Writing the Thesis

Senting what you think to your readers. Only at this stage do questions of format, correctness, style, and other formal con­ventions begin to matter. Again a postgraduate student in Sci­ence has this sensible comment to make:

Don't try to make your first draft your final one - it's often more important to get your ideas down on paper in rough form than to become over-concerned with style the early drafts.arrange well in advance for any assistance you may need in editing your thesis. The final polish on your writing (making sure it follows the appropriate conventions of grammar, style and format) may be crucial to the acceptance of the thesis.

There is a great deal you can do for yourself with painstaking use of grammars and dictionaries (both general and subject specialist ones) and by close attention to the presentation of other theses that have been passed in your department. You can also enlist the help of fellow students and friends.

The uni­versity or some sponsoring organizations may provide financial assistance or special tutors for such editing. In some fortunate cases your supervisor may be willin6 to read and correct the whole thesis for its English and style, but you cannot rely on this. So it is important that you prepare to meet this problem before it actually arises; in the words of the English proverb `Forewarned is forearmed'.

Allow sufficient time before your submission date for the final typing, proof-reading and binding of the thesis. You are ex­pected to make these arrangements yourself. You will need to find a competent typist, particularly if your thesis involves com­plex mathematical formulae or intricate tables and diagrams.

Most departments can recommend typists who have experience in typing theses, and they can also advise you where to get it bound for final presentation. But this stage does take consider­able time, so take this into account when planning the last months of your work.

There is one final step before your thesis is accepted and your degree can be granted. Commonly, at least at the PhD level, you are required to `defend' your thesis in an oral examination con­ducted by the academics who have been appointed as your official examiners. During this session the examiners, who will already have read and discussed your thesis among themselves, may raise criti­cisms, queries and points of misunderstanding. You are given the