Hints on how to compose and present a

Master Thesis
in Geographical Information Systems

Helena Eriksson 2006

Contents
1 2 Introduction..........................................................................................................5 Getting started......................................................................................................7 2.1 FIND THE TOPIC AND AIM ................................................................................7 2.2 COMPOSE A PROJECT PLAN ..............................................................................7 2.3 ORGANISE YOUR DAY .....................................................................................8 The writing process............................................................................................10 3.1 START WITH A DISPOSITION...........................................................................10 3.2 FIND YOUR STYLE .........................................................................................10 3.3 WHAT AND HOW? .........................................................................................11 Some simple writing rules .................................................................................13 4.1 HOW TO PARAGRAPH THE TEXT.....................................................................13 4.2 ABBREVIATIONS ...........................................................................................13 4.3 BRITISH OR AMERICAN? ...............................................................................13 Searching for information.................................................................................15 Cites, references and plagiarism.......................................................................17 6.1 CITES ............................................................................................................17 6.2 REFERENCES .................................................................................................17 6.3 PLAGIARISM ..................................................................................................18 The structure of the report................................................................................19 7.1 VERB TENSE ..................................................................................................19 7.2 ILLUSTRATIONS .............................................................................................19 The chapters of the report.................................................................................21 8.1 TITLE ............................................................................................................21 8.2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................21 8.3 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................22 8.4 KEY WORDS ..................................................................................................22 8.5 TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................................22 8.6 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................23 8.7 (MATERIALS &) METHODS ...........................................................................23 8.8 RESULTS .......................................................................................................24 8.9 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................24 8.10 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................25 8.11 REFERENCES .................................................................................................25 8.12 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................25 The final checklist ..............................................................................................27 The oral presentation.....................................................................................28 10.1 THE INITIAL PREPARATION ............................................................................28 10.2 THE OUTLINE ................................................................................................28 10.3 VISUAL AIDS .................................................................................................29 10.4 THE PERFORMANCE .......................................................................................29

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1 Introduction
The master thesis is an academic report with the purpose of adding new knowledge to information that has already been accepted and established as knowledge by the scientific community. In the development work of your thesis, you are given the opportunity to present a topic from a point of view that is chosen by you. The data is based on information from other peoples ideas; gathered, sorted and analysed by you. It is you who will decide what statements to make and what source material to use to support these statements. In the final report, the knowledge from the source material is combined with your own research to form new conclusions based on results that are generated from your observations. The containment of a master thesis is very different from other kinds of writings, such as newspaper articles, reports or other documentation. There are certain conventions that all academic reports are bounded by, i.e. demands that together contribute to form the academic report. In addition to that, there are some conventions that are restricted to a certain discipline (e.g. humanity, history or science). A master thesis is always composed of a title, a beginning (introduction), a middle (body), and a closure (conclusion), but the names and subdivisions may vary among the disciplines. The conventions that are appropriate for master thesis in Geographical Information Systems belong to the science discipline. The main characteristics are listed below and described in more detail later on in this document: The aim should consist of a question of issue or a hypothesis to accept or reject, that has a certain public or theoretical interest. The scope of the study must be related to other studies (of academic status). Any methods that are used must be accepted by the scientific community. The methodological path should be described so that the results could be reproduced. The reader should be able to make own conclusions from the results provided. The results of the study should be analysed, related to other studies, and put into a wider context. The conclusion should give informative answers to the issues of the thesis. In a master thesis, it is particularly important to structure the information to be delivered. This is done according to predefined principles that are well established in the specific genre. When the structure is following the predefined conventions, the reader can put less effort on understanding the structure of the thesis and more effort on what it is about. To use a well known structure is also an advantage for the reader who is particularly interested in a specific part of the study. From a well-structured text, it should be easy to find the answer to questions like: What is the topic of the research? What is the aim? What methods have you been using? What can you conclude from the study? The sorting and structuring is also a help in the effort of keeping track of all ideas and data. It is often in the sorting and structuring process that new ideas are able to pop up. Vague thoughts of relationships often become obvious when the information is sorted and bound to be written down!

2 Getting started

2.1 Find the topic and aim

When you have found a working field and gathered some information about it, it is time to compose the aim of your study and the means of how to solve it. This may not always be an easy task, since both the topic and the methods may be new areas to you. Even so, the sooner you find a purpose, the sooner you can start concentrating on gathering relevant information. Less time is spent on the searching for literature that is inappropriate for your study. The next thing to do is to narrow your aim and define restrictions, so that you will be able to match the aim within the limited period of time that is provided. Although this seems difficult to do in this early stage, it is an important step. It is most likely that new ideas will pop up during the process, leading to more interesting issues, or that the data needed to solve the initial aim was impossible to gather, the methods inappropriate or other. In fact, it is common that the final aim of a thesis is modified or even changed, compared to the initial aim. Therefore, it may help to consider the aim as preliminary rather than final, impossible to modify. Nevertheless, the initial aim do have a very important purpose it forces you to become aware of the fact that the aim has changed, why it has changed and how this change correspond to the work that you have spent on your study. This information in return, helps you to keep the connecting thought throughout the thesis, keeping all parts in close relation to each other.

