1. A Manual for Ph.D Dissertation
Yong Zheng
DePaul University
May 17, 2011
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2. Outline
1. Introduce Dissertation
2. How to Write & Organize Dissertation
3. Dissertation Style
4. More About Dissertation
5. Good habits for Dissertation
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3. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the process and milestones:
Course Credits Ph.D. Degree
Directed Research Further Research
Ph.D. Exams Graduation
Proposal Defense Dissertation Defense
General Research Career
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4. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the purpose and significance:
To fulfill the promises in your dissertation proposals;
To clearly document an original, substantial, innovative
contributions to knowledge;
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5. 1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the differences among papers and Master thesis:
Paper Proposal MS Thesis/Dissertation
Length/Time Short/Depends Short/Depends Longer/Longer
Examiner Reviewer Proposal Thesis Committee
Committee
Audience Researchers, Experts Proposal Thesis Committee
Interested People Committee Generalist
Focuses Specific problem Academic Systematized problems
Purpose Quick publication; Recognition General and Thorough
Academic communication & Supports Cover specific & trivial aspects
Significance Targeted on specific A plan/direction MS Thesis: incremental improvement
Contribution smaller problems; for further Ph.D. Thesis: More difficult problems;
research Original, Substantial, Innovative
Contributions to prior knowledge
Hypothesis (Problem+Solution) + Convincing Evidence + Organized Literature 5
6. 2. How to Write Dissertation
1st Question: When to start writing Ph.D. thesis?
Start as early as possible, do not wait you are fully ready.
Write early, write often, writing is thinking!
Assumption: successfully defend the proposal;
At least start with an outline or skeleton;
Do not have to start from the 1st section to the end;
Start taking notes of problems, goals, brief descriptions,
experimental designs and expected outcomes;
The theories, algorithms or experiments, as well as the thesis
may require numerous revisions to cover weaknesses/errors;
Set deadline/due dates for each stages!! 6
7. 2. How to Write Dissertation
Common Skeleton (formal structure depends on Universities):
Abstract
Introduction
Background and Literature Review
Research Questions/Problem Statement
Solutions, Methodologies and Experiments
Evaluations and Discussions
Conclusions
References
Appendices
Others: Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, etc 7
8. 2. How to Write Dissertation
Principles of Thesis Organizations:
Take the readers’ views/focuses into account;
Logically Clear, Sound, Thorough, Reasonable;
Be honest and justified;
Highlight the novel ideas and main contributions;
For each section, ask yourself relevant questions to
validate whether your writings have meet the
requirements of each section
Basic Routine: Goal->Writing->Question
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9. 2. How to Write Dissertation
1). Abstract
General introduction of the background
Briefly introduce the problem you want to address
Summary of your solution and methodologies
State a bird view of your results/conclusions
Highlight your novel ideas and main contributions
Is it concise? Is it clear and easy to learn the background
and the targeted problem?
Did you clearly indicate your solutions, conclusions and
highlight your contributions?
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10. 2. How to Write Dissertation
2). Introductions
General introduction to what the thesis is about
Summarize the research questions/problems
Indicate why this is a worthwhile problem
Give an overview of your solution, experiment and main
results/conclusions
Can general readers easily understand the introduction?
Did you explain some terms to avoid readers’ confusion?
Did you briefly introduce your solutions and contributions?
Did you highlight the novelty?
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11. 2. How to Write Dissertation
3). Background and Literature Review
Give the background to let the readers know and
understand your topic & the knowledge of this area
The state of the art; related work, existing research
Organize these by logical and reasonable ideas, not
simply by time/author, etc
Is the background clear enough?
Is the literature review well organized?
Is the literature review thorough enough?
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12. 2. How to Write Dissertation
4). Research Questions/Problem Statements
Concise statement about the problems you want to address
Justified, the problem should be unanswered/not well solved
based on the previous literature review
Thoroughly discuss why it is worthwhile to solve this problem
Will readers be convinced to agree with your view on the
problems, about the originality, novelty and applicability?
Did you refer to some literature references to convince your
points?
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13. 2. How to Write Dissertation
5). Solutions, Methodologies and Experiments
Main purpose: to convince the examiners that you have answered
the question or solved the problem by your own solutions
It may require several sections to thoroughly explain the solutions,
experiments and evaluations; here I simply split them into two.
Show prior & current methodologies/work to your solution
If there were blind alleys or dead ends, do not include them unless
they can be used to serve that you have solved the problem
Can readers clearly understand your solutions?
Did all these parts have a logical basis and convinces?
Did you mention the experimental conditions and limitations? 13
14. 2. How to Write Dissertation
6). Evaluations and Discussions
Analyze your experimental results and evaluate your
assumptions/performance of solutions
Focus on the positive contributions of the results, also explain
the negative results
Reasonably discuss the limitations of your solution, focus on the
scale of the applicability
Did you thoroughly evaluate the experimental results?
Did you thoroughly discuss the relevant issues, such as
limitations, flaws, etc?
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15. 2. How to Write Dissertation
7). Conclusions
Conclusions: short concise statements about the results of work
you have done; must be directly relevant to the problem you
raised in this thesis; How you complete your promise?
Summary of contributions: whether your results can contribute
to the knowledge of your area; organize from most to least
important. Original? Novel? Thorough? Meaningful?
Future research: in order to let other researchers pick up relevant
work and follow your tracks. Feasible? Reasonable?
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16. 2. How to Write Dissertation
8). References
Closely tied to the literature reviews in previous sections
Examiners usually scan this list looking for important works in
the field, which may be considered as a preliminary assessment
If your examiners are one of the experts in your topic, it may be
necessary for you to read their relevant papers and put some into
the references
Do not just list them, make sure you have referred them in the
main body!
Organize them either alphabetically by author surname or order
of citation in your thesis 16
17. 2. How to Write Dissertation
9). Appendices
This part may include materials impede the smooth development
of your thesis but can contribute to justify the results of the
thesis.
For example: program listings, huge tables of data,
mathematical proofs or derivations
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18. 3. Dissertation Style
The formal structure/format depends on the University;
Be logically clear, sound, reasonable as academic literature style;
Latex tool is recommended for writing; Grammar & logic written;
Keep the figures and tables clear enough and well organized;
Check spells, as well as missing chapter or figure references;
Avoid simply use “obviously/clearly”, etc;
Avoid simply use “XX is the most important …”;
Avoid personal moral judgements and self-assessment;
More: How to Write A Dissertation or Bedtime Reading for
People Who Do not Have Time To Sleep
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19. 4. More about Dissertation
Results of your dissertation defense:
Pass, Fail, Major Revision, Small Revision, etc
Evaluate your thesis by yourself:
Did you clearly and reasonably describe all?
Did you logically demonstrate your solution?
Were all questions well answered?
Is there a significant contribution to previous knowledge?
Ethical Issues: Original, Honest, Justified
Thorough literature review
Keep original, honest & justified about ideas & evidences
Take references seriously (literature, figure, table, etc) 19
20. 5. Good Habits/Tips
Write early, write often, do not wait all things to be ready;
Grow your Ph.D. thesis from previous research;
Keep notes about your ideas daily;
Keep the reader’s backgrounds and views in mind;
Predict examiners’ questions and answer them in thesis;
Keep asking yourself questions about the thesis;
Get feedbacks from others, especially advisors & committees;
Submit early to committees in order to get feedbacks early;
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