Writing Your Masters Dissertation

David A Watt 201011

David.Watt@glasgow.ac.uk

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~daw/masters-projects

Overview

Structure
Content Writing

Formatting
Submission

Structure (1)

First decide the structure of your dissertation: how it will be divided into chapters (and appendices).
You might decide to subdivide some chapters into sections. You might even subdivide some sections into sub-sections.
But avoid sub-sub-sections!

Example: structure (1)

Typical structure for a development project dissertation:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B C

Chapters

Appendices

Title page Acknowledgements Abstract Table of Contents Introduction Survey Requirements Design Implementation Evaluation Conclusion Requirements Design Documents Evaluation Results Bibliography
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Example: structure (2)

Typical structure for a research project dissertation:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B

Chapters

Appendices

Title page Acknowledgements Abstract Table of Contents Introduction Survey Evaluation Conclusion Bibliography
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Structure (2)

Expand your structure into a synopsis. Under each chapter title, write brief notes summarising what the chapter will cover.
Use the synopsis to check:
that all essential topics are covered
that no topic is covered twice that the topics are covered in an orderly fashion (avoiding forward references where possible).

Ask your supervisor to comment on your synopsis before you start writing chapters.
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Example: synopsis

Possible synopsis for a development project dissertation:

1 Introduction Context; motivation for the project; problem statement; outline of dissertation. Survey Review of relevant literature; review of similar software products. Requirements How requirements were captured; discussion of major requirements (referring to Appendix A for details). Design How the product was designed, with discussion of design alternatives (referring to Appendix B for details).
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2
3

Content

Title page
Abstract Table of contents Development project dissertation Research project dissertation Supplementary material and attached CD

For advice on bibliography, citations, and plagiarism, re-read Writing Your Masters Proposal Report.
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Content: title page

Managing an Election Campaign

Barack Obama

title

authors full name

A dissertation presented in part fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of MSc in Information Technology at The University of Glasgow November 2008

degree

date
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Content: abstract

The abstract is a short summary of the dissertation.

Its purpose is to catch the readers attention: is this dissertation worth reading in full?

It should be 1 page long.

It should briefly outline the context of the project, its goals, and its achievements. It should highlight any novel aspects of the project.

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Content: table of contents

The table of contents lists the chapters of the dissertation (showing each chapters number and title, and the number of its first page).
Similarly, it lists the abstract, acknowledgements, appendices, bibliography, etc. If chapters are subdivided into sections, these should also be listed (showing each sections number and title, and the number of its first page).
Section details should be indented and less prominent.

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Example: table of contents

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements Abstract Contents Introduction Survey 2.1 Literature 2.2 Software products Requirements Design 4.1 Class design 4.2 User interface design iii v vii 1 6 6 13 20 23 23 30

1 2

3 4

5 Implementation 5.1 Model 5.2 User interface 5.3 Controller 5.4 Test strategy 6 Evaluation 6.1 Methodology 6.2 Results 7 Conclusion A Requirements B Design Documents C Evaluation Results Bibliography

34 34 39 43 46 48 48 50 59 63 67 71 93

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Content: development project (1)

In your introduction, briefly explain the context of your work, state the problem that you addressed, and explain why this problem was worth solving. In your survey chapter, present an overview of relevant previous work including articles and existing products. Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this previous work.
You can reuse material from your proposal report, but improve it and update it. Dont just reproduce it!

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Content: development project (2)

In your requirements chapter, explain how you captured the requirements.

But dont include a full statement of requirements here!

In your design chapter, discuss the main features of your design and how it evolved, highlighting any novel features.
But dont include design documentation here!

In your implementation chapter, discuss the main algorithms and data structures and how they evolved, highlighting any novel features. Also discuss your testing strategy.
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Content: development project (3)

In your evaluation chapter, describe how you evaluated your product. Summarise the evaluation results, and use them to critically evaluate your own work. Be honest about any shortcomings.
In your conclusion, describe the status of your product. Summarize what you have achieved, compared to what you originally set out to achieve. Relate your work to relevant previous work. Suggest further work that you think would be worthwhile.
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Content: research project (1)

In your introduction, briefly explain the research context of your work. Clearly state the research problem that you addressed. Explain why this research problem is worth solving. In your survey chapter, present an overview of the literature relevant to the research problem. Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the work reported in the literature.
You can reuse material from your proposal report, but improve it and update it. Dont just reproduce it!