2.2 Compose a project plan

A project plan is a short document, about one to two pages long, giving a short description of the study. The project plan should include a small, concentrated introduction to the field, a well defined aim, the methods that are planned to be used, and a preliminary time plan specifying when the different parts of the study will be performed. Try to be as specific as possible in your descriptions, and structure the text into chapters or paragraphs. The plan should include sufficient descriptions of the theoretical background, so that the reader can understand why this study is interesting in a broader context. A thorough and well made project plan could be used as a start of departure when you start to write on the introduction section of your report. For the time plan to be realistic, there must be some extra space towards the end of the project. There is always the risk of some unexpected time consuming turns popping up in the finishing-up stage. Furthermore, the supervisor will need some time for reading and commenting on the manuscript. The appearance of a time plan is of course dependent on the character of the project. Keep this in mind when you study the example of what a time plan could look like:

Week 1 2 3 4-6 7-10

Activity Find topic, gather information, compose aim, start writing the project plan. Narrow aim, search for more information, specifically concerning methods, read, finish project plan and turn to supervisor for revision. Prepare for field work, check instruments, produce field protocols, find maps solve practical problems, etc. Field work + sorting, documenting and construction of the database. Sort and analyse the data using pre-defined methods, produce relevant statistics. Write on all parts but esp. on the materials, methods and result part. Structure the data. What is important and what is rare? Does the aim hold or should it be modified? How shall the results be presented? What is interesting to discuss? Read about other work and relate to own results. Concentration on the discussion part. Read, write and relate. Go through all parts and check the harmony, finish introduction and conclusion. First draft to supervisor. Check references, justify the text and illustrations. Modify according to supervisor.

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2.3 Organise your day

The time plan is one way of dividing the project into smaller, more reasonable pieces to deal with. Another way of dealing with the load of work that is ahead of you, is to divide the ordinary day into routines. This is a method that many professional writers of various disciplines recommend and apply to in their own writings. Routine is the key of getting started and to get something down on the paper. How about establishing certain writing moments, for instance about 45 minutes every morning at 10.15, right after the coffee break? The goal is to make the writing routine as natural to you as getting dressed or brushing your teeth. Do not wait for the inspiration to come, because then there is a risk that you end up waiting forever! In addition to the daily routines, it is important to glance back at the project plan now and then to check that the work is still on track. Otherwise, the work may easily drift away towards a direction that was not intended. The list below gives you some suggestions of how to reflect on the week. Summarize the progress of the last week, preferably in a diary document. What were the difficulties and how were they solved? Glance at the project plan to make sure that the work is progressing within the bounds of the aim. If not, prepare to modify work or aim so that they are synchronized. Check the time plan. Is it holding? If not, consider why and modify it. Make a preliminary schedule of the work that is planned for the next week to come.
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3 The writing process

3.1 Start with a disposition

Writing is a process of sorting and structuring data, methods, ideas and thoughts. To keep track of all information, it is recommended to start with an outline that splits the manuscript down to chapters and sections. Then each section can be treated separately and the effort seems considerably more manageable. In the process of composing an outline, the project needs to be broken down into all the steps that would be necessary to complete it. A good idea is to start with the main chapters; such as Introduction, Theory, Methodology, Results and Discussion. Furthermore, the main chapters may be divided into more well defined sections depending on the character of the project. Here, the project plan might be of great assistance. It is a good advice to consider the importance of each of the sections and where you want to put the most effort. For instance, if your study is an investigation of a certain method, you will probably spend a significant part describing this method, while if it is the results (obtained from a conventional method) that is the topic, the part describing your method should probably be smaller. Try to estimate the length of each of the sections on forehand, to prevent you from spending too much time and effort on details that are not really important for the subject in matter.

3.2 Find your style

Regardless of the kind of writing that is being produced, there are three components involved: the writer (messenger), the message and the receiver (reader). Before you start writing on your manuscript, have a thought about the character of these components, so that you are sure to address your script in a suitable manner. The character of the language, the comprehensive level and the illustrations should be based on the readers of the document and what impression you want to make on them. Try to consider questions such as: What knowledge could be expected from a reader that belongs to the discipline? How well are the readers familiar with the methods involved? What are the expectations of the readers and how will you meet them? The text should be written at such a level that professionals of your discipline, e.g. your supervisor(s), the examination committee or researchers in the same field as yours, could read and understand most of the text without having to dig into references about uncommon methods, instruments or rare tools used in the study. Nor shall they have to read about trivial statistics that could be studied in any statistic book at the elementary level. The supervisor, the committee of examination, teachers, researchers and others at the academic level, demand that the manuscript holds an academic level. In a wider perspective the findings should relate to economic or scientific knowledge aspects that could be in favour to the public.

