Summer Honors College 2001

September 6, 2001

Notes

What makes a good thesis?

1. Title- What makes a good title? Include the conclusion in the title? Being specific or ambiguous. First impression is the title. A possibility is using a colon (moving from ambiguous to specific). Why should it be left ambiguous? Does it include the thesis? Measurability.

2. Introduction- Does not have to be long.

3. Make sure that you are acknowledged. Best way is to write the paper.

4. Size/scope of thesis.

5. Multiple hypotheses.

6. Manageability.

7. Cover. We like pictures. Appearance. Font size. Color. Date. Readers. Make stuff look nice.

8. Acknowledgements.

9. Table of Contents

Complete title page by tomorrow. Write table of contents now (more detail the better).

Table of Contents

1. Abstract (Half page single space)
2. Acknowledgements
3. List of tables and figures (What is the nature of the data?)
4. Introduction (speculation)
5. Background
6. Objective (doesn2t need to be done)
7. Materials and methods (need to know how to replicate the experiment) need some statistical data. Tell only what you did.
8. Results. Tell why we did what we did. Don2t include conclusion. Unfiltered data.
9. Discussion
10. Conclusion (speculation) What does it mean? Policy implications.
11. Appendices (supplementary data). Might not need it.
12. References. Order (alphabetically or cited) Use endnote.
13. Citations. (Name, Date)

Tangents- How did we arrive at our topics? Novel territory. Take ownership. Subheadings are helpful.