or graph make sure

you introduce the table or graph in your text. And then, following the insertion of the

table/graph, make sure you discuss it. If there is nothing to discuss then you may want to

question even inserting it. Another simple rule - if you have a whole series of very similar tables try to use similar

words in describing each. Don't try and be creative and entertaining with your writing. If each

introduction and discussion of the similar tables uses very similar wording then the

reader can easily spot the differences in each table. Your are all familiar with how helpful the Table of Contents is to the reader. What is often

not realized is that it is also invaluable you as writer. Use the Table of Contents to help you

improve your manuscript. Use it to see if you have left something out, if you are presenting

your sections in the most logical order, or if you need to make your wording a bit more

clear. Thanks to the miracle of computer technology, you can easily copy/paste each of your

headings from throughout your writing into the Table of Contents. Then sit back and see

if the Table of Contents is clear and will make good sense to the reader. You will be amazed

at how easy it will be to see areas that may need some more attention. Don't wait until the

end to do your Table of Contents. Do it early enough so you can benefit from the

information it will provide to you. If you are including a Conclusions/Implications section in your thesis make sure you really

present conclusions and implications. Often the writer uses the conclusions/implications

section to merely restate the project work findings. Don't waste my time. I've already read

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the findings and now, at the Conclusion/Implication section, I want you to help me

understand what it all means. This is a key section of the project work and is sometimes

best done after you've had a few days to step away from your project work and allow

yourself to put your project work into perspective. If you do this you will no doubt be able to

draw a variety of insights that help link your project work to other areas. I usually think of

conclusions/implications as the "So what" statements. In other words, what are the key

ideas that we can draw from your study to apply to my areas of concern.

6. Which order of writing?

Remember that your thesis is not written in the same order as it is presented in. The easiest

way to build a thesis is inside-out. Begin by writing the chapters that describe your Project

work (3, 4, and 5 in the above outline).

The following gives you one idea how to

proceed.

a. first organize your paper as a logical argument before you begin writing

b. make your figures to illustrate your argument (think skimming)

c. the main sections are: background to the argument (intro); describing the

information to be used in the argument, and making points about them

(observations), connecting the points regarding the info (analysis), summing up

(conclusions).

d. outline the main elements: sections, and subsections

e. begin writing, choosing options in the following hierarchy - paragraphs,

sentences, and words.

7. Editing your thesis

Keep in mind that even a rough draft should be edited. And once your thesis is completed,

a. Proof read your thesis a few times.

b. Check your spelling. spellcheckers are useful for initial checking, but don't catch

homonyms (e.g. hear, here), so you need to do the final check by eye.

c. Make sure that you use complete sentences

d. Check your grammar: punctuation, sentence structure, subject-verb agreement

(plural or singular), tense consistency, etc.

e. Give it to others to read and comment Try to avoiding ambiguity

a. Do not allow run-on sentences to sneak into your writing; try semicolons.

b. Avoid nested clauses/phrases.

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c. Avoid clauses or phrases with more than two ideas in them.

d. Do not use double negatives.

e. Do not use dangling participles (i.e. phrases with an "-ing" verb, in sentences where

the agent performing the action of the "-ing" verb is not specified: "After standing in

boiling water for two hours, examine the flask.").

f. Make sure that the antecedent for every pronoun (it, these, those, that, this, one) is

crystal clear. If in doubt, use the noun rather than the pronoun, even if the resulting

sentence seems a little bit redundant.

g. Ensure that subject and verb agree in number (singular versus plural).

h. Be especially careful with compound subjects. Be especially careful with subject/verb

agreement within clauses.

i. Avoid qualitative adjectives when describing concepts that are quantifiable

("The water is deep." "Plate convergence is fast." "Our algorithm is better.") Instead,

quantify. ("Water depths exceed 5km.")

j. Avoid noun strings ("acoustic noise source location technique").

k. Do not use unexplained acronyms. Spell out all acronyms the first time that you use

them.

Remember: Every citation made in the body of your thesis must appear in the list of

references. The list of references can be used as a measuring stick to evaluate the

breadth of your project work. A good review of the literature, after all, is essential to good

thesis writing. The reader will typically review the list of references to determine whether you have

consulted the more prominent works in the field. The reader may also search for his or her

own publications if they are relevant to the thesis topic, so be sure to work those in as well.

Know that unlike a bibliography, which may include titles that are not directly referred to

in the text, every item in your list of references must be referred to in the body of the thesis.

The preferred way of organizing your references is alphabetically by author surname,

although you may also organize the list by order of citation in the thesis.

8. Handing over the thesis

Please be aware that the soft copy of your thesis will be checked through specialized

programs for plagiarism!!!

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Code of Ethics I declare under penalty of perjury that I have developed and written the enclosed BA thesis

entitled

"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

entirely by myself and have not used sources or means without declaration in the text. Any

thoughts or quotations which were inferred from these sources are clearly marked as such.

This BA thesis was not submitted in the same or substantially similar version, not even

partially, to any other authority to achieve an academic grading and was not published

elsewhere.

__________________ ___________________

Place and Date Signature

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Source:

This material comes from the University of Leipzig .

Lorenz, Ulrike (2009): Reader. Workshop Thesis Writing. University of Leipzig: EM MA

Global Studies / MA European Studies