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How to do a thesis!

JajaD

Dear God, please, someone help me!!!

anyone know where i can find info on writing a thesis for my sociology degree?

Does a thesis need coding with all that spss stuff?

Does anyone know a good book that will help me loads?

ARGGHH!

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Ostrom

JajaD wrote: »

Does a thesis need coding with all that spss stuff?

Oh dear

Start slowly, and be specific

JajaD

efla wrote: »

Oh dear

Start slowly, and be specific

Why Oh dear?

Insect Overlord

JajaD wrote: »

Why Oh dear?

Because you shouldn't need the Internet to teach you how to write a thesis. You should be working with your lecturers or a supervisor to make sure you know what you're doing.

JajaD

Excuse me but isnt boards.ie a general forum for discussions of all types. Think of the amount of students doing a thesis who would find a thesis discussion useful. My mother is extremely unwell and i had to miss a lot of college. So excuse me for asking for advice.

Boards.ie is becomming very bitchy. You cant say anything without someone giving a smart reply.

Shield

This is a genuine question, so please don't take it as being an affront.

Does your college offer lectures, study groups or seminars on how to write theses? If they do, I would avail of as many as you can. If you are unsure, you should ask whoever is allocated as your studies advisor. These are the people that will be marking it, so they'd be best equipped to tell you what they want to see. You'll pick up some general pointers on here, but for the more specific stuff, you'll need to obtain that from your college.

Do you have a topic yet?

JajaD

psni wrote: »

This is a genuine question, so please don't take it as being an affront.

Does your college offer lectures, study groups or seminars on how to write theses? If they do, I would avail of as many as you can. If you are unsure, you should ask whoever is allocated as your studies advisor. These are the people that will be marking it, so they'd be best equipped to tell you what they want to see. You'll pick up some general pointers on here, but for the more specific stuff, you'll need to obtain that from your college.

Do you have a topic yet?

No there is no study groups or thesis groups of any sort. In fact our thesis class ended a fews ago and i havent even seen my lecturer. I have emailed him asking him already so im just waiting to hear back. I just thought there might be people that have done a thesis before, and have done well, who could give some advice. Nevermind.

Shield

All is not lost just yet. I just think you could be looking in the wrong place on the site. We have an Edu category, and you might find your college is on there.

If not, try posting in the Graduate forum which will be full of - you guessed it - graduates, who will have done theses and should be able to give you the basic advice and guidance you're looking for.

Hope it works out!

Ostrom

JajaD,

You cant post something so broad and expect useful responses - if you need help with an essay or thesis, you need to be substantive. Asking questions about your subject, area of study, appropriate methods or writing techniques are things we can help you with once you give some sense of what you are studying. Theses vary greatly, especially within the social sciences where many different approches are available to you. The best I can offer on the information you provided is a reference to a writing guide, which wont be much use if you haven't finalised your study design.

As above, be substantive, and perhaps we can help you.

JajaD

efla wrote: »

JajaD,

You cant post something so broad and expect useful responses - if you need help with an essay or thesis, you need to be substantive. Asking questions about your subject, area of study, appropriate methods or writing techniques are things we can help you with once you give some sense of what you are studying. Theses vary greatly, especially within the social sciences where many different approches are available to you. The best I can offer on the information you provided is a reference to a writing guide, which wont be much use if you haven't finalised your study design.

As above, be substantive, and perhaps we can help you.

Emmmm my question is stated above. Do I need to put in coding with spss into my thesis... I think thats pretty specific. Can anyone recommend a good book on writing a thesis... etc.

Aaaaaaanyway!

Insect Overlord

JajaD wrote: »

Emmmm my question is stated above. Do I need to put in coding with spss into my thesis... I think thats pretty specific. Aaaaaaanyway!

How do you expect strangers on the Internet to know what your examiners will need in your thesis?

JajaD

Insect Overlord wrote: »

How do you expect strangers on the Internet to know what your examiners will need in your thesis?

1. This is a sociology forum.

2. My thesis is for a Sociology degree (so i would like to think there are sociology graduates on here.

3. If one does/or has done a sociology degree they would under my question.

4. They are the people which this thread is targeted at.

Hope I cleared up any confusion.

Ostrom

JajaD wrote: »

Emmmm my question is stated above. Do I need to put in coding with spss into my thesis... I think thats pretty specific. Can anyone recommend a good book on writing a thesis... etc.

