General Steps
Under Construction.
Thesis Plan
Recommendation:
Abstract
1-Introduction / background
2-Research question and general approach
3-Literature review
4-Research method
5-Aimed contribution
6-Detailed work plan and scheduling
7-Validation method
8-Dissemination plan
9-Integration with other research activities
References
Thesis Plan includes
The definition of the research question(s) and its motivation, hypothesis, analysis and synthesis of the state of the art, and planning of the research activities.
The size of the mentioned should be about: 35 to 60 pages.
Thesis Basic Objective
Thesis Objective 1:
Demonstration of a clear understanding of the the highest level of general development of the topic of interest.
Thesis Objective 2:
Producing written material containing a careful or analytical evaluations recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of existing work.
Thesis Objective 3:
– The distinguishing mark of a PhD work is an original contribution to knowledge.
– Your research must discover something previously unknown.
– Not something for which the examiners already know the answer and they are experts in the field.
– Evaluated systematically.
Thesis Objective 4:
A sound research report, well-written, carefully edited / revised.
Demonstration of a clear understanding of the the highest level of general development of the topic of interest.
Thesis Objective 2:
Producing written material containing a careful or analytical evaluations recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of existing work.
Thesis Objective 3:
– The distinguishing mark of a PhD work is an original contribution to knowledge.
– Your research must discover something previously unknown.
– Not something for which the examiners already know the answer and they are experts in the field.
– Evaluated systematically.
Thesis Objective 4:
A sound research report, well-written, carefully edited / revised.
A Thesis Should Not Be
It should not be 1:
A description of what you did in the lab over or what mathematical derivations you did the last 3~4 years.
Example: Where you first say I first read the background material and then gathered it and put in a folder the through it was necessary then found it was necessary after a phone call. I then drew the flow chart for the algorithm and started coding in C++ then changed my mind and used FORTRAN90.
It should not be 2:
A “Ideas Dump” of everything you did through out the PhD period.You have to leave out the dead-ends and irrelevant aspects (even if you had spent a lot of time trying to resolve them, because you might be asked by the examiners to remove it later). But you have to be aware of any obvious gaps and try to resolve them in a suitable manner so that you wont get asked about them in your Viva.
It should not be 3:
A thesis is a logical reconstruction of scientific facts relating to the studied problem,not a historical written account of connected events with a single coherent message.
A description of what you did in the lab over or what mathematical derivations you did the last 3~4 years.
Example: Where you first say I first read the background material and then gathered it and put in a folder the through it was necessary then found it was necessary after a phone call. I then drew the flow chart for the algorithm and started coding in C++ then changed my mind and used FORTRAN90.
It should not be 2:
A “Ideas Dump” of everything you did through out the PhD period.You have to leave out the dead-ends and irrelevant aspects (even if you had spent a lot of time trying to resolve them, because you might be asked by the examiners to remove it later). But you have to be aware of any obvious gaps and try to resolve them in a suitable manner so that you wont get asked about them in your Viva.
It should not be 3:
A thesis is a logical reconstruction of scientific facts relating to the studied problem,not a historical written account of connected events with a single coherent message.
Abstract
- Your check list for the contents of your abstract. The answers to these questions should be found in the abstract:
- What did you do?
- Why did you do it? What question were you trying to answer?
- How did you do it? State methods.
- What did you learn? State major results.
- Why does it matter? Point out at least one significant implication.
Keep it Within these Points
- A good abstract explains in one line why the paper is important. It then goes on to give a summary of your major results, preferably couched in numbers with error limits. The final sentences explain the major implications of your work. A good abstract is concise, readable, and quantitative.
- Length should be ~ 1-2 paragraphs, approx. 400 words.
- Absrtracts generally do not have citations.
- Information in title should not be repeated.
- Be explicit.
- Use numbers where appropriate.
Recommended Table of Contents
Preliminaries.
Chapter 1. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Background Information (optional).
Chapter 3. Literature Review.
Chapter 4. Conceptual Contribution.
Chapter 5. Experimental Developments.
Chapter 6. Validation / Discussion.
Chapter 7. Conclusions and Future Work.
8. References.
Chapter 1. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Background Information (optional).
Chapter 3. Literature Review.
Chapter 4. Conceptual Contribution.
Chapter 5. Experimental Developments.
Chapter 6. Validation / Discussion.
Chapter 7. Conclusions and Future Work.
