how to write a thesis - a personal experience
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How to Write a Thesis - A Personal Experience. Hugo do Nascimento * School of Information Technologies The University of Sydney [email protected] * Supported by CAPES and UFG-Brazil. Summary. The Thesis Doing Research Preparation for Writing the Thesis The Writing Process - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
How to Write a Thesis- A Personal Experience
Hugo do Nascimento*
School of Information Technologies
The University of Sydney
*Supported by CAPES and UFG-Brazil
Summary
• The Thesis
• Doing Research
• Preparation for Writing the Thesis
• The Writing Process
• Tools and Useful Links
The Thesis
User Hints for Optimization Processes
Combinatorial Optimization
Human-Computer Interaction
Information Visualization
The Thesis
User Hints for Optimization Processes
The Thesis
• ContentsAcknowledgementAbstract1. Introduction2. Background3. The User Hints Framework4. User Hints for Graph Clustering5. User Hints for Directed Graph Drawing6. A Focus and Constraint-Based Genetic Algorithm7. User Hints for Map Labeling8. General Remarks9. ConclusionAppendix A: Optimization TableAppendix B: Included CD-ROM
9, 2806
34, 11481
10, 3147
16, 4699
29, 9095
1, 292
2 pages, 572 words
55, 11214
36, 10909
20, 7307
4, 1179
9, 1483
17, 2356
Approximate number of
words counted by WinEdt
The Thesis
• Statistics• 9 chapters + 2 appendices + 1 ack + 1 abs
– 40 subsections
• 85 pictures• 21 tables• 205 references• 63099-66620 words in the printed version (not
including words in pictures and tables)• 274 pages• Writing period: Feb-June
Doing Research(A Process)
Have a proposal
Study the bibliography
Has it been done?
yes
Is it feasible?
no
Revise the proposal
Do more experiments
Are the results sufficient?
noyes endyesDo
“experiments”
no
Write a paper, Give a
talk
Preparation for Writingthe Thesis
• Organize your references– For the file name of every digital paper that you
get use the title, authors’ surname, and the year of publication.
– Also get the bibtex or normal reference of the paper and save it in a file.
– Organize all printed papers in folders.
An Empirical Study of Constraint Usage in Graphical Applications_Zanden-Venckus_1996.pdf
Preparation for Writingthe Thesis
• Develop writing skills:– Read other thesis– Take courses on time management and on
scientific writing (The University of Sydney runs classes on these subjects in the Education Building).
Preparation for Writingthe Thesis
• Visualize the thesis– A content page written at the beginning of the
research helps to visualize the thesis. In general, the content page is based on the research methodology.
– Revise the content page as the research progresses.
When you are able to visualize the whole thesis (although there may be some “gaps” to close), then you are ready to write it.
The Writing Process
1. Define a schedule with dates for writing every chapter of the thesis (This is important since it will push you to work continuously. It will also allow you to check whether more time is needed to complete the writing).
2. Create (empty) pages for every chapter, section and subsection of the thesis.
3. Insert the papers and slides that you wrote into the thesis.
4. Start by writing your most recent work.
The Writing Process
5. Every time that you have a good idea for a section of the thesis that you are not working on at the moment, then write something quick about it in the appropriate page.
6. If you are tired of writing a particular section, take a short break by writing easier and funnier sections such as the acknowledgement, the dedication page, etc. If you a really tired, then have a rest! But be sure that you write a lot every day!
7. Leave the conclusion, the abstract, and the appendices to the end of the writing (some people also suggest postponing the writing of the introduction; any way, you will have to revise the introduction later).
The Writing Process
8. Leave time for revising the thesis. Ask at least 2 people to revise it. Do your own review afterwards.
9. Print and bind the final version of thesis. This can take up to two days if a hardcover binding is demanded.
10. Take the thesis to the Faculty of Science, with a letter of your supervisor saying that you have completed everything and that the thesis is ready to be evaluated. You will have to sign some forms there.
Backup the thesis regularly!
Tools and Useful Links
• Software– MiKTEX (http://www.miktex.org/) - LaTeX for
Windows/DOS.– Winedt (http://www.winedt.com/) - text editor that works
with MiKTEX. It needs a license.– GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) - Image manipulator
software.– Microsoft Word – used for writing some papers and for
creating diagrams.– Adobe Acrobat – used for converting diagrams in Word to
PDF. Adobe Acrobat requires a license. There is a educational version for students that is cheaper.
Tools and Useful Links
• Documents– Oetiker, “The not so short introduction to LaTeX”, 2001. (
http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/lshort/)– Technical writing and research ethics
(http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~jz/writing.html)– Advice on Research and Writing (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/how-to.html)– Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students
(http://filebox.vt.edu/eng/mech/writing/)
• Links– TOPPS BibTeX Templates (http://www.diku.dk/topps/Registration/Registration-
Templates.html)– Accents in LaTeX (http://www.giss.nasa.gov/latex/ltx-401.html)– A good page about Latex (http://b2.cs.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Systems/latex.html)
Books on How to Write a Thesis
• Gordon B.Davis, Clyde A. Parker. "Writing the Doctoral Dissertation: A Systematic Approach", Barron's Educational Series, 1997.
• Harry Teitelbaum. “How to Write a Thesis”, Prentice Hall & IBD, 1998.
• Estelle M. Phillips, Derek S. Pugh. “How to Get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors”, Open University Press, 2000.
• Joe Wolfe. “How to Write a PhD Thesis”, UNSW (http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html)