Summer is magic
How to make the best out of your summer break?
1. Thesis writing: The Basics
I need to write a thesis..... but what exactly is a thesis?
Welcome to the first part of my blog series aimed at my Mod’Art Students – who in these very moments are probably sitting in the glow of the summer sunset, under the bright azure sky, in the light summer breeze, where the sea is splashing the shores of the golden coastline, lying under a palm tree, sipping their cocktails and pondering hard..... “well, what shall I write my thesis about?”
Well, I am here to help you out and stop your suffering once and for all. To help YOU, those of you, who are more than eager to investigate and pick the best possible thesis topic for your upcoming dissertation!
During last semester I was faced with my students’ recurrent comments: ‘I have no idea how to choose my thesis topic‘. So I would like to give hands-on advice on figuring out and picking the best research topic to complete your Mod’Art Fashion Management studies with flying colours.
First of all, let’s see some basics on your thesis/dissertation.
A thesis or dissertation is a particular kind of academic task. In UK universities, a dissertation is an extended piece of writing based on extended reading and some independent research at Undergraduate or Masters level. Generally in the US it is mostly referred to a (master) thesis, which is the final project for the master’s degree, while a dissertation leads to a doctoral degree. Since we are not bound by either usage, I’m going to use these words interchangeably because it is completely obvious that I am referring to the "szakdolgozat” you need to hand in at the end of your academic studies to get your academic degree.
To write your thesis, you are usually asked to generate a topic for yourself based on a thesis question or problem; to plan and execute a project investigating the chosen topic and to give a detailed account of what you have carried out and what your findings were.
Important stages in the dissertation process include:
choosing a topic
developing a research question/problem
effective planning of the research
conducting the research, analysing the results
reporting the research, writing your thesis/dissertation
oral defence
The aim of your thesis is to prove that you have achieved high expertise in your chosen topic: you have not only carried out thorough research on your own in both nationally and internationally available literature but also you conducted your own Fashion Business related in-depth practical research on your chosen topic.
You need to show that you have the necessary skills to research, analyze, evaluate and synthesize the findings of your research topic and based on all these findings you can draw the relevant conclusions on your own, individually, independently.
Independence is the key word here, since any kind of copying or plagiarism is seriously sanctioned in academic writing.
Finding a great thesis topic in time can give you huge competitive advantage. The sooner you find out what you want to write about, the easier it will be to find your thesis advisor who can assist you. (and who is still available!) The more time you have to narrow the scope of your thesis, the better research you will conduct. All that means that you will have just enough time to finalize your thesis, instead of releasing and submitting some slapdash, sloppy work.
Yes, I am completely aware of the fact that anyone would be intimidated by the prospect of a large and completely self-driven research project like this.
So what do we do?
Well, according to Ray Martin we "dream in a vacuum” Some students believe great ideas come from moments of inspiration; students who walk in the park, backpack in the mountains, or sit in quiet places to contemplate learn a lot about parks, backpacking, and contemplation, but little else.
But....waiting for inspiration is not the best approach to topic selection.
Dissertation topics do not mystically appear.
So, how should you find your perfect thesis topic?
I will elaborate on it in my following post next week!
Stay tuned!
My upcoming blog posts:
