How to Write a Thesis

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Handbook

Handbook

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Postgaduae Medical Stdes

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A Hndbook

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Postgrdute Medicl Students

Postgrdute Medicl Students

Bangabandhu Sheik Mujb Medical University, Dhaka Banglades Bangabandhu Sheik Mujb Medical University, Dhaka Banglades

January

How to Write

How to Write

_a

_a

Thesis

Thesis

A Hndbook

A Hndbook

for

for

Postgrdute Medicl Students

Postgrdute Medicl Students

Bangabandhu Sheik Mujb Medical University, Dhaka Banglades Bangabandhu Sheik Mujb Medical University, Dhaka Banglades

January

ISBN:

ISBN: 984-300-002519984-300-00251911

Publishng Publishng Bangabandhu

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, BangladeshSheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Cover desig

Cover desig Dr. Md. Mzanur RahmanDr. Md. Mzanur Rahman

©

© _{Al rghts reseve by BSMMUAl rghts reseve by BSMMU} Frst Editon: January,

Frst Editon: January, 20082008

Price T.

Price T. 300.00300.00

Prnted 

Prnted  Zama PntesZama Pntes && _{PackagigPackagig}

62, Khilgaon Hazpr, Rampura D.LT Rad 62, Khilgaon Hazpr, Rampura D.LT Rad Dhaka-119 Phone: 9356977

The Committee and Contributors of the Hadbook The Committee and Contributors of the Hadbook 1

1 _{Professor Md. SalehuddinProfessor Md. Salehuddin}

Chairman,

Chairman, DepartmenDepartmen o Ophalmologyo Ophalmology

BSMMU, Daka

BSMMU, Daka

2

2 _{ProfessProfessor Sor Syed Atiqu Hoqueyed Atiqu Hoque} Deament o 

Deament o MedicneMedicne BSMMU

BSMMU DakaDaka 3.

3. _{Professor M MesbauddinProfessor M Mesbauddin}

Chairman Departmen o Phamacology Chairman Departmen o Phamacology BSMMU Daka

BSMMU Daka 4

4 _{Professor Kondaer Manzer-EShamimProfessor Kondaer Manzer-EShamim}

Chairman, Departmen o Anatomy Chairman, Departmen o Anatomy BSMMU,

BSMMU, DakaDaka 5

5 _{Dr Hossan Imam AHadDr Hossan Imam AHad}

Associae

Associae Pofessor of OtoaryngoogyPofessor of Otoaryngoogy Deament o ENT, BSMMU Daka Deament o ENT, BSMMU Daka 6

6 _{Dr Md Mizanr RamanDr Md Mizanr Raman}

Assocae Professor Biosatistics Assocae Professor Biosatistics Deparmen of Biosaisics

Deparmen of Biosaisics NPSOM Daka

NPSOM Daka

7

7 _{Poessor Md. ShaidulaPoessor Md. Shaidula} Professor of Biosatsics Professor of Biosatsics BSMMU Daa BSMMU Daa Charman Charman Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Membe  Member-Secretary Member-Secretary

PREFACE

After the establishment of the Institute of Post-graduate Medicine and Research (PGM&R) in

65

the Medical Education in Banglades has expanded manyfolds in various dimensions and

students of M. Phil & FCPS in PGM&R would write dissertation and thesis as an integral part

of their postgraduate program

The students of  various postgraduate institutions ie ICVD IDCH, RIHD, NIPSOM and others

also have postgraduate education program of wich dissertaton

/

thesis is an integral part

With the establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical Universty in

1998,

the necessity

was fet for a thess guideline for the students and teachers of all medical institutons n

Bangladesh

With the passage of time soe governmet medical coleges in Bangadesh also started

Postgraduate corses i medcal sciences

As a part of the curcula each and evey studen is required to submit a thesis to obtain a

Masters or Ph D Degree.

For the preparation of a standard thesis adequate nowledge on iostatistics and other basic

medical science is a prerequiste Many of our teachers and students lack suicient knowledge in

biostatistcs and research methodology

A standard book as a guidelne is now the demand of the time. It is expected a standard book n

this regard wll equally benet both the teachers and the students who are invoved in research

This handbook will be reviewed and updated periodically to accommodate new knowedge and

experience Constructve criticisms and useful suggestons for improving the quality and contents

of this handboo from al quarers are welcome.

 thank the charman and the members of the committee and contributors for their endeavor

wthout which this publication would not have been possible

(Professo Md. Tahi)

Vce Chancellor

Table of Contents

Topics Page no

.

Chapter

 :

Overview of he Thess

9-11

1

Wha s thesis? 

9

12

An oveiew of the hess structure

9

121

Thesis e page

10

22

able o cones

0

2

Ceticate of gude/superviso

0

24

Decaao of authorshp

10

125

Ls of tabes and gues

10

126

Ackowedgemets

10

27

Dedicaton

0

I 28

Abstac

 

129

Key pons in hess Wriig

 

2.