Aaaaaaanyway!

That depends entirely on your subject and methdology!

SPSS is used to process quantitative data (usually captured by a questionnaire or entered from secondary sources) - coding is the process of assigning numbers to response categories.

Do you need coding? If using a survey, a note on the coding process is necessary, but you may be using interviews or documentary sources, in which case SPSS is unnecessary. As above, this question cannot be answered unless we know your subject matter and proposed methodology. If you decide on a qualitative approach, SPSS is not needed. Do you need help with the research design? With background reading? With the data collection? These questions usually come before addressing coding

JajaD wrote: »

1. This is a sociology forum.

2. My thesis is for a Sociology degree (so i would like to think there are sociology graduates on here.

3. If one does/or has done a sociology degree they would under my question.

4. They are the people which this thread is targeted at.

Hope I cleared up any confusion.

The subject matter of sociology is highly varied across departments, colleges, and individual lecturers, to the point where degree subjects - particularly in third year - are completely different. We can help, but you need to be specific. Do you have a set topic / research area? Have you completed any background reading? Any thoughts on data collection? There is no set format for a thesis, a study on migrant integration and a study on 1970's foreign policy for example could both fall under sociology, but would lead you towards very different research designs.

Dr Strange

JajaD wrote: »

1. This is a sociology forum.

Ah no, not exclusively. It deals with all areas of anthropology.

Anyway, I thought you might find these books currently for sale on adverts.ie of interest:

http://www.adverts.ie/520371

Two books, used but very good condition.

Both helped me to complete my thesis and viva successfully!

- How to Write a Thesis (2nd Ed.) Reprint 2007.

- How to Survive your Viva. Reprint 2007.

JajaD

efla wrote: »

That depends entirely on your subject and methdology!

SPSS is used to process quantitative data (usually captured by a questionnaire or entered from secondary sources) - coding is the process of assigning numbers to response categories.

Do you need coding? If using a survey, a note on the coding process is necessary, but you may be using interviews or documentary sources, in which case SPSS is unnecessary. As above, this question cannot be answered unless we know your subject matter and proposed methodology. If you decide on a qualitative approach, SPSS is not needed. Do you need help with the research design? With background reading? With the data collection? These questions usually come before addressing coding

The subject matter of sociology is highly varied across departments, colleges, and individual lecturers, to the point where degree subjects - particularly in third year - are completely different. We can help, but you need to be specific. Do you have a set topic / research area? Have you completed any background reading? Any thoughts on data collection? There is no set format for a thesis, a study on migrant integration and a study on 1970's foreign policy for example could both fall under sociology, but would lead you towards very different research designs.

Id rather not delve into the subject as it is a very sensitive topic but i am doing interviews (via internet, telephone) due to the sensitivity of the subject. So as i am doing interviews, would you suggest that spss is not necessary. I done coding last year from my research questionaire results. Was just confused whether on not i need to apply spss to my results and put them into my thesis.

Ostrom

JajaD wrote: »

Id rather not delve into the subject as it is a very sensitive topic but i am doing interviews (via internet, telephone) due to the sensitivity of the subject. So as i am doing interviews, would you suggest that spss is not necessary. I done coding last year from my research questionaire results. Was just confused whether on not i need to apply spss to my results and put them into my thesis.

For a qualitative study (yours) SPSS is not necessary. Usually interviews for undergraduate theses are analysed by hand (i.e. you take quotations as needed from your transcripts). SPSS would only apply for a formal survey questionnaire. If you want to pick up some marks, you should make clear in your thesis why you chose a qualitative approach - this will probably have something to do with the sensitivity of the subject and the need for detailed description and context. Your examiner will be looking out for how well your research hangs together - i.e. how your statement of the problem informed your choice of method, and how your data in turn addresses the research question.

JajaD

efla wrote: »

For a qualitative study (yours) SPSS is not necessary. Usually interviews for undergraduate theses are analysed by hand (i.e. you take quotations as needed from your transcripts). SPSS would only apply for a formal survey questionnaire. If you want to pick up some marks, you should make clear in your thesis why you chose a qualitative approach - this will probably have something to do with the sensitivity of the subject and the need for detailed description and context. Your examiner will be looking out for how well your research hangs together - i.e. how your statement of the problem informed your choice of method, and how your data in turn addresses the research question.