8. References.
Chapter 1 Introduction
1-Brief summary of the research question.
2-Motivation or reasons why it is a worth while question.
3-Your hypothesis / thesis. The reader will be looking for your thesis. Make it clear, strong and easy to find.
4-The research method adopted.
5-Perhaps an overview of main results. Not just a description of the contents of each section !
Note: A strong thesis should not be too broad, not too narrow.
2-Motivation or reasons why it is a worth while question.
3-Your hypothesis / thesis. The reader will be looking for your thesis. Make it clear, strong and easy to find.
4-The research method adopted.
5-Perhaps an overview of main results. Not just a description of the contents of each section !
Note: A strong thesis should not be too broad, not too narrow.
Hypothesis, Theories and Laws
Keep in mind you engineers out there that an engineering thesis needs a hypothesis?
The next question that comes up what is a hypothesis?
The next question that comes up what is a hypothesis?
The definition of hypothesis is taken from :http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hypothesis
The words hypothesis, law, and theory refer to different kinds of statements, or sets of statements, that scientists make about natural phenomena.
A hypothesis is a proposition that attempts to explain a set of facts in a unified way. It generally forms the basis of experiments designed to establish its plausibility. Simplicity, elegance, and consistency with previously established hypotheses or laws are also major factors in determining the acceptance of a hypothesis. Though a hypothesis can never be proven true (in fact, hypotheses generally leave some facts unexplained), it can sometimes be verified beyond reasonable doubt in the context of a particular theoretical approach.
A scientific law is a hypothesis that is assumed to be universally true. A law has good predictive power, allowing a scientist (or engineer) to model a physical system and predict what will happen under various conditions. New hypotheses inconsistent with well-established laws are generally rejected, barring major changes to the approach.
A theory is a set of statements, including laws and hypotheses, that explains a group of observations or phenomena in terms of those laws and hypotheses.
A theory thus accounts for a wider variety of events than a law does. Broad acceptance of a theory comes when it has been tested repeatedly on new data and been used to make accurate predictions. Although a theory generally contains hypotheses that are still open to revision, sometimes it is hard to know where the hypothesis ends and the law or theory begins.
A hypothesis is a proposition that attempts to explain a set of facts in a unified way. It generally forms the basis of experiments designed to establish its plausibility. Simplicity, elegance, and consistency with previously established hypotheses or laws are also major factors in determining the acceptance of a hypothesis. Though a hypothesis can never be proven true (in fact, hypotheses generally leave some facts unexplained), it can sometimes be verified beyond reasonable doubt in the context of a particular theoretical approach.
A scientific law is a hypothesis that is assumed to be universally true. A law has good predictive power, allowing a scientist (or engineer) to model a physical system and predict what will happen under various conditions. New hypotheses inconsistent with well-established laws are generally rejected, barring major changes to the approach.
A theory is a set of statements, including laws and hypotheses, that explains a group of observations or phenomena in terms of those laws and hypotheses.
A theory thus accounts for a wider variety of events than a law does. Broad acceptance of a theory comes when it has been tested repeatedly on new data and been used to make accurate predictions. Although a theory generally contains hypotheses that are still open to revision, sometimes it is hard to know where the hypothesis ends and the law or theory begins.
Why? because a Hypotheses may be relevant to science thesis, but are they relevant to engineering thesis? Because engineers invent rather than discover, does an engineering thesis need a hypothesis? Yes, all the more so, because invention is a more tightly directed activity than discovery; and the two are not mutually exclusive any way! I prefer the word hypothesis: that which underlies a thesis; you may be more familiar or comfortable with aims or objectives.
The hypothesis is the energy source for your thesis. Suppose your project involves using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) , in conjunction with appropriate computer hardware, to model flow fluxes.
The hypothesis for mentioned project may be, ‘It is possible to study flow fluxes using CFD and suitable computer hardware’.
Note that implicit in your hypothesis is a definition of acceptable levels of accuracy (how do you quantify the words ‘possible’, ‘good’, and ‘bad’?).”
The hypothesis for mentioned project may be, ‘It is possible to study flow fluxes using CFD and suitable computer hardware’.
Note that implicit in your hypothesis is a definition of acceptable levels of accuracy (how do you quantify the words ‘possible’, ‘good’, and ‘bad’?).”
Chapter 2 Background Information
An optional section that has become more of a must recently because every application in our study these days has become more of multidisciplinary, this is what requires us to provide more additional information.
