Structure of Thesis 2

Writing Abstract 4
Introduction 6
Review of Related Literature 12
Methods 16
Writing Up Results 18
Discussion 19
Conclusion 21
 Thesis Structure

This page outlines the stages of an honours thesis and provides links to other pages that will give you more information
and some examples from past theses.

Abstract: Write this last. It is an

overview of your whole thesis, and is
between 200-300 words.

Stages of a thesis (in order)

Abstract
Write this last. It is an overview of your whole thesis, and is between 200-300 words.

See writing abstracts for honours theses for what to include in your abstract or see some example abstracts.

Introduction
Usually longer than an abstract, and provides the following:

background to the topic;

brief review of current knowledge (Can include literature review in some schools);
indicates gap in knowledge, states aim of your research and how it fits into the gap;
can include hypotheses; can include an outline of the following chapters.

See thesis introductions exercises for more information.

Literature review
Often part of the Introduction, but can be a separate section. It is an evaluation of previous research on your topic, where
you show that there is a gap in the knowledge that your research will attempt to fill. The key word here is evaluation.

See literature reviews for more information and examples to get you started on your literature review.

Methods
Often the easiest part of the thesis to write. Outlines which method you chose and why (your methodology); what, when,
where, how and why you did what you did to get your results.

Here are some sample methods.

Results
Outlines what you found out in relation to your research questions or hypotheses, presented in figures and in written text.

Results contain the facts of your research. Often you will include a brief comment on the significance of key results, with
the expectation that more generalised comments about results will be made in the Discussion section. Sometimes
Results and Discussion are combined: check with your supervisor and with highly rated past theses in your School.

Here are some suggestions for writing up results.

Discussion
The Discussion section:

comments on your results;

explains what your results mean;
interprets your results in a wider context; indicates which results were expected or unexpected;
provides explanations for unexpected results.

The Discussion should also relate your specific results to previous research or theory. You should point out what the
limitations were of your study, and note any questions that remain unanswered. The Discussion CAN also include
Conclusions/Future Research. Check with your supervisor.

See our theses in discussion page for more information or try these exercises.

Conclusions
Very important! This is where you emphasise that your research aims/objectives have been achieved.

You also emphasise the most significant results, note the limitations and make suggestions for further research.

Conclusions can include Future Directions. Check with your supervisor.

For more information see conclusions in honours theses or sample conclusions.

Thesis Structure
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 Writing Abstracts for Honours Theses

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Do you want to make a good first impression?

What is the first part of your thesis that most people will read? The abstract. And if you want to make sure that it's not the
last thing they read, your abstract needs to be well-written.

On this page, you'll find some hints and suggestions about how to improve your abstract, including some ideas about
what to include, and some tips on how to make your writing more concise. You can also look at some sample abstracts
from past theses.

What is an abstract?
It is a stand-alone text, approximately 200-300 words, that provides a snapshot of your whole thesis. After having read
your abstract, your reader should be able to answer the following questions.

Click on each question button to see more:

What?

Why?

How?

What?

Why?

Developing the abstract for the thesis

If you are having difficulty in developing your abstract, the following suggestions might be useful.

Suggestions:

Make sure that your abstract answers the questions listed above
Concentrate on communicating the facts
Try not to make any general statements. The Abstract should be the essence of your thesis
Try not to include any in-text references; the information in the abstract shouldn’t need external evidence
Does it tell a very short story: does it have a beginning, a middle and an end?

Writing concisely
As there are quite tight word limits for abstracts, it is important to make sure that every word counts, and that there is no
unnecessary information. The following suggestions can be used to make your abstract more concise, while still being
readable.

Ways of tightening up your writing:

Use digits for all numbers, except those that begin a sentence.
Use the active voice, avoiding 1st person pronouns.
Report rather than evaluate
Use verbs rather than noun equivalents
Avoid phrases that convey no real information: make concrete/specific statements
Substitute one word for many: 'at this point in time' = now; 'on a yearly basis' = yearly
Delete adjectives/adverbs
Put the most important information first in each sentence.

Remember: practices can vary. Check with your supervisor and read examples of abstracts in your field to get a clear
idea of the conventions.

