As part of your final year as an undergraduate, you may have to write a thesis explaining your research. Master’s and PhD students will also be required to write a thesis. Writing a thesis can feel like a monumental task, especially for PhD students. A PhD thesis can be over 500 pages! It can feel like a daunting experience. Knowing that you have to write up such a large amount whilst trying to ensure that all of it is of good quality definitely isn’t easy. Here are 5 tips that can help you write up your thesis well:
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1. Work closely with your supervisor
Having a good relationship with your supervisor is essential to writing a good thesis. They’ll be able to give you constructive feedback on your work. If you have a draft or have partially written up a draft, ask your supervisor to check through it. Supervisors are experienced in academic writing, and can even point the smallest of mistakes. There are some mistakes that you just won’t be able to spot. That’s why it’s essential you have regular meetings with your supervisor and discuss how you can further improve your writing.
2. Start early
Writing up a quality thesis is already enough of a stressful experience on its own. Starting late on your thesis will make matters much worse than they need to be. Conducting research and carefully analysing the data is something that takes time. It isn’t like an exam where you can cram a couple of days just before you take the exam. Your brain needs time to think about the problems. Leaving it close to the deadline is a recipe for a disaster. It’s a situation that needs to be avoided at all costs. Starting early will allow you slowly work towards completing your thesis up to a good standard by the time the deadline comes around.
3. Check your references
Your thesis is likely to have large amounts of references by the time you have completed all your research. When you have large quantities of references, it’s difficult to get all of them perfect. Ensure that your references are all in the same format. Using the numbered reference system is also recommended over the alphabetical system, as it makes in-text citations much easier. Try to keep a record of all your references as you go along. Missing some references and having to find them again at the end will cause problems.
4. Do a small amount of writing each day on a consistent basis (avoiding distractions)
Writing up a thesis isn’t something that you do in one day. If you write for 2 hours every day, you’re very likely to complete it before your deadline. Doing 2 hours of quality writing with no distractions every day will definitely lead to good results. Try to have a routine where you have a quiet environment without distractions (such as phones) where you write for an hour straight. Have another hour in the day where you continue to write up your thesis. A good place to work in would be the silent study areas in the library.
Doing 2 hours of quality writing with no distractions every day will definitely lead to good results
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5. Keep your writing clear and have a purpose
When initially writing up the first drafts of your thesis, try not to focus too much on making it perfect. Trying to make sure it’s perfect on the first drafts will often lead to “writer’s block” and prevent you from writing at all. Write up your first draft, then go through an editing phase after. Check carefully for small issues such as spelling, punctuation and grammar. For each paragraph, try to write in the margin what the purpose of that paragraph is. You want each sentence and paragraph to be very clear on what message it’s trying to get across. If you find it difficult to pinpoint what the purpose of a paragraph is, consider rewriting it or taking it out entirely. Ensure your thesis has a good structure and flow to it, so that it isn’t jumping around different points randomly.
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