Writing Thesis and Dissertation

Arsenio Unajan Baquilid, BSAE, MBA, DM

Introduction

You cannot start your thesis and/or dissertation without a good academic research proposal. But writing a research proposal is the most difficult part of thesis or dissertation writing. It is tedious and time-consuming. That’s why many graduate students seek the help of professional writers, especially if they have no time to do it. Should you need help, try contacting arseniobaquilid@yahoo.com or tetet0528@yahoo.com or at mobile phone +639156924624. However, if you are interested of doing it yourself, may I help you with these pointers?    

Selecting your topic

            You cannot start preparing your title without a topic. That topic must be approved by your professor. Many graduate students stay longer than two years schooling because of faulty topic selection that they are required to change topic during the design hearing thereby delaying research implementation.

Therefore, to avoid this problem, start thinking of a topic right away during your graduate courses. By the time you finished the qualifying or comprehensive examinations, you must have already a clear idea about your topic. This is when you are about to enroll yourself on the subject “Thesis/Dissertation Writing.”

           

            Here are some ideas of how to select a topic:

1.  Make sure you are familiar with the topic you are going to select; like it’s about your profession, your work, or anything you know about. If it is a dissertation, it is advisable to expand your thesis topic. But normally, you will submit at least three topics/titles ranked according to your preference. It’s your job to convince and/or justify to your Professor which one you would prefer. Usually, it’s the number one in the listing.

2.  You have to be specific. From a wide subject area focus your topic on certain particulars. For instance, if your subject area is on migration, you can be specific on professional migrants in a particular geographical area. By being specific you will know where to get relevant literature for your study. If your topic has wide coverage, there will be some difficulty not only in searching for bibliographies but also in gathering the data.

3.  Your topic must be interesting to you, to your Professor, and to your Thesis/Dissertation Adviser. Your interest on the topic will make you enthusiastic in working on it. The interest of your Professor and your Adviser on your topic will determine his/her eagerness to read and provide early feedback on whatever comments/corrections she/he has that will facilitate the completion of your work.

4.  Choose a topic that is implementable within the prescribed time frame of the school. The schedule of thesis/dissertation writing varies from one semester to two semesters, depending on the school’s curriculum. If your topic will require longer time, you will be cramming to catch up with the schedule or you might be forced to extend your research work for another semester. Such time extension will expose you and your work to many uncertainties.

5.  The topic must be valuable to you that you are motivated to pursue the research. For instance, my wife was the Incharge of a City Environment and Natural Resources Office when she took up her Doctoral degree. She selected the topic Management of Solid Waste, especially so that at that time the city was adjudged the dirtiest city in the country.

6.  Finally, choose a topic that is not a duplication of previous studies. This is important because once any member of the Design Hearing Committee will discover your topic to be duplication, you will be required to change topic. Worst is when the discovery is made during the Oral Defense, it will be catastrophic on your part. 

Writing the title of a thesis/dissertation

            With your approved topic, you are ready to write your thesis/dissertation title. Bear in mind that it is not easy because it is absolutely important. Your title will dictate what your research is all about. In fact the title prevents you to include other things that are not governed by it, even if they are important.

You will realize though, that your title will undergo changes as you proceed with your work. This is inevitable in your desire to make a good study. But before making any change always consult your professor/adviser. Also, there will be suggestions from your Professor, Adviser, or the Design Hearing Committee that might require changes in the title.

            Here are some suggestions of how to write your title:

1.  It must be precise, clear, and concise.   

2.  It must contain the subject matter and the locale of the study, the population involved, and the period of data gathering.

3.  The title must reflect what sub-problems are included in the thesis/dissertation.

4.  It must be written in capital letters.

5.  It must be written in an inverted pyramid using center text, if the length is more than one line.

Here is an example of a good title:

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN TACLOBAN CITY FOR

CY  2005-2010: BASIS FOR PLAN FORMULATION

Preparing your thesis/dissertation proposal

With your approved title, you are now ready to start writing your proposal. The format and/or style of writing a thesis/dissertation proposal will vary to a great extent according to the design of a particular school. However, most thesis/dissertation proposals consist of three Chapters on “The Problem and Its Scope”, “Review of Related Literatures and Studies”, and “Methodology and Procedures”. However, it has a Title Page at the beginning. It has also other parts like “definition of terms”, “Proposed Time Frame”, “Bibliography”, “Appendices”, and “Curriculum Vitae”.

