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How to write the final paragraph of your thesis or research proposal

Sample lesson

ThesisCore is an online course that helps you write your Bachelor’s or Master’s dissertation: from start to finish!

This is a sample lesson from the course:
How to write your research proposal.

In this course you will learn about the 5 questions a research proposal should always answer. This lesson is about the 5th question: “What are your research expectations?”.

Contents of this lesson
Objective
In the 5th Paragraph, discuss the expectations you have for your study.
Assignment
This lesson includes an assignment.

Introduction

The fifth and final paragraph of your proposal is usually the easiest to write. In this paragraph, you discuss what you expect to find in your study. And therefore, what other researchers may learn from your study: how does your thesis change, challenge, or advance the scientific discussion on your topics? In short: it’s your personal reflection on the research idea you have laid out in the previous four paragraphs.

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How to recognize a scientific article

Sample lesson

ThesisCore is an online course that helps you write your Bachelor’s or Master’s dissertation: from start to finish!

This is a sample lesson from the course:
How to develop your thesis topic.

In this lesson we discuss how to distinguish scientific articles, i.e. articles which you can use as a source in your dissertation, from non-scientific articles, i.e. those which you cannot use.

Contents of this lesson
Objective
Learn to spot the difference between scientific and non-scientific literature.

Introduction

Now that you know your topic, it’s time to get familiar with some literature. You may wonder: what should I read for my thesis at this stage? The answer is relatively straightforward: anything that interests you! But as you may suspect, you cannot use everything for your thesis. There is a difference between literature that may help you (further) develop your idea, and literature that you can use as a reference for your dissertation: scientific articles.

Scientific articles are research reports, published in academic journals. This is what sets them apart from research published elsewhere, such as research published in popular magazines, internet blogs, the newspaper or television. In your thesis, you must use scientific articles. Therefore, it is important to be able to recognize a scientific article.

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How to discuss the limitations of your study

Sample lesson

ThesisCore is an online course that helps you write your Bachelor’s or Master’s dissertation: from start to finish!

This is a sample lesson from the course:
How to finish your thesis.

No scientific study is perfect, and in this lesson we’ll show you how to discuss the limitations of your Bachelor’s or Master’s study.

Introduction

Did you know that most scientific literature that you read took years to finish? On average, it takes a researcher about 3-5 years to transform an idea into a published scientific paper. Surely all research that has been published must therefore be flawless! Alas, even when great effort has been put into delivering the best research possible, the truth is that no study is perfect: there are always things to improve! Researchers often discuss these limitations and improvements in a separate limitations (sub) section in their article.

When writing your Bachelor or Master thesis, you should always discuss the limitations of your study. In this post, I will discuss:

Writing the limitations section of your thesis
Tip 1: Keep it short, but not too short
Tip 2: Don’t discuss obvious limitations
Tip 3: Try to help future research
Where in your thesis should you discuss the limitations?

Writing the limitations section of your thesis

Let’s start with some examples. When researchers discuss the limitations of their study:

  • They may state that they were limited in the scope of their research due to ethical constraints.
  • They may write that they preferred to collect more surveys, or interview a larger group of individuals.
  • Perhaps they wanted to include more data or (control) variables, but did not have the time to do so.
  • Or they may discuss an obvious flaw in a statistical method that was used, which they were not able to properly address in the current study.

There are some basic guidelines for writing about the limitations of your study, which are best described by the following three tips:

  1. Keep it short, but not too short
  2. Don’t discuss obvious limitations
  3. Try to help future research

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How to discuss a seminal paper in your theoretical framework

Sample lesson

ThesisCore is an online course that helps you write your Bachelor’s or Master’s dissertation: from start to finish!

This is a sample lesson from the course:
How to write your theoretical framework.

This lesson shows you how to discuss a seminal paper in the theoretical framework, a.k.a. Literature Review section, of your dissertation.

Contents of this lesson
Objective

This part of your theoretical framework should answer:

What is the most important study on: your topic.

Assignment
This lesson includes an assignment.

Introduction

In more established research fields, there often is a single study that has been so important for the study of a topic that is has influenced or even determined the bulk of the research on that topic. We call these papers seminal studies: highly influential studies that are considered to be scientific milestones. You simply cannot study the topic without discussing the seminal study!

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