1. MPATE-GE 2626: Thesis in Music Technology
Writing the Abstract and the Introduction

2. Assignment reminder Status report 1 due today, February 20
Make sure you this to your advisor and cc me in addition to submitting on NYU Classes
Please fill in your thesis information on the class spreadsheet if you haven’t done so already:

3. State of your thesis What is the state of your thesis?
How much of the non-writing work has been completed?
What portion of the writing has been completed?
What semester/year did you successfully complete a proposal?
How much have you updated since your proposal?

4. Activity I: Read sample abstracts
Questions to ask yourself
Is the abstract clearly written?
Do you get an adequate sense for what the author did or are important details missing?
Is the work placed in a context appropriately?
Are the results reported or is a process just described?

5. How to write an abstract
Should be concise (no more than 300 words)
Brief background information
This part should be the shortest section of the abstract
Should very briefly outline what is already known about your topic area
Should very briefly outline what the thesis is intended to examine or seeks to present
Methods
Should contain enough information to enable the reader to understand what was done, and how
Results
What were the results? Could be experimental results (evaluation) and/or the results of building or implementing something
Conclusions – may contain the following elements:
The most important take-home message of the thesis
The additional findings of importance
The perspective

6. Introduction: Structure
New knowledge springs from the current conversation: the introduction presents an overview of that conversation and introduces the proposed research in that context
Start with a general perspective on your topic area and then narrow to your specific purpose/goal
Provide us with the justification for your proposed research: what is unique or novel? (this is expanded/supported in detail on later through the literature review)
Explain briefly how you will address the purposed research: “In order to address this problem, …”. (this is expanded in the method section)

7. Activity II: Read sample introductions
Questions to ask yourself:
Do you get a clear idea of how the context/background informs the thesis topic?
Is the justification for the thesis present or not present?
Is it clear after reading the introduction that you have a good overview of the work the author will present? (approach, goals, method)

8. Opening paragraphs assignment
Due next week, February 27
Write up a draft of the opening paragraphs for your introduction
Include the big picture context for your thesis
Briefly summarize
What problem are you addressing?
Why is this interesting/important to study?
What are you contributing?
This can be a revision of text from your proposal