Note: planned mid-December.

Structure and general writing tips

What is already there?

Hanbook Website

- Structure of contents
- Writing style
- Citation style
- Creating illustrations
- Reference at the end of the page

Theses Website

- only Link to the handbook website
- Expose

• Example Structure

  • Example structure of a bullet point chapter outline

What is also needed?

- Five golden rules
- How to name the sections?
- When are illustrations needed?
- How to create the outline?
- What to put in the outline?
- How to get from the outline to the text?
- Which part should you write first?

Structure

1. Getting Started

• Overview:
  • Purpose of This Guide: To provide a practical roadmap for structuring, writing, and finalizing a thesis with efficiency and clarity
  • What You’ll Learn: An outline of topics covered in the guide, from initial planning to the final draft
• Key Concepts:
  • Importance of Structure: A strong structure makes your thesis easier to write, read, and evaluate
  • Clarity Over Everything: Readers should never struggle to understand your points
  • Integration with Handbook: in-depth insights on:
    • Writing style
    • Citation styles
    • Guidelines for creating effective illustrations

2. Five Golden Rules

• Title: Essentials for Effective Thesis Writing
• The Rules:
  1. Start with a Strong Outline:
     • Outline as the backbone of your thesis
     • How to divide your thesis into logical sections before writing
     • Link to Structuring Your Thesis for creating detailed outlines
  2. Maintain Consistency:
     • Consistency in tone: formal, clear, and academic
     • Formatting rules: follow a single style guide for margins, headings, and citations
     • Citation style: Stick to one system (APA) and use tools like Zotero for accuracy
  3. Prioritize Clarity:
     • Short, straightforward sentences
     • Avoid academic jargon unless necessary; define technical terms for non-specialist readers
  4. Revise Extensively:
     • Break the revision process into stages: first for structure, then content, and finally grammar
     • Tips on seeking feedback from peers and supervisors
  5. Use Illustrations Wisely:
     • When to use illustrations:
       • Complex data presentation (charts/graphs)
       • Explaining processes (flowcharts/diagrams)
     • Avoid overloading with visuals; each must have a clear purpose

3. Structuring Your Thesis

• Title: Building the Framework of Your Thesis
• Section Naming Guide:
  • Introduction: Introduce the topic, research problem, and objectives
  • Literature Review: Summarize key research and show gaps your study addresses
  • Methods: Explain how the research was conducted
  • Results: Present findings in a clear, organized manner
  • Discussion: Interpret the results and tie them back to your objectives
  • Conclusion: Summarize the study’s contributions and suggest future research
  • Examples of clear, academic section titles
• Creating the Outline:
  • Step-by-Step Guide:
    1. Define research goals and objectives
    2. Identify the main sections based on these goals
    3. Break sections into subtopics (e.g., subsections for methods or results)
    4. Draft headings and assign content to each
    5. Review and adjust for logical flow
  • Reference to Example Structure for inspiration
• Checklist for Key Components:
  • What every section must address:
    • Objectives and hypothesis/research questions
    • Key literature with citations
    • Research design (e.g., qualitative/quantitative methods)
    • Expected outcomes or contributions

4. Writing Process

• Title: From Outline to Full Text
• Transitioning from Outline to Text:
  • Expand bullet points into paragraphs, ensuring each point flows logically into the next
  • Use topic sentences for each paragraph to maintain focus
  • Integrate references smoothly into the text to substantiate claims
• Recommended Writing Sequence:
  • 1. Methods Section:
    • Easiest to write first as it describes what you did
    • Provides a foundation for the Results section
  • 2. Results Section:
    • Present data in tables, graphs, or summarized text
    • Avoid interpretation—reserve that for the Discussion
  • 3. Discussion Section:
    • Analyze the results and connect them to your research questions and objectives
    • Identify limitations and implications of the study
  • 4. Introduction and Literature Review:
    • Write these later to ensure they align with what the study ultimately achieved
    • Set the stage and contextualize findings
  • 5. Conclusion:
    • Recap key insights and their significance
    • Avoid introducing new information
• When Are Illustrations Needed?
  • For Data Presentation:
    • Use charts, graphs, or tables for numerical results
  • For Clarifying Processes:
    • Include diagrams or flowcharts for methodologies
  • For Enhancing Understanding:
    • Visual aids like concept maps for theoretical frameworks
• Illustration Best Practices:
  • Clear and professional design
  • Ensure all visuals are labeled and properly cited
  • Align with the text and avoid redundancy

Thank you - this is a great suggestion! Can you open a pull request with the structure? That would allow us to develop the content and add more specific comments.