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Another category is your fellow-students and students of disciplines other than yours. Should they be able to understand all of the text, and if not, which parts are important to make understandable to them? Then there are other potential readers with various knowledge of your field, such as friends and relatives, or an interested public. Those from other disciplines or categories have of course various understandings of your work and also various expectations. Friends and family may not read the text because of its containment, rather they read it because it is written by you and they respect you and want to know more about you and your devotions rather than to evaluate your findings. The master thesis will be the most extensive work that you have performed during your education at this program. The final report could work as a trade mark of you; it will be something to utilise in a coming employee-situation. The employer will probably pay major attention to how the work is presented. Does it have an understandable, logical structure? How about the language and is the report well written? The containment of your findings may have a lower priority than your presentation and formulation strategies. Sometimes the master thesis is related to a project sponsored by an employer (a private company or governmental). This could be a great opportunity in many respects. The sponsor will probably help out with financial and practical problems concerning the work. Moreover, it will provide you with contacts and perhaps the possibility of further cooperation after you have finished as a student. On the other hand, this relation could also lead to a difficult situation and therefore it needs some extra attention. Here, the aim of the study is usually more or less fixed, leaving limited freedom to modifications during the process of work. Also, the sponsoring employer may have remarks on the findings of your study. Perhaps a sponsor is keen on bringing out findings that goes in the interest of the company that he or she represents. In fact, some students that work in a sponsored project choose to deliver two versions of their scriptone to the company focusing on their interests, and one to the department, focusing on issues that were chosen by the author and backed up by the supervisor. Researchers and students in your discipline expect most of the study to be comprehensive to them. They also demand references to all the statements that you make. Perhaps they want to do something similar and therefore need detailed descriptions about the methods that you used or references of where to find relevant information. A good rule to consider is that another student or researcher should be able to use the same method as you used, only by reading your thesis and the reference literature that is cited in your thesis. The public are probably aiming to understand the purpose of your study. For them it may not be obvious why your field of area is interesting and what it could be used for in a wider context. The readers are most likely to have low expectations when it comes to the understandings of the methods used, the analysis performed or the discussions, but they could benefit from the thesis anyway by a well written introduction, including a description of the background and aim at a comprehensive level. Also the conclusion part could with advantage be written in a clear and direct fashion, understandable to anyone. After all, this is the message of the report, wouldnt it be sad if the message failed to get through to the reader?

3.3 What and how?

At the early stage, do not spend too much time on the formulation of sentences and choices of words. The most important step is to get things documented to be sure that the things you find important are not forgotten. Later on, you will examine the text many times from different

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point of views, and it will be clear what is relevant and what is not, and how to illustrate the information. Remember that the writing process is not only a process of repeating what is already in your mind, and documenting it. On the opposite, it is in the writing process that many writers get their ideas and discover new issues. You may discover that it is not the lack of ideas that is causing you troubles, it is your ability to remember and document all the little pieces of ideas and to follow them up. In order to ease this process, consider these suggestions: Be sure to document any movement, any progress or any problems concerning your study, perhaps in a so called working diary. These notes could be very valuable to you when you are about to describe your work in the final report. Keep track of your data, databases as well as programs, figures and text files. Preferably in a document consisting of information about the object, date of construction, and the pathways on the computer. Do not write on one section at a time until it is completed. Instead, write on all sections that you feel involved in simultaneously. For instance, the analysis section perhaps include the methods used, as well as the results that are obtained and the discussion of your findings and the relation to the work of others. Write on these sections simultaneously, otherwise it is most likely that you will forget some of your thoughts.

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4 Some simple writing rules

4.1 How to paragraph the text

The text is usually organised into paragraphs, where the text in each paragraph deals with a certain topic. The topic could preferably be expressed at the beginning of the paragraph (within the first or second sentence), followed by sentences explaining, developing, modifying, supporting, illustrating, or concretising the information. This way of structuring the text makes it much more comfortable for the reader, knowing that he or she can concentrate on one paragraph at a time. The length of a paragraph depends on the character of the text, but is usually around four to six sentences long. Even if a new paragraph declares a new topic, neighbouring paragraphs are usually related to each other. A declaration to the reader weather a new paragraph is related to the former, or deals with a new subject is an easy way of making it easier for the reader and to make a smooth impression. This can be done by using simple key words like furthermore, for instance, by contrast, on the one hand, on the other hand, a second point, another way, and so on. The paragraphs can be separated in two ways: by inserting a blank line in front of the new paragraph or by indentation of the first line of the new paragraph. If indentation is used, the first line of text after the heading should not be indented.

