10 Tips For Writing The Thesis

The writing of the thesis can become an uphill job and to help you in such important work we present these 10 tips to facilitate its preparation. First, we must bear in mind that a thesis is the definitive verification of the knowledge acquired during our studies. The purpose is to show the creativity, originality and methodological training of the thesis. 

In view of the above, we present the following tips that will help you start the process of conducting the thesis.

1- Find out about the type of jobs accepted at your university or institute: this will allow you to analyze the type of research that best suits your interests and possibilities. Keep in mind that the types of research are the following:

Field research: a topic or problem is studied from the collection and analysis of direct data of reality. In these cases it is necessary to use the statistical study, it is not necessary to be an expert in the subject, but you must handle certain notions and criteria for this type of work.

Documentary research is the study of a problem from the analysis of data and theories previously published in other works. In this type of research, the author uses the sources of queries to postulate his own ideas and conclusions.

Feasible project: proposal of a model that could be the solution to a certain problem. This type of projects serve to elaborate proposals of social or institutional impact.

Special project: they are works of creation of solutions of cultural interest, examples: educational projects, software, technologies, projects of artistic and literary creation.

2- Evaluate your resources: What do I need to do my research? Where and how can I collect the data I need? How long will it take me to collect that data and how much time do I need to analyze it? Do I need a collaborating team or can I do it? the investigation alone, what costs should I contemplate? All those questions will help you evaluate the resources you have and the ones you need. This is of great influence in choosing a research topic.

3- Choose a theme and delimit it: to choose the theme you must first observe a research problem, that is, a situation that must be studied in order to describe it, explain it and, if necessary, give it a solution. A very common error when choosing the topic is the lack of delimitation, the more specific the topic, the better the limits and scope of the thesis will be established.

An unspecified subject brings as consequence inconsistency or too much breadth in the investigation, which would prolong indefinitely the realization of the thesis. If as a matter of deciding to study the effects of chemical fertilizers on plants and the consequences for human consumption, at first sight, it might seem an appropriate topic, however the lack of specificity would cause the following problems: the number, type and varieties of plants, also the type of fertilizers. The investigation should cover all edible plants and all chemical fertilizers. The appropriate thing, then, would be to establish the theme as follows: The effects of “X” chemical fertilizer on plants “X” and its consequences for humans.

4- Find a tutor and consult with him about your topic: a tutor is the most suitable person to inform you about the validity or relevance of your topic, as an expert in the field you can better guide your thesis. Sometimes, a tutor can make us desist from a certain line of research and that is why it is very important, before starting, to corroborate with an expert if our object of study has value or not.

5- Start in bibliographic arching: look for sources of consultation for your research and prepare to read large amounts of information. It is necessary to read a lot and before writing the thesis, even read two or three times the material. The first reading will help you decide which sources are really relevant. Do not discard any material without reading it well, you can find valuable data in less thoughtful places.

6- Make a second reading of your sources: this reading should be careful to fully understand the theories or data that underlie your research. Make connections between your sources and your own opinions. Establish differences and opposing points of view, this will help you better defend your value judgments.

7-  Underline and make notes of your readings: perform analysis of the relevant pieces of information for your work, mark the text that you think you can quote and keep a record of your references. Thus, you will not have to return several times over the same source and you can easily remember what you have read.

8- Establish a schedule for each of the methodological steps of your research: this will serve to keep track of the time you spend on each of the steps and processes of your work and a record of the objectives achieved.

9- Prepares a preliminary draft: in most cases, this is an essential requirement to then proceed with the thesis. A good blueprint is an excellent guide, you will have half the way traveled and your goals clear. Many of the points of the draft are also handled in the thesis, but with a deeper treatment. If you already know the methodology, you will know the aspects and criteria that you must develop in this point.

10- Be original and creative: a good research can lead you to propose valuable knowledge that will serve for future work. Do not copy the material of others, plagiarism is not ethical and harms the advance of intellectual knowledge