How To Write A Master's Thesis: Expert Advice
Writing a master’s thesis is the hardest thing that most students will do in their academic career, not only is it the longest paper they’ll write, but it involves doing primary academic research, not just summarizing other people’s research and writing.
Follow this expert advice on how to write a thesis to help make the process easier for you:
- Choose a topic with a reasonable scope
- Pick a research advisor that you work well with
- Create a detailed methodology before you begin work
- Set firm deadlines for yourself
Most students will take between 6 months and 2 years to complete their master’s thesis research. You should keep that time frame in mind when it comes to choosing your topic and setting the scope of your research. For instance, if you’re interested in examining a certain phenomenon in your research, you’ll need to choose the geographic and time scale that you’ll examine. It many not be feasible to do it for the whole world or even United States in the time you have for your masters, so you may want to consider only looking at one state or urban area.
You’ll be spending a lot of time working with your research or thesis advisor throughout the process, so it’s important that you choose one that you work well with. Different programs handle this process in different ways: sometime you have the freedom to choose, and sometimes you’ll be assigned one. But if you have any say in it, you should pick someone who is supportive of your project, but will also give you rigorous feedback and challenge you to make your research the best that it can be.
Because primary research is new to most masters students, this may be the first time that you’ve created a research methodology. Having a detailed methodology will not only be important in getting your thesis approved, but it will help you conduct rigorous research. Spending a significant amount of time on your methodology before you get started with your actual research could save you a significant headache later down the line.
Your thesis will be largely a self directed project, with means you’ll need to manage your time well. To do so, you’ll have to set firm deadlines for yourself along the way, and stick to them. Mapping out your research and writing timeline before hand will keep you on track and on deadline.
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