IMAGINE this: it’s Christmas. You’re about to swallow a spoonful of your mom’s famous salad when the devil whispers in your ear and reminds you of your unfinished thesis draft.
Suddenly, the salad doesn’t taste very good anymore. Your throat cinches into a tunnel. Your stomach does that kind of somersault that could give Carlos Yulo a run for his money.
All you could think about now is your thesis, the bloody red marks that wound your paper’s whiteness, with the word you dread the most written on the cover: REVISE!
This is a nightmare for many students. As someone who experienced doing her thesis solo, I also shed my fair share of tears during my research season. Gathering data, interpreting the information collected, and revising the chapters— all done in a race against time— could make life hell for a student. What’s worse is if it coincides with your holidays. The need to finish your manuscript might eclipse the sunny festive vibes of the celebrations.
Yet doing your thesis doesn’t have to be all hell. Certainly, it’s a difficult undertaking that requires a lot of effort, but with the right mindset and practice you could do it while still maintaining a life. I would even go far as to say you could enjoy working on your thesis.
In this article, we would look at some tips on how you can go about your thesis. Some of these you can use while working on your thesis, while others would benefit those who are yet to start their academic journey.
1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about
I will never forget my first face-to-face consultation with my college thesis adviser. Knowing his academic background and credentials, plus the number of students who were awarded Best Undergraduate Research under him, I felt pressured to propose a topic that is both novel, significant, and related to my degree (Development Communication). I remember listing various possible topics, all of which have easily justifiable significance at a glance.
But no matter how well-prepared I thought of ideas, my adviser shot down each of them, one by one. They were either unclear about their goals, have already been done, or just simply too much for the time constraint.
Sitting in front of my adviser, I felt dejected and embarrassed. He asked me if I had any more proposals in mind but that was all I prepared.
Thankfully, my adviser pressed me on.
“What topics interest you? Tell me something you’re passionate about,” said my adviser.
I sat there quietly, thinking long and hard about my interests. I liked watching horror movies but I didn’t know how to connect it to a development issue.
Suddenly, there was a lightbulb idea: horror always features women as monsters. Doesn’t the media we consume affect the way we perceive things? At the very least, it’s a reflection of our beliefs.
I told this to my adviser while he listened patiently. My passion about the topic must have seeped into my voice because after I finished speaking, my adviser sat quietly from across me, thinking.
“Why don’t you begin reading more about the topic, then come back and we’ll talk?”
Thus began my thesis journey. I was enthusiastic, even excited, reading about horror films both internationally and in the Philippines. I presented what I found to my adviser with such fervor that he allowed me to pursue it despite the skepticism of his professorial colleagues.
I was able to enjoy my thesis. My data gathering involved rewatching old horror films and watching the new releases. Of course, the difficulty was still there, especially in writing and interpreting the data but I was able to move through this because I loved what I was doing.
Choosing a topic you’re passionate about will help you a lot. It can give you a headstart on pursuing your research because you might already possess surface knowledge about it. At the very least, you will already know what to look for and where to look for it.
Moreover, being passionate about your research would help you get through the tendency to procrastinate. When you’re interested in your craft, you tend to work on it harder and allocate more time for it.
2. Begin first with your RRL (trust me, it works)
In writing our thesis, we tend to structure our work based on the chronological order of chapters:
- Chapter 1 – Background of the study
- Chapter 2 – Review of Related Literature (RRL),
- Chapter 3 – Methodology
- Chapter 4 – Discussion
- Chapter 5 – Summary and Conclusion
This approach works alright, but based on my experience, it is more effective to begin your thesis with a review of related literature or RRL. RRL involves finding existing studies, journals, and articles related to your topic. You review their methodologies, their findings, and the possible research gaps that weren’t addressed by the studies.
This is why doing the RRL first is more efficient. It equips you with an overview of how you are going to approach the topic. It provides you with ideas you can follow, merge, or disprove. It also helps you identify what gaps you can fill in to capitalize on the novelty of your research.
Think of your RRL as your guide in the jungle, the person holding the machete in front of the line, whacking the vines and bushes to clear the path for your other chapters. RRL provides you the knowledge on what you can pursue and the various ways to pursue it.
In doing your RRL, you must remember that you’re not just regurgitating the information you’ve gathered from other literature— you’re scrutinizing them (hence, the word ‘review’). You must compare and contrast them with each other, and address their possible shortcomings and strengths.
Another tip for doing the RRL: create your own database. When you see a research study or a journal article that might be related to your topic, then you should include it to your database. You take note of its title, the year it was published, its statement of the problem (or at least what it’s trying to achieve), its methodology, and its key findings.
You can do this by using index cards or creating a tabled document on your computer. Just make sure that you organize it in such a way that will always be easily accessible to you.
3. Address the ‘so what’ of your topic
Most of the students’ research ideas failed not due to their methodology or approach, but due to the failure to justify the significance of their topic.
During my research proposal, when my adviser asked me about the things that interest me, I could have just easily answered that I want to study horror films. But I knew that it wouldn’t stand alone. I have to justify why studying horror films is significant to my academic field, to the audiences, and to those that make it.
In my case, I connected it with the gender issue— a prevailing development issue not just in other countries but in the Philippines as well. By arguing that Popular Culture like horror films affect our gender perception and biases, I was able to justify the significance of my study not only in the field of communication, but of development as well.
This is another thing to keep in mind when choosing how to approach the topic. You must be able to have an ‘argument’, something to prove that would benefit your field and, in turn, the society as a whole. Remember that you’re not only doing research for the sake of it, but also to contribute to a body of knowledge that could be utilized for the common good.
4. Remember that it is YOUR thesis— you know it better than anyone else
So, you’ve chosen your topic, you’ve written your manuscript, and you’re very passionate about it.
But there’s a problem. You still need to get past the ultimate level and defeat the final boss of your thesis journey: the defense.
Presenting your thesis in front of an audience can be tense, but presenting it in front of professionals who are experts in their own right is definitely nerve-wracking.
So, you stand in front of the bosses, their eyes scrutinizing your slides, their ears waiting for you to make mistakes. Meanwhile, your anxiety is shooting through the roofs. You feel the beads of sweat rolling down your back, your heart might as well jump out of your chest, and it feels like you’re about to faint.
But wait— remember, you have an ace.
This is your thesis, and you spent hours working on it. The panelists might be experts but do they know everything about your particular topic? Chances are no. They might have a general knowledge and overview on how things work, but they couldn’t possibly have gone through all the trouble you did. After all, they’re not just after you, they’re also critiquing your classmates’ works.
So here’s a tip when presenting your thesis: they probably only know as much as you tell them.
If you know the ins and outs of your thesis beforehand (which is a must at this point), then you shouldn’t have any problem. Anything they would ask would hardly surprise you anymore. If they did ask something that you don’t know, it’s probably because it’s outside the scope of your thesis, and you could just tell them about that and put it in your recommendation instead.
But if you did the work to your absolute best, then all you have to do is to be confident and show them what you learned.
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