In these challenging academic times, how do you successfully complete a thesis that is professionally excellent and compelling enough? This article will explain in detail the key knowledge and skills about this field and show you how to complete a thesis efficiently through a complete example of the academic process. Let’s start this exciting academic journey together!
I. Defining the research topic (February to March)
Firstly, you need to clearly define your research topic. This is the cornerstone of your entire thesis, so it is important to consider it carefully. Here are a few steps for your reference:
1. make use of the abundant resources and materials provided by your supervisor as a starting point;
2. study in-depth previous dissertations to understand their research direction and methodology as a reference;
3. make good use of literature management tools, such as Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, etc. These tools not only play an important role in the later reading and writing process, but also help you to search and locate the required literature quickly;
4. In the process of identifying the research topic, actively seek guidance and advice from your supervisor to comprehensively assess the selected topic so as to determine the final research topic.
II. Submission of application form for ethical review (April to May)
After identifying the research topic, you need to submit the application form for ethical review. This is a very important task as it involves whether your research is ethical or not. Here are some suggestions:
1. you can start to prepare your ethical review application form after reading a lot of relevant literature and identifying your research topic;
2. the application form for ethical review should clearly and unambiguously state information about your research, its purpose and the research methods to be used;
3. after submitting the application form for ethical review, you will receive feedback and suggestions from your supervisor, please take these valuable comments seriously and make in-depth reflection and revision accordingly;
4. If you encounter any confusion or problems during the writing process, do not hesitate to seek help from your supervisor immediately.
III. Meeting discussion and revision and improvement (June to August)
After obtaining the ethical review approval, you can start working on data collection. During this period, you will also need to complete the following tasks:
1. continue to read the literature and start writing the literature review;
2. book a meeting with your supervisor to discuss and revise your dissertation outline;
3. further refine your dissertation outline based on your tutor’s suggestions.
IV. Organise Literature and Proofreading (September)
After you have basically completed your dissertation, you need to do the following:
1. collate references, which is recommended to be done synchronously during the writing process so as not to consume too much time at a later stage;
2. use a reference management tool to organise the bibliography, which saves time and improves efficiency;
3. without altering the content of the paper, give the paper to a proofreader for proofreading;
4. finally, be sure to double-check details such as text formatting, punctuation, font size, etc.
V. Procrastination version (June to August)
The following is a time plan that may be more suitable for procrastinators:
1. By 15 June: identify the research topic and complete the application form for ethical review (if primary data collection is required);
2. 10 June to 20 June: read the literature and shortlist the core literature, intensively read the literature with similar methodology to your study, determine the structure of the literature review and write the introduction while reading the background literature;
3. 20 June to 5 July: write the literature review based on the framework and frame the interview or questionnaire questions based on the literature review and the research questions (it is recommended to use a good quality questionnaire that has been validated by previous researchers);
4. 5 July to 15 July: collect sample data and also start writing the methodology section;
5. 16 July to 23 July: transcribe the data or analyse the data, produce tables and summarise the findings;
6. 23 July to 30 July: writing the results section of the research findings and answering the research questions;
7. 1 August to 7 August: writing a discussion section that closely integrates the literature review with the research findings;
8. 7 August to 15 August: writing the conclusion section and completing the first draft;
9. after 15 August until the submission of the paper: make sure to do several proofreadings to ensure that the paper is written in a standardised manner, paying attention to details and avoiding low-level errors.
