Tips for Writing Your Senior Thesis

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Tips for Writing Your Senior Thesis
Lance Cooper and Celia Elliott
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Structure of Your Thesis Main Sections of a
Technical Paper
Abstract Concise (100 200 words) summary of
procedure, results, and conclusions - see last
semesters presentation http//online.physics.uiu
c.edu/courses/Phys496/Spring09/Lectures/Abstracts-
Spr09.ppt
Introduction Motivation for research, necessary
background information for reader, preview of
findings
Experimental Procedure Detailed description of
experimental apparatus used, and procedures
employed
Results and Discussion Description, including
graphs and tables, of results obtained. Analysis
of results, interpretations of data, explanation
of errors, comparison with previous experimental
and theoretical results
Conclusions Statement of conclusions drawn from
results, with tie-in to main purpose behind the
research conducted
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The Introduction/Motivation

• It is up to you to make sure that your reader
• has enough background information to appreciate
  the problem youre studying
• appreciates the importance of the research youre
  doing

Elements of an Effective Introduction
Motivation Describe the goals and significance
of the research, i.e., why is the research
worth doing? Background Provide (concisely)
relevant background material, so that readers
can appreciate the research problem and its
motivation. This would include previous related
research, relevant theories, and unanswered
questions. Use figures and diagrams liberally
to convey your message! Preview of conclusions
Briefly describe the key conclusions and
results in the paper. Dont use the mystery
novel approach!
Bottom line Put yourself in your audiences
shoes Convey why they should be interested in
your research dont assume they are already
interested/informed.
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Choosing Figures Think carefully before
choosing the figures you use for your
presentations and papers (1) Start by
highlighting the most important concepts/ideas in
each section of the paper or presentation (2)
Choose figures that help you convey to the reader
those key concepts and ideas (3) Make sure the
figures you use are tailored to your audience!
(e.g., is the audience for your
paper/presentation a group of physics PhDs,
physics grad and undergrad students, or the
general public)
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Types of Figures You Can Use
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Types of Figures You Can Use
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Figure Captions Make sure you describe what the
figure is showing before you describe what the
figure means.
Figure 1 This graph displays the accuracy of
the code at low magnetic inclination angles for a
spot size of 90 degrees, where the error will be
largest. As our analysis only uses magnetic
inclination angles of 0.2 degrees and above, our
code is sufficiently accurate to study the
millisecond pulsars. Our results fit the
theoretical values with an R2 0.9997.
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Figure Captions Make sure you describe what the
figure is showing before you describe what the
figure means.
Figure 1 Plot of modulation fraction vs
magnetic inclination angle determined from both
computer simulations (diamonds) and theoretical
calculations (solid line). This graph displays
the accuracy of the code at low magnetic
inclination angles for a spot size of 90 degrees,
where the error will be largest. As our analysis
only uses magnetic inclination angles of 0.2
degrees and above, our code is sufficiently
accurate to study the millisecond pulsars. Our
results fit the theoretical values with an R2
0.9997.
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Figure Captions Make sure to describe all
elements of the figure.
Figure 1. The in-phase output voltage amplitude
of an RLC circuit shows a clear resonant response
frequency at the peak around 980 Hz.
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Figure Captions Make sure to describe all
elements of the figure.
Figure 1. Plot of the in-phase output voltage X
vs frequency. The in-phase output voltage
amplitude of an RLC circuit shows a clear
resonant response frequency at the peak around
980 Hz.
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Figure Captions Make sure to describe all
elements of the figure.
Figure 1. Plot of the in-phase output voltage X
vs frequency. Filled squares represent measured
points, and the red line is a fit to the data
using a Lorentzian lineshape. The table inset
gives the fit parameters associated with the
Lorentzian fit. The in-phase output voltage
amplitude of an RLC circuit shows a clear
resonant response frequency at the peak around
980 Hz.
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The Experimental Procedure
The purpose of this section is to describe the
experimental or theoretical techniques and
methods with enough detail to allow other
researchers (i) to repeat your
measurements (ii) evaluate your methods
Important Elements Use appropriate detail
Provide enough detail so that others can
replicate the experimental arrangement used, but
dont include unnecessary specificity Use of
diagrams/figures Help the reader understand
what youre doing by using diagrams, figures,
photographs, flowcharts, etc.
Bottom line Put yourself in your audiences
shoes Convey clearly how the experiments/calcula
tions are performed dont assume they already
know.
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The Results and Discussion Section
The purpose of this section is to present and
discuss your findings, then to analyze your
results and compare to previous results or
models.
Important Elements Summary of results Describe
the key results obtained, with accompanying
figures and graphs of raw results Analyzed data
If there is any converted data obtained from
an analysis of the raw data, make sure to
describe what conversion procedure was
used Relevant details Highlight for the reader
any noteworthy observations
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The Results and Discussion Section
The purpose of this section is to present and
discuss your findings, then to analyze your
results and compare to previous results or
models.
Important Elements (cont.) Detailed Analysis
Analyze your results with appropriate level of
detail. If you analyze your data in terms of
particular models or phenomena, provide
background and detailed mechanisms Hypothesis
testing If your results agree or differ with
particular hypotheses, provide an explanation of
the relevant hypotheses, and explain in detail
why you believe your results agree or disagree
with these models
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The Results and Discussion Section
Important Elements (cont.) Sources of errors
Discuss any experimental errors or experimental
design problems that might have influenced your
ability to draw conclusions Alternative models
Be sure to offer alternative explanations for you
data, if they exist (and they always do!) The
future Discuss where the research might go
next, and what questions remain after your study
Bottom line Put yourself in your audiences
shoes Convey all the logical steps that went
into the analysis of your data, and into the
conclusions youve drawn from that data.
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The Conclusions Section
The goal of this section is to reemphasize the
most significant results and conclusions
associated with your research
Important Elements Summarize Reiterate the key
points and findings of your research, but dont
introduce new interpretations or analysis of data
in this section Provide closure Discuss
whether the goals put forward in the introduction
were met Make recommendations Describe how a
future study could be improvedsuggest what the
next course of action of your work should be Be
clear and concise Dont go into too much
detail, restate long arguments from the
Results/Discussion section, etc.
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Other Sections
Your paper will also include some or all of the
following additional sections
References You must reference outside sources of
information and resultsBe generous in your
offering of appropriate credit for relevant ideas
that contributed to your work
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• References
• You need to reference! If there is an idea or
  result that isnt your own, it should be
  referenced!
• Keep a consistent style for references (see the
  following slides).
• (3) Include all information in reference full
  author list, full journal citation, year of
  publication (title of article and bold type for
  volume number arent necessary in your papers,
  but you might want to keep these in a separate
  bibliography for proposals).
• (4) Put references at end of document, not at the
  end of each page.

