Tips on how to write a first degree project (thesis) with easy

Tips on how to write a first degree project (thesis) with easy.

A first degree project (thesis) x-rays the experience, ideas and lessons a student have learnt over the first four-six years (depending on course/subject of study). The thesis shows student ingenuity and creativity in showing that he/she has mastered the subject of study to a certain level. It is a demonstration of identifying and solving problems through the student’s course of study.

NOTE: One of the inherent benefit a student gains after project writing is that he/she can identify problems and find solutions at the same time. This experience will be beneficial in life after school.

Preliminary level

v  The ugly truth is that writing a project is a daunting task but not an impossible mission. It requires diligence, analytical mind set and every element of seriousness.

v  What is your financial disposition? A times thesis writing demands a lot of financial commitment, especially for people in science that need a lot of laboratory work and practical. Or students of Archaeology and Tourism, whose project entails both preliminary site visit and actual fieldwork for data generation.

v  A project supervisor is an intermediary, mentor and guide. Your supervisor guides you on what to do and how to do it. Creating a good rapport with your supervisor is essential.

Project outline

Project outline varies from institution to institution, ranging from chapters one to five or six depending. Whatever be the case, each chapter has its own techniques, acceptable jargons and style with meaning to the whole project.

A.      CHOSING A PROJECT TOPIC

Researchers need to know the exact problem (s) to study. This will definitely form the theme or topic of the study. It is usually not easy to get a topic or identify a gap in literature but extensive search or peruse of the literature will be a guide in identifying research problem(s). This will help a researcher not to repeat what others have done before.

                A project topic can be gotten from an informal discussion with a friend, news from the television, radio or social media, newspaper etc. and in some cases through intuitive reasoning and meditation. A reflection of what a student wants to write is essential, because this will help him/her to refine and fine-tune the topic over time.

                Many factors affect a student choice of project topic, such as time, money, accessibility to the site, religious bias, government policies and supervisors bias (not in all cases, but there are instances supervisor might want a student to tow his/her line of argument and research interest).

                Therefore, choosing a research topic that is feasible or researchable is vital to the success or failure of project writing. Where a student is confused or not quite sure on what to write, a discussion with his/her supervisor is essential to get a topic.

B.      LITERATURE REVIEW

It is unfortunate that students most times hear the phrase/words: LITERATURE REVIEW for the first time in the stay in the university in their final year. This is not surprising giving that there is no special class or session to guide students on how to write project in the universities except in rare cases.

Given this background a student is baffled with what exactly is my concern with literature-review. Meanwhile, it is an indispensible chapter or session in a serious academic work like project. A student must show that he/she has searched through literature to identify a gap. The reality here is that this requires extensive reading.

A student who has not developed the attitude of reading will find this section or review very tasking and difficult. While, others may assuming is just to copy and paste what others have done so far. Literature review is beyond that.

First, the topic chosen will guide a student on what to look out for in literature review. There is nothing new under the sun. There is no gain saying that one cannot find any previous work on any topic, such assertion is a sign of weak or lazy student. Whatever be the topic make sure you have an extensive search for related work or topic.

Note: Online search for literature is easy but one might not get what he or she is looking for if the query is not well constructed. Secondly, some credible literature is looked and requires a token for access. The easier and cheaper alternative to have access to information is the University library which is virtually free for registered students. Moreover, some institutions has institutional access to journals, books, online-library etc.

C.      Study objectives or research objectives

It is no longer news that students may not know what a research objective(s) is/are. It is common among them to ask their friends and colleagues for a project-topic after which they will ask: What is/are my objective(s)? This is common among students who get their topic from friends.

Objective(s) of any project is the purpose which the project is aimed to achieve, usually three or four objectives. There is no agreed number of objectives. Some thesis can have either one or two as long as the student can execute the objective(s) properly.

The objectives will give a vivid picture or answers to the chosen topic. A good objective should be simple and straight. Have a relationship with the topic of study. In some cases students write objectives that are outside the scope of their study or chosen topic.

The ideal place to glean objectives from is through statement of problem. A well-defined statement of problem will clearly direct the reader to what the student wants to do. While in some cases the research question is turned to be the research objectives.

Example: What are the causes of student’s poor performance in universities? (Research question);

  Causes of student’s poor performance in universities.  (Research objective).

D.      RESEARCH METHOD

There exist different disciplines with different methods. Method here is the approach to which a student used in getting answers to his/her research objectives. The method must be reliable that if another student use the same method in the same area, sample of population etc. and work on the same phenomena that he/she will surely arrive at the same or similar answer.

Worthy of note is two main method of research viz: qualitative and quantitative exist. The latter entails statistical tools and use of coded questionnaires to generate primary data, common in the field of sciences, while the former is basically descriptive in nature and peculiar to people in humanities and social sciences.

There are instances both methods can be used at the same time. Scholars has advocated for mixed method (quantitative and qualitative).

E.       Discussion of findings (Results)

Meticulous and chronological presentation of findings is where a student analytical mind will come into play. Relating his/her findings to other similar realities in relation to her subject of study is vital. Discussion on the implication of the work………TO BE CONTINUED