See next: Sample abstracts

Writing Abstracts for Honours Theses

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 Introductions | Thesis structure

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What types of information should you include in your

introduction?
In the introduction of your thesis, you’ll be trying to do three main things, which are called Moves:

Move 1 establish your territory (say what the topic is about)

Move 2 establish a niche (show why there needs to be further research on your topic)
Move 3 introduce the current research (make hypotheses; state the research questions)

Each Move has a number of stages. Depending on what you need to say in your introduction, you might use one or
more stages. Table 1 provides you with a list of the most commonly occurring stages of introductions in Honours theses
(colour-coded to show the Moves). You will also find examples of Introductions, divided into stages with sample
sentence extracts. Once you’ve looked at Examples 1 and 2, try the exercise that follows.

Most thesis introductions include SOME (but not all) of the stages listed below. There are variations between different
Schools and between different theses, depending on the purpose of the thesis.

Stages in a thesis introduction

1. state the general topic and give some background
2. provide a review of the literature related to the topic
3. define the terms and scope of the topic
4. outline the current situation
5. evaluate the current situation (advantages/ disadvantages) and identify the gap
6. identify the importance of the proposed research
7. state the research problem/ questions
8. state the research aims and/or research objectives
9. state the hypotheses
10. outline the order of information in the thesis
11. outline the methodology

Reflection
Now read the following two examples from past theses, noting which stages are included in each example. How does
example 1 differ from example 2?

Example 1: Evaluation of Boron Solid Source Diffusion for High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells (School of
Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering)

Sample sentence extracts (complete introduction is 4

Stage
pages)
 P-type layers are commonly used in solar cells as they
1. Give background about the topic offer a wide range of applications such as a back surface
field…

...Currently in the PV industry aluminium-silicon alloying

using screen-printed aluminium and belt furnace firing is
4. Outline current methods the prevalent method of forming p-type layers because it
is relatively easy and also forms the rear electrical
contact…

...The use of aluminium as p-type dopant has two major

5. Evaluate current methods
disadvantages, however…

…Given the limitations associated with using Al to form p-

type diffusion, boron as a dopant for diffused layers is
6. Identify importance of proposed research
therefore more suitable for high-efficiency silicon solar
cells…

...The goal of this thesis is to evaluate boron nitride (BN)

as a potential replacement for liquid-source diffusion
8. State research aims presently being used for p-type diffusions in the high-
efficiency buried contact solar cells under development at
UNSW…

…This thesis is divided into five chapters: Chapter 2

discusses in more detail about diffusions in general and
10. Outline order of information in the thesis
the case of boron diffusion…Chapter 3 outlines the
experimental work carried out in the project…

Example 2: Methods for Measuring Hepatitis C Viral Complexity (School of Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences)

Note: this introduction includes the literature review.

Sample sentence extracts (complete introduction is 11

Stage
pages)

...The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant human

1. State the general topic pathogen given that 3% of the world’s population are
infected with the virus…

…The HCV genome is a positive sense, single stranded

1. (2) Give some background about the topic
RNA molecule with an approximate length of 9.5kb…

…Quasispecies are defined as a population of closely

related minor genetic variants and are a noted
3. (2) Define the terms and scope of the topic phenomenon of plant and RNA viruses…It has been
widely recognised that treatment outcome is highly
dependent on the complexity…

…Cloning and sequencing is considered a time-

consuming and laborious method and as such there exists
5. (2) Evaluate current situation
a need for the development of simple alternative
methods…

…At present there is no suitable method that has

produced results comparable to that of cloning and
5. (2) Identify the gap in current research
sequencing which also has the additional properties of
simplicity and rapidity…
 …There is mounting evidence, however, that immediate
treatment will result in successful eradication of HCV.
Therefore studies of acute phase quasispecies will
6. Identify importance of proposed research
enhance the understanding of the early virological events
of newly acquired HCV infection and ultimately the
disease process itself.

The hypotheses for this study are that there exist suitable
parameters to assess quasispecies complexity.
Furthermore, a rapid and simpler alternative method to
9. State the hypothesis
cloning and sequencing can be developed to accurately
describe the complexity of a given quasispecies
population…

1.Define a set of parameters to analyse quasispecies

complexity. 2.Develop a simpler and rapid alternative to
8. State research aims
cloning and sequencing that would accurately assess
complexity of quasispecies populations….

