Thesis Structure

Different area has different version of thesis structure. For Information System/Computer Science - we usually has:

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Research Methodology
4. Technique Development/Data Collection
5. System Development
6. System Evaluation
7. Discussion
8. Conclusion

It can be change depends on your research methodology and your supervisor or university style. Below is a figure that I find useful in structuring the thesis:

 

More info go to: http://www.epistemics.co.uk/staff/nmilton/thesis/Notes/51-0-0.htm

Chapter 2 can be divided into two (Chapter 2 and 3) if your literature is very wide and involve a lot of analysis. Basically Chapter after that is the same. It will be based on your research methodology. So hope this help. :)

RO vs RQ

Penyelidik haruslah tahu apa itu RO dan RQ. RO ialah Research Objective manakala RQ ialah Research Question. Penyelidikan selalu bermula dari RQ. Daripada literature review kita akan jumpa GAP dan dari GAP kita keluaran RQ. Kemudian dari RQ kita hasilkan RO.

 

 

 

 

Tapi sebagai penyelidik amatur kadang-kadang bukan mudah nak keluarkan RQ. Jadi apa yang kita buat ialah kita mulakan dengan RO dan hasilan RQ. So macam mana nak hasilkan RQ. Ok mula-mula kita senaraikan RO kita seperti di bawah ini:

 

1. To investigate the need for an IST with LS consideration

2. To determine a method to categorize RMs based on LS

3. To develop and evaluate the LS based IST prototype

 

Kemudian, daripada RO, kita hasilkan soalan. Soalan boleh satu atau lebih. Soalan yang dihasilkan haruslah boleh menjawab atau menghasilkan jawapan kepada RO kita seperti contoh di bawah:

  

Objective 1: To investigate the need for an IST with LS consideration.

RQ 1: Are students having difficulties to find suitable RM for their learning needs?

RQ 2: Is there any relation between RM and LS?

RQ 3: Are there available ISTs that support students’ LS?

 

Objective 2: To determine a method to categorize RMs based on LS.

RQ 4: How can primitive elements in RM be categorized based on LS?

 

Objective 3: To develop and evaluate the LS based IST prototype.

RQ 5: Can the prototype perform better?

 

Pada permulaan penyelidikan kita senaraikan dulu RO dan RQ, nanti bila dah siap semua kita boleh revisit dan betulkan balik. Satu lagi, pastikan RO dan RQ logik dan boleh diukur. Maksudnya - kalau kita buat RO kit a- To improve student understanding - kita mesti pastikan adakah kita mempunyai cara yang reliable untuk ukur kadar kefahaman pelajar tu. Bukan sekadar yes or no. Nak improve understanding agak abstract maka perlu berhati-hati. So kena ingat ya!!

Tips: Chapter Conclusion

Chapter Conclusion sangat penting kerana chapter inilah yang akan menentukan kecapaian objektif penyelidikan anda. Di bawah ialah susunan untuk Chapter Conclusion (andaikan Chapter itu ialah Chapter 8).

 

 

8.1 Research Findings

Perbincangan semula setiap Research Question dan juga Research Objective. Bincangkan findings yang berkaitan bagi menjawab setiap persoalan dan menunjukkan kajian yang kita jalankan mencapai objektif yang ditetapkan.

 

8.2 Key Findings/Contributions

Senaraikan penemuan dan sumbangan kita sama ada dari segi teori, kerangka kerja, teknik atau system.

 

8.3 Limitation

Senaraikan kekangan yang kita hadapi - bukan kelemahan tapi kekangan. Contohnya: Most of the survey items in the preliminary study and the evaluation used a categorical scale. This limited the capability of the data analysis.
 

8.4 Future Work

Berdasarkan kekangan kita, cadangkan apa penambahaikan yang dapat meningkatkan lagi mutu research.

 

8.5 Conclusion

Rumuskan balik: Objektif, Findings dan Conclude hasil research kita - mencapai objektif ke tidak.

 

Ok. Boleh start check format :)

Check Your Grammar - Paper Rater

One of available online tool that we can use to check our grammar - Paper Rater.

 

Link of Paper Rater - Click Here

 

This is the Paper Rater page. Copy paste your paragraph to the box below.

 

 

You also need to fill in other field such as Title, Works Cited (just put Nil if you don't have one) and choose answer for multiple choice for others question. For academic purpose, you can choose Research Paper. Then click button Get Report.

 

 

Then, you will be forwarded to this page.

 

 

You can choose to see various type of reports by clicking the menu in your right as Figure below.

 

 

You check you plagiarism percentage, spelling, grammar and other reports. Below is the plagiarism report. See - no plagiarism :) Clap2 to myself :)

 

 

Below is the grammar report - this one has no grammar error.

