Lecture
Every researcher strives to convey their thoughts to the reader in the clearest and most comprehensible form.
The first mode of presentation, in which the author only briefly describes the course of the research and sets out the final results in detail, is often used by authors of research monographs intended for a comparatively narrow circle of specialists.
The second mode of presentation, in which the author reveals the methods of their work in detail and in sequence, and briefly sets out the final results. For any master's thesis, the second mode of presentation is acceptable, allowing a better judgement of the degree candidate's ability to carry out independent research work.
In practice there are several methodological techniques for presenting research material, of which the following are most often used:
1) strictly sequential,
2) holistic (with subsequent working of each chapter),
3) selective (chapters are written separately, in any order).
Strictly sequential presentation of material for the work requires a comparatively large amount of time, since until its author has completely finished the current section, they cannot move on to the next one. But working a single section sometimes requires trying out several versions before the best one is found. Meanwhile material that hardly requires any rough working at all waits its turn and lies untouched.
The holistic technique requires almost half as much time for preparing the fair copy, since the whole work is first written in rough, as it were in broad brushstrokes, after which it is worked over in parts and details, with additions and corrections introduced.
Selective presentation of material is also often used by degree candidates. As the factual data become ready, the author works over the material in whatever order is convenient for them, just as an artist painting a picture need not start from the top or the bottom.
Choose whichever mode of presentation you consider most acceptable for yourself for turning the so-called rough draft manuscript into an intermediate or a fair (final) copy. At this stage of work on the manuscript, besides the individual chapters, it is advisable to single out, from the textual material already accumulated, such compositional elements of the work as: the introduction, the findings and proposals (conclusion), the bibliography of the literary sources used, the appendices, and the indexes.
Working on the fair copy. It is advisable to use this technique once the layout of the rough manuscript is ready and all the material has been gathered. Every conclusion, formula, table, every sentence, every individual word is checked and critically assessed.
The degree candidate once again checks how well the title of their work and the names of its chapters and sections correspond to their content, refines the composition of the master's thesis, the arrangement of the material and its sectioning. It is also advisable to check once again the persuasiveness of the arguments in defence of one's scientific propositions. Here, as already noted, it is advisable to look at one's own work as if "through someone else's eyes" - strictly critically, exactingly and without any indulgence.
Comments