4.2 Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be explained or defined the first time they appear in the main text. Note that the abstract is not considered to be a part of the main text. Hence, abbreviations introduced in the abstract have to be reintroduced in the main text. The abbreviation is introduced by writing the expression first, followed by the abbreviation inside brackets: The leaf area index (LAI) was estimated... If the report involves many abbreviations or symbols, it is advisable to gather them in a list of abbreviations and symbols, preferably placed in the beginning (or ending), so that it is easy to find by the reader. Abbreviations that are introduced should be used in all further occasions in the text. Do not introduce abbreviations of terms that you will not use later on in the text.

4.3 British or American?

At Lund University, it is recommended to use British English, but it is not obligatory to do so. For instance, if your work is intended to be published in an International Journal, you should use the language suggested there. Usually Journals have guidelines for the author concerning

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language and style. Choose the language that is most appropriate to you and be aware of the differences between the languages, in both spelling and use of prepositions and phrases. Consult your supervisor if you are uncertain of what language to use. Be careful not to mix the languages! Examples of different spelling: British analyse behaviour catalogue catalyse centre, centred co-factor colour co-worker defence dialogue fulfil grey labelling, labelled litre metre modelled, modelling sulphur, sulphate, sulphite through vapour American analyze behavior catalog catalyze center, centered cofactor color coworker defense dialog fulfill gray labeling, labeled liter meter modeled, modeling sulfur, sulfate, sulfite, thru vapor

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5 Searching for information

In order to produce a report of academic status, you will need to rely on other studies. Later on, when you receive your own results, you will need to relate and compare your findings to other studies. Therefore it is important to find and assimilate literature that is appropriate for your work. Glances at the literature will be needed throughout the entire report, but particularly in these sections:

Introduction, to reinforce the (academic) importance of the subject. Materials and methods, to inform the reader about the methods used and their restrictions. To show the reader that the methods are conventional and when they have been used before. Discussion, to compare the findings of the study with other academic documentation. The literature could be used to support your findings, but it is perhaps more interesting to illustrate contradictions, especially if you can present arguments going align with your findings. This part of the study usually feels a bit frustrating. It is a lot of work involved in the searching, reading and understanding of new literature. Yet, you can not present any concrete progress when it comes to your own research. In the end you will find the effort to be worthwhile! There are too many students that find the methods used to be inappropriate, that the aim is out-of-date, that the data is used in an unacceptable manner, or other mistakes that could have been avoided by a thorough literature survey in the beginning of their study. Pay extra attention if you modify your aim during the process, the literature that you have gathered in the beginning of your study may end up being inappropriate for your final aims and conclusions. Research papers in journals usually deal with relatively specialised topics. If you are not used to this kind of literature, you may find it hard to read and understand. Generally, it is presupposed that the reader possess some knowledge of the subject and the vocabulary used. It could be a good idea to start with more general textbooks (course books) as an introduction to the subject. It is seldom possible to decide whether a particular paper is appropriate for your study just by glancing at the title of the paper. Therefore, it is recommended to start with the Abstract and neglect unfamiliar terms or ideas at this initial step. Continue with the Introduction and focus on the scope and aim of the paper. Now, you should be able to decide the rest of the paper is interesting to you. Before you dig into the entire paper, read first the Conclusion and Discussion parts, since they are usually easier to understand. What were the conclusions of the study? Are the materials and methods sections relevant for your study? If not, you need not understand every detail of it. In the Results, try to focus on the major qualitative findings. Pay some extra attention to the figures and tables and the text describing them. Read the Discussion once again and keep these questions in mind: What is the major contribution of this study and what questions remain for further research? Do the data presented in the result section support the authors conclusion? How can the information in this paper be used in my own research? It is not an easy task to keep track of all the literature. Perhaps you remember some facts that you want to write about in your study. You just do not remember where you read those

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words... Many scientists try to avoid this by taking notes during their readings, and stick paper-clips with information to the papers that they find interesting. Another way to keep track of the literature is to use a reference system. There are some good programs designed for this purpose, and such programs that are free of charge can also be found on the internet. If you do not have access to such a program, making your own database in any searchable program will help you to sort your literature as well.

