How to write a thesis?¶
The pinnacle of your PhD is the completion of your thesis where you document the main takeaway from your research. A thesis contains the three core themes of your PhD, a background and related work, an introduction and a conclusion. Additional chapters are added if required. The two main thesis formats are 1) thesis by publication and 2) a traditional thesis. Neither is considered better than the other although I’d argue that if you plan to be an academic writing a traditional thesis is good practice for the writing you will be doing in the future. I’ll provide guidelines for getting started with either thesis.
What is included in your thesis¶
Thesis writing starts when the core research is nearly completed. Unlike a conference paper or journal there is no page limit on a thesis although aim to write between 50,000 and 100,000 words. This limit is a rough guide and includes the appendix. Your thesis contains all your work in a single volume where you argue your thesis. Refer to the notes that you have taken throughout your research and integrate relevant notes into the appropriate chapters.
How to get started¶
Fig. 5 Chapter order for getting started with your thesis¶
Fig. 5 shows one approach for getting started with a thesis. The order I’ve highlighted here and the number of chapters are a guide only. Your own thesis will have additional chapters as you and your panel work together on how to best present your research. Use this guide as a way of getting started only rather than a prescriptive tool.
Start with the extended abstract to identify missing sections¶
Start by assessing if you have completed enough research to write a thesis by writing the extended abstract. Provided you can write the extended abstract without any missing sections even, if the work has not all been completed, then you are ready to start writing up your thesis. Also consider creating a skeleton outline of the whole thesis to get a feel for the chapters that need to be written.
Scope the thesis with an introduction and conclusion¶
The first two sections you should write together are the introduction and conclusion. As you start to write the introduction you will realise there is research that is out of scope, this goes in your conclusion. Essentially as you write these two chapters you will define the scope of your research. As you write out the rest of your thesis, stick to the scope defined in the introduction and conclusion. There is a tendency to want to continuously polish your work. Where possible, resist this urge. Aim to do as much research as required to get your PhD and then move on with your life. Should you choose to be an academic there will be plenty of time to publish and polish aspects of your thesis.
Dive into the core thesis with topic chapters¶
Topic chapters are where you make the core arguments, describe your methodology, and present your research findings. Begin by writing the introduction and conclusion of each topic chapter. Think of the topic chapters as three journal articles of your research. Each chapter logically follows on from the previous one as you build your story. See this article for more details on how to write a topic chapter. You can include text of published papers in the thesis chapters although rework each section so that the story is consistent with your thesis.
Get started early and seek frequent feedback¶
Writing a thesis is a large amount of work and starting early can make the mountain seem like a molehill. As you finish each section or chapter, seek feedback from your supervisors. The more frequent the feedback the quicker you can move on to the next stage of your life! If you have not read a thesis before, ask your supervisor for a couple of examples to give you ideas of how to present your thesis. Remember that you will have multiple iterations and reviews before the final version is produced so seek feedback frequently. I’d also recommend saving non-writing tasks to work on as you progress with your thesis so when you have days where you don’t feel like writing you can still produce outcomes. I’ll conclude with one final piece of advice, a PhD is rarely finished rather it is just wrapped up.