 

But if you have one, this is how the notification will show.

 

That's all for now. This is just one of tool that we can use to check our grammar. Will discuss other tool in the coming post. :)

How To Manage Your Reference

Bila dah lama buat penyelidikan, kita kan ada banyak rujukan. Ada banyak cara nak uruskan rujukan agar semuanya mudah dicapai. Antara tips yang LS guna ialah:

 

• Simpan rujukan ikut topik - supaya mudah nak guna bila nak tulis sesuatu topic
• Simpan nama rujukan sebagai NameYear - supaya mudah nak capai bila nak rujuk

 

LS dah amalkan teknik ni sejak dari buat Master. Alhamdullilah banyak membantu. Bolehla cuba ye :)

Viva - List of Correction

After VIVA, we will get report from examiner. First, we need to list out  corrections need to be done based on that report. Then, we can do the corrections based on the list and state the remark and page number. This can help your supervisor or examiner to check the corrections that have been done. Below is the example of the list. :)

Slide For Viva Presentation

Slide merupakan satu elemen penting dalam pembentangan VIVA. Di bawah merupakan structure slide yang SV LS berikan sebagai panduan. Antara tips lain:

• Buat slide awal-awal
• Slide dalam 10-15 muka surat sahaja
• Letak point sahaja - nanti elaborate masa present
• Bahagian yang panjang macam Research Design, Process dan Procedure boleh diolah semula dalam bentuk diagram/flowchart
• Anggaran pembentangan dalam 10-15 minit

Malaysia Postgraduate Workshop Series

In the process of conducting a research, we need to acquire skills in writing, analysis data and so on. Malaysia Postgraduate Workshop Series has organize workshops related to postgraduate needs. I had attended one of their workshop - Tulis Tesis Pantas with Dr. OT. I used that technique when writing my thesis - ya will share it here soon :).

 

You can check their website to see available workshop and schedule. Click Here.

Submission For Viva

 

My new baby. Alhamdullilah. Syukur padamu Ya Allah. Hasil selepas beberapa bulan struggle siapkan. Lepas ni prepare untuk VIVA pula.

 

 

 

Anda mungkin juga meminati:

Final?

Final draft? Final lah sangat. memang dugaan buat tesis ni. Huhu. Ibu kena submit awal tahun depan. Harap-harap dipermudahkan. Amin.

 

 

 

Proofreading Service

Bila draft dah siap, SV mesti suruh hantar proofread kan? Yelah kalau pakar menulis ok, kalau tak, pening SV nak baca. LS hantar ke GrammarProofing. So far bagus. Cepat dan puas hati dengan servis. Harga pun boleh tengok sendiri di laman web jadi boleh buat anggaran. Di bawah disenaraikan proofreading servis yang lain. Banyak lagi tapi yang kat bawah ni yang LS simpan.

 

Senarai Proofreading Services

Name	Contact	Service	Fee	Comments
GrammarProofing - Philip Morgan	CONTACT@GRAMMARPROOFING.COM	Proofreading, Editing, Translation	Link	British
OzProofreader	ozproofreader@gmail.com	Proofreading, Editing,	Email quotation	Australia
English Editing Services - John Diling	john.dilling@hotmail.co.uk	Proofreading, Editing	Email quotation	British

Ada servis dari orang lain yang korang boleh cadangkan based on pengalaman? Boleh kongsikan di sini ya.

How to write an abstract

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose (Blake & Bly, 1993). It just a short paragraph but it is not an easy task.

Below is a simple guideline that we can used in developing an abstract.

Abstract Structure

1. Introduction/research problem (1-2)
2. Research Objective (1)
3. Research Design (3-4) – where/when/how/what data
4. Results (3-4)
5. Conclusion (1)

Reference
Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly, The Elements of Technical Writing, pg. 117. New York: Macmillan Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0020130856

Mind map for Literature Review

Mind map merupakan salah satu teknik yang boleh digunakan dalam membuat literature review. Kita boleh susun idea dan topic untuk ditulis dalam literature review. Bila dapat idea baru atau jumpa topic baru dan boleh dimasukkan - just tambah sahaja relationshipnya. Contohnya:

 

Topik berkaitan: Information Seeking, Reading Material dan juga Learning Style. Daripada dua main topic - pecahkan lagi menjadi kecil (detail). Contoh:

 

Topik Reading Material - dalam topic ini ada Learning Object, Information Presentation dan juga Information Extraction. Dalam sub topic Information Presentation pula ada sub-sub topic lagi iaitu Primitive Element dan Categorization.