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Content: research project (2)

In your middle chapters, describe the research itself, and its results. Include enough technical detail to enable a reader to judge the accuracy and originality of your work. This description of your research should be the largest part of your dissertation; how it is divided into chapters will depend on the nature of your work.
In your evaluation chapter, critically evaluate your research results and assess their significance.

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Content: research project (3)

In your conclusion, summarize what you have achieved, compared to what you originally set out to achieve. Relate your work to other relevant work. Suggest further work that you think would be worthwhile.

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Content: supplementary material

Supplementary material includes code, documentation, detailed evaluation results, etc.

Do not include supplementary material in the chapters of your dissertation.

Put all supplementary material on the CD that accompanies your dissertation.

Put selected supplementary material in appendices (but only if it is short and essential to understanding of the dissertation). Include references to the supplementary material in your dissertation.
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Content: CD

Suggested CD structure and contents:

Dissertation PDF of your dissertation Code executable or script all source code files any required data files Documentation statement of requirements design documentation code documentation Evaluation task sheet(s) questionnaire form(s) questionnaire returns whatever is appropriate for your project required (to make it easy for readers to run your software)

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Writing

Knowing your readers

Tense Voice and 1st-person pronouns For advice on terminology, acronyms, spelling, and grammar, re-read Writing Your Masters Proposal Report.

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Writing: knowing your readers

Know who will read your dissertation, and think about what they know already:
Do not patronise readers by explaining things that they probably do know already.

Do not bamboozle readers by failing to explain things that they probably do not know already. (Include a brief explanation, and/or cite a suitable textbook or article.)

Who might read your dissertation?

internal and external examiners
future masters students interested readers elsewhere (if it is very good!).
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Writing: tense

Write about your project activities (e.g., design, evaluation) in the past tense. Write about your projects product in the present tense.
Write about planned further work in the future tense.

At the time of submitting your dissertation, the project activities have been completed.

At the time of submitting your dissertation, the product exists.

At the time of submitting your dissertation, the further work has not yet been done.

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Writing: voice and first-person pronouns

Most technical writers prefer to write in the active voice (e.g., I did this, then I did that). But this forces the writer to use 1st-person pronouns (such as I or me) when referring to him/herself:
Using I or me frequently is egocentric use it sparingly. Using we is pretentious if there is only one author.

Some technical writers prefer to write in the passive voice (e.g., this was done, then that was done).

This avoids the problem of 1st-person pronouns, but then sentences tend to be vague or awkward.

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Example: voice and first-person pronouns

To evaluate my database system, I assembled a group of 10 users. I gave each user a task sheet and a questionnaire. I designed the evaluation to test my systems usability. egocentric
To evaluate our database system, we assembled a group of 10 users. We gave each user a task sheet and a questionnaire. We designed the evaluation to test our systems usability. pretentious

To evaluate the database system, a group of 10 users was assembled. Each user was given a task sheet and a questionnaire. The evaluation was designed to test the systems usability. vague To evaluate the database system, I assembled a group of 10 users. Each user received a task sheet and a questionnaire. The evaluation was designed to test the systems usability. reasonable
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Formatting: word processors

Use a good word processor, such as Word or LaTeX. Use the word processors built-in styles. Also define your own styles where necessary. Using styles helps to ensure consistent (and easilymodified) formatting:
You can define a style once, then use it throughout the document. You can modify the style once, then the whole document is automatically reformatted.

Manually setting the style of each paragraph makes consistent formatting of a large document much more difficult.
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Formatting: chapter/section headings

A chapter heading must be extremely prominent always at the top of a new page. A section heading should be very prominent, and a sub-section heading fairly prominent. To make a heading prominent, use bold face, a large font size, and ample spacing above and below. Suggestions:
Chapter headings: 30pt bold, page break above, 48pt below. Section headings: 18pt bold, 36pt spacing above, 12pt below. Sub-section headings: 14pt bold, 24pt above, 12pt below. Paragraphs: 12pt. Word has built-in styles Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3. You can modify them. LaTeX has built-in styles \chapter, \section, \subsection.

