CSCD 506 Research Methods for Computer Science Winter 2018

1. CSCD 506Research Methods for Computer Science Winter 2018 Lecture 7 Thesis Writing 1

2. Topics • Outline of a Thesis • Writing Advice • Other topics such as Time-line 2

3. What is a Thesis? A. An argument B. An exposition of an original piece of research Exposition: a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory. C. The product of an apprenticeship D. All of the above Probably the largest (most self-indulgent) piece of work you’ll ever do Something that could be published: E.g. At least one paper in a scholarly journal You will probably never publish the whole thesis

4. Purpose of a Thesis Master’s projects should be result of work independently conducted, and represents original research. Work should demonstrate following from student: • Awareness and understanding of important current work in field • Ability to plan and execute a research activity • Ability to analyze results of research • Ability to draw reasonable conclusions from research • Ability to complete a written description of work in form of well-written, properly organized thesis • Ability to complete a thesis with potential for presentation at and/or participation in professional meetings and/or publication in scholarly journals

5. Purpose of a Thesis (2) Thesis represents culminating experience resulting from your graduate study Your thesis is most important artifact you create in earning your degree. It will persist in perpetuity, long after your graduation It is the thesis that proves that you have mastery in the subject matter Any other thoughts?

6. Preparation for Writing Thesis What kind of preparation do you need before you are ready to write ? 1. Finished or nearly finished Literature Review During the first year Can write this section as you finish lit review 2. Introduction – Can write it all except results if not done yet Describe the problem, provide background 3. Finished the program or proof Report on Results

7. What Makes a Good Thesis? Produce a good thesis, But What does good mean? Should you implement something? How about a formal proof? An empirical evaluation? If so, which type? There is no universal answer to these questions. Each computer science area has its own expectations of what makes a good thesis Thus depends on the sub-area of the thesis

8. Different Areas Different Expectations For a thesis, the area of computer science sets the expectations Example: In software engineering, many theses include an implementation and an empirical evaluation But, formal proofs are uncommon In areas like temporal logic or theorem proving, proofs are common, empirical evaluations are not

9. Phases of Graduate Education First Year - EWU Get Most Courses Done Background courses, some Graduate courses Can go into next year Does not include 600 and 601 credits Can include CSCD 599 courses Take Research Methods CSCD 506 Better understand the research process Introduction to the CS Literature Introduction to Faculty and their Research

10. Phases of Graduate Education First Year – Ideally Chosen your adviser and area of research Conducted a literature review of your area Recommended you write this section as you go Defined a specific problem to work on Written a proposal for your research This will be an outline for your Thesis

11. Phases of Graduate Education Second Year Rest of Your Courses Rest of Graduate courses Includes 600 and 601 credits Can include CSCD 599 courses too Conduct Your Research Do Experiments, Write software, Create prototypes Do formal proofs or other validation and testing Maybe do user acceptance tests

12. Phases of Graduate Education Second Year - Continued Write Your Thesis Finish it as soon as humanly possible Takes longer than you think to write Present your Results in Thesis Defense Make corrections to Thesis Graduate !!!!

13. Thesis Contents What goes into a Thesis? Is there a standard architecture for Theses? Turns out, yes. Typical thesis in Computer Science will have the following sections: Introduction Terms and Definitions Related Work Approach Evaluation Future Work Conclusion Bibliography

14. Thesis Contents Introduction Describes problem statement, illustrates why this is a problem and describes contribution thesis makes in solving this problem Good introductions are concise, typically no longer than 4 pages Introduction reveals full (but summarized) results of your work. This appears counter-intuitive Does this not break the tension, like revealing the name of the murderer on the first page of a thriller? Yes, but that's the point. Like a research paper, introduction leads reader to read further

15. Thesis Contents Terms and Definitions Defines fundamental concepts your thesis builds on. Your thesis implements a new type of parser generator and uses the term non-terminal symbola lot? Here is where you define this or other terms Key to this chapter is to keep it very, very short. Whenever you can, don’t reinvent a description for an established concept, but reference a text book or paper instead.

16. Thesis Contents Related Work Collects descriptions of existing work that is related to your work. Related, means aims to solve same problem or uses same approach to solve a different problem Each list item summarizes a piece of work briefly and explains relation to your work This last part is absolutely crucial: Reader should not have to figure out relation himself Is your research better from some perspective? More generalizable? Simpler? Faster algorithm?

17. Thesis Contents One common variation is to move Related Work chapter between Evaluation and Future Work. When to use which variant depends on how well-researched the area is. If well researched, then put related work up front, since a reader first wants to know how your work differs. If it is a relatively novel area, your approach and solution should come first. If you don’t know which variant to choose, ask your adviser

18. Thesis Contents Approach Outlines main thing your thesis does. Your thesis describes a novel algorithm for X? Your main contribution is a case study that replicates Y? Describe it here. Also called Methods or Implementation Evaluation: Describes why your approach really solves the problem it claims to solve. You implemented a novel algorithm for X? This chapter describes how you ran it on a dataset and reports the results you measured. You replicated a study? This chapter gives results and your interpretations.

