Dr. Zois’ Thesis Guide

*Please carefully read this guide through several times and keep it close to you as you write each section.

  1. PAGE LIMITS

*Please note that the upper limit is an absolute maximum

*Also note that the upper limits are not a lot of pages to get all of the needed information across. Thus, being concise is absolutely essential. See the “Writing Consisely” section of the “General Writing Tips” section of this document.

Abstract = 1 (also a limit of 350 words)

Introduction = 10 to 12 (including a list of hypotheses)

Method = 4

Results = 8 (about 4 text and 4 tables)

*For the Proposal, you will have “Proposed Analyses” instead of “Results.” The “Proposed Analyses” should not exceed 2 pages.

Discussion= 5 to 7

Total = 32

  1. GENERAL WRITING TIPS

Writing Concisely

(Adapted from the APA style manual and a writing center handout at UNC-CH)

Scientific writing is unique in that precision is critical. Every sentence should be an arrow leading logically to the next sentence. Likewise, every paragraph should lead logically to the next paragraph. Precision is even more important in view of the tight page limits that journal editors impose on manuscript submissions, and therefore, the page limits I am going to impose on you for your thesis.

  • Do not include information that is not critical to understanding your thesis.
  • Do not have two or more sentences saying the same thing.
  • Do not have two or more words saying the same thing.
  • Common examples of redundant pairs include: full and complete, each and every, hopes and dreams, whole entire, first and foremost, true and accurate, always and forever.
  • Avoid unnecessary qualifiers.
  • Common qualifiers include: actually, really, basically, probably, very, definitely, somewhat, kind of, extremely, practically.
  • Avoid passive voice. For example, “causes of depression will be covered in the next section.” Related, do not falsely attribute actions to inanimate objects. A thesis does not cover, propose, discuss, etc. The APA manual recommends the use of first person pronouns over passive voice. Thus, “I will cover causes of depression in the next section.”
  • Identify and reduce prepositional phrases
  • Overuse of prepositional phrases (which begin with words like “in,” “for,” “at,” “on,” “through,” and “over”) can make a sentence clunky and unclear. To locate this problem, circle the prepositions in your draft and see whether you can eliminate any prepositional phrases without losing your meaning. Sometimes the easiest way to revise a wordy sentence is to ask yourself “What do I really mean here?” and then write a new sentence; this approach can be more efficient than just tinkering with your existing sentence.
  • Example: The reason for the failure of the basketball team of the University of North Carolina in the Final Four game against the team from Kansas was that on that day and at that time, some players were frequently unable to rebound the ball
  • Revision: UNC’s basketball team lost the Final Four game against Kansas because it could not consistently rebound the ball.
  • Locate and delete unnecessary modifiers
  • Sometimes the meaning of a word or phrase implies its modifier, making the modifier unnecessary.
  • Example: Do not try to anticipate in advance those events that will completely revolutionize society.
  • In this example, “anticipate” already implies that something is in advance, and “revolutionize” already implies that something will be completely changed.
  • Revision: Do not try to anticipate revolutionary events.
  • Replace a phrase with a word
  • Many commonly-used phrases can be replaced with single words. These phrases often crop up in writing that requires a formal tone, but they detract from, rather than add to, meaning.
  • Common phrases that can be replaced with single words include:
  • The reason for, due to the fact that, in light of the fact that, given the fact that, and considering the fact that can be replaced with because, since, or why.
  • In the event that and under circumstances in which can be replaced with if.
  • It is necessary that and cannot be avoided can be replaced with must or should.
  • For the purpose of can often be replaced with an infinitive verb (the “to ____” form of the verb).
  • Example: In the event that going out for the purpose of eating with them cannot be avoided, it is necessary that we first go to the ATM, in light of the fact that I am out of cash.
  • Revision: If we must go out to eat with them, we should first go to the ATM because I am out of cash.
  • Identify negatives and change them to affirmatives
  • Expressing ideas in negative form means you must use an extra word; it also makes readers work harder to figure out your meaning.
  • Example: If you do not have more than five years of experience, do not call for an interview if you have not already spoken to human resources.
  • Revision: Applicants with more than five years of experience can bypass human resources and call for an interview.

Organization

  • Use headings to organize sections.
  • Use topic sentences to start each paragraph.
  • End each paragraph with a transition sentence to the next paragraph.

Changes from Proposal to Defense

  • Make changes of committee members.
  • Add the basic demographics to the “participant’s” section.
  • Change tense in the introduction.

  1. SECTION OUTLINES

A Thesis Title that Conveys the Specific Aim of the Study (e.g., Mediators and Moderators of the Association between Intimate Partner Violence and Psychological Distress)

  • Start with an “intro to the intro.” This is approximately two paragraphs in which you briefly describe the problem you are attempting to address, the goal of your thesis, and what the remaining sections of the thesis are going to be.
  • Have subheadings for each major section.
  • Your last section will be “The Proposed Study” in which you describe the ideas you are attempting to test and end by listing your study hypotheses.

Method

Participants

Measures

Self-Esteem Scale.

Description of the measure (including reference).

How many items? On what type of scale (e.g., how many point likert scale?) Any subscales? Are you going to be using the total score or subscales? Psychometric information. i.e., evidence for construct validity, test-retest reliability if applicable, and internal consistency if applicable.

See Appendix _. In appendix indicate which items load on which subscales and which items are reverse scored.

Next Measure.

Procedure

Proposed Analyses

OR

Results

Preliminary Analyses

The percentages and frequencies of the nominal and ordinal variables for this study are summarized in Table 1. Table 2 summarizes the means, standard deviations, and ranges of the continuous variables for this study. Preliminary analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between criterion variables (i.e.,) and demographic variables. Zero-order correlations were conducted for continuous variables. See Table 3 for the results of these analyses. <Discuss the results.

Nominal level demographics (i.e.,) and the criterion variables were analyzed using one-way Analyses of Variance. <Discuss the results. For significant effects, report means and standard deviations. If the IV has more than 2 levels, conduct and report the results of Post hoc tests along with the mean.>

Based on these results, tell the reader what demographic variables are going to be controlled for in the primary analyses.

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics for Nominal and Ordinal Level Study Measures

______

Variables Frequency Percentage

______

Table 2

Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Study Measures

______

Variables MeanSD Min-Max Chronbach’s Alpha

______

Primary Analyses

Start with zero-order correlations among primary study variables. Note: With a full matrix, you only report the bottom half because the top is redundant.>

Follow-Up Analyses

Follow-up analyses were conducted to examine…

Discussion

  • First one to two paragraphs:
  • Very briefly describe the purpose of your study and your primary results.
  • End by telling the reader what the organization of the remainder of your results section will cover.

Hypothesis 1:…..

  • You should have a subsection for each main research hypothesis or research question. These subsections should each have a heading that describes the main thrust of your research question.
  • Here, spend several paragraphs discussing the meaning of your results. For example,
  • Were your results consistent or inconsistent with you expectations?
  • Were your results consistent or inconsistent with past research? If inconsistencies were found, what might account for those inconsistencies?

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

  • Limitations and suggestions.
  • Additional questions to examine.
  • End with a “wrap up paragraph.” i.e., what did we learn and what do we still need to know?