Now that you have read example 1 and 2, what are the differences?

See Answer

Exercise
Read the following sample sentence extracts from Honours theses Introductions. When you have decided what stage of
the Introduction they belong to, refer to the stages in a thesis introduction and give each sentence extract a number.
Then check the suggested answer to see if your answer agrees with ours.

Example 3: The IMO Severe-Weather Criterion Applied to High-Speed Monohulls (School of Mechanical and
Manufacturing Engineering)

Sample sentence extracts (complete introduction is 6

Stage No: See Answers
pages)

…The IMO Severe Wind and Rolling (Severe-

Weather) Criterion is a stability criterion that has been
???
developed to assess the dynamic stability of a
vessel…

The theory behind the Severe-Weather Criterion is

sound, and has a lot of merit. However, many of the
???
new generation of high-speed monohulls are having
trouble passing the criterion…

…As a result, it is believed that the formula used to

predict the windward roll angle ?1 is flawed and over-
???
predicts the rolling amplitude for high-speed
monohulls…

…Thus it is desired to evaluate the actual rolling

???
amplitude that these vessels will experience…
 In order to evaluate how the Severe-Weather Criterion
is applied to high-speed monohulls, two vessels have ???
been used as a case study…

Example 4: The Steiner Tree Problem (School of Computer Science and Engineering)

Sample sentence extracts (complete introduction is 4

Stage No: See Answers
pages)

The Steiner Minimal Tree (SMT) problem is about finding

the minimum connecting network for a set of points. Its ???
minimal property implies that the network must be a tree…

Formally, the problem can be stated as follows: given N

points in the Euclidean plane, find the minimum spanning
tree that covers these N points. Additional points besides ???
these N points can be added to the tree as extra
vertices…

The SMT is a very interesting problem both in theoretical

computer science and many practical applications. Like
other graph problems, it is fundamental to solving many
???
common problems, such as communication network
planning and VLSI circuit design. The following are some
examples…

This section describes the contents of the rest of the

thesis…Section 2 provides a literature survey on Steiner
???
trees, including a number of exact and heuristic
algorithms developed…

Introduction exercise
Note: this introduction includes the literature review.

Example 5.1 (extract 1): The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species
(School of Geography)

Stage 1 Sample sentence extracts (the complete Introduction is 17 pages long)

1.1 Fluoride in the environment

Give some Molecular fluorine (F2) is the most electronegative of the elements and therefore is highly
background (p.1 of reactive. Due to its high reactivity it is never found in its elemental form in nature. It combines
17) directly at both ordinary or elevated temperatures with all other elements except oxygen,
nitrogen, and the lighter noble gases (Cotton & Wilkinson, 1980).

Example 5.2 (extract 2): The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species
(School of Geography)

Stage 2 Sample sentence extracts

 The main source of elevated fluoride in plants comes from atmospheric industrial pollution.
Provide a review Because of its extensive industrial use, hydrogen fluoride is probably the greatest single
of the literature atmospheric fluoride contaminant and is generally considered to be the most important plant
related to the pathogenic fluoride (WHO, 1984; Treshow, 1965)… However, fluorides can cause damage to
topic (p.2 of 17) sensitive plant species even at extremely low fluoride concentrations(Hill,1969), accumulate in
large amounts within the plant and cause disease if ingested by herbivores(Weinstein, 1977).

Example 5.3

Stages 4 and 5 Sample sentence extracts

Doley (1981) summarized several unpublished studies that compared the sensitivity rankings
Outline the current
of 24 species according to the responses of photosynthesis and the development of visible
situation; Evaluate
injury symptoms. This analysis showed that for nine species, photosynthesis measurements
the current situation
indicated greater sensitivity than was obvious from visible assessment, and for seven species
and indicate a gap
the converse applied. This indicated that, while it may generally be true that physiological
(p.12 of 17)
responses occur at lower doses than visible injury, this does not always appear to be the case.

