How to Write PhD Thesis?

A thesis or dissertation is one of the key requirements to complete a doctoral program. Brainstorming an excellent thesis could be challenging when students do not have enough information about writing a dissertation.

You need to master time management, writing skills, and remain focused through the compilation of your thesis. That’s why you need information about simple steps to ace PhD thesis writing with ease.

Let’s see the five (5) steps to write a PhD thesis and other useful tips to complete your dissertation and get guaranteed academic success.

Steps to Write a PhD Thesis

Step 1: Pick a Topic

You can’t write a PhD thesis without a suitable topic. Coming up with the right topic for your research ensures the thesis is relevant to your discipline. Follow the steps below to pick the best topic for your thesis:

Consult your mentor for advice and recommendations

The mentor could be your assigned supervisor, a professor, or established authority in your field. Share ideas with your mentor and take note of their recommendations.

Consulting your mentor before selecting a topic is essential if you want to start a thesis you can finish without problems. Advice from a mentor guides you throughout the hunt for a suitable topic, ensuring you don’t make mistakes.

Source for topics based on your mentor’s advice

Next, search for relevant topics to your field. You can source any amount of topics you want and choose the best among them. Ensure you have enough resources (data, funding, group support, etc.) to complete the thesis topic you choose.

Get your mentor’s approval

Present the topic to your mentor for approval or further recommendations if needed. After approval, hand the topic over to your supervisor if the individual isn’t your mentor. The supervisor will approve your topic and recommend further steps you should take.

Submit the topic for review

Next, present the topic to your department’s review committee for final approval. Once you get this approval, you can start working on your PhD thesis.

Step 2: Draft Your Proposal

After getting the approval, you need to write a proposal for your thesis. The proposal should contain:

-        Title of your thesis,

-        Objectives of your thesis,

-        Brief review of related literature,

-        Methodology for the research,

-        Likely results of the research,

-        Time frame for completion, and

-        Potential limitations (optional)

Endeavor to check your college’s guidelines for PhD thesis proposals before making your submission. You might need to include or omit some sections in your proposal to align with your school’s guidelines.

Most importantly, your proposal should explain the importance of your thesis to your discipline. It should also show a clear plan for data gathering.

Step 3: Conduct Research

The review panel will assess and approve your proposal once you follow all vital guidelines. Next, you proceed to the most important phase of your thesis-writing process – research.

Different research methods are available to guide you through data gathering for your thesis. Engage your research with precision and accuracy, as incorrect information will lead to wrong results and conclusions in your thesis.

You should also organize and process data in this phase to directly address your thesis’ topic and answer its questions.

Step 4: Write the Thesis

The next major step after research is thesis writing. You have to make an outline of what you plan to write about, define its structure, and compile all vital information during your research.

You need to have results of your research before you write the thesis. Writing a thesis without analyzing data from research could lead to an unexpected conclusion.

Here’s how to structure your thesis from scratch:

Introduction

You need to define the following in this section:

-        Study background,

-        The purpose of your thesis,

-        Questions your thesis aims to answer,

-        Hypothesis statements of your thesis (for select dissertations),

-        Rationale for the thesis,

-        Significance of the research,

-        Assumptions, scope, and expectations for the research, and

-        Definition of relevant terms used in the research.

The outline above could have several variations from your school’s guidelines. Follow your school’s guidelines throughout and structure the introductory phase in line with their recommendations.

Review of Related Literature

In this section, you need to cite articles from journals, books, or other theses relevant to your research. Reviewing related literature ensures you put your contribution in line with previous research on your chosen topic.

Methodology

The research methodology section provides future researchers with information about how you conducted research. In this section, you usually need to define the:

-        Research design (template used to retrieve data for your research),

-        Study area,

-        Participants in the research,

-        Method you used to collect data, and

-        Analysis technique used to process collected data

Outlining this information properly also helps your supervisor(s) see relevant details of your research.

Findings

The findings of your study shows results gathered after conducting your analysis. In this section, you can present:

-        Collected data,

-        Analysis of data, and

-        Discussion of your findings

The section shows the relevance of your thesis and if further researchers can support their own results with your findings.

Conclusion

The conclusion stage is a summary of your thesis and clearly defines the outcome of your research. In this section, you need to highlight:

-        The summary of your thesis,

-        Conclusions reached,

-        Recommendations based on conclusions reached, and

-        Suggestions for further studies

Step 5: Edit and Proofread the Thesis

You need to proofread your thesis and ensure it meets the guidelines of your supervising institution. Edit and proofread the thesis to ensure it is free from all typos or grammar errors.

Also endeavor to follow your institution’s formatting guidelines before submitting for final approval.

Final Word

Writing a PhD thesis could be tough, but you’ll be able to complete it with ease when you have correct information. Make sure you follow your school’s guidelines throughout every step in the research and writing process. The five steps above will help you maximize resources while writing your thesis and ensure full marks when it’s time for assessment.