#thesis writing tips

[myassignmentservicesca]

Discover the proven 10-step process to completing your Ph.D. thesis in just 6 months. This comprehensive guide provides expert tips and practical advice for writing, editing, and defending your thesis successfully. Take the first step by taking thesis writing help from professionals towards achieving your Ph.D. goals today

[salvadorbonaparte]

How to set up a research journal

This is just one way you can set up a research journal but it's helping me tremendously so maybe it also works for you. My set-up is partially inspired by this video by Answer in Progress and I suggest you check out their curiosity journal.

Preparation

First you need a notebook. The trick is to find a notebook that you're not afraid to "ruin". We all want a really neat, aesthetic research journal, but the reality looks more like hasty scribbles, but that's okay, that's where the research breakthroughs happen.

I personally bought a cheap lined notebook from Søstrene Grene that I thought looked cute and put a sticker on it. That way I feel good about using it but I also don't mind when my handwriting gets messy because it was only like 3€.

You should also stock up on pens you like writing with. Different colour highlighters and post-its are also a good idea but not a must. Keep it cheap but comfortable.

Title Page

Here you should put down all the really important information: year, title, deadlines, word count, supervisors. Maybe add an inspirational quote to spice it up but keep it simple and relevant.

Key

This should either be your next or your last page. I personally use the last pages of my journal so I can add thing and find it easier. Your key is there to list abbreviations and symbols.

For example, I have different symbols for statistics, dates, new terminology, questions, breakthroughs, important notes and abbreviations for the most important terms in my field. It's shorter to write T9N than Translation.

The trick here is to have enough abbreviations and symbols to save time and effort but not so many that you constantly have to look back and forth between your page and key. They should be memorable and not easy to confuse.

Topic Mind map

If you hate mind maps you can skip this of course or use a different method but what helped me is to visualise all the topics that connect to my research project in a mind map. I then colour-coded the main groups of topics with my highlighters. It helps me to keep an overview on how many topics I need to do research on.

Proposal

If you're writing a thesis/dissertation it can be helpful to have a page set aside for your proposal and take some bullet point notes on methodology, chapter structure, research context, aims and objectives and think of some titles. You can also do this for your lit review and a list of works to include.

Hypothesis and Question Pages

I set aside four pages for this but you can adjust this to your needs. The first page is my hypothesis. It doesn't have to be fully formed yet, it can just be bullet points with five question marks. You can always revise and update it but it is important to keep an eye on what you're actually trying to find out.

The next idea is basically just stolen from Answer in Progress: a section for big questions, medium questions and little questions. These aren't necessarily hypotheses you aim to answer but questions you have about your topic that might be good to look into (maybe they lead somewhere, maybe they don't).

Research Notes

Now comes the big, fun part. Research notes are allowed to be a little messy but you should have some sort of system so you can actually find what you're looking for afterwards. I'm currently just looking at books and articles so that's what my system is based on. You can totally adjust this to include other forms of research.

What I do is that I put down and underline the author and title of my source. Underneath that I use my highlighters and mark the topic of the paper based on how I colour-coded them in my mind map. You might have to do this after you've finished reading. For example, if a text talks about censorship and dubbing in Germany, three of my topics, I will draw three lines in light blue, dark blue and red, the colours I chose for those topics. This way you can easily browse your notes and see which pages are talking about which topics.

When it comes to the actual research notes, I include the page number on the left and then take bullet point notes on whatever is relevant. These are often abbreviated and paraphrased but if something is especially important I will write down a full quote.

As mentioned earlier, I have a key of symbols I use so I can simply put down a '!' in order to differentiate a research breakthrough from a normal note. You can insert your own thoughts much more easily when you know you'll be able to tell them apart later on. At the end of each article, book or even chapter I write down my main takeaway.

Other Notes

This is your research journal and you can do with it what you want. I also added lists of films that might be relevant for my research, a list of databases and publishers to check for papers and tips on research strategy.

If you're working with interviews or surveys you could write down your questions. If you're nervous about your research you could include a list of reasons why your research project is important or why you're doing it. You can include a to-do list or a calendar to track meetings with supervisors. Anything that helps you with your research.

[togansweep]

I would literally pay someone to write a conclusion to this fucking essay for me

[lemosch]

Opened my word doc to start writing my thesis. Have been staring at the white page for 15 minutes.

[academicexperthelp]

[saturniannnn]

MA Thesis Writing tips??