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6 Cites, references and plagiarism

6.1 Cites
When you make a statement, this statement has to be backed up somehow. Even if it is based on your own findings, it is important to notify the readers. Try always to be as precise and distinct as possible, so that there is no room for any misunderstanding. Things that are obvious to you may not be clear to the reader, having a hard time to digest all the exciting aspects of your work. If you use sentences, work or ideas that originates from somebody else, be sure that this person is acknowledged in a correct way! It is allowed to use the exact words of a sentence or even a paragraph. If the text is short, (one or two sentences), it is surrounded by quotation marks: The story started with no difficulty as a story does when it is ready to be written (Ernest Hemingway). A longer paragraph may also be quoted by letting it diverge from the rest of the text, for instance by indentation, a different font or by using a smaller space between the letters: Every book is worked over several times. I like to compare my method with that of painters ... proceeding, as it were, from layer to layer. The first draft is quite crude, far from being perfect, by no means finished...After that I rewrite it as many times applying as many layers as I feel to be necessary. Alberto Moravia Choose one of the above methods, but never combine them, e.g. never use both quotation marks and italic font style.

6.2 References
It is not common to use quotations in thesis belonging to the science discipline. References on the other hand, are used most frequently. The references play an important part in many ways; they help to verify the statements, they give comparisons to other research within the area of interest, and they are also a way of showing to the readers that you have knowledge within the research field. There are two common styles on how the references should be used: the Oxford and the Harvard system. Here, only the Harvard system will be presented, since this is the system appropriate to use in a master thesis in GIS. In the Harvard system, the reference is put in parenthesis directly in the bread text, see below: Leaf area index (LAI) is defined as half the total leaf area per unit ground surface area (Chen and Black, 1992) and can be estimated from field measurements using optical (Welles and Norman, 1991; Chen and Cihlar, 1995; Chen, 1996; Kucharik et al., 1999), harvest (Neumann et al., 1989; Dufrne and Breda, 1995; Fassnacht et al., 1997) or allometric (Marklund, 1988; Gower et al., 1997; Le Dantec et al., 2000; Rautiainen, 2005) methods.

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If a specific reference has more than two authors, it is only the name of the first author that is referred to in the text, followed by the expression et al., meaning and other (Latin) and where al. is an abbreviation of alia. In the reference section in the end of your thesis on the other hand, all authors are named (Chapter 8). In the example above, some statements are followed by more the one reference. These are separated by a semicolon. The references listed should follow a certain order, either alphabetic or chronological, as above.

6.3 Plagiarism
To plagiarise is to use work that is found by somebody else pretending it originates from yourself. Even if there is a distinction between conscious plagiarism, like turning in a document found on the internet pretending its yours, or copying paragraphs from a research without acknowledge the authors, and unconscious plagiarism, it is still plagiarism and looks really bad to the reader! To alter some unimportant words here and there in a sentence is still plagiarism. Always be sure that you acknowledge the author properly!

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7 The structure of the report

7.1 Verb tense

It is conventional to use past tense when you are writing about your own study and present tense when you are writing about the work of others. The reason for this is that your own study has not yet been reviewed by the scientific community and has not yet had the chance of being accepted as established knowledge, while information that is related usually has. In the Abstract, most of the text deals with your own findings, therefore the Abstract is usually written in the past tense. Also the sections dealing with the materials, methods and results are usually written in the past tense for the same reasons. The Introduction and Discussion parts on the other hand, will most likely be written in the present tense.

7.2 Illustrations
Data that is presented in a table or a figure often deliver the information much more effectively than if they were to be explained by words alone. However, tables and figures must be referred to in the text, often by a deeper explanation or discussion. Try always to put the tables/figures spatially close to the text describing it, so that the reader can find it easily.

Tables Give each table a number, either in the order which you refer to it in the text (Table 1), or according to the chapter (Table 3.4.1). Even if there is only one table in the report, it should be numbered. Put the title above the table and capitalize the first letter of the first word. Usually, the table is more easy to read if similar elements are arranged vertically (Table 1) than horizontally (Table 3.4.1). Also note that a capital letter is used when a specific table is referred to in the text.

Table 1. Simulated leaf parameters.

Species

Cab (g/cm2)

SLA (cm2/mg)

Beech Oak Birch Spruce

37.7 52 33 64

1.5 1.35 1.02 1.9

0.097-0.335 0.096-0.149 0.124-0.156 0.045

Cab= chlorophyll conc., N = leaf layer, SLA = specific leaf area.

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Table 3.4.1. Simulated leaf parameters

Species Cab (g/cm2) N SLA (cm2/mg)

Beech 37.7

Oak 52

Birch 33

Spruce 64

1.5 0.097-0.335

1.35 0.096-0.149

1.02 0.124-0.156

1.9 0.045

It is common to use abbreviations in tables in order to save space. To avoid misunderstandings, these should be explained, preferably in footnotes (Table 1).

