Organize your Thesis

Rushdi Shams
Lecturer
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Introduction
Introduces the reader to the research
Provides generic overview of what is written
in the rest of the parts.
The most vital part of any dissertation/thesis
writing.
If you fail to write a good introduction, you will
fail to persuade your reader, your supervisor,
your co-supervisor, your external
This will lead to a failure of a research work
even if it is the best in the universe.
Introduction: Prelude
In a paragraph or two describe the background in
short.
What are the key areas your reader may need to
get familiarity
What are area of problems your research field is
suffering from
What particular area of problems you have chosen
for your research
Describe jargons but not one by one- more like in a
formal way
Introduction: Problem
Statement
What problem are you trying to solve
Only positive words should go in here, no
drawbacks, no negative words
No trace of achievements (Never use we have
done this, done that…)
Many problem solving may require many
other problems solving which is not your
particular aim. Include them.
And again, only focus on the exact problem or
set of problems that you solved and you are
going to let us know in the rest of your thesis.
Introduction: Motivation
What are the motives to conduct your
research
What are the justifications of doing this
research
What advantage your research will bring
In this section, you describe every solution of
problems (you stated in previous section) in
serial (1,2,3…) and answer each of the 3
questions above
Introduction: Thesis
Organization
This section is pretty straight. It describes
how you have organized your thesis. You will
have to provide a summary of each chapter
with 2-3 sentences
Background
This chapter is optional.
Say, your research work is extension of research of
other people. Then, you will have to briefly summarize
their work here.
Say, your research work is based upon some
techniques which need to be clarified to the user, you
have to explain them here
Say, you made a comparison with other work done so
far. To realize the difference and praise you, the reader
may need to understand those work. In that case,
include them here.
Most of your references go in here
Background
In cases where you are describing just one
research, the chapter name can be changed to
“Overview of RESEARCH_X”
Even in cases where you need to describe the
whole field which may not known to the reader,
you can rename this chapter to “Overview of
FIELD_X”
Of course, “Overview of Network Protocol
Design” (you will not focus on just one protocol,
in this case) or “Overview of AI” (AI is well known
field is not acceptable
State of the Art
 This cannot be, of course, the name of a chapter.
 But a chapter like this should contain the current trends
and technologies used in your research field
 You have organize this section by ideas, not by
author/publication.
 Most of your references go in here, too.
 If you are working with a protocol to enhance network
performance, then you can categorize them as follows-
1. Protocols to enhance reliability
2. Protocols to enhance data reachability
3. Protocols to mitigate flooding
4. Protocols to reduce broadcasts
Research Methodology
 So, with optional background and state of the art,
your reader probably is now familiar with where
your research is going to be.
 In this stage, use a research methodology section
to tell the reader the steps you will take to solve
the problem of interest.
 This section can be included-
1. In the end of Background if you don’t have state
of the art (pretty unusual case)
2. In the end of the state of the art (normal case)
Your own work
Now, it is time to describe your own work.
You describe it exactly in the same serial you
have promised your reader in Research
Methodology
This chapter should be plain and simple
This chapter is the heart of your writing
Make sure, you have written everything you
have done
Make sure, you have written enough to prove
that you have solved your problem
Conclusion: Thesis
Summary
In a paragraph or two, summarize the whole
thesis
And then again in serials, summarize each of
the chapters with 4-5 sentences (1. in chapter
2, we presented… 2. in chapter 3, we
proved…. )
Conclusion: Key Limitations
and Possible Solutions
If you think your research has limitations
(mostly, you will have as you are not
superman, no one is ), then state each of
them in subsections.
This part is crucial as the evaluator will
obviously take a look at this section. You have
to narrate them briefly- the limitations and
realistic solutions
Conclusion: Future Works
In serial, state what extensions the thesis can
form into.
Vital for other researchers to extend your
work as well as for you to carry your own
research further
Special Issues
Except Introduction, all other chapters will begin with
a section called Introduction
Every chapter will have a section called Summary at
the end- summarizing the chapter in a paragraph;
Summary of Conclusion will summarize the whole
research in a paragraph
Chapter headings should contain the highest font
size, then Section Headings, then Sub-section
Headings and then the actual contents. Always
maintain them throughout your writing
Special Issues
Every page in your thesis should contain
Running Header/ Running Footer- means the
header/footer that contains the name of the
chapter. Don’t use running header/ running
footer on the page where your chapter begins.
Supplementary pages like Abstract, Declaration,
Acknowledgement, Table of Contents, List of
Tables/ Figures should have roman page
numbers (i, ii, iii…) and numeric page numbers
(1,2,3…) should start when your chapter starts.
How to put reference
 There are 2 ways to put reference in your writing-
1. Traditional Style
2. Harvard Style
 Traditional style is straight. You’ll have to put
numeric in side braces like [1], [2].

Methods described by Johnson & Hogard [1]

improved the version of the protocol described by
researches [2],[4] and [10] whereas [8] is the
improvement of outcomes of [5]
How to put reference
 Harvard style is what now preferred by most,
easy to point out research papers both for
writer and reader.
 There are varieties in ways you put
references in Harvard Style
 I will give you a PDF file that will guide you
towards Harvard Style
How to put reference
 Okay, so far, we have seen how to put
references.
 Now we will take a look at how you will put
them in Reference Section (Right after the
Conclusion chapter)
 A simple rule of thumb-
 Always follow the same sequence throughout
your Reference Section
How to put reference
 & the most common style is-

Author 1, Author 2, “Research Paper Title”,

Proceedings/Journal Name, Year, Country (Not
required for Journal), Page No.

Author 1, Author 2, Book Title, Publisher, Edition,

Year, Country of Publication, ISBN number.

Web page conductor, “Title of the Page”, URL [Date

of collection]
More on Reference
If you fetch a complete sentence from any of
your reference (which is not intelligent), then
you will have to put quotation marks around it
(“ ”)
If you fetch any figure/table from any
research paper directly or with modifications,
you will have to refer it
Appendix/ Appendices
Use this section in the end if you want to
elaborate something which is not actually for
reading but for analysis (robust graphs,
tables, coding portion, application
screenshots)
Organize your appendix with letters A, B, C
with appropriate contents (Appendix A will
contain graphs, B will contain codes, and so
on)
Figures
Be clear
When you are putting figure number, use the
generic style- Figure 3.1 means first figure of
chapter 3
Just don’t finish the title of the figure with a
single sentence. Elaborate it with 2 or 3
sentences.
Tables
Don’t use fancy table style (use the regular
style)
When you are putting table number, use the
generic style- Table 3.1 means first table of
chapter 3
Just don’t finish the title of the table with a
single sentence. Elaborate it with 2 or 3
sentences.
Abstract
 Typically, an informative abstract answers
these questions:
1. Why did you do this study or project?
2. What did you do, and how?
3. What did you find?
4. What do your findings mean?
Abstract
abstract will nearly always be read along with the title,
so do not repeat or rephrase the title.
It will likely be read without the rest of the document,
however, so make it complete enough to stand on its
own.
Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions
as well as your purpose, methods, and main findings.
Emphasize the different points in proportion to the
emphasis they receive in the body of the document.
Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in
the document.
Abstract
Avoid using I or we, but choose active verbs
instead of passive when possible (the study
tested rather than it was tested by the study).
Avoid if possible avoid trade names, acronyms,
abbreviations, or symbols. You would need to
explain them, and that takes too much room.
Use key words from the document. (For published
work, the abstract is "mined" for the words used
to index the material--thus making it more likely
someone will cite your article.)
The World is not Enough
http://
www.kuet.ac.bd/cse/writingthesis.htm#submiss

http://
www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html