Chaper

2 

Witng he Thess Itoduction and Backgroud

16

2 

Introduco

1

22

he ucios of the hesis iroducto

1

2.3

_{Deveopg the thesis raioale}

_

24

hs s somethig we do o kow aeady

4

25

Other peope hik his probem as impotat

14

26

The poem I am sudyng affecs a o of peope in a

14

paticuary uforunae way ad/or costs a o of moey

2.7

_{Sovig his pobem has mpicatios fo ohe probems}

₁₅ 28

he eseach s heoeticaly importa ad eesig

15

29

It wil enable us o do i beer

5

10

he hess objectives, hypotheses o eseach quesons

6

2 

Key pons in wtng toduction  he hesis

6

3.

Chaper

3 

Witng he hess eaure Review

119

 

How to wre eaue eview

17

2

Seecio of teatue fo incusion n he ieraure eview

17



Keep your leaue search unde coto

17

1

Compuer-asssed lieraure seachg

1

2

Seaches of colected prined absacs

1



Maual seachng of liteaues

18

4

Consulng expets  he eld

8

5

Oder o dffeet ypes of searches

8

6

Oganizao and g of ieature materias

8



he scope o eraure coectios

8

8

Bbographc sowae

19

4

Key poits i wiig iteraue evew  he hess

19

3.5

_{Cocudig comme}

₁₉

4.

Chape

4 :

Wig the hesis Maeias and Mehods

228

41

Iroductio

21

42

Research parcipans/subecs

21

4

Research ools

22

44

Proocols and procedures

22

45

Mehodologica defese

2

46

Deense of sampe size

2

4

Satistica powe

_2

5 4. 4.0 4 42 42 422 4.23 424 425 43 Caper 5 Topics

Deense o the researc desgn Expemental designs

Survey esearc

Defese of daa colection meods Direc pysica measremen

Clcal observatio

Se-repored measres and quesionares Ievews

Secoday daa coection rom docmens and databases Key poins to remember in wg tess mehodology 5: Wrig e Tesis Reslts

toducon

5.2 e orgazao of e preseation of ress capers 53 Preseatio desg pricples for e resul section of heses 531 Welpresened ables ad ges

532 Carity o pesetaon of sale rests 533 Repog o aiative sdies

534 Good layo

5.4 A ogical deveopmen of te ndigs

55 Key pons o remember in wriing abes ad raps 6 Caper 6 Witig the hesis Discssion

6 Introduco

62 Eements o discssio wrig

62 mpoa Eemens Detaied Analysis 622 Hypoess tesg

623 Sources of erors 624 Aeraive modes 625 Te fuure

63 Key os o remember in dscussion wrtng

7. Cape  7  Writing te Tess Conclsions and Recommendations 7 Itoducon

72 Summay o e ocomes o te lierate review

73 Major ndgs o  te tess and ow tey itegrae wit previos work 74 Srengs and miaos of e researc

7.5 Fuure avees of researc

76 Te process of wiig te cocldig capter

77 Key ponts to remember i wng tess cocsions ad recommedatios 8 Cape 8 : Wig e esis Reeence or Bibography

8I What is tess refeece o  bbliogapy? 82 Reeecing ad bibograpc ctation 8.3 he Harvad Sysem (Ato Dae Method) 83 Ciation  e ex4

832 References a e ed of e wor

84 American sychoogica Association (AS Syle 84 Ctaion in te text

842 Reeeces at e end o e wok Reeence Ls 8.5 Vancouver Syle

85 Ciation  the ext

8.52 References a the ed of e work Bibiogapy

Appendages

Tess Formatting and Sbmssion Sampe Thesis Fomat

Sample Bibiograpy Page 10. 24 25 25 26 26 26 27 27 27 28 29-34 29 29 30 30 32 33 33 33 34 3536 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 36 3740 37 37 38 38 38 39 40 464 4 4 41 41 43 48 48 50 55 56 57 62 63 63 65 87

CHAPTER 1

Overview

of

the hess

.1 What is thesis?

A thess s he wrien document tha esuls fom a perod o supervised research a the Universiy. Theses are geneally equed or 'rst Masers degees, and always o he highe degees - Master of  Philosophy or Doco of Philosophy For some s Masters degees a ess comprehensve piece o esearch may be euired These are efered o as dsseraos

Ay thess o mae what the disciplie attemps o make a new claim Is purpose is to shed new ight on somehig or to ook a somehg  a ovel way This s ue whehe the hess s wtten in the medical sciences, he social sciences o the humanities The role o the thesis n Academa is o contribute to knowledge, Ths means hat you, the eseacher, ae conributng to he kowedge base we cureny have aout he wod we live n You have the poetal to nstgae ew reseach change curen pracices ad even chage peopes belies Because o his, your hess is judged agans sc cera I mus eec he expeced sadards of uversity scholashp

A thesis eports on ew digs ad mplicatons of eseach udertake, set in he coext o he earlier wok o  ohers and makig appropriae efeece to hose pevious sdes and results hat have ifuenced the conduct of the work The hess s also assessed y scholars exteal o the ivesiy After successfu examnaio of the hesis  s odged n he versiy Lay  boh had copy ad so copy Theses ae genealy avaiabe or perusal by students ad sa of this and ohe uverstes Frequety pas o a hesiso indeed eve the whole thesisae subseuety published ether as journal arcles or as books

