Suggestions on the Structure of a Research Thesis
Introduction
- Describe in a nutshell the hypothesis of your work; i.e., describe the major area of research and
how your specific topic relates to the major area.
- Write a short justification of why your work is of value and why the reader might be interested
in it.
- Present a guide to reading the rest of the thesis.
Review of the Literature
- Precisely define the area with which your work deals. Also introduce definitions and vocabulary
that are needed in comprehending and communicating in this area.
- Survey representative books and articles that deal with this area. For each of these, state how
your work compares with the concepts/work that is described in the article and why your work
is an advance to the state of the art.
Your Work
- Describe the research paradigm and the manner in which it is applied in your work.
- Give an overview of your work.
Present the detail
- proofs for a theory thesis, and/or
- experimental design, procedures, and experiments in an experimental thesis, and/or
- design, implementation, and validation in a design thesis.
Conclusions
- Describe the value of your work to others and how your work has advanced the state of the art
of computing sciences.
- Describe possible extensions of what you have done.