How to Write Your Thesis: A Step-by-Step Guide

写Thesis真正困难的地方，通常不是某一个英文句子，而是怎样把研究问题、文献综述、研究方法、研究结果和结论连接成一条清楚的逻辑线。很多留学生在动笔前会搜索“留学生论文代写”“代写Thesis”“Thesis写作辅导”或者“master thesis代写”，但真正开始写以后才发现，最需要解决的往往是选题范围太大、research gap说不清楚、章节之间互不对应，或者拿到导师的feedback以后不知道怎样修改。

ukthesis是1999年创立的论文代写平台，长期关注留学生Thesis、Dissertation和硕士毕业论文的选题、结构、研究方法、修改与英文润色问题。我们希望这篇经过重新整理的老文章，仍然能够给正在写Thesis的同学带来一些实在的帮助。

This guide is intended to help you write your thesis. It provides step-by-step guidance, from defining your research problem to preparing a workable outline.

What Is a Thesis?

Your thesis is a formal academic document whose central purpose is to demonstrate that you have made an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge in a particular field.

Your thesis must answer the following questions:

What issue or problem do I need to address?

Why is this problem important?

How will my study add to what we already know about this problem?

Who will benefit from what I learn about this problem?

In other words, you must demonstrate that:

you have identified a worthwhile problem or question that has not been fully answered; and

you have solved the problem or provided a well-supported answer to the question.

Your contribution to knowledge generally lies in your solution or answer.

To prove the originality and value of your contribution, you must present a thorough review of the existing literature on the subject and on closely related subjects. Then, by making direct Reference to your literature review, you must demonstrate that your question:

has not been fully answered; and

is worth answering.

Always remember that a thesis is a formal document. Every item must appear in the appropriate place, and unnecessary repetition of material in different sections should be eliminated.

The Structure of the Thesis

1. Introduction

This is a general introduction to what the thesis is about. It should be more than a simple description of the contents of each section.

Briefly summarize the research Question—you will state it in greater detail later—and explain some of the reasons why it is worth asking. Where appropriate, you may also give a short overview of your research approach and main results.

A common mistake is to turn the Introduction into a chapter-by-chapter list. The reader needs more than a map of the thesis. The Introduction should explain what you are studying, why the subject matters and what your research intends to contribute.

2. Literature Review

Here you provide a review of the existing literature. What you need to do is present a thorough review of the literature on the subject. This is the foundation on which you build your own research.

Organize this section by idea or theme, rather than by author or publication. For example, if three main approaches have been used to analyse exchange rates, you might organize your subsections around those three approaches.

A useful Literature Review does not simply tell the reader what each author said. It should show:

where previous studies agree;

where researchers reach different conclusions;

which research methods have been used;

what limitations remain; and

what still needs to be investigated.

This is also where many students struggle. Reading a large number of journal articles does not automatically produce a good Literature Review. The real task is to identify relationships between the studies and use them to establish your research gap.

3. Research Question or Problem Statement

This section usually consists of the following:

a. a concise statement of the question that your thesis addresses;

b. justification, with direct reference to Section 2, that your question has not been fully answered; and

c. a discussion of why it is worthwhile to answer this question.

The research question should be clear enough for the reader to understand exactly what the thesis is trying to discover. A question that is too broad will usually lead to an unfocused Literature Review, an unclear Methodology and conclusions that cannot be properly supported.

Your research question should also remain consistent throughout the thesis. If its wording or scope changes during the research process, make sure that the Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions are updated accordingly.

4. Describing How You Solved the Problem or Answered the Question

This section has one main purpose: to convince the reader that you answered the question or solved the problem that you set for yourself in Section 3.

Show what you did that is directly relevant to answering the question or solving the problem. Explain your research design, the evidence or data you used, the way you analysed it, and the reasons for choosing that approach.

The reader should be able to understand not only what you did, but also why the method was appropriate.

Depending on your subject, this section may include:

quantitative or qualitative research methods;

questionnaires or interviews;

case study selection;

experimental design;

secondary data;

statistical analysis;

software or analytical tools; and

ethical considerations.

Do not include methods simply because they look complicated or academically impressive. Every method should help you answer the research question.

