Writing Your Masters Dissertation

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Writing Your Masters Dissertation

• David A Watt

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/daw/masters-projects
daw_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk
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Overview

• Structure
• Content
• Writing
• Formatting
• Submission

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Structure (1)

• First decide the structure of your dissertation
  how it will be divided into chapters (and
  appendices).
• You might decide to subdivide some chapters into
  sections.
• You might even subdivide some sections into
  subsections. (But avoid subsubsections!)

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Example structure (1)
Title page Acknowledgements Abstract Table of
Contents 1 Introduction 2 Survey 3 Requirements 4
Design 5 Implementation 6 Evaluation 7 Conclusion
A Requirements B Design Documents C Evaluation
Results Bibliography

• Typical structure for a development project
  dissertation

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Example structure (2)

• Typical structure for a research project
  dissertation

Title page Acknowledgements Abstract Table of
Contents 1 Introduction 2 Survey 3 4 5 6 Eva
luation 7 Conclusion A B Bibliography
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Structure (2)

• Expand your structure into a synopsis. Under each
  chapter title, write brief notes summarising what
  the chapter will cover.
• Use the synopsis to check
• that all essential topics are covered
• that no topic is covered twice
• that the topics are covered in an orderly fashion
  (avoiding forward references where possible).
• Ask your supervisor to comment on your synopsis
  before you start writing chapters.

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Example synopsis

• Possible synopsis for a development project
  dissertation

• IntroductionContext motivation for the project
  problem statement outline of dissertation.
• SurveyReview of relevant literature review of
  similar software products.
• RequirementsHow requirements were captured
  discussion of major requirements (referring to
  Appendix A for details).
• DesignHow the product was designed, with
  discussion of design alternatives (referring to
  Appendix B for details).

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Content

• Title page
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• Development project
• Research project
• Plagiarism vs acknowledgement
• Supplementary material and attached CD
• For advice on bibliography and citations, re-read
  Writing Your Masters Proposal Report.

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Content title page
Managing an Election Campaign Barack Obama A
dissertation presented in part fulfilment of the
requirements of the Degree of MSc in Information
Technology at The University of Glasgow November
2008
title
authors full name
degree
date
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Content abstract

• The abstract is a short summary of the
  dissertation.
• Its purpose is to catch the readers attention
  is this dissertation worth reading in full?
• It should be ½1 page long.
• It should briefly outline the context of your
  project, its goals, and its achievements. It
  should highlight any novel aspects of the project.

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Content table of contents

• The table of contents lists the chapters of the
  dissertation (showing each chapters number and
  title, and the number of its first page).
• Similarly, it lists the abstract,
  acknowledgements, appendices, bibliography, etc.
• If chapters are subdivided into sections, these
  should also be listed (showing each sections
  number and title, and the number of its first
  page).
• Section details should be indented and less
  prominent.

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Example table of contents
5 Implementation 34 5.1 Model 34 5.2 User
interface 39 5.3 Controller 43 5.4 Test
strategy 46 6 Evaluation 48 6.1 Methodology 48 6
.2 Results 50 7 Conclusion 59 A Requirements 63 B
Design Documents 67 C Evaluation
Results 71 Bibliography 93
Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abstract
v Contents vii 1 Introduction 1 2 Survey 6 2.1
Literature 6 2.2 Software products 13 3 Requireme
nts 20 4 Design 23 4.1 Class design 23 4.2 User
interface design 30
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Content development project (1)

• In the introduction, briefly explain the context
  of your work, state the problem that you
  addressed, and explain why this problem was worth
  solving.
• In the survey chapter, present an overview of
  relevant previous work including articles and
  existing products. Critically evaluate the
  strengths and weaknesses of this previous work.
• In the requirements chapter, explain how you
  captured the requirements.
• But dont include a full statement of
  requirements here!

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Content development project (2)

• In the design chapter, discuss the main
  features of your design and how it evolved,
  highlighting any novel features.
• But dont include design documentation here!
• In the implementation chapter, discuss the main
  algorithms and data structures and how they
  evolved, highlighting any novel features. Also
  discuss your testing strategy.

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Content development project (3)

• In the evaluation chapter, describe how you
  evaluated your product. Summarise the evaluation
  results, and use them to critically evaluate your
  own work. Be honest about any shortcomings.
• In the conclusion, describe the status of your
  product. Summarize what you have achieved,
  compared to what you originally set out to
  achieve. Relate your work to relevant previous
  work. Suggest further work that you think would
  be worthwhile.

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Content research project (1)

• In the introduction, briefly explain the research
  context of your work. Clearly state the research
  problem that you addressed. Explain why this
  research problem is worth solving.
• In the survey chapter, present an overview of
  the literature relevant to the research problem.
  Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses
  of the work reported in the literature.

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Content research project (2)

• In the next few chapters, describe the research
  itself, and its results. Include enough technical
  detail to enable a reader to judge the accuracy
  and originality of your work. This description of
  your research should be the largest part of your
  dissertation how it is divided into chapters
  will depend on the nature of your work.
• In the evaluation chapter, critically evaluate
  your research results and assess their
  significance.

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Content research project (3)

• In the conclusion, summarize what you have
  achieved, compared to what you originally set out
  to achieve. Relate your work to other relevant
  work. Suggest further work that you think would
  be worthwhile.

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Content plagiarism vs acknowledgement (1)

• Every project builds on previous work. You should
  have evaluated previous work in your project
  proposal.
• It is normal to use previous work in your
  project, but you are also expected to contribute
  something new. (You will be assessed on your own
  contribution.)
• Whenever you use another persons work, you must
  acknowledge its source.
• Failure to acknowledge a source is plagiarism.
  This means presenting another persons work as if
  it were your own.