            The three Chapters of a thesis and/or dissertation proposal are discussed below:

Chapter 1 – The Problem and Its Scope

      An example of an outline of a thesis and/or dissertation proposal includes introduction, statement of the problem, significance of the study, and research hypotheses.

The Introduction

            One way to start your introduction is to explain what your study is all about. Then discuss why you have selected the study. To support your explanation, cite bibliographies relevant to your reasoning. Said bibliographies must present the idea that there is a problem that needs to be solved.

            One way to end your introduction is to state the problem very briefly. Do not include background in the introduction.

The purpose of the introduction is to present your study. Thus, it must be short, from 1½ to 2 pages. Remember, a poorly written introduction wills turn-off any reader.

The Statement of the Problem

The problem is stated to show the context of the research study. The introductory paragraph will explain what you are studying. Then it will be followed by some specific questions to extensively and intensively cover your topic. By so doing, the statement of the problem limits the scope of the research by focusing on the specific questions. These questions reflect the variables of the study.

It is important to note that most busy and/or learned readers go direct to the statement of the problem to determine if your thesis/dissertation is worth of his/her time reading.

The Significance of the Study

This part of the thesis/dissertation proposal will present how humanity will benefit from your study. It will enumerate how some specific group of people, organizations, schools, students, teachers, and other groups/individuals will be benefited from the findings. In other words, the significance of the study will point out how your study is going to help solve the problem mentioned in the study.

The Research Hypotheses

This part of the study is not required in some schools, especially for courses related to management like Doctor of Management. However, this is required in some schools especially for courses related to philosophy like Doctor of Philosophy.

Anyway, the research hypotheses are your tentative explanations of what outcome the study will be.  These are your expectations as regards relationship of some selected variables. Null hypothesis (H_o) is usually adopted in thesis/dissertation writing. This is a hypothesis which you will reject or accept. Such decision is based on statistical analysis.

Below is an example of a null hypothesis:

        “Irrigated rice plants do not exhibit maximum tillering

if applied with organic fertilizer instead of no fertilizer.” 

Chapter 2 - The Review of Related Literatures and Studies

            It is a common practice to divide this chapter into two sections. The first section is the related literatures, while the second section is the related studies whether published or not. This part in the making of a thesis/dissertation proposal is difficult. It is tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. You need to borrow or buy books, journals, and magazines. You need to go to libraries to read and search for your references. The use of the internet is not acceptable in many schools.

            This part is very vital to the proposal because its main use is to convince everyone including you that your study is important, relevant, and has no duplication. With a comprehensive review of related literature and studies you can corroborate the specific questions included in the study. In this part you need also to validate your research questions by citing literatures or studies relevant to your study.

            Always make an introductory short paragraph for this chapter citing the sources of your bibliographies and manifesting their relevance to your study. Also close this chapter with another short paragraph indicating that your study has no duplication.

Chapter 3 - Methodology and Procedures

            Chapter 3 of the proposal may include research locale, research delimitation, research respondents, research instruments, and research data measurements. 

The Research Locale

This is a brief explanation and/or discussion about the place where the study is to take place. Usually, a location map is attached to help clarify the explanation.

The Research Delimitation

            The research delimitation narrows down your topic and limits the scope of your study. This part adopts the legal maxim what is not included is deemed excluded. Sample phrase to use in research delimitations are: “The coverage of this study is…” or “This study does not include…”

The Research Respondents

            The sources of your data are your respondents. Your respondents are your selected sample. Hence, you must explain very clearly how you will select you sample. You must justify that the technique you are going to use in selecting your sample is the most appropriate. You must prove that in using such technique, your sample is representative of your known population. This is crucial because if your sample is not statistically representing the total population of the study, your findings and/or conclusions are invalid and unreliable.  

           

The Research Instruments 

            Choose a research instrument that is appropriate to your study. Do not just pick up an instrument for the reason that they have been commonly used. Make it sure that the instrument can be understood by your respondents and it can produce the data you wanted to gather. See to it that your instrument is fitting to your study

            Thesis and/or dissertation are generally a descriptive research. Hence, a “survey questionnaire” or an “interview guide” is applicable. Design this instrument that it will fit to the variables you want to measure. Once you have completed preparing your instrument(s), explain “what it is and how to use it item for item.

            Attach your instrument(s) as appendix of your proposal. 

The Research Data Measurements 

            You need to identify the statistical tool that will be used to measure the different variables. State your reasons(s) for selecting said statistical tool.

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