Exercise:

What Stages can you identify in this extract? Stage No: See Answers

…This is consistent with the findings of Weinstein (1977)

that the extent of foliar damage is not always correlated with
the level of accumulated fluoride. Studies in Western
Australia (Horne et al., 1981) have reported field injury to ???
vines situated near to brickworks in the Swan Valley and
concluded that fluoride pollution can seriously affect
grapevines.

Thus classification of cultivars according to levels of

sensitivity to airborne fluorides is considered necessary for
two reasons- a)knowledge of a resistant cultivar would be of
important commercial interest to the vigneron, and b) the
???
possibility of discovering a highly sensitive cultivar to
provide an indicator plant to be used to warn growers when
ambient conditions were approaching threshold
levels(Greenhalge & Brown, 1984).

Example 5.4 (extract 4): The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species
(School of Geography)

Stage 7 Sample sentence extracts

In many Australian plant species, young expanding leaves appear much more severely injured by
State the gaseous fluorides than are old leaves. This suggests, either that the young leaf tissues are more
research sensitive to fluoride than mature tissues, or that sufficient fluoride enters the tissues directly
problem(p.4 of through the cuticle to disrupt normal leaf development before the stomata have fully developed
17) and opened(Doley, 1986a). This question has not been resolved due to the inability to accurately
localize low concentrations of fluoride(Doley, 1986a)
Example 5.5 (extract 5): The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species
(School of Geography)

Stage 8 Sample sentence extracts

Knowledge of the effects of fluoride on the reproductive processes of species within a forest
State the research
community will help predict potential changes within the community following an increase in
aims and /or research
atmospheric fluoride due to additional industrial sources, such as aluminium smelters. For
objectives (extract
these reasons, this project was designed to investigate the reproductive processes of
p.16 of 17)
selected species in a woodland near the aluminium smelter at Tomago.

Exercise:

What Stage can you identify in this extract? Stage No: See Answers

This study investigates the effects of ten years of increased

atmospheric fluoride from Tomago Aluminium Smelter, New
South Wales on the reproductive processes of three
selected native species, Banksia aemula, Bossiaea
heterophylla and Actinotus helianthi… The study aims to ???
determine the effects of the fluoride emissions on the
reproductive processes of the selected species by analyzing
the differences between several of their reproductive and
associated characteristics found along a fluoride gradient.

Example 5.6 (extract 6): The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species
(School of Geography)

Stage 11 Sample sentence extracts

Germination trials were performed on seeds collected from each species along the fluoride
gradient to determine if fluoride has an effect on their viability and hence the regeneration
State the outline of fitness of each species. A density study was used to determine if there were any differences
the Methodology between numbers of mature and immature trees, number of trees producing seed follicles and
(extract p.17 of 17). the number of trees flowering in this season along a fluoride gradient. By using soils collected
at various distances away from the smelter the study also investigated differences in
germination from the natural soil seed reserve along a fluoride gradient.

Reflection
What does this tell you about thesis introductions?

Well, firstly, there are many choices that you can make. You will notice that there are variations not only between the
different Schools in your faculty, but also between individual theses, depending on the type of information that is being
communicated. However, there are a few elements that a good Introduction should include, at the very minimum:

Either Statement of general topic Or Background information about the topic;

Either Identification of disadvantages of current situation Or Identification of the gap in current research;
Identification of importance of proposed research
Either Statement of aims Or Statement of objectives
An Outline of the order of information in the thesis

Introductions | Thesis structure

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 Literature Review

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What is a literature review?

Students are often unsure of how to write a literature review. This is usually because, unlike other stages of a thesis
such as Methods and Results, they have never written a literature review before.

FAQs about literature reviews

In the table below, you will find some of the questions that students ask, and some suggested answers.

QUESTIONS SAMPLE ANSWERS

What is it? An evaluation of previous research on your topic

1. "provides background information needed to understand your study

2. assures your readers that you are familiar with the important research that
What is its purpose? has been carried out in your area
3. establishes your study as one link in a chain of research that is developing
and enlarging knowledge in your field" (Weissberg & Buker 1990, p.41)

What do I need to include? Minimum: well-established research in the field; most recent relevant research.