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Content plagiarism vs acknowledgement (2)

• Wherever you use another persons words exactly,
  include quotation marks as well as a citation.
• It is usually better to paraphrase the other
  persons words (using your own words) but still
  include a citation.

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Content plagiarism vs acknowledgement (3)

• Wherever you reuse another persons code,
  acknowledge the source in the code itself (as a
  comment) and in your dissertation.
• Wherever you use another persons idea, design,
  data, table, figure, image, etc., acknowledge the
  source in your dissertation. E.g.

Table 4.1 Annual growth rates (The
Economist 2008).
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Content supplementary material

• Supplementary material includes code,
  documentation, detailed evaluation results, etc.
• Do not include supplementary material in the
  chapters of your dissertation.
• Put supplementary material
• on the CD that accompanies your dissertation
• in an appendix (but only if it is essential to
  understanding of the dissertation, and only if it
  is not too bulky).
• Include references to the supplementary material
  where necessary in your dissertation.

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Content CD

• Suggested CD structure and contents
• Dissertation PDF of your dissertation
• Code executable or script all source code
  files any required data files
• Documentation statement of requirements
  design documentation code documentation
• Evaluation task sheet(s) questionnaire
  form(s) questionnaire returns

a single file, named MSc_project_nnn.pdf or
MRes_project_nnn.pdf (nnn your surname)
essential, to make it easy for the reader to run
your software
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Writing

• Knowing your readers
• Tense
• Voice and first-person pronouns
• For advice on terminology, acronyms, grammar and
  spelling, re-read Writing Your Masters Proposal
  Report.

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Writing knowing your readers

• Know who will read your dissertation, and think
  about what they know already
• Do not patronise readers by explaining things
  that they certainly know already.
• Do not bamboozle readers by failing to explain
  things that they might not know already. (Include
  a brief explanation, and/or cite a suitable
  textbook or article.)
• Who might read your dissertation?
• internal and external examiners
• future masters students
• interested readers elsewhere (if it is very
  good!).

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Writing tense

• Write about your project activities (e.g.,
  analysis, evaluation) in the past tense.
• Write about your projects product in the present
  tense.
• Write about planned further work in the future
  tense.

At the time of submitting your dissertation, the
project activities have been completed.
At the time of submitting your dissertation, the
product exists.
At the time of submitting your dissertation, the
further work has not yet been done.
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Writing voice and first-person pronouns

• Most technical writers prefer to write in the
  active voice (e.g., I did this, then I did
  that).
• But this forces the writer to use first-person
  pronouns (I, me, etc.) when referring to
  him/herself
• Using I frequently is egocentric use it
  sparingly.
• Using we is pretentious (unless there are
  multiple authors).
• Some technical writers prefer to write in the
  passive voice (e.g., this was done, then that
  was done).
• This avoids the problem of first-person pronouns,
  but sentences tend to be vague or awkward.

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Example voice and first-person pronouns
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Formatting word processors

• Use a good word processor, such as Word or LaTeX.
• Use the word processors built-in styles. Define
  your own styles where necessary.
• Using styles helps to ensure consistent (and
  easily-modified) formatting
• You can define a style once, then apply it to
  many paragraphs.
• You can modify the style once, then all these
  paragraphs are automatically reformatted.
• Manually setting the style of each paragraph
  makes formatting of a large document much more
  difficult.

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Formatting chapter/section headings

• A chapter heading must be extremely prominent, at
  the top of a new page. A section heading should
  be very prominent, and a subsection heading
  fairly prominent.
• To make a heading prominent, use bold face, a
  large font size, and ample spacing above and
  below. Suggestions
• Chapter headings 30pt bold, page break above,
  48pt below.
• Section headings 18pt bold, 36pt above, 12pt
  below.
• Subsection headings 14pt bold, 24pt above, 12pt
  below.
• Text 12pt.

LaTeX has built-in styles \chapter, \section,
\subsection.
Word has built-in styles Heading 1, Heading 2,
Heading 3. You can modify them.
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Example chapter/section headings
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Formatting chapter/section numbering

• Chapters should be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.
• Sections within Chapter 7 (say) should be
  numbered 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, etc.
• Subsections within Section 7.8 (say) should be
  numbered 7.8.1, 7.8.2, etc.
• Appendices should be numbered A, B, C, etc.

LaTeX numbers chapters and section automatically.
It also handles cross-references.
Word doesnt help with numbering. You must update
cross-references whenever you insert, delete, or
reorder chapters or sections.
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Formatting floats

• A float is a figure or table that is not anchored
  to a particular position in the text. A float can
  be positioned at any suitable position on the
  page.
• Every float must have a number, so that it can be
  cross-referenced. Floats within Chapter 7 (say)
  should be numbered 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, etc.
• Every float should have a caption, to make it
  self-explanatory.
• A float should be separated from the text by
  ample spacing, so that it doesnt interrupt
  reading of the text. Position it at the top or
  bottom of a page, or at the end of a (sub)section.

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Example floats
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Submission

• Plan to start writing your dissertation at least
  3 or 4 weeks before the deadline.
• Submit one PDF copy of your dissertation, to
  daw_at_dcs.gla.ac.uk.
• Submit one printed copy of your dissertation, in
  a black spring-bound folder. Enclose your CD in a
  sleeve attached to the inside cover.
• Deadline Wednesday 9 September 2009 at 1400.
• Late penalty 1 band per day (or part of a day).

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Exemplary dissertations

• A collection of excellent (grade A) masters
  dissertations from previous years
• www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/daw/masters-projects/Hall-of-Fa
  me.html