1.2 An overview of the thess stucture

The health sciences thesis ypcaly oows a wedesigned ovea sucture I may cotai the folowig eemens:

i, Thess te page ii Tale of conets

·. 11 ,  Iv v, V · . VII Vlt   X  I • •  Xlll XV xv • VI V

Certicate o guide/Supervsor Decaraon o authorship

Ls o ables List of gures Ackowledgemens Dedcaton (opoal) Asract Inroducio Lierature review

Materias and methods Resuls

Discusso

Concusons ad ecommedatos RefeencesBiogaphy

10 Hw t Wieaess

The substance of te thesis appears in the absact, inrodction and iteate eview metods and mateials, rests and dscsson conclusons and ecommendaions chapes. Howeve the podcton of  a reseac tess is not simply a wiing task.  is he clminaton of  an often adous and engthy sequence of tasks perfomed in academic, clncal and community contexts Many peope are invoved in hese asks. is teaise reecs bo a focs on he wtng tasks and reseach context n whic ese ae writen

2. Th l pag

Ts page incldes ttle of the esis (includng subtte) auto's name, instituional aliation name of  respecive deparmen monh and yea of submssion.

.22 Tabl  cnn

The tabe of conens should ist a the major sectons of the thesis docment and all their page ranges The skeleton o he table of contens can and shold be produced in daft but i can only be nalized wit e acual page nmbes when the est of the thess as been prined n nal form.

2.3 Cc  gud/upv

A ceticate is to be issued by the speviso  of te hesis at e student conceed has competed te esis nde his cose supervison wt s ull saisfaction.

.2.4 Dclaan  auhhp

•

Te declaation is sgned by the studen and it is genealy caimed tat the thesis s one own work all soces ave been coectly atibed and that the hesis s presented in accoce wit the univesitys guidelines and eguaions fo te degee.

25 L  abl nd gu

The s of tabes and ges shows the exac tiles as they appea in te ext of  al ble  ges nclded n the thess It is bete to c and paste the ites fom the acual e gres o ense ta hey match exacty You shold include thei page nmbes to indice he ceent in he text

26 cknldgmn

e acknowledgements section has no sbstantve mpact pon the eception of the ei t i olite to ank hose who have subsantially assisted you either echnicaly intellec  or cialy drng your eseach work he s paagaph s for the supeviso  and c-ur. e econd

paagap is fo any peson, oganiaon o instte wo suppoed the eseac for ncing and e hird and e nal paagaph is fo any oter peson(s colleages) wo sbstan ed you n e completon of e tesis wok. A maximum of one page is earmaked for te acowegements 2.7 Ddcan

his is an opona page in wch you can pledge yo ndying devoton to you god. t is okay n books bt not mandaoy in hesis.

How to Wre aThesis  

1.2.8 Abac

An abstract should be viewed as a min verson of the thei. The abstract shoud provide a bref  smmary of each of the main sectons of the thei: Introdcton, matera and methods ret and discsson. So an abtract can be dened as a ummary of  the infomaton n a docment A we prepared abtract enabes readers to dentify the bac content of a docment quickly and accurately to determine ts reevance to ther interet, and th to decde whether they need to read the the in it' entirety The abtract n thes hold not exceed two page of dobe spaced text and hod be designed to defne ceary what i dealt with n the thesis Abtract preferably be tructred and hold () state the princpa objectve and cope of the nvetgation; ) decribe the methodoogy employed; iii) smmarze the reslt; and iv) tate the principa concusion Mot or the entre abtract hod be written in the past tense becaue t refers to work done The abtract houd never gve any informaton or concsion that  not stated in the thesis Reerences to the iterature mst not be cited in the abstract The followings are the ey points to keep n mind

 A good abstract tels n one ine why the thei  important. A good abstract i concie, readable and quantitative.

 Ill,



1 V.

Informaton in tite houd not be repeated  Be expcit

Anwers to the folowng qeston hod be fond n the abtract a What did yo do?

b. Why dd yu do t? What qeton were yo trying to anwer? c. How did you do t? State method.

d. What dd yo learn? State major ndngs.

e Why doe it matter? Pont out at leat one signcant mplicaton 1.2.9 Ky pn n  ng

Frst and foremot, a   a p f n A great deal of emphasis s paced on your writng abty and yor grade wll depend on how efectvely yo communcate your deas t s mportant to deveop a good cear conce writng style

 am for smpcty rather than compex sentence stctre • be clear abot the point you are trying to make

 be concie and drect rather than excevey wordy  make mportant ponts trongy

Second your thes hod contan a cear poiton or argument Yor writng need to use the approprate language and writing conventions that reect ths

 e approprate headngs and sub-headng

 each paragraph shoud have a cear pont topic sentence  each point houd be concded before moving on to the next  se appropriate dscorse markers