Some POSSIBLE approaches, which can be combined (there are others):

1. Organised around key themes or debates

2. From distant to close; from less specific to more specific
3. Generic knowledge
How do I organise it?
conceptual framework
understanding of specific context
applying theory to context

4. A methodological approach, following the different methods used in your field.

What referencing system The REFERENCE system you follow will be that of one of the leading journals in
should I use? your field: check with your supervisor.
 How you refer to authors will depend on whether you want to focus:

on the information: use name/number in parentheses. e.g.: It was

How do I refer to other demonstrated [2] or It was demonstrated (Williams, 2003)
authors? or on the author: use acknowledging phrases e.g. Williams (2003)
demonstrated that… or Williams [2] demonstrated that…

How long is a piece of string? Unless your School specifies the length, you can use
the following as a rough guide:

Around 15-30% of the whole thesis (see FAQs)

How long should it be?
OR

Your thesis is expected to be 60% your own work. If your literature review is more
than 40% of your thesis, it’s probably too long.

You’re expected to show that:

What am I supposed to DO 1. you can recognise the relevant and important research in your field
in my literature review? 2. you can understand this research, by organising and evaluating it
3. you can see where there is a gap in the research which your study will
attempt to fill

Examples of literature reviews: organisation

Here you will find some examples from past Honours theses. The first set of examples shows part of the Table of
Contents, so that you can see the kind of information included in a literature review. What can you notice about how the
students have organised their reviews?

Example A

From the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1

1.1 HEPATITIS C VIRUS................................. 1

1.1.1 Genome ................................................ 1

1.1.2 Pathogenesis.......................................... 2
1.1.3 Transmission.......................................... 3
1.1.4 Epidemiology.......................................... 5
1.1.5 Treatment.............................................. 5

1.2 QUASISPECIES............................................ 7

1.2.1 Quasispecies and Treatment Outcome....... 7

1.3 METHODS TO ANLAYSE QUASISPECIES........... 8

1.3.1 Cloning and Sequencing........................... 9

1.3.2 Heteroduplex Mobility Analysis (HMA)........ 9
1.3.3 Capillary Electrophoresis......................... 11

1.4 HYPOTHESIS AND AIMS ............................... 11

(Oon 2005, p.ii)

Question
What organisational approach has the student taken in example A?

Example B

From the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering

2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................... 2-1

2.1 CLASSIC DIFFUSION CONCEPT....................... 2-1

2.1.1diffusion mechanisms................................ 2-1

2.1.2 Fick’s law .................................................. 2-4

2.2 BORON DIFFUSION ........................................ 2-9

2.2.1 diffusivity ................................................ 2-9

2.2.2 segregation coefficient ............................. 2-10
2.2.3 silicon self-interstitial and diffusion rate....... 2-12
2.2.4 formation of boron rich layer (brl).............. 2-12
2.2.5 boron diffusion systems............................. 2-14

2.3 BORON NITRIDE SOLID SOURCE DIFFUSION..... 2-15

2.3.1 benefits and challenges.............................. 2-15

2.3.2 diffusion process........................................ 2-16

2.4 SOLAR CELL CHARACTERISATION..................... 2-18

Question
What organisational approach has the student taken in example B?

Examples of literature reviews: language

Here you will find some more examples of literature reviews, showing how the students refer to and comment on
previous research. Look at the following examples and see how the students summarise a number of studies and
contrast differing findings. Also notice the use of evaluative language to show the student's evaluation of the previous
research.

Key
Summarising language
Contrast language
Evaluative language

Example C
"Several studies [5, 6, 7] have reported the benefits of using boron solid sources over other types of boron diffusion
source. … On the contrary, Warabisako et al [9] demonstrated that obtaining high efficiencies with boron solid source
was no easy task. They reported severe degradation of bulk minority carrier lifetime after boron solid source diffusion"
(Chen, 2003, pp.2-14-2-15).

Example D
"On evaluation of the studies performed thus far, genotype 1b RdRp proteins have been studied extensively while RdRp
proteins from other genotypes have been somewhat ignored. Kim et al. was the only group to have published a 3a
RdRp paper, although their focus was on the template requirement for the NS5B gene as opposed to polymerase
activity" (Tan, 2004, pp.15-16)

See next: Exercise for getting started on your literature review

Literature Review
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 Sample Methods

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You should discuss the organisation and level of information in your methods section with your supervisor. For further
information about what goes into a Methods section and in what order, go to Sample table of contents.

