A Structured Approach for Presenting Theses

Abstract

How should a postgraduate research student present a thesis? This paper provides a structure as a starting point for understanding what a thesis should set out to achieve, and also provides a basis for communication between a student and his or her supervisor. Firstly, criteria for judging a thesis are reviewed and justification for its structure is provided. Then writing style is considered. Finally, each of the five sections are described in some detail: introduction, literature review, methodology, analysis of data, and conclusions and implications.