Preparation Phase

  • Setup
  • Structuring your thesis
  • Creating a General Outline for a Thesis Chapter
  • Example Structure

This page provides a structured guide to initiating your thesis. It includes essential setup steps and guidance on structuring your thesis. By following these guidelines, you will lay a solid foundation for your research.

Laying the Foundation for Your Thesis

Note: this should roughly be completed within the first week of the thesis.

Setup

To start your thesis on the right track, ensure the following setup steps are completed:

It is good practice to write the thesis in a Git-versioned repository, add notes from the meetings to the README.md file, and give your thesis advisor access to the repository.

Remember to create regular backups of your work, e.g., by creating Git versions and pushing them to a remote repository, and/or copying files to a USB stick.

Structuring Your Thesis

Importance of Structure

Structuring your thesis early improves readability and saves time.

Section Naming Guide

When structuring a thesis, standard section titles help maintain clarity and consistency. However, the naming of chapters can be adapted if it enhances the reading flow or is crucial for understanding the context, as long as it aligns with academic guidelines. This flexibility can be particularly useful in interdisciplinary research or when standard titles do not fully capture the essence of the study. Any modifications should be discussed with your supervisor to ensure they meet institutional requirements and academic expectations.

  • Introduction: introduces the research problem, objectives, and relevance
  • Literature Review / Theoretical Background: summarizes previous research and identifies gaps
  • Methods: details the research methodology used
  • Results: presents findings clearly and concisely
  • Discussion: interprets the results and their implications
  • Conclusion: summarizes contributions and suggests areas for further research

Checklist for Key Components

Ensuring that all key components are included in your thesis is essential for clarity and academic rigor.

Essential Components:

  • Research objectives and hypotheses: clearly state the aims of the research and the hypotheses being tested
  • Key literature with citations: provide a well-structured review of relevant studies, identifying gaps your research addresses
  • Research design and methodology: describe the methods used to collect and analyze data, ensuring they are appropriate for the research questions
  • Expected outcomes or contributions to the field: highlight the anticipated findings and their significance in advancing knowledge in your area of study

Creating a General Outline for a Thesis Chapter

Structuring a chapter in your thesis requires a thoughtful and systematic approach to ensure clarity, coherence, and alignment with your research objectives. A strong outline serves as the backbone for your writing, helping you maintain logical flow and effective argumentation.
While creating an outline, keep the evaluation criteria in mind to ensure your chapter meets the required academic standards.

Steps to Create a Chapter Outline

  1. Define the Purpose of the Chapter
    • identify what the chapter contributes to the overall thesis
    • ensure it aligns with the research objectives and hypothesis
    • highlight how the chapter fits within the broader thesis structure
  2. Draft the Main Sections
    • divide the chapter into logical sections
    • consider how each section connects to previous and subsequent chapters
    • start thinking about where citations will be needed for support, ensuring that you plan for them in the outline
  3. List Key Points for Each Section
    • outline the main arguments, evidence, or discussion points for each section
    • ensure each section follows a logical flow, with appropriate citations and references linked to the key points
    • e.g., in a literature review section, plan to cite studies that provide context or contrast with your own work
  4. Organize Supporting Evidence and References
    • integrate relevant literature, data, or case studies as you outline each section
    • maintain consistency in citations and referencing (e.g., use APA citation style consistently)
    • Include references that you anticipate using within the outline itself. This can include key authors, studies, and seminal works. Ensure you are familiar with the formatting guidelines early on.
  5. Ensure Coherence and Transitions
    • plan how ideas will transition between sections
    • use linking sentences to ensure smooth readability and flow
    • consider where you might add in additional citations to strengthen transitions or provide a broader theoretical perspective
  6. Review and Refine the Outline
    • adjust the structure to improve clarity, logical flow, and argumentation
    • make sure all critical references are accounted for in the outline, including preliminary citations for sources you plan to discuss in detail later
    • seek feedback from a peer or advisor to ensure the outline’s logic is sound and citations are used effectively

Tailoring the Outline to Different Thesis Chapters

  • Introduction Chapter
    • context and background of the study, including key foundational studies (cite major authors or theories that are central to your research)
    • problem statement and research question, with references to support the identification of the gap in existing knowledge
    • significance and objectives of the study, with citations to highlight why your research is important
  • Literature Review
    • theoretical framework and key studies (include citations for all relevant theories and models)
    • identification of research gaps and how your study will address them, supported by citations of previous studies
    • positioning the study within existing research, demonstrating how your work builds upon or challenges existing findings
  • Methodology
    • research design and approach (cite methodological texts or articles that justify your approach)
    • data collection and analysis methods, with citations for standard or innovative techniques you will employ
    • justification for methodological choices, referring to authoritative sources that support your decisions
  • Results & Discussion
    • presentation of key findings, with appropriate statistical analysis and references for similar findings from existing literature
    • interpretation and comparison with existing studies, citing other works to compare and contrast your results
    • implications of the results, linking back to earlier research and theory (cite sources to support your interpretation)
  • Conclusion
    • summary of findings, with references to highlight key literature that has framed the results
    • contributions to the field, supported by citations demonstrating the relevance of your work to the academic community
    • limitations and future research directions, mentioning gaps or opportunities cited in other studies that may inspire future work

Example Structure

Here is a structure example from a completed thesis. You can use this template to structure any of the chapters of your thesis. This will help you with your writing process. In addition it is a great document to share with your advisor and talk it through before writing a whole text. Here is the Structure Example.