Dissertation Writing: Practical and Psychological Radhika Nagpal March, 2009

Dissertation Writing Practical How to Think about the Thesis How to Structure the Thesis How to Plan the Thesis Psychological What it feels like Why is it so hard? What you can do about it

Dissertation Writing Practical How to Think about the Thesis How to Structure the Thesis How to Plan the Thesis Practical How to Think about the Thesis How to Structure the Thesis How to Plan the Thesis Psychological What it feels like Why is it so hard? What you can do about it

How to think about the Thesis Thesis –What defensible claim are you making? Motive –Why study this problem, what lacks in state-of-the art? Evidence –The chain of arguments that defends your claim –(some may be constructive) Two examples –Po-Ling Kuo (bioeng), Werfel (comp sci) Reading: Elements of the Academic Essay

How to Structure the Thesis Introduction: –It’s the hardest part to write, and you need to write it first!! (can change the whole tone of thesis) Table of Contents –Titles should tell a story Chapters –Chain of evidence (don’t forget the links!) –Don’t write them first, until you are happy with intro/toc Structure: One nice structure is like a “mini-dissertation”: motive, thesis, evidences, illustrative example, related work, thesis outline. Bad style: “I did X, I did Y, I did Z,.....” Structure: One nice structure is like a “mini-dissertation”: motive, thesis, evidences, illustrative example, related work, thesis outline. Bad style: “I did X, I did Y, I did Z,.....”

Common Misconceptions I’ll write the introduction last It’ll be easy to write; I just slap my papers together I can give everyone the draft 1 month before the date. (And it’ll take me just 1 month to write) Everything I did in 5 years must go into my thesis Nobody will ever read the thesis

How to Plan the Thesis Thesis Defense Date - 1 month: –Complete draft to all committee members; good idea to meet with them individually - 1 month: –Complete draft to advisor - 1 month: –Incomplete draft to advisor (complete introduction, most of other chapters) - 1 month: –First version introduction and table of contents to advisor - 1 month: –Start writing the intro and table-of-contents Take-home Message: The deadlines are not just for you, but also for your advisor/committee

Dissertation Writing Practical How to Think about the Thesis How to Structure the Thesis How to Plan the Thesis Psychological What it feels like Why is it so hard? What you can do about it Psychological What it feels like Why is it so hard? What you can do about it

Dissertation Writing: Psychology What it feels like Why is it so hard? What can you do about it? Reading: –Ivan Sutherland’s Essay on “Technology and Courage” (Turing Award Winner, father of computer graphics and object-oriented languages) –esp. pages 3, 13, and 19