CS710: Thesis Writing

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CS710 Thesis Writing

• Jim Miles
• Norman Paton

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Why are we here?

• You have to write to get a PhD.
• A continuation/transfer report.
• A thesis.
• All researchers have to write.
• Papers.
• Technical reports.
• Grant applications.

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Why a module?

• Writing for research is not easy. Readers may
  find material
• Difficult to follow (when it need not be).
• Unconvincing (even when it is good).
• To lack originality (when it is completely
  novel).
• Research writing is a skill (practiced ability),
  and thus can, to an extent, be learned.
• May help to identify current issues with your
  writing skills.

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Some observations

• Research is almost always judged on written
  descriptions of the work.
• Many papers and documents are less good than the
  work they report on.
• Many end-of-year reports that we see are not
  especially well written.
• Most research students in the British system end
  up making changes to their theses.

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Mistakes are not unusual (1)

• The main contribution of the work documented in
  this thesis is the design, implementation and
  evaluation of a visual database interface for
  supporting LCA.

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Mistakes are not unusual (2)

• For example, if we have information that David is
  a friend of Andrea, who is the sister of Paul,
  who frequents the King George public house ...
  then this information is best presented as in
  figure 1.1.1.

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Mistakes are not unusual (3)

• Chapter 2 Previous and Related Work
• 2.1 Introduction

• This chapter is organised as follows. Section 2.1
  describes and evaluates the systems that formed
  the foundations of the work documented in this
  thesis.

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Mistakes are not unusual (4)

• Chapter 7 Implementation
• 7.2.4 The Installation Directory

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Structure of module

• Up-front (6 weeks)
• Fine grained
• Punctuation.
• Sentences.
• Paragraphs.
• Papers
• Publishing.
• Writing.
• Reviewing.
• Thesis structure.
• Specific chapters
• Introduction.
• Related Work.

• Experience report
• Report from recent prize winners.
• Practice
• Chapter writing.
• Chapter reviewing.
• This module will not teach you English!

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When should you take CS710?

• In 1st year
• Early input on writing for research.
• Relevant to writing of reports and papers.
• Obtain some early 3rd party feedback on examples
  of your writing.
• Feedback tends not to be on the real thing.

• In 2nd year
• Not obviously sensible.
• In 3rd year
• Directly relevant to soon-to-be-done thesis
  writing.

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When you do take CS710...

• You commit to
• Coming twice a week.
• Participating in hands-on activities.
• Writing material for review by others.
• Actively reviewing other peoples material.