Wednesday’s agenda: September 6  Discuss your summary/critique of the Michaelson chapter on the Incremental Method.  Discuss structure of theses and dissertations  Look at Graduate School templates.  Discuss organizing for the reader.  If you haven’t already, hand in your project outline and descriptive paragraph.

Theses and Dissertations Structure : How to jam in all that information

Organization of Theses Standard Structure  Abstract  Introduction  Literature Review –sometimes, part of Introduction  Methods  Results and Discussion  Conclusions

Organization of Theses Standard Structure  Abstract  Introduction  Literature Review  Methods  Results and Discussion  Conclusions Variations  Literature Review is part of Introduction  Two Methodology chapters  Two Results chapters

Introduction  Be brief – 3 pages for thesis  Construct a funnel of information, from overview of problem in the larger world to specific aspect of problem your work addresses.

Introduction  Define specific problem or phenomenon  Present motivation for work  Give precise statement of objectives  Provide background of previous work –Chief contributions of others  Outline scope and limitations of work –Parameters, assumptions, and methodology  Preview content (and structure) of paper –Principal results and conclusions – check with advisor

Literature Review Three purposes 1.Justifies research project as worthwhile because filling a gap in knowledge. 2.Proves you understand context of your work. 3.Introducers newcomers to the field and the problem.

Literature Review  Include all work truly relevant to yours.  Demonstrate continuity. – Show gaps.  Sometimes called Project Background  In a thesis, sometimes included as subsection of Introduction. The literature review is the conceptual justification for your work.

Methods  Give full details of experimental work or model development. –Reader must be able to reproduce results based on description of experimental design or model. –You may reference standard procedures if they exist already in published form.  Describe materials, if applicable  Give exact technical specs and quantities.

Methods (Con.)  Assume audience knows about as much as you do. –Not for industry reports  Tell what you did, how and why, but not necessarily in chronological order.  Write mostly in past tense.

Experimental Methods/ Model Development (may be 2 sections)  Define and label subsections clearly  important to set up introduction for each chapter – give overview of approach, don’t just launch into details.  Don’t explain techniques you later found to be flawed.  Only describe an apparatus if it is not standard or commercially available.

Results and Discussion  Prepare figures first.  Present principles, generalizations and relationships shown by results.  Point out any exceptions or any lack of correlation. –If results have more than one possible interpretation, state them all and give judgment about which is right.

Results and Discussion  Present results in past tense.  Write to connect figures and tables.  Present representative data (not necessarily everything). –Don’t reproduce in the text all data from the graphics – select out main points.

Discussion (con.)  Compare your interpretations and data with previous work. –Justify your interpretations.  Discuss practical applications as well as theory.

Conclusions  Begin with brief synopsis of objectives and research design.  Skim off the “cream” of your findings – state relevance for engineering work. –Add no new information  Present conclusions in present tense.  Point out directions for future work.

Appendices  Include raw data, calculations, etc. that are not critical for understanding and would interrupt flow.  Give every appendix a letter and title – list that way in Table of Contents.  Refer to every appendix in the text.

Departmental Reports  Format and length vary according to specific program/dept.  Generally, are supposed to be equivalent in work to one demanding 3-hour class.  Usually do not include original research.  TOC often looks like a MS thesis, but Results are results of a “study” or “investigation” or “analysis.”

For Wednesday, September 6  Summarize Herbert Michaelson’s short chapter (5) on the Incremental Method. –Summarize contents –Critique the method – add your own judgment  Find and look over the templates and guidelines for theses and dissertations available on the Office of Graduate Studies web site.