Figures Figures are numbered the same way as tables are (according to chapter or in the order they are referred to). Put the independent variable on the X-axis and the dependent variable on the Yaxis and label the axes clearly (including units). The reader should be able to understand what a specific figure shows without having to read the text. Put figure captions below the figure and use a capital letter when you refer to a specific figure in the text, such as Figure 1 or Fig. 1. If a legend is included, the first letter of each category is usually capitalised, as well as the first letter of the label text. Use the same number of decimal points in all numbers on the axis, for instance 0.0 is as informative as 2.5.

Equations Equations should be placed on a separate line and indented or centred. They may be numbered consecutively or according to chapter, in the same way as figures and tables. The number of the equation is placed at the right-hand side of the page. An equation is referred to as Eq. X.

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8 The chapters of the report

8.1 Title
The title should tell the reader about the topic, the nature, and the scope of the study. Researches often scan titles in their search for relevant literature for their own research. Therefore it is a good advice to organize the title around important words, so called key words. Be as specific and concise as possible and avoid wordiness. Try this working procedure in the processes of composing the title:

Find the key words related to your study. Produce a title where as many as possible of the key words are involved. Try to shorten the title by being concise without loosing too much of information.

The title usually gets its own title-page and is placed approximately one third of the way down the page (where the eye naturally falls). It is almost the only information on the page and therefore, it should be written in large print. The title is usually centred, but it is not compulsory to do so. The letter could be written in capitals, or just the first letter of all the content words.

8.2 Acknowledgements
Do not forget to acknowledge anyone who has helped you with your study in one way or another, for instance:

for reading and commenting on your manuscript for financial support or grants laboratory assistants data suppliers co-workers your supervisor(s)

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8.3 Abstract
The abstract is a short summary of your study. It is written as one paragraph of about 200-250 words. The goal of the abstract is to foreground the news value and help readers to decide if the information in the paper is relevant to them. The abstract should contain as many key words as possible. An informative abstract should contain: the scope the method the results the main conclusions and implications some background information

Avoid empty phrases and predictive words. Try to keep the text short and simple and avoid abbreviations (except for those that are widely known). The Abstract should be understandable for a reader who does not know about the specifics related to your study. Do not refer to tables or figures in your study, and try to avoid references to other literature. The abstract is usually the last section to be written, since it demands that the author has a good overview of the paper. It is usually written in the past or present perfect tense.

8.4 Key words

After the abstract, a list of key words should follow, about 4 to 5 words is common. The key words facilitate computer searches. If the key words are chosen carefully, these words alone should give a good idea of the scope and method of the study.

8.5 Table of contents

A table of contents helps the reader to orient and indicates the hierarchical structure. In addition to the usual conventional headings (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion), you may have more informative subheadings, for example: 2 Methods
2.1 Field estimates
2.1.1 Leaf parameters 2.1.2 Understory vegetation parameters 2.1.3 Forest canopy parameters

Arabic numerals are most common, but Roman numerals are also used. It is suggested not to use more than three levels of headings.

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8.6 Introduction
Even if the introduction is the first part of your thesis, you will probably find it easier to write after you have drafted the Methods, Results and Discussion sections. The introduction is supposed to make the reader interested in your study and the objectives of your study comprehensible in a broad theoretical context. Begin the introduction section by establishing the research territory. Start from a general perspective and give a brief review of the current knowledge in the area. Then proceed by narrowing down to your specific research problem. In what way does the research need to be extended? Is there a gap to fill somewhere? Try to include the most important findings from previous work, but give only brief conclusions and keep the discussions to the discussion section. Be sure that the reader understands why this area of research is important and interesting in a wider concept. If you use technical or specific terms, try to define and explain them. Towards the end of the introduction, the readers are now prepared for the aim or your study. The aim must state clearly what question you tried to answer. It is also important that the limits of the issues are well defined, so that there is no question of when the research exceeds the limits of the question.

