Of Theses and Marriage: How to

Choose Mr./Mrs. Right

Roberto Criollo, MA.

Writing a Thesis

Writing a thesis and defending it is an

academic ritual whereby novices are

introduced into the professional field

(Swales 1990).

Steps in Topic Selection

Define your Interests

Think of a Possible Topic

Review the Literature

Identify Specific

Researchable Problems

Decide on One of Them

and Focus on It

Defining Your Interests/Possible Topic

• The students themselves select a topic.

• The general selection is made on the

basis of the interests and preferences.

• What is selected is not a thesis title or a

specific problem statement. Just a

general field, area, or discipline

• Example:Difficulties of Academic Writing

Reviewing the Literature

• The student gets information about his/her „marriageable topic‟ by:

•Going to the library and see if this topic has been previously married. Look at the thesis list in the institution & copy the titles.

•Going to the library and finding out if the marriageable topic has references.

Reviewing the Literature

As a further step, the student may brainstorm (helped by his chaperon) at least 10 important concepts to be defined.

The student will go to the relevant references and get information.

This search will guide the bachelor(ette) to spot important specific helpful details.

Identifying Specific Researchable

Problems

In this stage, the most important step

will be getting knowledge about

research methodology to narrow

down the topic.

Finding out the „legal procedures‟.

Simply stated, a thesis is a piece of

research that is required by a

university in order to award an

academic degree.

What is a Thesis?

What is Research?

“Research is the study of an event,

situation, problem or phenomenon

using systematic and objective

methods in order to understand it

better and develop theories or

principles about it” (Richards, Platt,

& Platt 1992; Vogt 1999).

Research Methods

1.4.1.1 Descriptive Research

1.4.1.1.1 Survey Research

1.4.1.1.2 Observational Research

1.4.1.1.3 Ethnographic Research

1.4.1.2 Correlational Research

1.4.1.2.1 Relationship Studies

1.4.1.2.2 Prediction Studies

Research Methods

1.4.1.3 Experimental Research

1.4.1.4 Other Research Types

1.4.1.4.1 Historical Research

1.4.14.2 Causal-Comparative Research

1.4.1.4.3 Methodological Research

Methodological Questions

What?

How? (Instruments)

Qualitative or Quantitative?

Advantages and disadvantages?

Descriptive Research

Collecting data in order to answer

research questions or test

hypotheses

Survey Research

What? Opinions, attitudes, beliefs

How? Questionnaires / Interviews

Quantitative Qualitative

Advantages: (Questionnaires)

Practical, easy to administer and analyze, a large sample can be obtained.

Disadvantages: Essential information may be overlooked, superficial analysis

Advantages (Interviews): Opinions

are explored in depth. Opportunity

to interact with subjects.

Disadvantages: Time-consuming,

samples are usually smaller, data are

difficult to analyze.

Observational (Participant)

What: Direct observation of a phenomenon or behavior as participant.

How: Observation forms, recordings.

Advantages: Easier interpretation, possibility of manipulating variables, subjects act „natural‟.

Disadvantages: More subjective.

Observational (Non-Participant)

What: Direct observation of a phenomenon or behavior where one is an outsider.

How: Observation forms, recordings.

Advantages: More objective.

Disadvantages: Observer may affect subjects‟ behavior, lack of context information may affect results, observation is limited.

Correlational

What: Evidence for a linear relationship

between two variables.

How: Quantitative data about variables,

statistics (software).

Advantages: Fairly straightforward,

numerical reliability.

Disadvantages: Requires knowledge of

statistics and computers. Nature of the

relationship between variables is unknown.

Experimental Research

What: Evidence for a cause-and-effect

relationship between two variables.

How: Experimental design: two

groups, two tests.

Advantages: Strong evidences due to

extraneous variable control.

Disadvantages: Artificial environment,

ethical problems.

Narrowing Down the Topic

Difficulties of Academic Writing-Context

Descriptive: Collect a sample of advanced learners‟ texts. Adopt or develop a scoring rubric for organization, grammar, etc. Evaluate Ss‟ papers and determine problematic areas.

Descriptive (Survey): Administer an interview/questionnaire to find out students‟ and/or teachers‟ points of view.

Observational (Participant-

ethnographic): Work with your class,

record data from observation of Ss‟

writing process, diaries, journals,

samples of students‟ work, in-depth

interviews, etc.

Observational (Non-participant): Observing academic writing classes and focus on the type of content and activities.

Correlational: Obtain from your group sample academic texts written in L1 and L2. Devise/adopt an evaluation rubric to assess papers. Correlate scores for L1 and L1. Are writing skills potentially transferable?

Experimental: Design objectives and

activities using a particular writing

approach (i.e. Genre-based), get pilot

and control groups, get academic

texts, apply techniques, determine if

students who got treated perform

better in the writing of a final text.

Evaluating the Topic: Is it Good?

Is the topic directly related to the

field? Or is it cross-disciplinary?

Do you have a sound knowledge of

its main concepts/theories?

Is the topic relevant and applicable

to the field?

Is it interesting?

Original?

Feasible?

Are there enough bibliographic

resources available?

Do you know any professors in the

staff who can guide you?

Do you have a clear idea of the

methodological procedures you will

use for the collection and analysis of

the data?

Will you have free access to subjects and institutions targeted?

Will your resarch be extensive enough to comply with the institution thesis requirements? Or will it be too short or long?

If most of your answers are „yes‟, you got yourself a good topic. If not, you need to consider adjusting some details

Epilogue

Congratulations! Now you have a thesis topic. As in marriage, this is not the end, but the beginning.

Be patient and rekindle your love affair with your topic. Be faithful, share yourself, keep communication open, be ready to sacrifice. Your love will give birth to the most beautiful baby of them all, a college degree.