Chapter 2

Wiing  Tsis Inoducion nd Bckgound

2.1 Introductio

You cannot write a good intoduction unil you know what he body of the hesis is. Be sure o ncude a hook at the beginnng of he inroducion Ths s a saement of somethng sufcienly nterestng o motivate you reader o ead the hes,  s an importan scienic prolem ha your thesi eithe soves or addeses You shoud daw the reader in and make them wan to ead he res o he theis

The nroducoy chapter should incude raionae for he hess the pevious reevan eseaches done n ths aea I should cie hose who had he idea o ideas s and houd also cite hose who have done he mos ecen work You should then go on o explain why it was necessary (your work o couse)

Wha else belong n the intoducoy section(s) of you hesis?

a. A statement o he goa of the thess: why he study was underaken o why he hesis was witen Do no epea absac.

b Sucien akgound inormaton o a110w the eade to undesand he conet and sign cance of the quesion you ae tying to addess.

c Poper acknowedgement o the pevous wok on which you are uiding Sucient reerences uch that a eade coud y going to the lbay achieve a sophisicated understanding o he contex and gnicance o he question.

d. Epan he scope o you work wha wi and wha w no e incuded

Remembe hat hs s not a review pape We are ooking or origna wok and interpeaton and analysis by you Break up the intoducion secton no logical segments y using subheads

2.2 The fuctons of the hess introduction

Essenia1y he intoduction o a heah sciences thesis ought o perfom the folowng functions n he thesis document

a ovde a rationae fo the hess reseach

 Review current knowedge in he ed relevan to your thesis hrough he performance of a iteratue review and analyss

c Culminate in he saemen of reseach hypoheses or eseach uestons to be answered y the work in th thesis.

23 Developing the thesis rationae

An mpotan function of the introducton is to provde a aionae fo the thesis research. he thesis atonae i concerned wih answeng the question 'Why does hs work need o e done? While you mght be convnced that your theis topic is of ovous and ntinsic merit t i the views of he examines that coun! Theefoe it is impotant hat you ae abe to communicate efectively o them a pausble and convincing ationae fo the wok you have peormed and whch you ae attemping to repo in the thesis

 ow to Wrt aThesis

The rationale fo the thesis is not conned to any one section of the thess, bt it ought to e partclly concentate thoghout the intouctory chapte. It needs to e oven closely into the fac of the ntouction an teratue revew

A nme of stanad aguments can be sed to defend the esearch wok nclude n yor thesis an can be sed in the eveopment of  your ationale These arguments are dscssed eow n plan angage

2.4   mng  d n kn alady

The most basic rationale fo stuyng something is that we do not know about t aeay f  we d know aleady then why wod we bothe to research it? f we wish to se a bt of jargon we cold say the thesis ntoucton has to entify clearly the 'knowedge gaps that nee to e fuled The knowege gap ationale s a bt weak on its own (ie we o not know this so we should) t t is a basc requste for the other possible agments in the atonae to be mae The knowedge gap agument s a kin of  Sir Edmnd Hlay 'ecause it is there explanaton of why we nee to know An exampe of some text that expesses ths type of agument follows:

Thus, the literature review has reeaed that the state of  knowedge in the iterature ;s unsatis  factor cOceing whether ong-term suriors of HV(as dened by 10ears foowing nec tion without progression to AIDS) have psychoogca characteristics that are dferent from those who have 10t surived. According, the research program was designed to examine this position

25 O pp nk  pbm a mpan

A second line of gument fo a thesis progam atonale is that other people think the pobem s mpoant too Ths elies on ning people who have said that you geneal research agenda o approach s worth prsing Once again this is not a patculary compellng stan-aone ationale as t is a sort of appea to authoity o adherence to acaemc group noms A the ncowd wear dngaees an hang aound at the oca coffee shop so we shou do ths as well

On {he basis of these resuls, Teoshok (1988)aseed a 'a bo-psychosoal appoa o

A[DS reear is eessary ad . may provide criical ormaio or deradig ad reaiADS'

The aove quotation s an excerpt fom a paper that the reseache wote recently concerning the psychologca charactistics of people wth HV who have svved the illness fo a ong time The researche was aging as a psychologist that psychoogical constucts had not been incude in the stues of ongtem survval ecase the medica reseachers had advocated totally iomedical celua level explanatons fo health hariness The eseacher went on to cite evidence fo the exstence of direct nks etween psychoogy states and mmne competence in humans One of hs aguments along the way was that peope lke Temoshok wee supportng the approach he was avocating Thus he was usng Temoshok as an appeal to authority stication for stdyng what he was studyng ie we wee wearing the same color dungarees

6  pbm I am udyng affc a   pp n a paculay unfuna ay and/ c a  f mny

How O WriteaThesis 15

theses If you are studying peole wth a parcla obem, ten a esentaion o the epdemoogy o that olem s de igeur Even bete   costs the community a lot of money. You can ncude statements aot te ablos cost o e condton and ow  you eseac bears  hi faos cos cod be redced. The olowng excet rom one of s paers on ack pan does e trc:

For some time. back injuries have ated onsiderable researh aenio aross a ide rage of  COUries / Seden Anderon ) repoed that 'ak kness aounted or on aerae