I was wondering if anyone has any tips, tricks, resources, books on writing a thesis, or I deas for planning/organizing etc. for writing an MA thesis? I have pretty much all of my research done, I just need to sit down and write the damn thing, but I’m a bit intimidated and overwhelmed with the process. I’ve looked online for some guidelines and tips, but I’m not having much luck with finding specific and details tips and guidelines for the writing process.

What worked for you all and what was the most helpful advice or trick for the writing process?

Thank you in advance!!

[a-curious-studyblr]

[bookbutterfly1999]

Insights from just slightly beginning to read papers for my thesis:

1. I didn’t realise how fun it was to read academic papers which are concise and well-written until this one paper I started that my PI recommended… sheesh!! Quality really makes a difference! Tbh loving science has been really hard but after reading a blog of a fellow science enthusiast about basics in their field, I realised how much I love my science too, even if I’m not working on exactly where I wanna be at, at the moment. But knowing that this is a necessary step in that direction has been helpful.

2. Lofi hip hop girl’s our best friend- I love love music, especially the fast beats kind, but right now I need head empty, but no silence, mindspace, and lofi girl has been extremely helpful for them vibes. Additionally, it dispels the weird sound of silence that isn’t very helpful for trying to focus, and if you are spooked by lack of sound like me then this really does help!

3. The pretentious setup of a notion notes tab on my laptop, an open physical notebook with 4 different coloured pens, and the tab with Goodnotes for on the paper highlighting is really helpful tbh. I thought the more number of shtuff would be confusing but it surprisingly made my job of collecting information quite easy for me personally.

4. Them disagreements with close people- channelise the anger and frustration of all that into this moment… the now is the only thing that matters. There’s no point in fretting. Let the thoughts leave and keep forging on dearies.

5. Get yourself some nice snack for before or during the session, I made a quick masala corn and had cut up a whole papaya today, so I had had some nice snacks for today’s session.

6. Stay hydrated, begin the session with a full bottle!

[potatotalksculture]

Potato Tweet: If you’re writing a paper or a thesis about some specific person, try looking for some memoir or journals they might have written. It can be a deal breaker for trying to understand all the secondary works written about them.

[cirkeglacialriver]

Great idea: ao3ify writing things from college

When my thesis supervisor said that we will aim for 25-30 pages I had absolutely no idea what that means and it was so debilitatingly stressful

But yesterday we talked and. That's 12k words. What is 12 000 words? It's not a small amount but if a fic has 12k words I don't feel bad with starting it just before going to sleep. I can do 12k words! Probably

But more importantly: the font. I hate hate hate Times New Roman so I always write in a different one before changing but either way I can never focus and I even tried the Comic Sans trick and it's not working

But you know what does work?

AO3 FONT!!

Y'all I put Verdana font in and suddenly the shit I wrote got 80% more intresting, I'm pavloving myself here and it works

[applicationsrx]

Every essay has a thesis, even the ones we write about ourselves. Without a thesis, your essay is aimless; with one, your point has never been stronger.

Read more at: https://applicationsrx.wordpress.com/2024/06/30/how-to-write-a-thesis/

[arda-conference-publications]

Understanding Research Proposals: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

Research proposals are important documents in the academic and scientific community, which provide an outline of a research project. Whether you are a student starting out on a thesis or a seasoned researcher seeking funding, you must be familiar with all the ins and outs of drafting a research proposal. Let us explore what a research proposal is and its main components.

What is a Research Proposal?

In essence, a research proposal is a comprehensive plan that specifies the objectives, methodology, and importance of a given research. It provides an overview that helps researchers navigate their study properly. Treat it as a persuasive essay, which makes others believe in the value and feasibility of your research goal.

Fundamental Elements of a Research Proposal

1. Title: The title should be short but comprehensive, giving a clue about the research topic.

2. Abstract: This overview focuses on the main points of the research, such as its purpose, methodology, and possible results. It provides readers with a flavor of what the proposal will cover.

3. Introduction: The purpose of the introduction is to set the scene for the research by presenting relevant background information, stating the research problem or question, and explaining the importance of the study.

4. Literature Review: This section reviews current literature concerning the proposed study, which demonstrates an understanding of the current knowledge regarding the field. It supports the idea that the research is important and gives the theoretical basis for the study.

5. Research Objectives or Questions: Research objectives or research questions are well-defined and show what the study is interested in to accomplish or to investigate. These should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

6. Methodology: The methodology specifies the approach and the techniques that will be used to carry out the study. This involves issues like research design, data collection instruments, sampling methods, and data analysis procedures.

