Tips for Writing a Research Thesis

Summarized by Yichun Zhao

Writing a research thesis can be a challenging task, but with the right strategies and habits, it can be made easier. Here are some tips for writing a research thesis based on the information from our VIXI lab panel discussion.

1. Literature Management: As the amount of literature increases, it can be hard to keep track of everything. Digital tools such as Zotero can be useful at the start, but it’s important to invest effort into organizing and understanding the papers. Take notes in Zotero, write a few sentences of summary, and note if you’ve read the paper or not. A folder structure can also be helpful in creating a hierarchy and giving a full list of references.
2. Notes Management: Meeting discussions between students and supervisors are valuable to the writings. Some strategies for managing and retaining meeting notes for future reference include summarizing action points and taking effective notes during meetings. This could be following up each meeting with an email or Slack message to all meeting attendees with an overview of what was discussed, links to relevant materials (reference documents, papers, etc.), and what action items came out of the meeting, including who is responsible for what.
3. Types of Papers: There are several types of papers that can be written as part of a research thesis. These include survey papers, theory/framework papers, experiment-based papers, evaluation papers, toolkit papers, methods of design papers, techniques and validation papers, and opinion papers.
4. Structure and Length of Your Thesis: The structure and length of your thesis will depend on your field of study and the requirements of your program. For example, an MSc thesis may be around 80–100 pages while a PhD thesis may be around 200 pages. It’s important to be concise and focus on quality rather than length.
5. Scope and Topic of Your Thesis: The scope and topic of your thesis should be narrow and focused. Discuss with your supervisors to understand if your current scope is good enough for a thesis or if you need to do more. For PhD students in particular, it’s important to connect multiple papers to an overarching problem and motivation.
6. Some Writing Tips: Writing alongside and throughout your projects can help keep connections between chapters fresh in your mind. Keep note of research questions, high-level things, approaches and methods as you go along. Develop an outline of your thesis and add bullet points inside a central document as you make progress on your research projects.
7. Other Good Habits: Developing some good habits can help make thesis writing easier. Some habits that can help include finding a good place for writing and going there regularly; collaborating with other students; seeking opportunities to write as early as possible; keeping notes in a central location; using spatial representation to show how things are connected in your thesis; and writing at regular intervals.

With these tips in mind, you will be well on your way to writing a successful research thesis!