% of he days los due to oupational injr among Swedish orkers. n the UK, _nderson

) estimated tha 3%of the toal sik das ere de 0 _{lo bak pain, representin a loss o}

/ million ork das per ann David ( / J, hoeer repoed that sprains ad sais o the  bak a ork i the UK, _{ao!ed Jor an aerae o}/4% _{o all ork absenees oer} 3_{das Jor} 

the eriod   to 0, representin approximal 0000 ases for eah ear Be1 & _Wood 

)esimated that 3000000 isits per (I o eneral pitioners i he UK_{ere assoiaed} 

i! lo bak pblems ad that there ere6000 10\ _{bak operaios eah ear}

So why are yo no ot ee sdyng ack njures? e on  was estashng was that hs s a g-evaence cosly condon that reqes stdy because o e ssues Laer on n is ae e wen nto how it all coss is is no a patculary academcaly espectabe argumen ut  certanly gets te commnty's atenton Most theses can sand a dose of ts sor of  epdemologca contexaizaon of the wok eorted within 

2.7 Solvng  poblm a mplcaon fo o poblm

t can be agued ta soutons to problems whn a partcla eld may ave wde mplicaions Fo  exampe the dscovery of a vaccine or a acla vrus may ead to the se o sma tecnqes or ote vrses  e wee pefomng a stdy of te eah prolems o nses aisng rom swiftwok e migh fee moved to wre sometng le ths

While the prtiulr ouption goup hosen for nclsion withn the pesent reearh ws nurses, there is no reon to uppose tht the inding would not be generlisble to ll helth worers involved in egulr wit-work.

In anma wo the anthropomophic agument is a fom of is agmen

The liver untion o  the pig h been ound to e  priJly useul model o hmn liver n tion in th 

28  a  ocally mpoan and nng

f  the reseac involves e test o a arclar theoetical aroac o ndersandng e researc problem ten t can be argued tha e wor as mpotan teoetcal mlications Alough the ote argmens esented above ae se argments o ncde n a dscussion o thess topc raionae te eoetcally imporan ne o agument s poably e most academcally esectae Some wods a migt expess ths ne o argment olow

Thus the proposed eserh wi provide  direL tet o the ross·lturl vlidty o  the Helth Belie Mode in explining helth re erve tiiztion y peope rom Austrin Gree nd Ausrlin AngloCelt bgronds The vlidiy o the mode h importn mplitions or the predition nd understnding o the tilition o ervies

2.9 I wll nabl u o do  b

Heat sciensts oten ave a srongy alied orentation and eeore wam to the dscsson of  ractice mplications of any reseac Claims and nteventons may e eter tageed moe eecve

16 How to Wrie aThesis

more efcient. cost ess, etc as a resu o the reseach, are aso ceran o p a partial smie on he exaners' aces This s because the eseache has taken he eort to connect hs or he wok o the contex n which it is perfoed as we as pehaps, striven o make the word a sighy better pace

Thee ae o course, any oher possibe ines o aguen ha can be advanced to sppo the condc o a eseach pogam However he aove nes o agent ae equenty empoyed in he consrucon of the aionae fo reseach heses and a ought e consideed or ncson n he ationae

2.0 _{The thesis objectives, hypothee or reearch questions}

t has been prevosy noed ha one of he functions o the introdcton o the thess s o cumnae n the saemen o he eseach quesions o be answeed y he woke n the hess and ha he iteare review shoud denify any gap n knowedge pertnen to the eseach qesions to e addessed y he hess The eature review needs to concude wh an expcit sry satement o  wha we know and what we do not' n order tha the esearch qestons can be deveoped rom the eview

 s mperatve hat he hesis has cea and unamigous esearch objecives, hypotheses o esearch quesons These quesons need to e deveoped ogicay o iteare review and be supported y the eseach raonae The esearch qesons ae noray staed a concusion of he inroduction and hey ae used over and over houghou he hess They for he asis o methodoogy They are he basis pon whch he esuts are pesened Snce the obecives o the thess are o pose and answe the esearch qestons he discssion and concusion sections necessay focus on the If  they are no we deveoped then the thesis qaty can be seveey compromsed

n erms o he reaionship beween reseach questons and hypoheses, consder he foowng exampe or a hypoheca qanative sudy:

The objetives o thi eeach wa to d) the lationhi beween age ad diion makzg rfol

The eseah queio addeed by Study I was: 'I_{thee an aoiation btwn age and  diio g}

 po-mane oh ik o'iy mas odd b th gamblig task?

t wa hotheied ,ha thee woud be a gatie aoiation bw atician  ag and     propni oe died om h gambling tak omleted b th atician.

