Innovation is the soul of an academic paper. When defending a doctoral dissertation and opening thesis, everyone focuses on the innovative points. However, because the quality of undergraduate dissertations varies, finding innovative points is like searching for treasure at the bottom of the sea, which gives many students a headache. Don’t worry, today we will provide you with some tips, hope it can help you.
First of all, there are four dimensions of innovative points:
Selection of novel topics: choose academic cutting-edge topics that have not been studied in depth by others, or conduct in-depth research on issues that have been studied but are still controversial or incomplete, and sometimes need to be corrected, supplemented, or re-examined in terms of existing understanding.
Unique data: data can come from literature, research, experiments, or actual surveys. It is possible to discover entirely new research material or to use existing material to address issues that have not yet been studied or addressed.
More novel research methods: researchers can innovate their own research methods or introduce research methods from other fields to solve difficult problems. This innovation is not limited to the research method itself, but also includes interpreting the problem with a new theoretical framework.
The viewpoint is unique: the new viewpoint should be different from others and have academic value and practical significance. A novel point of view is not just a different way of saying something, but it is about identifying the shortcomings of the previous point of view and providing a new angle of thinking to solve the original problem.
Then, it is important to know how to demonstrate innovative points in the paper:
The point of innovation should be closely related to the research problem, which is expressed in the sense of a problem, which is usually reflected in the overall structure of the thesis.
Formulate a new question: in order for the innovation to stand, the following points need to be clarified:
① why the new question is being asked and how to prove its novelty.
(ii) How the new question is different from the old one and what this difference is.
Creating a new perspective: writing a paper with a new perspective requires answering the following questions:
① What perspective was used to study the problem before.
② Why do you want to use the new perspective.
What are the shortcomings of the old perspective and can the new perspective make up for them?
④ How to solve these deficiencies after using the new perspective.
Presenting new insights:
What insights have been presented in previous studies of this issue?
What is the uniqueness and novelty of the author’s own opinion?
Adoption of new tools and materials:
What are the advantages of new methods and materials?
(ii) whether the new means and materials can solve the shortcomings of the original problem.
To sum up, the innovation of a thesis is not necessarily a discovery that has never been made before or an amazing research result. The key is to find the difference between your own research and that of your predecessors.