The following are brief extracts from Methods sections of Honours theses.

Under the heading ‘Exercise for methods’ below, the direction is “click the submit button for feedback” but it is your
choice how to provide feedback. Since this thesis is going to be at the top, it technically becomes Thesis A, but you
might think of a way around having to re-label the other sample texts.**

In summary the methods section outlines which method/s you have used and why that particular method was most
appropriate for your study.

Key questions can be: what, when, where, how and why you did what you did to get your results.

Sample text from the School of Geography

Thesis title: The effects of Fluoride on the reproduction of three native Australian plant Species.

The major objective of this study is to look at the effects of fluoride on the
reproduction of native plant species found in the vegetation surrounding the
What (introductory overview) and
Tomago Aluminium Smelter. This has been done by measuring several
Where (samples were gathered)
reproductive characteristics of selected species and undertaking a study of
the soil seed reserve along a fluoride gradient …

Why (the research was done using

By keeping other environmental variables constant, it was anticipated that
a particular approach)Why (the
these sites would illustrate the relationship between fluoride and plant
research was done using a
reproduction.
particular approach)

From each of the replicate sites in the high, low and background fluoride
zones a Y2 cone with follicles was collected from 10 randomly selected
How (specific details of collection
plants. The follicles from the cones were opened by placing them in an oven,
and treatment of samples)
heated to 120o C for one hour, and seeds were removed (Wrigley &
Fagg,1991). When follicles failed to open…

For the Bossiaea heterophylla, regression analysis was used to determine

which of the other characteristics, if any, had a significant linear relationship What (specific details of
with the number of pods produced per plant. A one-factor ANCOVA was then techniques and tests used)
performed using…

Exercise for methods

What do you know about methods? Take the quiz and find out.
Exercise: a reflection on style
The choice of which verb tense to use in your methods section is very important. Will you use:

present tense (is conducted)

future tense (will be conducted)
past tense (was conducted)

Read the examples and see which tense is used in each

Thesis A: Model Testing

Model testing was conducted to determine the various parameters relating to the roll motion of vessels Y164 and Y177.
It involved measurements of parameters from the equations of motion for rolling and the comparison of roll angles with
that specified by the IMO Severe-Weather Criterion (Andrewartha 1999, p.54)

Thesis B: Viral RNA Extraction

RNA was extracted from sera using the QIAmp Viral RNA extraction kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the
manufacturer’s instructions. A negative extraction control was included which consisted of water in place of serum. Its
purpose was to confirm any positive result and rule out any contamination. The 60ml of eluted RNA was stored at –800C
(Oon 2005, p.13).

Thesis C: BN Solid Source Preparation

Twelve in-situ, p-type planar, boron nitride (BN) solid source slices were purchased for this thesis. The BN solid sources
used in the experiments were PDS Products boron nitride wafers Grade BN-1250, purchased from Saint Gobain
Advance Ceramics (see Appendix A). The composition of the BN solid sources was 40% BN and 60% SiO2. The BN
solid source slices were divided into two sets of six, and only one set was used in the initial experiments (that set of BN
solid source slices broke later in the thesis after too much abuse, and the remaining set of six was prepared to continue
the experiments). The other set of six BN solid source slices were stored in a clean N2 box (Chen 2003,.p.3-5)

Question

Now that you have read the examples, which tense is used in all of them?

○
Future
○
Present
○
Past
See Answer

Sample Methods
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 Writing Up Results

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The order of results can vary. Some suggestions are:

From most important to least important (from largest measurable differences to smallest; from statistically
most significant to least significant) (Weissberg & Buker 1990 Writing Up Research Prentice Hall Regents New
Jersey)

As a logical response to the research questions or problems you are trying to answer or solve. This may
involve presenting one set of results that answers your first research question, followed by the next set of results
that answers your second research question (John Wilson BABS UNSW);