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Physical Review B style (note that reference
numbers go AFTER punctuation)
hour it can proof read and repair errors in
its own DNA, sense its environment and respond
change its shape and morphology, and obtain
energy from photosynthesis or metabolism.1
They contain motors that comprises of shafts and
bearings as well as linear motors that, like a
train, follow a track in a step by step fashion.2
This process uses chemical energy derived from
hydrolyzing adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
molecules.
Initials, then surname
Superscript references
List all authors
1G.L. Martin et al., Science 317, 333 (2007).
2A. Yildiz and P.R. Selvin, Trends in Cell
Biology 15, 112-120 (2005). 3M. Yoshida, E.
Muneyuki, T. Hisabori, Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell
Biology 2, 669 (2001). 4H.C. Berg, Annual Review
Biochemistry 72, 19 (2003). 5R.D. Vale and R.A.
Milligan, Science 288, 88 (2000).
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Physical Review Letters Phys Rev A, C, D, E
style (note that reference numbers are in
brackets and go BEFORE punctuation)
hour it can proof read and repair errors in
its own DNA, sense its environment and respond
change its shape and morphology, and obtain
energy from photosynthesis or metabolism 1.
They contain motors that comprises of shafts and
bearings as well as linear motors that, like a
train, follow a track in a step by step fashion
2. This process uses chemical energy derived
from hydrolyzing adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
molecules.
Initials, then surname
Brackets w/ no periods
List all authors
1 G.L. Martin et al., Science 317, 333
(2007). 2 A. Yildiz and P.R. Selvin, Trends
in Cell Biology 15, 112-120 (2005). 3 M.
Yoshida, E. Muneyuki, T. Hisabori, Nat. Rev. Mol.
Cell Biology 2, 669 (2001). 4 H.C. Berg,
Annual Review Biochemistry 72, 19 (2003). 5
R.D. Vale and R.A. Milligan, Science 288, 88
(2000).
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Reviews of Modern Physics style (Authors (up to
two) plus year of article in parenthesis BEFORE
punctuation)
hour it can proof read and repair errors in
its own DNA, sense its environment and respond
change its shape and morphology, and obtain
energy from photosynthesis or metabolism
(Martin et al., 2007). They contain motors that
comprises of shafts and bearings as well as
linear motors that, like a train, follow a track
in a step by step fashion (Yildiz and Selvin,
2005). This process uses chemical energy derived
from hydrolyzing adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
molecules.
Initials, then surname
Brackets w/ no periods
List all authors
1 G.L. Martin et al., Science 317, 333
(2007). 2 A. Yildiz and P.R. Selvin, Trends
in Cell Biology 15, 112-120 (2005). 3 M.
Yoshida, E. Muneyuki, T. Hisabori, Nat. Rev. Mol.
Cell Biology 2, 669 (2001). 4 H.C. Berg,
Annual Review Biochemistry 72, 19 (2003). 5
R.D. Vale and R.A. Milligan, Science 288, 88
(2000).
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• Other Reference notes
• (1) If reference is to a private communication,
  the proper format is
• 1 B. Sullivan, private communication.
• (2) If reference is unpublished or in press, the
  proper format is
• 1 M. Mangialardi et al. (unpublished).
• (3) Reference to a website
• 1 P. Krekora, Q. Su, and R. Grobe, URL
• http//link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v92/e040406.
  
