How to Start Thesis Writing: Basic to Advanced

Writing something substantial, let alone a thesis is a difficult task. Even established professors and professional writers struggle to put down decent work. Thesis writing is a critical component of research graduates whether in master's degree or doctoral research. A major part of attaining your degree lies in how well you write and articulate your findings in concrete and effective writing.  Your thesis communicates the findings, the hypotheses and results, insights and arguments in an effective manner. 

While it may also seem an easy task, research students need to stick to certain practices like using academically suitable words, being accurate, avoiding vagueness, and using relevant statements, etc. There are some norms and rules to follow in writing your thesis. 

This article is a comprehensive guide on writing a thesis, including how to start and formulate your research work effectively. We shall cover the essential aspects of producing a good thesis, important writing tips, and the areas of consideration before submitting a thesis. In short, this blog is a basic to advanced guide to thesis writing.

What is a thesis?

A thesis is a research paper written out of the original research a researcher/student conducts. It is a scientific argument of the work a researcher has conducted. A thesis presents the researcher's arguments, insights and findings in concise writing. It is a summary of the observations a researcher has done in a specific area or field. 

A thesis is typically a long-form piece of writing that must be submitted at the end of a master's or doctoral degree course. Thesis writing involves several other aspects, including the researcher's ability to conduct extensive research on the selected topic, create a good proposal, research design, data collection and strong analysis of the data collected, arrive at a strong conclusion, and produce all of these into concise writing. 

How to start writing a thesis?

Starting a thesis is a challenging task. But with proper preparation and a detailed concept map, it's a smooth sail. Knowing the components of your thesis is a good start. Learn what a thesis should include. Let us explore a few important tips that can help you get started with writing your thesis. 

Giving your ideas a structure

You may have a lot in your mind and may be struggling to lay them out into an effective idea. To structure your ideas, it's best to create a map where you can outline the order of your work as you brainstorm. As you complete outlining your map, you may then give a logical order to the ideas you have outlined.  

Write as you go

Do not leave all the writing for the last part and rush it in the end. That's a blunder. It's best to divide the writing over the length of your research program. Writing as you continue your research will give you ample chances and time to rewrite, restructure and refine your work. You will also get more ideas and discover gaps in your research as you write on the go and get to solve problems earlier, which will save you time and effort. 

Knowing the examiner's expectations

Be wary of what the examiner is looking for in your research paper. They will expect that your research/thesis generates an original and significant contribution to the field. The thesis must present an advanced knowledge of research techniques, methodologies and principles relevant to your field of study. Make sure that your thesis checks the following pointers:

• A well-written and coherent argument
• Theoretical perspectives are linked logically and reasonably
• Must have a solid understanding of the theory
• Originality and creativity of the work
• Be confident in your work

Evidence for personal observations

Back up your personal experience and observations with supporting evidence. No personal statement or observation is valid without any evidence. 

Refer other theses

Reading other theses before starting and working on your own will help you go a long way. By referring to other theses you will get to learn how theses are introduced and ideas are linked. You will learn about structuring arguments and how the researchers confidently draw conclusions from their evidence. You may also need to pay attention to the kind of questions they address across the different sections in the theses. 

Maintain a logical flow 

Make sure that you maintain a logical flow of ideas in your writing. Your argument must be presented with clarity. Using standard phrases like 'these results suggest that" will give more weight to your arguments. To maintain a logical flow, you may want to create an outline while planning your theses or while structuring your ideas. Stick to sequencing your paragraphs in a logical flow. Creating a flowchart for your core ideas to check their relativity will help you maintain clarity and explain your research coherently.

Consult seniors or guide for feedback

Consulting and seeking feedback from peers, seniors or your supervisor is an ideal and must-do for every research candidate. To ensure you get the answers you're looking for, ask your supervisor/guide if the structure of your thesis is acceptable. Ask about the sufficiency of data, clarity of the explanations or if the arguments are convincing enough. Incorporate their suggestions and refine your work. This will strengthen the quality of your thesis.

Must Proofread your work

Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors etc are inevitable. To ensure you have all these errors taken care of proofread your work. It is an unavoidable step in your thesis writing. You must reread your work carefully. Proofreading must be done at the final stage where all other changes like structure, arguments, and conclusion are completed. This will help save time, energy and effort. To make sure your proofreading is done thoroughly, you may want to stick to a few practices:

• Read from a paper rather than on a computer screen
• Read aloud to focus and enunciate every word for accuracy
• Check incomplete, odd or awkward sentences

Always seek help from your supervisor to ensure your thesis meets the satisfactory requirements. 

Getting around the Thesis Structure

Now that you know the tricks to formulating your thesis, getting down to start writing should not be as difficult as you imagine. Another important factor in writing a thesis is following the established thesis structure. 

While the structure of your thesis will depend upon your discipline and the kind of research you intend to work on, the following is the standard academic thesis structure. Knowing this will extensively help work out your research methodically. 

Thesis Structure

• Title page
• Abstract 
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodology 
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Recommendations 
• Acknowledgements
• Reference List
• Appendices

Title Page: This page includes the following list

• Title
• Subtitle
• Researcher's/author's name
• Institution and Department
• Date of delivery
• Supervisor/  Mentor's/Advisor's name and their institutions and email address

Abstract: This section is the summary of your thesis in about 200-350 words. It introduces your work, the purpose of your work, the major results and the implications of your work. It should be concise, clear, quantitative and readable. 

Table of contents: This page will consist of all the headings and subheadings with page numbers. You must indent the subheadings.

List of Figures: This should include the page numbers of all the figures with each figure given a short title.

List of Tables: This section will enlist all the tables with the page numbers and a short title for each table. 

Introduction: This section introduces readers to your work with sufficient background (the goal of the paper and the purpose of the research). The introduction must be different from the abstract. It is a verbal table of contents giving idea to readers what lies ahead in the thesis. It will also include the scope of the work and proper acknowledgements. Ensure breaking up the introduction into logical sections using subheadings. 

Literature Review: It is a detailed analysis of research and written examples of the field of study. It presents more specific goals, objectives and hypotheses for your thesis. 

Methodology: Begin with an introduction justifying and explaining the choice of your methodological approach. This section will include

• Design
• Participants
• Materials
• Procedures.

Results: This section is for specifying the data collected and the preparation for analysis. The section should include:

• Data analysis description 
• Description of the outcome of the analysis 
• A summary
• Tables or graphs for descriptive statistics

Discussion: You may want to discuss your findings here in this section. It covers:

Results and explanation

• Comparing your findings with theory and other studies
• Identifying and explaining any unexpected results
• Limitations to your research 
• Research questions that your work is unable to answer
• Significance of your findings

Conclusions: This section will include the summary of your main finding and emphasize that your research aims are met. You may state your research limitation again and provide suggestions for further research. 

Recommendations: This may include suggestions for further research and future investigations on similar or related topics. You may also add remedial actions for solving problems and limitations in conducting your research.

Acknowledgements: Ensure listing everyone who helped you in the research, be it technically, intellectually or financially.  

Reference List: Include all the data, concepts, text, etc not your own. Follow alphabetical order for listing references cited in the text.

Appendices:

• Include all your data
• Not easily available reference data/materials
• Tables and Calculations
• List of additional resources not cited in references
• Equipment used during research

Following the above guidance will help a lot in your thesis.