If you are using a range of methods or a number of experimental elements, group the method/procedure
together with the relevant results. [insert example from Permeable Treatment Walls?] (H. Silyn-Roberts 2000
Writing for Science and Engineering Butterworth Heinemann Oxford)

"In a quantitative research [paper], the descriptive statistics are generally presented first, then the results of
each of the hypotheses or research questions that were tested" (p.410) (Beanland C., Schneider Z., LoBiondo-
Wood G., Haber J., 1999 Nursing Research Mosby Artarmon)

The information in the results section should be organised to show how the data tests the research question or
hypothesis, and should be presented sequentially to respond to each research question or hypothesis (Beanland
et al., 1999; Burns R., 2000 Introduction to Research Methods Pearson Education Frenchs Forest)

It is very important that you discuss the content and organisation of your results section with your supervisor.

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 Discussions

Click circle for answer...

So, you’ve got most or all of your results, and now you have to discuss them, which is why this section is called the
Discussion. It is also the most important section of your thesis, because it is where you give meaning to your results.
This is probably why many students struggle when it comes to writing their Discussion.

On these pages, you'll find answers to some of the questions you may have been asking yourself (or your friends, or
your supervisor), as well as some examples of Discussion sections from past theses. We've also included some
suggestions from the experts about how to start writing your discussion.

1) What does your discussion section do?

Explains what the results mean;
interprets the data;
compares it with other research;
evaluates its importance;
points out the limitations of your research;
raises questions for future directions.

2) What information does the reader expect to find?

How your research relates to your aims;
how it confirms your aims;
an explanation of your results;
how your research relates to theory or previous research;
the significance of your research;
limitations or improvements that could be made to your research.

3) What information will you include?

 A summary of the key findings;
how these relate to your aims;
confirmation of your aims;
comparison with theory/previous research;
explanation of unexpected results;
significance;
limitations/future directions.

4) What information will you leave out?

Anything that is not in the Results section;
results that are less significant:
results that do not relate directly to or confirm your aims/hypotheses;
tables and diagrams (usually: they belong in the Results section).

5) How will you organise your information?

Lots of possible variations here:

ONE way is to respond to the aims/hypothesis in the order that they are stated in your Introduction.
ANOTHER way is to start with the most significant results, comment on them and work your way down to the
least significant.
A THIRD way is to follow the pattern outlined in sections 2 or 3 above.

See next: Discussion exercises

Discussions
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 Conclusions in Honours Theses

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So, you’ve done most of the hard work, and now it's time to write the conclusion. You will probably have a few questions,
along the lines of:

1. What should (and should not) be in the conclusion?

2. How long should it be?
3. What am I trying to say in my conclusion?

What should be in the conclusion?

1. Conclusions: concise statements about your main findings, related to your aims/objectives/hypothesis.
2. Contributions to your field of research, stating/restating the significance of what you have discovered. Can
include limitations.
3. Future research: where to go from here (can include where NOT to go, if your research demonstrated that a
particular approach or avenue was not useful).

What should NOT be in the conclusion?

1. Discussion. This should be in the Discussion section. If your thesis combines the two, use sub-headings to
distinguish between them.
2. Any points that have not been mentioned in the Discussion section: your conclusions should be based only on
points already raised.
3. References: it is quite unusual to include references in this section, as it is mainly a review of what has already
been said.
4. Unnecessary information: your conclusion should be concise.

How long should my conclusion be?

The length of your conclusion will depend on a number of variables, including the School in which you are studying and
the number of elements you are expected to include.

Some Schools ask for Conclusions to be combined with Discussion, while others will expect you to combine Conclusions
with Future Directions. Check with your supervisor and with highly regarded past theses.

For a brief overview of the length and type of information in an Honours thesis Conclusion see examples of
conclusions.

What am I trying to say in my conclusion?

What you are trying to say is:

What did I learn?

What am I proudest of?
What was the hardest part?
How did I solve the difficulty?
Or, in other words:

1. To what extent you achieved your aims/objectives OR not: if not, why not?
2. How important and significant your results are, as well as any limitations of your research (e.g. small sample size;
other variables)
3. Where the research should go from here: what are some interesting further areas to be explored based on what
you have discovered or proven?

Exercise: What goes where in a conclusion?

Conclusions in Honours Theses

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