Thesis resources

[Note: Any materials accessible via this page are for academic purposes only.]

Thesis guidelines

Doing your thesis with me

  1. You must look carefully through the materials on this page. They are designed to provide information about conceiving, structuring, developing, and writing your thesis. (They are also designed to save me time repeating the same thing over and over again, so that we can stick to substantive content when we meet.) [Note: I am aware that they are still incomplete, but I am working steadily to improve the page.]
  2. You must be a self-starter to succeed. This means that you have to actively explore the literature relevant to your topic (even before coming to me) and employ your resources teach yourself how to do research and select methodologies. My role should be to help you over stumbling blocks, not to provide information readily available on this page or in other places.
  3. As of 2015-01-27, I have decided that I will no longer help students "simply pass". This means that you have to be intent on writing a meaningful, respectable thesis that entails genuine research if you want to work with me. Theses that fail to meet this higher standard will not be allowed to go to defense or will be failed in the process. Be aware that this higher standard may result in an extra semester (or more!) of work. It is your responsibility to work in an earnest and timely manner to ensure your success. I am NOT responsible for your lack of quality. (Of course, I will do my best to work with you in the time allotted to make it possible for you to succeed!) If you are not interested in doing quality work, you can probably find another professor in the department who is less demanding.
  4. As of 2015-01-27, grades for the thesis class itself will be determined in consideration of your efforts to adhere to the schedule laid out below.
  5. If I detect plagiarism in any form at any time in the process, I will fail you for the semester and you will have to find a new advisor.
  6. Time I: My time is limited and advisees many. Therefore, your meetings with me (though congenial!) should be concise, focused, and brief. Write down your questions before you meet me. Make sure those questions are concrete. That is, do not come to me with questions like, "What do you think I should write about?" or "I'm interested in education and development, but I don't know where to start. What should I do?" If you have questions like this, you have not done enough background reading and thinking to sit down with me.
  7. Time II: Students (and professors!) always underestimate the amount of time it takes to do quality work. Therefore, you must start working hard early. You cannot complete a meaningful thesis in two months (unless, perhaps, it is the only thing you do). In your first semester you should devote as much---if not more---time to your thesis as you do to other classes.
  8. Groups: Due to time constraints, I am experimenting with meeting in groups at fixed times throughout the semester (to be agreed upon). My hope is that these meetings will help you understand your own challenges better by thinking about and helping with the difficulties of others. If you don't have questions for me and the group at any scheduled meeting, you should still participate; we simply won't talk about your thesis.
  9. If you find other resources about writing theses, please let me know. I will be happy to include them here for future students.

Schedule: First semester (typically third semester students)

  1. Week 4: Submit a draft question. (Note that this requires reading a lot of journal articles in your area of interest to begin to narrow the topic down. Start today.)
  2. Week 6: Group meeting
  3. Week 8: Submit a draft literature review. (Note that this requires even more reading a lot of journal articles in your area of interest. Start today.)
  4. Week 11: Group meeting
  5. Week 12: Submit a revised question and literature review. (Note that this requires even more reading.)
  6. Week 13: Group meeting
  7. Week 14: Submit a draft methodology

Schedule: Second semester (typically fourth semester students)

  1. Week 0: Group meeting
  2. Week 1: Submit draft findings
  3. Week 2: Group meeting
  4. Week 5: Group meeting
  5. Week 6: Submit draft discussion and conclusion
  6. Week 9: Submit thesis
  7. Week 13: Thesis juries
  8. Weeks 15 and 16: Get official signatures from professors for your final copy. They will be hard to track down after the semester ends.

General resources

  • Doing Development Research. Edited by Vadana Desai and Robert B. Potter (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc., 2006).

Literature Reviews

Methodology

  • Robert K. Yin. Case study research: design and methods. Applied social research methods series ; v. 5. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 3rd edition, 2003, chapter 2. This chapter provides an excellent framework for methodologically organizing case study research.

Length and organization

Typically a thesis at KU is around 10,000 words and consists of a roughly six chapters, as described below. Note that word lengths for these sections are simply coarse estimates; there are no hard and fast rules about organization and length, though these pieces should be in your thesis somewhere.

  1. Intro 1000: Should include something to lure the reader in, a clear statement of the question to be addressed, an explanation of why that question is important, and a brief summary of the subsequent chapters.
  2. Lit review 2000
  3. Methodology 500--1000
  4. Findings 3500
  5. Discussion 1500--2000
  6. Conclusion 1000

For more details, please refer to my presentation on writing a thesis and plagiarism.