@LaureenTh : could you integrate the following (taken from the thesis template):

Introduction
- Worum geht es hier? Was ist das betrachtete Problem bzw. die Fragestellung der Arbeit?
- Darstellung der Bedeutung und Relevanz: Warum sollte die Fragestellung bearbeitet werden?
- Einordnung in den Kontext
- Abgrenzung: Welche Probleme werden im Rahmen der Arbeit *nicht* gelöst?
- Zielsetzung: Möglichst genaue Beschreibung der Ziele der Arbeit, etwa erwarteter Nutzen oder wissenschaftlicher Beitrag
- Umfang: typisch ca. 8% ... 10% der Arbeit

Background
- Darstellung relevanter Ansätze aus der Praxis bzw. Forschung
- Einordnung und Bewertung der Konzepte und Lösungen in Bezug auf die Ziele der Arbeit
- Umfang: typisch ca. 15% ... 20% der Arbeit

Methodology
- Darstellung der eigenen Ideen und Konzepte zur Lösung der Fragestellung
- Vergleich mit bekannten Lösungen: Worin unterscheiden sich die eigenen Ansätze von den bekannten? Wo liegen mögliche Vor- oder Nachteile?
- Wie soll das Konzept umgesetzt werden? Beschreibung der zur Umsetzung eingesetzten Methoden
- Umfang: typisch ca. 20% ... 30% der Arbeit

Results
- Beschreibung der Umsetzung des Lösungskonzepts
- Darstellung der aufgetretenen Probleme sowie deren Lösung bzw. daraus resultierende Einschränkungen des Ergebnisses (falls keine Lösung)
- Auswertung und Interpretation der Ergebnisse
- Vergleich mit der ursprünglichen Zielsetzung (ausführlich): Was wurde erreicht, was nicht (und warum)? (inkl. Begründung/Nachweis)
- Umfang: typisch ca. 30% ... 40% der Arbeit


Discussion
- Fazit: Vergleich mit der ursprünglichen Zielsetzung (komprimiert/zusammengefasst)
- Ausblick: Darstellung ungelöster Probleme und weiterer relevanter Ideen
- Umfang: typisch ca. 5% ... 10% der Arbeit

Conclusion
- Fazit: Vergleich mit der ursprünglichen Zielsetzung (komprimiert/zusammengefasst)
- Ausblick: Darstellung ungelöster Probleme und weiterer relevanter Ideen
- Umfang: typisch ca. 5% ... 10% der Arbeit

Appendix:
- Platz für *wichtige* Materialien, die zu umfangreich für den eigentlichen Textteil sind.
- Der Anhang gehört *nicht* zum Textteil (wird nicht zum Seitenumfang hinzugerechnet).

Additional notes for the writing section:

• Use of illustrations (figures, tables, pseudo-code listings). For theses involving coding work, it is rarely useful to print code or class diagrams in the thesis. Instead, it may be helpful to illustrate the architecture, key mechanisms, or pseudo-code.
• All contents, including figures and tables are assumed to be your own, unless stated otherwise. You do not need to state that the figure is an "own illustration".

Additional Notes are now included

The changes is something we need to dicuss in the meeting

Notes:

• "What every section must address" - this part should be clearer (currently, it seems to suggest that all sections should have the same contents)
• Let's discuss including an example of bullet-point summaries.

We could add a note on tenses:

## Present Tense
- Use for **general truths, facts, and accepted knowledge**  
  (e.g., "Water boils at 100°C").
- Describe what the paper **does or contains**  
  (e.g., "This study investigates..." or "The results indicate...").
- Refer to **figures, tables, or conclusions** in the paper  
  (e.g., "Figure 1 shows...").

## Past Tense
- Describe **specific methods or experiments conducted**  
  (e.g., "We analyzed the data using SPSS").
- Report **specific results** or findings from the study  
  (e.g., "The analysis revealed a significant correlation").
- Refer to **prior research**  
  (e.g., "Smith et al. (2020) found...").

The structure is now online.

While I created the structure I came up with a few questions:

• there is no universal approach for an Outline, should I do it specifically for each chapter or do kind of a general thing and include add ons for each chapter?
• shall we include what should be pat of each chapter in the thesis?
• is it to much information? -> more in the sense of, to much help, because usually you have to find out most things yourself in that process (its not a seminar its a big step for the degree)
• it should stand alone right? no links to the handbook, etc.

Thank you. I think the general structure/contents would be helpful on the first page (acknowledging that sections like the background are optional and others may be renamed (have different subsections). The updated writing section will certainly contain more information, but if we structure it well, it should (hopefully) not overwhelm students. From my view, we can give students as much information as needed on the process and how to write a good thesis. The challenge should primarily be related to the research (developing the topic, objectives, organizing prior research, thoroughly implementing the methods and presenting/interpreting the results with implications for research/practice).