2 _{Key point in writing introduction in the hesis}

 _{In te itoducio, you sould intodce yo reades o the nate of yo eseac and wy e  s sgnicant:}  _{Reevant backod ifomatio is appopiate hee;}

 _{clde as mc detail i te todctio as possibe it wil el yo eades to ne e dcsos yo ave}

made

• _{Be se to incde t eseac ojecties eseac qesios o yoteses in e poem steme and ty to anticipae}

d nswe y esto(s) yo ede my as

 _{e se o dee all tems d symbols tat may be own to yo eades i yo ae cea abot wete to}

Chapter 3

Wiing  Tsis Liu Rviw

3.1 How to write literature review

One of the areas o the thesis in which many students struggle is the wtng of the iteature review. A lteratue evew has severa unctons The most mportant o these ae:

a Revew curent knowledge in the ed eevant to the thesis

b Descibe the characteristcs of prevous sudies n the area including who conducted them, where they were conducted, who were the patcpants what protocos were oowed and what were the ndings and conclusions

c Compare and contast reevant studes and ndngs

d Comment on the stengths and mtatons of the reevant studies and ndings

e Identfy any gp n nowedge petinent to the reseach questons to be addressed by you thess

A iteature evew shoud be informative evaluatve and integrative These attbutes coespond to the thee stages n the constucton of a iterature review t s suggested that the students rst wite the informative detai o the studies to be reviewed in a neutra way then add crtical (ths does not aways mean negative) anaysis o the iterature they have just descibed They should then ntegrate the various studes to compare and contrast the ndngs

32 Selection of literature for inclusion in the literature review

Part o the skil in constructng a iteature review is the abity to make connectons between elevant mateias and to choose which inomaton to ncude and whch nomation to omit Reading othe iteratue evews in the same area is a useful gude to these decisons The thoroughness wth whch the teature reseaching process is peromed s the best nsurance o ensuing that al pevious wors reevant to your thess are ound.

33 Keep your literature search under control

There are several basic strategies and pocedures o ocatng the teratue that s pertnent to your  seach topc These incude compute-asssted searches using eectronc databases or the intenet more generally searches usng printed coected abstracts, manua iteatue seaching and consultations with expets n the ed

33 Computer-assisted literature searching

Most unvesty ibrares mantan varous computerbased iteature databases often stored using CDROM technoogy The user conducts a search by st accessing the elevant databases Then the user keys n a combnation o subject eywods and also the names of key authos in the ed in oder  to ocate a the wos they have witten at least those that appea n the database) Computezed iteature databases ae a supeb too but ony f used skiuy

3,32 Searches of colected printed abstracts

n the eference section o the libay you wll nd shevesull o boos o abstacts wth associated author and subject ndces to guide you aound them t s aso possble to subscribe to some specalied

8 How to Wrie aThess

abstractng sevces that povde regular pdates to ndividual users sng search parametes dened by the sbscbe

3.3.3 Manual acng f lau

Ths pocess invoves hittng the bray shelves If yo ae early n yor teratre search poces, t is usef to nd some text-books and read ther reviews of  the iteratre pertnent to yo topc. in ode to dscover key works n the field The basc strategy fo a manual search s smple Most lbaes maintain sepaate lists of ther jornal subscptions Inspect ist wth a ew to possbe nteest fo your research topic and ocate the ournals of pomse

3.3.4 Cnulng xp n  ld

A ther source of key refeences s other academcans f you know of any academcan n the eld who s accessbe in person o by teephone or by email, ca him or her p or emal and ask, f  he/she cod point you to his/her recent wok

335 Od f dffn yp f ac

n terms of the order of seqence of seachng, one may puse the folowing seqence: a Locate integratve evews in texts

b Condct an eectonic seach usng the keywords and authors ocated in (a) above Perhaps now speak to you spevsor(s for advce

c Conduct a manal seach of relevant onas

d Usng the keywords and athos found condct another electronc seach

e Start reading on a gla bass the jounas whee you have ocated most mateals of eevance to yo Since your canddare n the case of a highe degree, may last a few yeas yo need to monto regaly the iterature and keep up to date In fact at the ast moment before the sbmsson of the thess it is ecommended to the stdents that they repeat their eectonc seach using ther sua search parametes to check that nothing new and vta has appeaed 336 Oganzan and lng f lau maal

Organizaton of the lterature mateals, f done well, can save yo an en0 amount of tme and conversey, f done badly can waste an enomos amount of tme

When yo have decided that a efeence s to be ncluded n the database have a physcal copy of t Then the selected atcles ae to be led in alphabetcal ode

3.3.7  cp f lau cllcn

Typca thess (whatever it is contans a fair st of reference citatons A Masters and hD theses mght contain over 100 citations Yo artcle brary may contain eferences that yo do not end up ctng in yor thesis Yo teatre colecton needs to be focused and selectve It s a means to an end bt not an end n itsef The eamines wil never hea of the hge amount of tme and money you wasted n collectng hundreds of extra refeences that you dd not use n your thess!

How to

Write

_a

Thess

19

3.3.8 Bblogapc fwa

There  a ange of exceent produc that are available to ait wh he mantenance of lieaue citaion and eference lit in a compute databae. Proably he mot popuar wihn the heah and medcal science etting ae End-Noe, roCite and Refeence Manager

Bblogaphc too like the ue of he intenet can ave you a lot f te and dever a hgher quality outcome than manual method You need to nvet ime to be ained in their ue and applcation Attend any coure you can and get out thee and play

3,4 Ky pon n wng lau vw n  

In fac you ae enterng a cholaly conveaton aready in proge he teature revew how hat you've een itenng and hat you have omething vauale to ay After aeng he ieature n you ed you houd be able to anwer the followng queion:

 Where dd the problem come from?