If the study has limitations, state them honestly rather than trying to hide them. A clear discussion of limitations usually makes the research more credible because it shows that you understand what your evidence can and cannot prove.

5. Conclusions

This section usually consists of the following:

a. Conclusions;

b. Summary of Contributions; and

c. Future Research.

Conclusions should be short, concise statements of the inferences that you have made as a result of your work. All conclusions should be directly related to the research question stated in Section 3.

Do not introduce completely new evidence in the Conclusion. This section should bring together the findings already presented and explain what they mean in relation to your original research question.

The Summary of Contributions is usually of particular interest to readers. You should clearly list the contributions to knowledge that your thesis makes.

Avoid vague claims such as:

This research is very important.

Instead, state precisely what has been learned, developed, tested, compared or clarified through your study.

Your contribution does not always have to be a completely new theory. Depending on the level and subject of the thesis, the contribution may involve:

applying an existing theory to a new context;

analysing a new dataset;

comparing previously separate approaches;

testing a method in a different population;

identifying limitations in existing research; or

developing a practical solution to a specific problem.

The Future Research subsection is included so that future researchers can benefit from the ideas that you generated while working on the project.

Suggestions for future research should grow naturally from the limitations and findings of your own study. Avoid adding unrelated topics simply to make the section look longer.

6. References

The list of references is closely tied to the Literature Review in Section 2. Many readers of your thesis will scan your reference list for important works in the field.

Every reference listed must be cited in the main body of the thesis, and every source cited in the thesis must appear in the reference list.

Before submission, check that the referencing style is consistent with your university’s requirements. Depending on your course, you may be required to use Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver or another referencing system.

Pay particular attention to:

author names;

publication years;

article and book titles;

journal names;

volume and issue numbers;

page ranges;

DOI information; and

online access dates where required.

Small inconsistencies in author names, publication years, capitalization or page numbers can make an otherwise careful thesis look unfinished.

How to Get Started

The best way to get started on your thesis is to prepare an extended outline.

Begin by drafting the Table of Contents and listing each section and subsection that you propose to include. For every section and subsection, write a brief description of its intended content.

The entire outline might be two to five pages long. You can show the outline to your thesis supervisor and ask for comments and guidance.

It is usually much easier to correct the direction of a detailed outline than to rewrite several completed chapters later.

Your outline does not have to be perfect. Its purpose is to help you answer several practical questions:

What is the central research question?

Which themes belong in the Literature Review?

What evidence or data will be needed?

Which research method is appropriate?

What should each chapter contribute?

How will the final conclusions answer the original question?

Do not wait for the “perfect” first sentence. Start with the research question, the main themes in the literature, and the evidence you expect to use. Once these pieces are in the right order, the writing becomes far less intimidating.

A Practical Thesis Writing Note from ukthesis

很多同学搜索留学生论文代写、代写Thesis、Thesis写作辅导或者master thesis代写，表面上是在寻找“完成一篇论文”的办法，实际遇到的问题往往更加具体。

有的人一直无法确定选题；有的人看了很多文献，却写不出critical analysis；有的人Methodology已经完成，但无法解释为什么要使用这种研究方法；还有的人已经拿到导师批注，却不知道应该修改语言、结构还是研究逻辑。

ukthesis是1999年创立的论文代写平台。面对Thesis和Dissertation相关需求，我们更建议先查看学校handbook、评分标准、proposal、已有正文和导师feedback，再判断需要处理的是论文结构、研究方法、文献逻辑、引用格式还是英文表达。

如果还没有正式开始，可以先把研究问题和Extended Outline梳理清楚；如果已经完成初稿，则应优先按照导师意见检查章节之间是否对应。对于硕士阶段的论文，尤其不能只关注字数。研究问题是否明确、Literature Review是否找到了research gap、Methodology是否合理，以及Conclusion是否真正回答了前面的问题，往往比单纯写得长更重要。

无论是Thesis写作辅导、硕士论文修改润色，还是搜索代写Thesis和master thesis代写相关信息，都应先弄清楚自己究竟卡在哪一个环节。不同阶段的问题需要分别解决，不要把一套固定模板生硬地套在所有Thesis上。