Thesis Format - writing style, pages, chapters?

[englishgrad]

Hi,

I am starting my thesis project for my Master's in English Lit. I have a list of sources I plan to use, but I am confused about every little thing. My advisor is not helpful and he brushes off my questions with a sweeping statement, "You are a beginner!" (true, but not helping).

Is there anyone out there that has completed a master's thesis? Did you write one long research paper? Or was it several "chapters" or separate, but related essays? Did you use 1 or 2 inch margins? footnotes? a Works Cited page at the end? outlines as you wrote?

How do you get your writing to sound "academic" and not as shaky as I feel? I feel like I can't create a strong thesis - nothing is good/specific enough.

Also, are there any books that can help me with preparing the thesis? I wouldn't mind reading some sample theses or getting tips from experts.

And, if you have been through this writing process, how did you attack the work? Did you have a schedule (2 pages a day?) Did you sit in a library all day? Did you make friends with librarians that were helpful? Also, did you have any friends to read your work? My big problem is that I have no one to read my work and give feedback, and my mentor/thesis advisor seems disappointed with everything I do show him.

Once again, I really need some advice. I am soooo lost. I want to give up each day.

[strokeofmidnight]

Disclaimer: I've never written a thesis, so I'm not very familiar with the nuts-and-bolts (though I helped my partner revise his, so I do vaguely remember works cited, table of contents, etc). However, I'm finishing up coursework in a PhD program, so I can speak to the level of writing and research that is (probably) expected for this project.

I really wouldn't worry about things like page numbers, margins, etc...at this stage. When in doubt, spend a day or two with your library's version of either Chicago or the MLA guideline...and/or look through previous thesis or dissertations--the latter, at least, should be on file somewhere in your school's library stacks. But this is really a task for when you're basically finished with the thesis, not necessarily when you're just starting.

Apologies if this is nitpicking, but I wanted to respond to an issue that you didn't specifically ask, but which might still be relevant to how you think about your project:

"How do you get your writing to sound "academic" and not as shaky as I feel? I feel like I can't create a strong thesis - nothing is good/specific enough."

I'm a strong believer that one should *never* try to sound academic. If anything, I often find that the task is the exact opposite--trying to strip the jargon out of my writing without losing the complexity of my ideas/arguments/whatnot. Both as a TA and a student, I look for clear, precise, and accessible writing...words that "just complex/sophisticated/specialized enough" to express the idea at hand. When I revise drafts, I'm constantly trying to replace obtuse terms and complicated syntax with simpler, more precise versions. That said, most of the academic work that I admire are sophisticated, subtle, nuanced...and indeed, complex. I find that that complexity is at the level of the ideas that the critic is putting into play--the writing that I admire works to bring these complicated and often abstract ideas down to earth.

There's obviously no single (or frankly, satisfactory) answer for how one can come up with "good" ideas. Part of the key, for me, was reading widely and carefully (both primary and secondary criticism)...exposing myself to different methodologies and learning to draw together bits and pieces towards my own critical stance. While this isn't true for everyone, I also found it helpful to not force myself to come up with a "thesis statement" or an argument right off the bat. I think it is impossible to do this responsibly (or well)...before I've actually had a chance to read the previous research, go over my primary materials several, and play with the ideas. In the past, I started pursuing an argument very early...and almost always had to discard my original ideas as my research took me in a different direction. I tell my best students that they need to take the time to think--to actually play with ideas--before they commit themselves to an argument. I imagine that this is even more true for a thesis, where it might take several months before you have a sufficient handle on the material to begin to process it. The best arguments, I've found, come at the end of this "processing" period...not at the beginning.

[JohnAdria]

Hi,

The format and writing style of a thesis or dissertation is according to the requirements of the university.