 Wha  aeady nown aout thi poem?  Wha other method have een ed to olve it?  Mae ue that you do not omit relevant pape

See an eample

Other tude alo upport he concuion that taditonal teaching method hinder learnng cacuu Seden Seden and Maon conclude that ioated tival probem the norm in many claoom nibit tudent fom acuiing te abiity to generalize caculu poblemolvng kill (Seden Seden and Maon 1994) Simlar reult are epoted by Norman and Pichad (994) They demonrate that many learner can not interpre the tructure of a pobem eyond uaceeve ymbol They how tha novce have naccurate ntuion about prolem which ead them to atempt ncoect oution traeges (Noman and rchad 994) Becaue hey cannot ee beyond higheve feaue they can not deveop corec nuion On he othe hand ucceful problem over categorie math prolem baed upon underlying tructura milaitie and fundamenal principe (Slver

979 (Shoenfeld and Herman 1982 Thee caegorie ae often grouped baed upon olution mode whch the epet ue to generate a forwad working tategy (Owen and Sweller 99)

Souce acceed 6/092007

35 Cncludng cmmn

By the end of your Literatue Review your reader houd be able o nd hat

 The cope of you evew  approprate for your degree

 You have revewed the ource reevant to your eearch topc • There ha been ful critica engagement with the liteaure

 t i clear how your eearch objectve/quetion/hypohee t in wth pevou cholaly

wok

Chapter 4

Wg  T Ml  M

.1

Inoducion

This chaper s ntended o assst he suden wih he reporng of he hess mehodology. Methodology s an imporant aspect of knowedge generaton In the teraure revew it s mporant o narrae he methodologcal sances taken by prevous researchers and that ther respecive strengths and weaknesses are discussed when evaating the presented work he methodoogcal themes rased n he introducton shod connec wh hose discssed in the thesis mehodoogy secton.

he structre o he indvidua hesis deermnes where he mehod secton(s) are to be placed In a

snge sdy research program, the methodoogy woud normaly precede he (rst resuls chaper and wod normally be a separae chapter or secton albe one hat s mch shorer than, for example he inroducory chapter(s

It _{should be noted tha he mehod secion in journa arcle is qe dferent n scope from a}

methodoogy secon in a heath sences thesis n a orna arcle becase of space consrans, there s suay no defense of the mehodology excep perhaps n some obique reerences to he strengths and imaions o the work he mehod secion n a journa arcle conains amost no explanaon or raonale for he methodologica choces made his s no an adeqae srategy for the heth scences thesis he methodoogca decisons aken need o be discussed and defended in  sysemac and robs manner. he researcher advocates the use of  a sandard mehod secon sructre and a mehodoogcal defense rrespectve of whether the research has a quntatve or  qaiave focus Both approaches invove knowledge gathering and generation based on procedres and assumpons that need o be expcaed he examners need to be convnced that he suden has an expert ndersanding of the strengths and weaknesses o he echniques chosen and heir heoretca nderpnnngs he specc methodoogic approach chosen, n no way exemps he stdent from this obigation

Furher, n mos heah scences theses irrespecive of methodological orenation here are hman paricipants who need o be descrbed, toos ha were sed n the research and protocols in he daa gahering and anayss ha were ollowed I s also advocated the addion of a section enitled 'Mehodology defense and raionale in which he sden deends and provides a raionale or he proocos and procedres employed in hs or her work Le us examine he conten o each componen o he mehod secion in a healh sciences thess



Rsc icins/subjcs

his is ypcally a very bre section perhaps a hal-spaced page o a page I should descrbe the number of particpants n he research and their basc arbtes incding age sex and diagnostic groupngs  appropriae Describe he inclsion (and exclson criteria or ther particpation in he research t s sometimes use o nclde a abe smmarzng he partcpans demographic attrbues a hs pont n the thesis An exampe o he sort o dea requred s as follows:

 _{volunteers paricipted n the prese reseach There were}  _{men nd} 0_{women with  men ge f}  53  _{yers he paricipnts' demgrphic chrcerisics re smmrized i ble} J _{(no shown)}

Prcipns were ll curren rheumod  rhrs pties  he Rheumlgy Institute who ttended n he mO/th f  FebLr. 999 f the 60 _{peple pproched fr recrumen nto the sdy,} 42 _{agreed ieldg a}

2 How to Wrie aThss

[t s compulsory that age and sex characteiscs of the eseach parcipans ae descibed. It is also essena that the resonse rae e, he percentage of people who wee aoached o aricae  the study ad who actay partcated s dscosed Ths s a essentia ece of  iformaton I reqes that good recods ae ke concenng who was aoached and who nay arcpated If  hs nfomaon s no povded the the eade has no idcation of how repesentaie e paciats mgh e of those who cod have pacpated n the stdy.