• (4) Reference to on-line arXiv article
• 1 S. N. Dorogovtsev and J. F. F. Mendes,
  cond-

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Other Sections
Your paper will also include some or all of the
following additional sections
References You must reference outside sources of
information and resultsBe generous in your
offering of appropriate credit for relevant ideas
that contributed to your work
Acknowledgments Acknowledge individuals with whom
youve had useful discussions relevant to your
research, and individuals involved in some aspect
of the experiment who were not co-authors Acknowl
edge funding sources for the research reported
Appendices You might include more details about
the research, additional data, elaborations of
calculations, or a glossary in appendices at the
end of the report, if including it in the text of
the paper would interrupt the narrative
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Tips for Starting Your Thesis
(1). Identify and write down your two or three
main points Identify the key points you want to
convey to the reader
(2). Write an outline of the thesis sections and
subsections Write a few bullets in each
section of the key points or phrases you want to
include
(3). Start with the Results or Procedure
sections Avoid starting with the Abstract,
Introduction, or Discussion sections to allow
yourself to get into the flow of writing the
Results and Procedure sections will also identify
the background information youll need to include
in the introduction
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Other Tips for Writing Your Thesis
(1). Keep information specific rather than
general Youre scientists, so be detailed and
specific in your explanations. Make
quantitative, rather than qualitative, statements
whenever possible.
(2). Remember your audience - write in plain
English avoid colloquialisms, technical jargon,
slang words and phrases, and complex words
(3). Keep sentences short Avoid lengthy and
complex sentences (gt25 words with long strings of
modifiers)edit, edit, edit!
(4). Make liberal use of figures and diagrams to
clarify your arguments and help the reader
understand Helping the reader visualize what
you are writing is always a good thingremember,
you might have a good picture in your mind of
what you are describing, but keep your more
inexperienced audience in mind when you write.