The components of thesis include:

· Title Page

· Table of Contents

· Abstract

· Acknowledgment

· Introduction

· Aims

· Objectives

· Thesis

· Methodology

· Literature Review

· Analysis

· Conclusion

· References and Appendices

Regards,

John Adria

[JennyFieldsOriginal]

first of all, if you're writing a masters thesis, and you know you're a beginner (as EVERYONE is during graduate school, in my humble opinion) try not to worry too much when you're getting started. pull quotes, entertain messy ideas, generate compelling readings of passages you find interesting...this is all the stuff that will start you on the road to where you need to go. the IDEAS are what you should be concerned about right now if you are starting out. don't impose an idea of what a "finished product" should look like on yourself. before you know it you'll be rooting through texts trying to make the works conform to your notion your project as opposed to really going on a productive expedition through the text. it sounds maybe trite but think of yourself as exploring the works that you have something to say about.

regarding format: once you write a large chunk you might see if it makes sense to break things into chapters or whether it feels artificial to do so. within university requirements, of course.

it sounds like your advisor is not much of a mentor. that's really a shame and i feel for you on this point. is there anyone else in the department that you could approach for advice? if not you're going to need a "virtual mentor". that is to say, you need something to aim for. if there are several critics you really love and admire try to jump into their work headfirst. it might be best to look at journal articles or essays because the short form can help you get your head around the thing. depending on your field there might be some obvious choices for you. develop your own thoughts and style to be sure, but keep your eyes at the top and claw your way up there.

i also second inafuturelife in terms of working in a group. this can be supremely helpful. in fact, that's how they do it in the big leagues...by that i mean that's how your professors work. that's how phd students work too. writing gets put before many trusted sets of eyes before it goes to publication, and i think that's because it's good for your writing and good for the people involved. it can be important for you to explain things to others in conversation to clarify your thoughts to yourself. sometimes a fresh ear can hear what you mean to say. the compelling part of your argument may jump out to a listener even if you are too close to it to quite grasp it.

you said you had a hard time finding people to show your work to. i don't know if your university has workshops for graduate students, but many do. even if it's mostly phd students it might be productive to sit in and make friends if you can. also, if your university has a writing center you might be able to meet with a "tutor" there for free. that's not to imply that you need tutoring by any means, but often the people who work there are talented undergraduates or graduate students and they might be able to give you some thoughts. along the same lines, see if there is an undergraduate honors thesis program. when i did mine people LOVED to get together in groups and would have descended eagerly on a masters student, thrilled to trade work and get and give advice. also, ask around in your classes if people want to get together. see if there is an email list you can use to get in touch with people and put out feelers.

good luck!

[UnlikelyGrad]

I have to admit that when I started grad school I was terrified of writing a dissertation. One thing that really helped me was reading the work of my advisor's last three students: one Ph.D. dissertation and two master's theses. This gave me a good idea of what I had to shoot for and suddenly I realized that it was doable. Of course it helped that the topics they wrote about were at least tangentially related to my research project; not sure that would be true for humanities or not.

I could give you the format that seems to predominate for master's theses here but I'm a scientist and I'm not sure how well it would translate to your field.

How am I working on my dissertation? I'm starting early. When I read an appropriate article I not only enter it into EndNote but also jot a few notes into the Word file I've entitled "dissertation." I try to not only write up my experimental procedures in my lab book, but also translate them into text that can be used in my methodology section. In other words, I'm trying to build a framework as I go that can later be fleshed out into something more robust.

I guess I could work like everyone else in the department: do nothing but research for four years, then write like mad for nine months, trying to remember everything that was done earlier. But I know my memory is lousy; I'd rather do it my way instead.

[rising_star]

Note: not in English lit, in the social sciences.

Is there anyone out there that has completed a master's thesis? Did you write one long research paper? Or was it several "chapters" or separate, but related essays? Did you use 1 or 2 inch margins? footnotes? a Works Cited page at the end? outlines as you wrote?