8.7 (Materials &) Methods

This is the section that many students find the most easy to write, since it is mainly a description of the methods that were used. An important part that is often neglected, is to describe or sometimes defend the choice of a specific method. The credibility of a study often depends to some degree on how clearly the methods used were justified. Another tricky part associated with this section is to decide what comprehensive level to choose and to decide what details to include. A golden role is that the methods used should be described in such detail, so that a competent worker could repeat the study. Standard methods do not have to be explained. Instead, they should be followed up by appropriate references, so that the reader is provided with relevant information in order for him or her to perform more deep studies. On the other hand, it is important to give complete details of any new methods used and to give the precision of the measurements performed. Try to describe the procedures in a logical order, perhaps that corresponds to the order in which the results are presented or discussed. Remember that the chronological order rarely appears logical to the reader although it may be a logical order to you. A typical order is to begin with the materials and then move on to describe the methods used. If data were collected in a field study, the section often starts with a description of the study site. If the study involves many different materials and methods and the text tends to be long, using subheadings may be considered in order get a more structured and readable section. Some common subheadings are for instance: Study area, Field instruments, Sampling methods, Laboratory instruments and Data analysis. This part is usually written in the past tense.
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8.8 Results
The initial draft of the Results section will probably include more data than you can handle and have ability to discuss. In order to keep focus on the aim of the project, you will need to choose what results to present. Some results may be very interesting and yet not relevant to the aim of your study. The Results section should summarize the data and state the findings of the study, illustrated and supported by explanatory details and statistics. Comments or discussions about the findings should not be included here, neither should they be compared with those of other studies. However, it may not be obvious for the reader in what purpose a result is presented, or what it has to do with the purpose of the study. If the results need explanations to facilitate for the reader to understand them, they are allowed. The result section should be written in the past tense.

8.9 Discussion
Now comes the time to evaluate your results and the methods used to obtain them. The introduction section moves from the general to the more specific. Here, the order should be the opposite, from the specific to the general. Initiate by stating, interpreting and validating your major findings, but be careful not to just repeat the results. Do not describe your results all over again. Move forward by relating to other studies. Did your results support the conclusions from previous work? If/if not, what could be the reason? Also try to explain discrepancies in your own results. Try to correspond to these questions in the discussion:

How accurate are the measurements and how reliable the methods? How significant are the results and do they answer the research questions? What discrepant and anomalous results have I obtained? How do my results agree/disagree with previous results and general assumptions? What further studies could add to this area of knowledge? What could be done to improve my research and results?

Perhaps your results did not correspond to your expectations or to the findings of others. Maybe you did not find the relationships between two variables, or any trend or pattern to discuss. Do not automatically conclude that such findings are the results of a failure or that they are due to some mistake done by you. These results also demand explanations and could be as interesting as those results that were expected!

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8.10 Conclusion
In the conclusion section, only the most important findings are presented. By stating them, you should be able to conclude how the aim of the study should be answered. Try to conclude what is stated in the Discussion section and generalise it into a wider context. Try to be clear, short and concise in your language and do not introduce any new references or technique terms. The conclusion is usually a rather short section compared to the other parts of the study and is usually written in the past tense.

8.11 References
The references section contains all the material that is cited in the report, listed in alphabetical order by the surnames of the authors. The last name of the author is followed by his or her initials, co-authors, year of publication, the title of the article and journal title, the volume of the journal, and the pages on which the paper appears, as in the examples below:
Black, T.A., Chen, J.M., Lee, X., and Sagar, R.M., 1991. Characteristics of shortwave and longwave irradiances under a Douglas-fir forest stand. Can. J. For. Res. 21, 1020-1028. Bouriaud, O., Soudani, K., and Brda, N., 2003. Leaf area index from litter collection: impact of specific leaf area variability within a beech stand. Can. J. Rem. Sens. 29, 371-380. Chason, J.W., Baldocchi, D.D., and Huston, A., 1991. A comparison of direct and indirect methods for estimating forest canopy leaf area. Agric. For. Meteorol. 57, 107-128.

8.12 Appendices
Material, like for instance tables with data from field work, questionnaires, complicated mathematical calculations, or program code, is not essential for the reader to know about in order to understand your argumentation. However, this information may be interesting or even necessary for a researcher, and could therefore advisedly be put in an appendix.

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9 The final checklist

Consider this before turning in the manuscript to your supervisor for revision:

Make sure that your aim and conclusion are well synchronised. Many times the results of a study give rise to new impulses and the discussion/conclusion part end up being about something else than the initial aim of the project. Remember, it is not forbidden to modify your aim afterwards. If your aim has been modified during your project work, make sure that your literature search is synchronised with the present aim, so that the references that you have chosen are relevant. What are the main results of the study and how are these results discussed? Make sure that other interesting issues that came along as the results were analysed, do not take overhand. Do not allow practical or technique problems to take overhand, shadowing the findings of your study, even if you feel that they occupied a lot of your working time. Do not present practical field work or analysis that did not lead to any results or anything that is discussed in the paper. They are irrelevant (even if they took a great deal of your time...). Be sure that the text is concentrated, precise and distinct. Describe why your study is important and try to put it in a wider perspective. Avoid words that are emotionally charged, like for instance, a lot, fairly good, pretty good, more or less, and so forth.