4.3 Rac l

his secon should descrie he use of any esearch nsrmet or oo empoyed by e esearche n the condcton of his o her reseach  laboatoy eseach hs secton is labeed'Aparas s these reseach toos ae odced, they shold be eviewed and defended Tha is o ony shod the ools sed be descred t aso the easons fo the seecton Ths secion cod  for seveal pages i a highe degee hess

Whee he tools are ot sandadzed ando we know hen they need to be desc in deta so that the eade nderstands exacty what has occed

 s mportan hat he eade has a cea dea of exacly what was doe In he case f qesoaires i is o usal to ncde the fl ext of he questionaie in he main ody of the tess i e methods ecto Nomay the qestonaie is incuded as an apendx Whe esenting eecy ales of  esoses to quesons fom a questonnaie t s heful to nclde he exact wodig o e queso n some nstances as ar of the ess ale

n a qatatve eseach roject involving ntevews, t s hghy appopae o descrbe he nterview schedule  the case of a scured ineview or focs gop ad/o the temes coveed n an nsrced ntevew n example foows:

Each of the focus goups was esented wth the same set of dscussio qestons by he reseacher These icude

Wha would you say s he ma hing yo fee aot eng HIV osve? How have your friends eacted o yor HIV-osiive stas?

How has yo famly eacted o yor HIVostive stas?

How do yo explan that yo have srvved yo llness fo the ime hat yo have? Why do you thnk other peole have no suvived as ong?

The examier should be  no dout abot how the informatio was coleced and wy his method was chosen

44 Pcl and pcdu

[n this secon the reseache descies exacty how the reseach was codcted In a hgher degee thess hs secton could r to a coule of pages I s usua to commence wih a bie descrion of  you ethcs approva rocedues foowed by us ad bots of the atcipan ecrime ocedure How wee eole contacted? How dd yo kow where o d them? How was access oaed? Fo example ehica ceaance to condct he esearch was soght and otained fom Ehica Revew Committee (EC) ad foowed the natona ethcal gudeine

How to Wi a Thesi 23

The pates wo aended e Rheumaology Isue du e mo of Febay. 1999, _{wee appoached y th}

nstte's ecepton sta when hey peseed fo e appoment at e nses cnc ecepon The paens wee handed a ee om te reeache tha coaned an nvaon o pacpae  he eseac Te paens who wshed o papae, he eseache eeponed he unvesy o dcae he nees n pacpao n he eseac poam e eeache hen aanged o mee a a muuay coveen me wh e eseach pacpans A s mee oown sgnaue o e nomed consen om he pacpa was hen nevewed usng he nevew scedue

Whie t s a commendble ws to spare he reade the guesome details,  is mpon h the work s descrbed to te eve h it would be eproducle by someone else. Unke in  joun ricle tere is penty of space avalbe in a esis Do no sint on he deal o how he sudy ws conducted Te exmines wll expec a ful accoun of ow he eseac ws caed ou.

4.5 Mdlgcal dfn

Ths secon contains a deted deense of te meodologic ppoaches empoyed y he studen

in his or her eseac It s  va component o e fc nd ppeance o  hg-quy resec pogam and ess This hs poven o e a dcul secion o his gudeline o we ecuse  cn not pesume o predct the ne deti of he mehodology o every hesis Neverheless here e outine ssues ssocied wh vious ypes o mehodoogcal pproches nd problems

The rs re tat needs consideaon in he deense evoves around te generalizion o he resuls obaned by te procedues ools and pcipns nvoved n he eseach

4.6 Dfn f amp z

Ou of l e peope who could have prcped in e reserch te esercher has genealy seleced  smll number This numer as to e used. One uscaon is he ogistic defense Tis uns aong te nes of 'I woud lie o ve more but ey we l have to sop  some pon. In academc sense hs could ranslate nto some phrases le he foowng:

e ecme o acpants o he pesen eseach poved o e dcu as s oe he case wh cca popuaos o cease he sample sze was o possbe w he esouces avaae

Ths s magnally bette tn no defense a  A much eter deense n  uanitaive study is  stastca one ased on he statistica powe o te nyss nd te equired sampe sie  yo ae reporting an intervenion study or one n whc group mens ae compaed fo exmpe involving nalyss of vrance hen in ge degree tess some atenon o powe is reuired If you do no now what satsca power s en you need o ead the folowng secton and some associaed reerences ecuse  s very mpotn tha you undestand wh  is aou I you e perfoming a uve study hen sp this secon

4.7 Sacal pr

In  sudy wee here e ess of goup men dierences (hs includes mos inevenion nd expement studies),  s essenal ht te ssue of siscal powe is canvassed in te weup Redes w recl om tei basic sastcal trnng ta wen a eseace ppies a stasca tes in addiion o correc reecion of he null ypohess and coect ccepance o  te nu hypohess here are two ypes of eros t can be made These are he incoec acceptnce of te nu ypotesis Type I ero o miss nd n ncorect reecton of the nu hypotesis Type I error o fase aarm