A brief synthesis of the most relevant aspects related to the thesis in order to help the reader understand the context and the contributions coming from other disciplines. It can also be used to better motivate the research question. The research method can be described here (instead of in the Introduction).
A brief synthesis of the most relevant aspects related to the thesis in order to help the reader understand the context and the contributions coming from other disciplines. It can also be used to better motivate the research question. The research method can be described here (instead of in the Introduction).
Chapter 3 Literature review
Not a literature survey in general, but rather a the combination of components or elements to form a connected whole (synthesis) of the state of the art related to the thesis.
Background & related work may overlap
– Need to discuss related work at start of your thesis to set scene in the reader mind.
– Need to discuss the surveyed literature related to your thesis at the end to demonstrate your originality.
– Exercise your synthesis and critical skills, expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of scientific literature.
Background & related work may overlap
– Need to discuss related work at start of your thesis to set scene in the reader mind.
– Need to discuss the surveyed literature related to your thesis at the end to demonstrate your originality.
– Exercise your synthesis and critical skills, expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of scientific literature.
Chapter 4 Conceptual Contribution
Here you develop your conceptual contribution
• Discussion of the thesis and different perspectives of analysis of the research question
• Formulation of concepts, definitions, theories
• Elaboration of frameworks, models, architectures
Are you answering the research question?
Is it an original / innovative contribution?
• Discussion of the thesis and different perspectives of analysis of the research question
• Formulation of concepts, definitions, theories
• Elaboration of frameworks, models, architectures
Are you answering the research question?
Is it an original / innovative contribution?
Chapter 5 Experimental Developments
High-level (cleaned up) description of the research experiment e.g. Description of a prototype system implementation and its use towards solving the research problem. Can include some context information (e.g. Development software, test environment, procedure, limitations, assumptions, range of validity)
But not too many details !!!... Just enough to:
1- Let the reader believe in your results
2-Allow another (experienced) researcher replicate your experiment
3-Avoid technological details that get outdated quickly!
But not too many details !!!... Just enough to:
1- Let the reader believe in your results
2-Allow another (experienced) researcher replicate your experiment
3-Avoid technological details that get outdated quickly!
Chapter 6 Validation / Discussion
Example of hints for discussion in a CFD thesis:
1. What are the major aerodynamic patterns, flow patterns, turbulence generators in the observations?
2. What are the relationships, trends and generalizations among the results? meaning for example dose the wall shear stress increase with blowing wind velocity or visa versa. The relationship between the pressure gradient over the solid surface and the blowing wind velocity.
3. What are the exceptions to these flow patterns or generalizations? some times while studying a flow regime exceptions dose happen such as the occurrence of shock waves, transition of the flow from laminar to turbulent or flow instability. Phase change occurrence at certain parts of the domain.
4. What are the likely causes (mechanisms) underlying these patterns resulting predictions? these are some times usually due to geometrical restrictions or due located heat sources at certain parts of the domain.
5. Is there agreement or disagreement with previous work? this can be achieved by comparing velocity profile values with measured PIV , measured concentrations at certain points of the flow domain and comparing it with the sensor probe measurement.
6. Interpret results in terms of background laid out in the introduction - what is the relationship of the present results to the original question? so if you have measured fluxes in your simulation try to compare its impact value on the original question in your introduction.
7. What is the implication of the present results for other unanswered questions in your domain? if leakage of flow from the studied domain is occurring and is the major purpose of the study. from the produced results dose it have a high value of leakage or low which means either the used model is a good model to use or a new model is needed to be developed.
8. Multiple hypotheses: There are usually several possible explanations for results. Be careful to consider all of these rather than simply pushing your favorite one.
9. Avoid bandwagons which adopts a popular point of view for the primary purpose of recognition and/or acceptance by others. A special case of the above. Avoid jumping a currently fashionable point of view unless your results really do strongly support them.
10. What are the things we now know or understand that we didn't know or understand before the present work? as an example for flux leakage problem we know that methods have been used to reduce flux leakage some are practical and some are not. We do understand the phenomena and what causes it dose. we can study each parameter separately and see whcih contributes the most and the one that contributes the least.
11. Include the evidence or line of reasoning supporting each interpretation.
12. What is the significance of the presented results in the thesis: and why should we care? dose it reduce calculation costs for scientific institutions, dose it give reliable results for industry.