Yes, I've completed a MA thesis. I wrote mine in a five chapter format with an introduction, three body chapters (or maybe it was 4?), and a conclusion. Each of the middle chapters addressed one of the key arguments I wanted to make. I wrote the middle chapters as research papers (each was 20-25 pages) and used the common links of my case study to tie the chapters together. It read as a cohesive thesis because I intentionally linked the chapters together and the argument in ch. 3 built on the one in ch. 2, etc.

As for the specific formatting, your department and/or university will mandate some of this. My BA thesis had 1.5" margins on the left because it had to be bound while my MA thesis was 1" margins all around. My department used Turabian, so I bought the book and followed it for formatting.

I'm not much of an outliner, though I did draft a table of contents before I sat down and really started writing. I also wrote my thesis primarily in 5.5 weeks, but that's just how I work best.

How do you get your writing to sound "academic" and not as shaky as I feel? I feel like I can't create a strong thesis - nothing is good/specific enough.

You have to find your voice when writing. Draft and revise until you get there.

Also, are there any books that can help me with preparing the thesis? I wouldn't mind reading some sample theses or getting tips from experts.

Your department should have sample theses available either in their office/files or they'll be available via the university library. Read a few because each one takes a different format/style/approach. You have to decide on the approach that works best for your topic, not pick one just because that's what most people do. (For example, after I finished the first full draft of my thesis, someone told me a traditional social science MA thesis has 5 chapters [intro, lit review, methods, analysis, conclusion] but that format wouldn't have worked well for my project and I'm glad I didn't use it.)

And, if you have been through this writing process, how did you attack the work? Did you have a schedule (2 pages a day?) Did you sit in a library all day? Did you make friends with librarians that were helpful? Also, did you have any friends to read your work? My big problem is that I have no one to read my work and give feedback, and my mentor/thesis advisor seems disappointed with everything I do show him.

Once again, I really need some advice. I am soooo lost. I want to give up each day.

First, don't get overwhelmed and give up. I recommend breaking it up into several decent-sized research papers, then making it a goal to write a rough draft of each of those every week or two. Give yourself firm deadlines at the end of which you'll submit something to your advisor, a friend, etc.

I didn't sit in a library to write. I did something that I don't recommend. I worked primarily from home, but also did some rereading of journal articles and other sources while at my part-time off-campus second job. I also took in two foster dogs that needed to be housebroken, trained, and taught to climb stairs (this is really what I don't recommend). I took one grad seminar for credit that was fun and light on reading. But otherwise, I used the dogs' potty schedule, the shifts at the part-time job, and my so's work schedule to determine when I could work. So I mostly worked in chunks of time that were 2-3.5 hours long, rarely worked on the weekends (s.o. would come see me then from out of town), and tried to be as focused as possible when I was working (no tv, no internet, etc.). It helped that I basically started from a proposal and a seminar paper, then spent most of a month (January) building on those until I had a thesis draft to turn in to my advisor on Feb 1 (that was the deadline we agreed to). It made my final semester in my MA program much less stressful and gave me the time/freedom to travel to visit prospective PhD programs because I wasn't still slaving over my thesis draft like others were.

I hope some of this helps. Good luck!

[augustquail]

On 6/26/2010 at 7:24 AM, JohnAdria said:

Hi,

The format and writing style of a thesis or dissertation is according to the requirements of the university.

The components of thesis include:

· Title Page

· Table of Contents

· Abstract

· Acknowledgment

· Introduction

· Aims

· Objectives

· Thesis

· Methodology

· Literature Review

· Analysis

· Conclusion

· References and Appendices

Regards,

John Adria

I think this may be a more dissertation outline than a thesis outline. Before I wrote mine, my professor said something with about 2-3 chapters, a intro and a conclusion. This was the outline of my thesis:

Title Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Conclusion

Bibliography

It was about 90 pages, but the requirement was only 60 pages. I got a little carried away (it didn't help that my proposal was more of a dissertation topic than a thesis topic haha).

I would consult your university's guidelines for precise formatting requirements, just to be safe.