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10 The oral presentation

10.1 The initial preparation

There are many similarities between the written and oral presentations. They both require you to consider the audience and their expectations on your work. Furthermore, they demand you to determine the purpose and present the findings in a clear and logical manner. Both also force you to examine your own understanding of the material. On the other hand, the oral presentation is different from the written thesis. In the oral presentation, the listeners have only one chance to hear your talk. They can not go back and re-read parts that they found difficult to digest. Therefore, it is particular important to keep the message clear and simple in the oral presentation. It is also recommended to repeat the main messages during the presentation, so that the audience is sure not to miss them. All kinds of presentations need preparation. Before you begin preparing your presentation, consider the following aspects: To whom? Will you be speaking to a general audience or specialists or perhaps both? Who is most important to you? If the audience is heterogeneous concerning background knowledge, it is perhaps possible to address the body to the experts, while making the introduction and summary accessible to all. What? What are the main messages that you want the audience to have. Why? What is the purpose of your presentation? Is it a conference presentation, a job interview, instructional presentation or other? Where? What does the room look like? How many people are expected to come? Will it be possible to use visual aids, such as computer-based programs, overhead transparencies or a black/white board to make drawings on? How? Is it a formal presentation or will the audience be invited to ask questions and debate during your speech? When? Is it a morning or evening presentation? What are the restrictions in time? Is the time for asking questions included in the time allotted for your presentation?

10.2 The outline

Keep it simple, especially in the Introduction and Conclusion parts. When you have decided your key points, try to simplify them as much as possible. Most presentations will consist of an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The Introduction should prepare the audience for what you will say in the body of the talk, and the Conclusion should remind them of the key points that you explained in the body. In the Introduction, the purpose of the speech should be explained. The speaker should also try to give an overview of the key points of the talk. A second important aspect is to make the audience interested in your aims and findings. One way to get the attention of the audience could be to do something unexpected, such as telling a short story or raising a controversial

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question. The Introduction should then be followed by some information about the title, aim and outline of the speech. The body of the presentation is often more complicated than the other parts. Here, the key points will be explained into more detail, and they will be evaluated. Good illustrations and examples are ways to keep the attention of the audience and will help them to understand the message. The Conclusion should remind the audience of your key findings and reinforce your message. It is recommended to give a hint to the audience when the body is over and the summary is beginning. After all, your most important statements are likely to be presented now and the audience will raise their attention so that they do not miss the conclusion of your work.

10.3 Visual aids

The visuals you use should introduce only the essential elements of concepts that you will discuss. The audience ought to be able to get the point of the visual within the first five seconds after it appears. Do not let the audience having to choose between you and the board Make a short pause during a short period after a visual has been presented, so that the audience can absorb the information without being distracted by your voice Then, when you have their undivided attention, explain what the illustration shows and what it has to say. Use text sparingly, no more than 6 lines of text per slide, and no more than 7 words per line of text. Try to mix slides with text and slides with illustrations, to make the presentation more varying.

10.4 The performance

If you are not an experienced speaker, it may be a good idea to use notes with headings and key sentences. To have a complete manuscripts on the other hand, is not recommended, since it will take away your attention to the audience and the audience will find your performance boring. Keep the information on the notes short and write the text large enough for you to see without moving your head from the audience. If you use overhead transparencies or computer-based slides, you can use the information there as notes to keep you on track. It is your voice that is your implement of communication, so make sure to choose a vocal pitch that feels comfortable to you and a volume that is adjusted to the size of the room. Speak at a rate so that the audience can understand your points. Try not to speed up the pace to get it over with or because you are nervous. If you know that you have a tendency to accelerate and find it difficult to talk slowly, plan to include small pauses here and there so that the audience have time to digest the meanings of your sayings. Be sure to face the audience while you speak, so that the sound from your voice will be pointed towards the audience. Keep your hands and notes away from your mouth and try to keep your eyes on the audience even if you are talking about your overhead transparencies. Knowing all these aspects in theory is one thing, to keep them in mind in the real situation is something else. Therefore, it is very important to practice, favourably several times before the real performance. After you have practiced the entire presentation a few times you will know where the more difficult parts are. Then concentrate on these parts instead of starting

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from the beginning of the talk all over again. This way you will avoid having an excellent beginning, followed by a diminishing body and a weak conclusion. If possible, invite a few people that you trust and give them a test-speech to comment on. Keep track of the time so that you can adjust the real presentation to the time that is provided and ask your audience to pay some extra attention on:

Your voice is it comfortable to listen to and is the volume adjusted. Your speed is it too slow or too fast and how about pauses? The illustrations are they understandable and is the figure text big enough? The text is it big enough and is the time provided to read them enough? The message and key points are they clear? Any distracting phenomena for instance if all sentences are beginning with a hemming, your feet keep moving while your body stands still, the keys in your pocket make an irritating noise when you move...

Good luck!

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