How to organize your thesis? Ku-Yaw Chang Department of E.E. National Cheng-Kung University No.1 University Rd. Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C. To insert your company logo on this slide From the Insert Menu Select “Picture” Locate your logo file Click OK To resize the logo Click anywhere inside the logo. The boxes that appear outside the logo are known as “resize handles.” Use these to resize the object. If you hold down the shift key before using the resize handles, you will maintain the proportions of the object you wish to resize. 1999/4/2

Outline How to organize your thesis? Other general tips and comments Conclusions References

What Graduate Research is All About The distinguishing mark or graduate research –an original contribution to knowledge Thesis –a formal document to prove that you have done the above –two important things identify a worthwhile problem or question which has not previously answered solve the problem or answer the question

What Graduate Thesis is All About The examiners want to find the answers of the following questions: –What is this student’s research question? –Is it a good question?(been answered before? or worthwhile to work on?) –Did the student convince me that the question was adequately answered? –Has the student made an adequate contribution to knowledge?

A Generic Thesis Skeleton Abstract State the problem Why the problem is a problem My startling sentence The implication of my startling sentence

A Generic Thesis Skeleton Four Sentence Summary The rejection rate for OOPSLA papers is near 90%. Most papers are rejected not because of a lack of good ideas, but because they are poorly structured. Following four simple steps in writing a paper will dramatically increase your chances of acceptance. If everyone followed these steps, the amount of communication in the object community would increase, improving the rate of progress.

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 1Introduction a general introduction to what the thesis is all about - not just a description of the contents of each section Briefly summarize the question Describe some of the reasons why it is a worthwhile question Give an overview of your main results a description of the contents of each section

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 2Background Information(optional) a brief section giving background information may be necessary, especially if your work spans two or more traditional fields A different title is usually better, e.g. “A Brief Review of Interpolation”

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 3Background of the State of the Art The ideas is to present the major ideas in the state of the art right up to, but not including, your own personal brilliant ideas Organize this section by idea, not by author or by publication A different title is usually better, e.g. “State of the Art in Interpolation”

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 4Research Question or Problem Statement Three main parts: –a concise statement of the question that your thesis tackles –justification that your question is previously unanswered –discussion of why it is worthwhile to answer A more specific title is better, e.g. “The Interpolation Problem”

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 5Describe How You Solve the Problem or Answer the Question much more free-form –one or several sections and subsections Only one purpose –to convince the examiners that you answered the question or solved the problem that you set for yourself in Section 4.

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 6Conclusions Conclusions –short, concise statements of the inference that you have made because of your work. (not a rambling summary of the thesis) –from most to least important Summary of Contributions –list the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis make –from most to least important Future Research

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 7References Being closely tied to the review of the state of the art given in Section 3. All references give must be referred to in the main body. Organize the list either by alphabetically, by author surname, or by order of citation in the thesis.

Other general tips and comments Always keep the reader’s background in mind Don’t make the readers work to hard A thesis is not a story. It’s a formal document designed to answer only a few major questions. Avoid using phrases like “Clearly, this is the case…” or “Obviously, if follows that…” Avoid red flags like “software is the most important part of a computer system” Avoid too many low level technical details

Conclusions A Generic Thesis Skeleton Abstract I. Introduction II. Background Information(optional) III. Review of the State of the Art IV. Research Question or Problem Statement V. Describing How You Solved the Problem or Answered the Question VI. Conclusions References

References John W. Chinneck’s “How to Organize your Thesis” Alan Snyder's "How to Get Your Paper Accepted at OOPSLA" paper, from OOPSLA'91 Ralph Johnson's "How to Get a Paper Accepted at OOPSLA" panel transcript, from OOPSLA'93