7. Expected Outcomes: This section should include the expected results and findings of the proposed research. It allows stakeholders to appreciate the possible impacts of the project on the field.

8. Timeline: A timeline or schedule is a breakdown of the different stages of the research project that shows when each task will be finished. This guarantees that the project is completed on time.

9. Budget: The budget section is important when attempting to get research proposals funded. It outlines the projected costs related to conducting the research, including for instance, expenditures on equipment, materials, personnel and travel.

10. References: References that support the proposal have to be included on the list. It is also an opportunity for readers to check the sources’ reliability and get an assurance that the information is reliable. Hence, it opens a window for more in-depth studies of the matter.

Conclusion

In summary, a research proposal is the blueprint or plan of the proposed research project. By incorporating fundamental elements like the title, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, objectives, expected outcomes, timeline, budget, and references, the researchers can properly communicate their research plans and secure endorsement from peers, funding agencies, and other stakeholders. The ability to articulate a solid research proposal is key to academic success and many other endeavors.

[arda-conference]

Manuscript Submission Strategies: Maximizing Your Chances of Acceptance

Is your manuscript submission getting rejected every time? if yes, then we have the amazing tips for you to maximize the submission of manuscript.

You write a manuscript with great expectations for its acceptance. We all do our best to make sure our paper is accepted in the desired journal, and you get recognition for your work. 

With this in mind, we have listed below some tried-and-tested manuscript submission strategies. Following these strategies can maximize your chances of acceptance. So, keep reading on to know tips for writing a manuscript.

Read here:-

[lesbiancalkestis]

They really are the magic school bus of the Star Trek universe hey

oh dang, it's gonna take them even longer to get home in that

[Image description a news screenshot reading "Physicists make tiny model of Star Trek's USS Voyager that's smaller than a human hair"]

[kinocomix]

untitled project devlog 7: Chocolat

Chocolat is a film released in 2000 based on the novel by the same name. I’m going somewhere with this, trust me.

It tells the story of a talented chocolate maker called Vianne Rocher who follows the wind a.k.a. does not have a stable residence. One of the underlying themes in chocolat is her inability to reconcile with the idea of having a stable life, which shows up in part in the fact that her daughter has an imaginary friend that goes away at the end of the movie when they decide to stay in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. In the book it’s mentioned that she’s running from a mysterious force that took the life of her mother, which is why she instead chooses to follow the wind and not settle down. Though this concept is not brought up in the movie, I choose to interpret her settling down as this force turning out to be an internalized fear that she was able to move past thanks to the kindness of the people around her.

I bring this up for a specific reason: in the movie Vianne does this thing where she tells you what your favorite type of chocolate is based on what you see in this spinning plate. She’s set up as this magic woman and this is subverted when her magic is unable to guess the favorite chocolate of Johnny Depp who plays this boat traveling… salesman?  homeless person? The movie just calls him a gypsy river rat which I’ve been told is a slur, so don’t be mad at me. I’m not sure what he is, the movie never gave enough of a shit to really explain that. but chocolate, right? She can’t guess his favorite chocolate, so that's a recurring thing in the story where there’s this magic that doesn’t seem to apply to this one dude, and that makes it even more cool, mysterious and magic. the forces that violate the established rules of real life are not systematized. That allows the author to fuck around and still have it mostly make sense within reason: the magic of Chocolat is treated like an equation only to the extent where it serves the story. So you have this magic where different people are assigned different sweet treats based on what they’re like. cool, we’re creating a magical connection between people and food.  This idea is the backbone of the story. It's different from the plot, because it's about closeted christian people learning to loosen up and a traumatized french lady settling down. It’s also different from the themes, because those are about coming of age, bigotry, love, etc.

It’s the story’s thesis statement from which the rest is extrapolated. Here's the best justification I can give you: the 1999 movie Simply Irresistible. 

TLDR, a lady can cook her feelings into her food which is why she ends up being a great chef. It's food that makes you feel something. this movie has the exact same thesis statement:

creating a magical connection between people and food.

In Almost home (see, we’re getting there) the plot is two brothers get lost, mystery and existentialism ensues. The themes are everything from the idea of belonging, to fascism, to creation, to family, etc etc. the thesis statement is seeing beyond the big picture. I know it sounds like I love sniffing my own farts but bare with me for a second. In philosophy you’re taught to look at your work from far away. To remove yourself from the picture to try to see what is happening objectively. One of the things I tried to do with almost home is to say that some things go outside the big picture. certain ideas and concepts cannot be abstracted beyond a certain point, in almost home this was the idea of universal love that doesn’t care about sex or gender or money or politics or war or books or even one’s own body. An idea so solid and pure that even the fundamental forces of the world itself cannot touch it. Even removed from the big picture at the end of the story, the love survives. seeing beyond the now, some things will always be the same. 