19. Thesis Contents Future Work In science folklore, merit of a research question is compounded by the number of interesting follow-up research questions it raises Show the merit of the problem you worked on, you list these questions here. Whenever you stumble across something that you should do if you had unlimited time, but cannot do since you don’t, you describe it here. Typical Candidates: Evaluation of more users, investigation of potential threats to validity, … The point here is to inform the reader that you were aware of these limitations

20. Thesis Contents Conclusion Short summary of the contribution and its implications. The goal is to drive home the result of your thesis. Do not repeat all the stuff you have written in other parts of the thesis in detail Again, limit this chapter to very few pages. The shorter, the easier it is to keep consistent with the parts it summarizes.

21. Thesis Contents Bibliography Every citation made in the body of the thesis must appear in the Bibliography. Similarly, every item listed in the Bibliography must be cited in the body of the thesis. The committee may use the list of references as a yard stick to assess how well you have researched the field before setting out to do your project. The committee may look for completeness and also accuracy of the references

22. More Thesis Advice There is no rule governing the length of a thesis. A thesis does not have to be 60 pages long! Do not “fill‐up” a thesis with irrelevant material just to make it long. Common: User your source code as filler In a thesis, every sentence should have a purpose and every sentence should say something relevant to the project work. Be succinct in what you write. Avoid vague rambling text. Your thesis is a piece of scientific work. It should not contain any unsubstantiated opinions or claims. Every technical claim made or result cited must be substantiated with credible references, or result of some reasoned discussion

23. Advise from Other Students https://cheekyscientist.com/insiders-guide-to-write-a-thesis-when-short-on-time/ Next few bits of advise stem from former students Seven tips for writing a strong thesis from a former PhD student She did finish her PhD

24. Advice from Former Students 1.Know What Questions You’re Asking You always need to know what your hypothesis is or what questions your thesis is asking. This may seem obvious, but so many graduate students fail to define their overall hypothesis before beginning their thesis. You must be able to summarize your thesis in one sentence such as: “The purpose of this thesis is to….”

25. Advice from Former Students 2. Break your Thesis into Well Defined Stages Thesis writing is a process with well-defined stages Details of each stage will vary slightly depending on your field, but for most thesis writers the stages are, first, idea collection, Second, editing and data analysis, and Third, polishing

26. Advice from Former Students 3. Don’t Rely On Your Academic Advisor Your academic adviser will not give you all the answers. Some advisers are either too busy to mentor you properly or are micro-managers who want daily updates on your progress. Writing your thesis is your job and your job only. Role of your adviser is to mentor you so you learn how to be an independent researcher, not to hold your hand for the rest of your life

27. Advice from Former Studednts 4. Realize You Will Never Feel Like Writing You will never feel like writing your thesis. Even most famous and prolific authors in history had daily battles with writer’s block. You won’t be any different. There will be times when you sit down to write when you feel like you’re dying. That’s okay—just start typing gibberish. Type sentence fragments. Type anything. Just get something down on paper.

28. Advice from Former Students 5. Don’t Write Your Thesis Chapters In Order - 1 When I started writing my thesis, I thought I had to begin with abstract, then introduction, then an in-depth literature search, then chapter one, chapter two, on and on all the way to the conclusion. This is the worst way to write your thesis. Writing your thesis in order can lead to several months of agonizing writer’s block.

29. Advice from Former Students 5. Don’t Write Your Thesis Chapters In Order - 2 Don’t start writing your thesis by diving into most difficult chapter either If you do, you will inevitably face writer’s block. Instead, start writing your thesis by writing easiest section first— the methods section. The methods section is easiest section to get started and the quickest to finish. Start here to get a few pages under your belt and boost your confidence before you try any heavy lifting.

30. Advice from Former Students 6. Never Write “work on thesis” In Your Calendar “Work on thesis” is too vague. If you put this phrase in your calendar it will either lead to you taking a nap, surfing the web, or staring at a blank computer screen. Instead, turn your work hours into measurable progress, put down Create Figure 1. Once you decide on the order in which you will write your chapters, continue breaking them down into smaller chunks. This will allow you to set up specific goals for every block of time you have.

31. Advice from Former Students 7. Write In Very Short Bursts Writing requires creativity, and it is difficult to sustain your focus for several hours in a row over the course of months If you have a 3-4-hour block of time in your calendar, resist the temptation to glue yourself to the chair for the entire period. You’re only fooling yourself if you think that more hours of writing leads to more progress. Instead, break up your writing time into short blocks with rest periods in between.

32. Advice from Former Students Final Advice Don’t take on all 7 of these guidelines at once. Instead, take on one, complete it or master it, and then move on to the next tip. The toughest part of writing is beginning. Sooner you start writing your thesis, easier writing it becomes. A good writer is not someone who never struggles, but someone who keeps writing even when they’re struggling.

33. References Insiders Guide to Writing Your Thesis https://cheekyscientist.com/insiders-guide-to-write-a-thesis-when-short-on-time/ ElmarJuergens Advice https://thesisguide.org/posts-2/ SHAN BARKATAKI, http://www.csun.edu/~shan/comp696-698/ Guidelines for Preparation of Your Masters Thesis https://www.unk.edu/academics/gradstudies/admissions/ grad-files/Grad%20Files/ThesisGdlnsFinal08.pdf

34. Summary • Lots of Advice on the actual Writing of the Thesis • Good to learn from others experience • Former students want to help others … sometimes for profit • There is a timeline – ideal time for finishing a thesis • Can stray from this timeline and still finish • This is just advice .. not a mandatory process that must be followed ... 34

35. Assignment up – Reading Theses End 35