Advanced Research Methodology How to Organize your thesis? & Structure of a Research Paper by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Introduction This lecture will describe how to organize the written thesis which is the central element of your graduate degree. Prior to that you have to understand what a graduate level research is all about. You expect to write a research paper of PhD level when you are enrolled in a Masters Degree? In other words this lecture will be helpful for you for your final thesis by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

What Graduate research is all about The distinguished mark of graduate research is an original contribution to knowledge. The thesis is a formal format whose sole purpose is to prove that you have made an original contribution to knowledge. Failure to prove that you have made a contribution generally leads you to failure. Two important things that your thesis must show; You have identified a worthwhile problem or question that has not previously answered You have solved the problem or answered the question. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

What Graduate thesis is all about Because the purpose of a graduate thesis is to prove that you have made an original and useful contribution to knowledge, the examiners read your thesis to find the answers of the following questions; What is the students research question? Is it a good question? Has it been answered before? Is it a useful question to work on Did the student convince me that the question was adequately answered? Has the student made an adequate contribution to the knowledge? by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Consequences if you failed to answer the asked questions If your thesis does not provide the answers you will likely to face the major revisions. In this very university you have to appear for a proposal defense so that you may not face the stage where you have done all your hard work and you are left with no time. Always remember that a thesis is a formal document. Each and every item must be in the appropriate place, and the repetition of material in different places should be eliminated. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Masters vs. PhD thesis There are different expectations for masters thesis and doctoral thesis. The difference is not in format but in the significance and level of discovery. A doctoral thesis necessarily requires a more difficult problem to be solved, and consequently more substantial contributions. Your masters degree act as a bridge between undergraduate and PhD degree. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Tips Always keep the readers background in mind. Who is your audience? How much can you reasonably expect them to know about the subject before picking up thesis? Usually they are pretty knowledgeable about the general problem but remember you are the one who knows more because they might have not been directly involved. Don’t make readers to understand you with difficulty. Try to be clear in words. You must know the art of reading and writing to have an impactful dissertation. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Structure of a research paper Title List of Authors and their contact details Abstract Introduction Related work Outline of the rest of the paper Body of the paper Summary and future work Acknowledgements List of references by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Title As short as possible but without abbreviations unless they are commonly understood. As specific as necessary and as general as possible for example “The complexity of theorem proving procedures.” Include key phrases which are likely to be used in a search on the topic of the paper for example ‘Logic’, ‘calculus’, ‘decision procedure’ In conclusive title should be self explanatory, short and precise. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Author An author of a paper is an individual who; Made a significant intellectual contribution to the work described in the paper Made a contribution to drafting, reviewing, revising the paper for its intellectual contribution. Approved the final version of the paper including references. You must not include any author if he/ she has not made any contribution. It is against ethical grounds. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Abstract Typically not more than 150 to 200 words Should aim to motivate people to read the paper Highlight the problem and principal results The abstract will be included in the literature databases. Make sure that key phrases which might be used in searches are included Keep references to a minimum. Keep equations and other mathematical expressions to minimum. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Introduction State the general area of interest Introduce the problem Outline the approach taken to solve the problem Outline the solution or principal results (state why they are important or interesting) Don’t repeat the abstract Avoid conflicting statements by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Related work Related work is previously work by the same or other authors which addresses the same or closely related problems. Section on related work gives credit to such work and establishes the originality of the current work. Make sure that all work is cited and correctly described. Failure to give credit can result in a bad evaluation and kill your papers. It can be either part of your introduction section or can be placed at the end of the body of the paper. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Outline of the paper Typically at the end of the introduction section Describes the contents of the body of the paper by section. Example the remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we introduce…….. Section 3 describes……… section 4 explains the methodology…… finally we describe the future work in section 5. note that Section is capitalized. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Body of the paper Depends strongly on the subject area and the topic of the paper. Typically structure of a computer science paper on theoretical research: Basic definitions. Description of a new algorithm, Sequence of theorems accompanied by proof or sketches, Applications/ consequences of the results Typically structure of a computer science paper on applied research: architecture of a new system, description and finally evaluation. Combinations of the two are possible and typical. Papers on action research, case studies, surveys, experiments are also common and have their own structure. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Conclusion and/ or future work Summarizes the contribution of the paper Describes the implications and/ or applications of the contributions made by the paper. Outlines the future directions of the research. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Acknowledgements Acknowledges external funding sources Thanks non authors that made a significant contributions Colleagues or fellow researchers with which the authors had discussions related to the topic of the paper. Anonymous referees provided they have given exceptional level of feedback or important insights. Can any one tell me what is the difference between ‘OR’ & ‘AND’ from CS/ IT perspective. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK

Hints Top down Design: start with an outline, than fill in the details. Inside out writing: fill in the body first than write introduction, related work, conclusion; at the end write the abstract. Diagrams/ tables: Make them all readable and understandable. Factuality: make sure that whatever you write in the paper is factual correct. Interpretability: for each sentence check whether it could be misread, if yes try to correct it. Optimization: shorten Readability: does all parts are interconnected. by Mr. Bilal Ahmad, Lahore Leads University PK