Almost home is available to read on tapas https://kinocomix.carrd.co/

Now here’s my problem: for this project I have themes, a rough plot, ideas for designs but I have no clue what my thesis statement is. This is an issue because my thesis statement is my jumping off point for things. If I ever get lost or don’t know what to add in a particular part, I usually refer to my thesis statement and try to figure out what pairs well with it. 

………………………………………………………………….

okay. It's been an entire week since I wrote that last paragraph. Here's some news: in order to answer the problem I posed last week, I did some more research -we’ll get to that in a moment- and I’ve started a new job! I’m three days in and I can confidently say I think it’s a great job so far. I work at a board game cafe, among other things my job is to teach people how to play boardgames. I work the night shift four days a week which leaves the day as well as three days off to focus on art and life. I’m mentioning this because something I see often is fellow artists getting jobs and immediately slowing down with art or even stopping entirely. Obviously sometimes this is inevitable, life is if nothing else indifferent to comics and art made to celebrate it but, and I mentioned this while making my previous work, I don’t think I have it in me to stop. I can tell you for sure the people I love would not want me to and despite the uphill battle that it is, I find that it’s worth the fight.

In any case, I think a devlog is inevitably equally about me as it is about the work being done, so I thought that it wouldn’t hurt sharing that. But… thesis statements! 

so I read a book you may have likely heard of called “the tipping point” by Malcolm Gladwell and I’ll explain what that has has to do with metal, dogs, punk, classical music, mysteries and the thesis of my story but first:

mild spoilers ahead: starting this point in the devlog I’m going to have to be a bit more explicit in how I talk about the things in the story and we’ll be making concept art and characters not too long from now. So if that’s something that you don’t want, I have done my due diligence. But if you trust me to not spoil the whole thing -which i won’t- then I’d like it if you stuck around.

okay. ready? 

the tipping point, which I will shorten as TTP, focuses on how information propagates like a virus and outlines a framework that can help us predict and understand how these things happen. In summary, TTP says that for every piece of viral information you have three types of people, the information itself, and the context in which it’s presented.

for the people, you have group 1 called connectors who know a fuckton of people, group 2 called Mavens who look for cool/useful things that might be hidden, and salesmen who somehow convince you that you need this. Sometimes the roles filled by these people can overlap and be present in the same person.

the information itself needs to be memorable which is a vague way of saying it needs to retain your attention and direct it at something very specific. But what I think is the most interesting bit is that where you present the information is equally as important. Think of how some videos go viral on youtube or tiktok years after they’re posted. It's because it took them a while to find the niche subset of people who want to see that. had they been posted to a different place, or say shared somewhere different it would be possible that it would have been more or way less successful. think about it this way: the Neil banging out the tunes meme would not have been as successful had it been posted to facebook because facebook is designed differently and the image would have simply been buried under walls of selfies and random stolen videos. you’ll notice I’m presenting examples about the internet, because the reason why I read this book is because I wanted to have a slightly better understanding of how memes work, and here’s what I concluded:

memes are small bits of information we twist around as jokes, and more often than not they have very obscure origins. Think about how most memes start on 4chan or some random subreddit, or from some obscure tumblr user called analprolapse900. very frequently they have interesting stories to them that are ignored in the meme, but are still traceable to some extent. don’t get me wrong, a lot of memes are absurdist by nature, take Juan or skiddadle skiddoodle, or ugandan knuckles. those things are just there because it’s stupid to have there, and stupid is funny. They stick around because they’re memorable pieces of information that direct your attention at one very specific thing, eventually people start selling you the meme by making more of it, they’re posted on public message boards and shared by popular meme makers. Nowadays we also have algorithms that pick up that traction and boost it even more. The origin story of a meme is not too different from what TTP talks about.

I’m going to tell the story of a meme in its entirety. I’m going to describe the weird circumstances that can lead to the creation of a meme and the aftermath thereof. That's where the mystery comes in. It’s going to involve music, a band and a dog. It's gonna be a journey that talks about people first and foremost, and how by seeking out their happiness they change the world around them in the most complicated and unexpected way. so I present you with my thesis statement:

Following the rube goldberg dominoes.

next week, we’ll be doing a deep dive into some of the themes.

Devlog updates on tuesdays. see you on the 2nd of January!