1. What are the major aerodynamic patterns, flow patterns, turbulence generators in the observations?
2. What are the relationships, trends and generalizations among the results? meaning for example dose the wall shear stress increase with blowing wind velocity or visa versa. The relationship between the pressure gradient over the solid surface and the blowing wind velocity.
3. What are the exceptions to these flow patterns or generalizations? some times while studying a flow regime exceptions dose happen such as the occurrence of shock waves, transition of the flow from laminar to turbulent or flow instability. Phase change occurrence at certain parts of the domain.
4. What are the likely causes (mechanisms) underlying these patterns resulting predictions? these are some times usually due to geometrical restrictions or due located heat sources at certain parts of the domain.
5. Is there agreement or disagreement with previous work? this can be achieved by comparing velocity profile values with measured PIV , measured concentrations at certain points of the flow domain and comparing it with the sensor probe measurement.
6. Interpret results in terms of background laid out in the introduction - what is the relationship of the present results to the original question? so if you have measured fluxes in your simulation try to compare its impact value on the original question in your introduction.
7. What is the implication of the present results for other unanswered questions in your domain? if leakage of flow from the studied domain is occurring and is the major purpose of the study. from the produced results dose it have a high value of leakage or low which means either the used model is a good model to use or a new model is needed to be developed.
8. Multiple hypotheses: There are usually several possible explanations for results. Be careful to consider all of these rather than simply pushing your favorite one.
9. Avoid bandwagons which adopts a popular point of view for the primary purpose of recognition and/or acceptance by others. A special case of the above. Avoid jumping a currently fashionable point of view unless your results really do strongly support them.
10. What are the things we now know or understand that we didn't know or understand before the present work? as an example for flux leakage problem we know that methods have been used to reduce flux leakage some are practical and some are not. We do understand the phenomena and what causes it dose. we can study each parameter separately and see whcih contributes the most and the one that contributes the least.
11. Include the evidence or line of reasoning supporting each interpretation.
12. What is the significance of the presented results in the thesis: and why should we care? dose it reduce calculation costs for scientific institutions, dose it give reliable results for industry.
Chapter 7 Conclusions and Future work
What is the strongest and most important statement that you can make from your work? as an example the reduction of numerical error using a mathematical model. The reliability of numerical models in comparison with other models at certain flow regimes.
If you met the readers at a meeting six months from now, what do you want them to remember about your thesis? You want him to mention your finding or contribution. example he is the guy who found that less flux is generated for the studied application, he is the guy who found that high turbulence is needed for the studied application, ....... ect.
Refer back to the problem posed, and describe the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation, summarize new observations, new interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from this work. This means that when you do get those conclusions don't write them all split them into half, where one half at the end of the chapter and the other half that concludes the idea put it in the conclusion.
Include the broader implications of your results. Do not repeat word for word the abstract, introduction or discussion. Some dissertations just restate the research findings the examiners will refuse such an action so beware of that. The examiner or reader has already gone through them before while reading your thesis. Now guide him to understand what it all means !
Include a set of recommendations (to overcome limitations such as using more calculation cores, acquiring more money for the research budget, allocating more data storage facilities, ...... etc ) or directions for future research (maybe new directions opened by this work such as proposing new numerical models used in the field of research...... etc).
If you met the readers at a meeting six months from now, what do you want them to remember about your thesis? You want him to mention your finding or contribution. example he is the guy who found that less flux is generated for the studied application, he is the guy who found that high turbulence is needed for the studied application, ....... ect.
Refer back to the problem posed, and describe the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation, summarize new observations, new interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from this work. This means that when you do get those conclusions don't write them all split them into half, where one half at the end of the chapter and the other half that concludes the idea put it in the conclusion.
Include the broader implications of your results. Do not repeat word for word the abstract, introduction or discussion. Some dissertations just restate the research findings the examiners will refuse such an action so beware of that. The examiner or reader has already gone through them before while reading your thesis. Now guide him to understand what it all means !
Include a set of recommendations (to overcome limitations such as using more calculation cores, acquiring more money for the research budget, allocating more data storage facilities, ...... etc ) or directions for future research (maybe new directions opened by this work such as proposing new numerical models used in the field of research...... etc).
Recommended Links:
1-www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~martins/sen_sem/thesis_org.html
2- .......
2- .......
Qualitative or Quantitative?
under construction.
Can my dissertation be entirely literature-based?
under construction.
What is case study research?
under construction.
What's an empirical study?
under construction.
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