 

Dari Mind Map ni, kita boleh ubah lagi - bila kita baca dan mendapat maklumat baru. Chapter 2 yakni Chapter Literature Review boleh ditulis daripada mind map ini. Contoh:

 

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Reading Material 

2.2.1 Learning Object

2.2.2 Information Presentation

2.2.2.1 Primitive Element

2.2.2.2Categorization.

2.2.3 Information Extraction

2.3 Information Seeking

Figure 1: Mind Map

Bagaimana nak lukis? Macam atas ni saya just guna Microsoft Visual je. Mudah nak edit :)

How to choose your research title?

Simple guideline:

• Research title must describe the research problem.

• It should include the research topic, method used in the research and scope of the research

• Should be less than 20 words

Chapter 1: Structure

Your proposal is actually your first draft of Chapter 1. You will write the final draft of  Chapter 1 after you finish writing other chapters. The structure for Chapter 1 is:

1.1 Background

1.2 Research objectives

1.3 Research questions

1.4 Significance of the study

1.5 Scopes and limitations

1.6 Research methodology

1.7 Thesis outline

1.8 Summary

Click here on how to write the proposal.

How to write your research questions

First of all, make sure your research questions is mapped from your research objectives. Research questions should be write from the research objectives.

 

How many research questions should I have?

Masters: 3-4 research questions
PhD: 6-10 research questions

Where can I get the idea?

• Brainstorming 
• Literature Review
• Discussion with supervisor

Guide in Writing Research Proposal

A very detail explanation on how to write your proposal.


1. Overview 

This part covers a general idea of topic that you are interested to investigate, which include the research motivation, why the research is important and significant, to whom it is important.

2. Research Questions and hypothesis 

Research questions are: 
a. an area or topic in which you have an interest
b. ideas or issues which you wish to explore in detail
c. problems detected and needing a solution in practical or theoretical terms

It should be as specific as possible. In some cases, you may make two or more research questions to cover a complex topic.

Research hypothesis: 
A hypothesis is a statement that can be proved or disproved. A research question can be made into a hypothesis by changing it into a statement.

3. Research objectives are:
a. Statements (not question) of what you intend to do to find the answer to your research question
b. Your objectives are structured using action-words like: assess or reassess, develop, provide (an understanding of …), examine, analyse, interpret, elucidate, articulate, establish, construct, evaluate or re-evaluate
c. Objectives are numbered in a list
d. Successive steps you need to take in order to answer your research question
e. There should be a logical sequence to your objectives. Therefore it should include a list of stages or the order in which you’ll be finding things out—for example:

• To identify a problem 
• To develop a solution 
• To design and implement the solution 
• To assess its impact 

4. Literature Review 

Literature review should include three main issues in the research context
a. Historical issues – what past work has been done in this area?
b. Theoretical issues – what past and present frameworks of explanation have been used?
c. Methodological issues- how have others have tackled similar (or even very different) problems?

However literature review ISN’T: a descriptive list, a series of paragraphs beginning with yet another author's name and a series of summaries. Literature review helps you to:
a. Ask what is the significance of your research? What is known and not known? What has and has not been done? What questions need further research/creative exploration?
b. Shape your research question and objectives by thinking laterally and creatively about other potential search areas
c. Choose appropriate approaches and methodologies by identifying areas of theoretical or methodological debate or disagreement, controversy or inconsistency
d. Practice and develop research techniques and skills

• to read in a targeted way 
• to develop skills of critical appraisal and capacity to identify the objectives and arguments of those you are reading 
• and to articulate their strengths and weaknesses 

Literature review need not be lengthy, however it should be comprehensive. It should trace the central themes in the literature, highlight major areas of disagreement, and reflect a critical stance toward the materials reviewed.

 

5. Methodology 

This section describes several methods that are used during the research in order to meet its main objective. This section consists of a description of plans for collecting and analyzing the data. What instruments will be used? Why are they appropriate for this study? Is there evidence of the instruments' reliability and validity? How and to whom will they be administered? What procedures will be followed in the data analysis? 

Survey on architectures, algorithms, approaches or development models and research prototypes are also part of the research methodology activities. For research projects with a development component, an appropriate development methodology must be reflected. 

 

6. Research Contribution 

An explanation of how the research findings will contribute to the existing body of knowledge. 

7. Research Scope and Limitation 

Define your research scope and its limitation. 

 

8. Work Plan 

This section indicates exactly what will be done, the sequence of the various activities, and the products of deliverables that will be prepared. Specify the tasks, deliverables, and schedule in some detail. It is important that the proposed task structure includes all of the activities necessary for completing the project. Work plan can be presented in a Gantt chart.

Sources: Dr. Noorhidawati Abdullah, FCSIT, UM, 30 Jan 2009