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Example: chapter/section headings

5 Testing and Evaluation

Due to the available student facilities within the CS department, this application was only tested on Microsoft Windows 98/Me/XP with a minimum Java version of 1.5. While there are student Linux PCs available, their default Java version was only 1.4 which was insufficient to run and test CSim. Therefore, while CSim should run with limited functionality (Black boxes do not work due to OS file handling differences.) on MacOS, Linux and Windows server operating systems with Java 1.5 no guarantees can be made.

5 Testing and Evaluation

Due to the available student facilities within the CS department, this application was only tested on Microsoft Windows 98/Me/XP with a minimum Java version of 1.5. While there are student Linux PCs available, their default Java version was only 1.4 which was insufficient to run and test CSim. Therefore, while CSim should run with limited functionality (Black boxes do not work due to OS file handling differences.) on MacOS, Linux and Windows server operating systems with Java 1.5 no guarantees can be made.

5.1 Application Testing

In order to test the application as it was being written, three plain text circuit description files were created for progressively more complex circuits: an And2 gate, a multiplexer and a 1-bit register (see Figure 5.1). Being reasonable simple circuits with only one, four and five logic gates respectively they were easy to draw out and animate on paper. In addition, the third circuit provided a good test of the animation functionality as it included a flip flop.

5.1 Application Testing

In order to test the application as it was being written, three plain text circuit description files were created for progressively more complex circuits: an And2 gate, a multiplexer and a 1-bit register (see Figure 5.1). Being reasonable simple circuits with only one, four and five logic gates respectively they were easy to draw out and animate on paper. In addition, the third circuit provided a good test of the animation functionality as it included a flip flop.

bad

better
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Formatting: chapter/section numbering

Chapters should be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.

Sections within Chapter 7 (say) should be numbered 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, etc. Subsections within Section 7.4 (say) should be numbered 7.4.1, 7.4.2, etc. Appendices should be numbered A, B, C, etc.
Word doesnt help with numbering. You must update cross-references whenever you insert, delete, or reorder chapters or sections. LaTeX numbers chapters and section automatically. It also supports symbolic cross-references.
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Formatting: floats

A float is a figure or table that is not anchored to a particular position in the text. A float can be positioned at any suitable position on the page.
Every float must have a number, so that it can be cross-referenced. Floats within Chapter 7 (say) should be numbered 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, etc. Every float should have a caption, to make it self-explanatory.

A float should be separated from the text by ample spacing, so that it doesnt interrupt reading of the text. Position it at the top or bottom of a page, or at the end of a (sub-)section.
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Example: floats

The solution was to introduce an abstract class Animal. This is shown in the following diagram:

Animal
Mammal Reptile

Mammal and Bird are now subclasses of Animal. Mammal inherits the move method from Animal, but Bird overrides it. bad

The solution was to introduce an abstract class Animal. This is shown in the class diagram of Figure 4.5. Mammal and Bird are now subclasses of Animal. Mammal inherits the move method from Animal, but Bird overrides it. Animal Mammal Reptile

Figure 4.5 Class diagram

better
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Submission

Plan to start writing your dissertation at least 3 weeks before the deadline.
Show a draft to your supervisor well before then. Submit one PDF copy of your dissertation:
a single file named MSc_project_nnnnnnn.pdf or MRes_project_nnnnnnn.pdf (nnnnnnn = student number).

Submit one printed copy of your dissertation:

in a black spring-bound folder CD enclosed in a sleeve attached to the inside cover.

Deadline: Wed 7 September 2011 at 12:00. Late penalty: 2 bands per day (or part-day).
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Exemplary dissertations

We have a collection of excellent (grade A) masters dissertations from previous years:

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~daw/masters-projects/Hall-of-Fame.html

www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~daw/masters-projects/Dev-Project.html www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~daw/masters-projects/Res-Project.html
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