A Manual for Dissertation

1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the process and milestones:

Course Credits Ph.D. Exams General Research

Directed Research Proposal Defense

Further Research Dissertation Defense

Ph.D. Degree Graduation Career

1. Introduce Dissertation
In view of the purpose and significance: To fulfill the promises in your dissertation proposals; To clearly document an original, significant, innovative contributions to knowledge;

2. How to Write Dissertation

1st Question: When to start writing Ph.D. thesis? Start as early as possible, do not wait you are fully ready. Write early, write often, writing is thinking! Assumption: successfully defend the proposal; At least start with an outline or skeleton; Do not have to start from the 1st section to the end; Start taking notes of problems, goals, brief descriptions, experimental designs and expected outcomes; The theories, algorithms or experiments, as well as the thesis may require numerous revisions to cover weaknesses/errors; Set deadline/due dates for each stages!!

2. How to Write Dissertation

Common Skeleton (formal structure depends on Universities): Abstract Introduction Background and Literature Review Research Questions/Problem Statement Solutions, Methodologies and Experiments Evaluations and Discussions Conclusions References Appendices Others: Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, etc

2. How to Write Dissertation

Principles of Thesis Organizations: Take the readers views/focuses into account; Logically Clear, Sound, thorough, Reasonable; Be honest and justified; Highlight the novel ideas and main contributions; For each section, ask yourself relevant questions to validate whether your writings have meet the requirements of each section Basic Routine: Goal->Writing->Question
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2. How to Write Dissertation

1). Abstract General introduction of the background Briefly introduce the problem you want to address Summary of your solution and methodologies State a bird view of your results/conclusions Highlight your novel ideas and main contributions Is it concise? Is it clear and easy to learn the background and the targeted problem? Did you clearly indicate your solutions, conclusions and highlight your contributions?

2. How to Write Dissertation

2). Introductions General introduction to what the thesis is about Summarize the research questions/problems Indicate why this is a worthwhile problem Give an overview of your solution, experiment and main results/conclusions Can general readers easily understand the introduction? Did you explain some terms to avoid readers confusion? Did you briefly introduce your solutions and contributions? Did you highlight the novelty?

2. How to Write Dissertation

3). Background and Literature Review Give the background to let the readers know and understand your topic & the knowledge of this area The state of the art; related work, existing research Organize these by logical and reasonable ideas, not simply by time/author, etc Is the background clear enough? Is the literature review well organized? Is the literature review thorough enough?
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2. How to Write Dissertation

4). Research Questions/Problem Statements Concise statement about the problems you want to address Justification, indicate the problem is unanswered based on the previous literature review Thoroughly discuss why it is worthwhile to solve this problem Will readers be convinced to agree with your view on the problems, about the originality, novelty and applicability? Did you refer to some literature references to convince your points?
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Sources
http://www.papermoz.co.uk/dissertations/dissertation-writing/ http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.dissertation.html http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/dissertations/ http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/thesis-anddissertation/writing

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