Thanks for your help. That gave me some relief

Cat Melodeon

JajaD wrote: »

Id rather not delve into the subject as it is a very sensitive topic but i am doing interviews (via internet, telephone) due to the sensitivity of the subject. So as i am doing interviews, would you suggest that spss is not necessary. I done coding last year from my research questionaire results. Was just confused whether on not i need to apply spss to my results and put them into my thesis.

If they are qualitative interviews, you need not use SPSS. You could consider using a qualitative software package like NVIVO (which entails a degree of coding) but it is generally not necessary.

If they are quantitative interviews whereby you use their answers to fill in surveys/questionnaires, then you will need to do full statistical analysis of your data using SPSS or similar.

The benefits of a quantitative approach is that it is easier to actually write up the thesis once you have your results. The benefits of the qualitative approach is that you don't need to be as good at maths, although you do have to be more creative in how you represent your data (use of vignettes, visual representations etc).

If you have already begun to collect data, you will presumably have already completed your literature review and have chosen research methods that best serve your proposed research question. You will need to justify these choices in the methodology chapter. It is best to break your research question down into 4/5 smaller questions and strictly concentrate on those when you are gathering data, doing the analysis and presenting your results. In a small scale research project such as a minor thesis, there is not much room for gathering data first and then coming up with the research topic, you need to hone it in fairly specifically or you will end up with a spreading and very messy thesis.

If the topic is a very sensitive one as you suggest, you will also need to do a good write-up on ethics, consent etc and ensure that you have your supervisor's approval before you go beyond the pilot interviews.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that for a minor thesis (undergrad to master's level) your thesis is not so much about researching a topic that has never been researched before; it is much more important to show that you understand the research process, that you can follow instruction, that you are familiar with the steps involved in putting together the various chapters, that you can select appropriate methods and conduct an appropriate literature review. If you are not solidly familiar with each of these steps, you should take a step back from your research for now and go back to the introductory methodology textbooks that will be on the course reading list (for qualitative sociology, the main author is usually Uwe Frick). I also recommend Judith Bell's book which was mentioned by a previous poster (Doing Your Research Project) - every college library has copies of these books.

If you have had pressures in your personal life, it is important to make your lecturers aware of these to ensure that you benefit from any additional help that may be available. Having tutored undergrad sociology, I have first hand experience of the kind of problems students face and have always helped them to get access to catch-up classes. The university I worked in provides on-going workshops in academic writing and has a learning support centre for students in need of assistance. However, it is up to the student to access these and to make their problems known. If you don't do this, you'll be treated exactly the same as everyone else and no allowances will be made for your circumstances as you have not requested for those allowances to be made.

phonejacker

do you have to do a thesis/dissertation for a level 8 course or is it for a level 9 (masters)

Tesco Massacre

Yeah, you'll have to write a thesis for your undergrad degree.

They're usually around the 10-12,000 word mark.

phonejacker

JajaD wrote: »

Excuse me but isnt boards.ie a general forum for discussions of all types. Think of the amount of students doing a thesis who would find a thesis discussion useful. My mother is extremely unwell and i had to miss a lot of college. So excuse me for asking for advice.

Boards.ie is becomming very bitchy. You cant say anything without someone giving a smart reply.

hear, hear:)

phonejacker

Tesco Massacre wrote: »

Yeah, you'll have to write a thesis for your undergrad degree.

They're usually around the 10-12,000 word mark.

for a thesis are you given a topic to write about? how would a thesis work for an accounting course

Tesco Massacre

phonejacker wrote: »

for a thesis are you given a topic to write about? how would a thesis work for an accounting course

Sorry, I just assumed you were doing one of the social sciences since you were posting in this part of the forum.

I really have no idea if you have to write a thesis for an accountancy course, but if you do then it's safe to say you'll have to come up with a topic yourself...or at least have an outline of an idea and then perhaps one of your lecturers can help you narrow it down.

This thread might be of use to you: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056137635

phonejacker

Tesco Massacre wrote: »

Sorry, I just assumed you were doing one of the social sciences since you were posting in this part of the forum.

I really have no idea if you have to write a thesis for an accountancy course, but if you do then it's safe to say you'll have to come up with a topic yourself...or at least have an outline of an idea and then perhaps one of your lecturers can help you narrow it down.

This thread might be of use to you: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056137635

thanks