If you are wondering how your PhD thesis should be structured,
here is a
line of thoughts that helped me building mine and that is
helping me right now
in writing the content of the different parts.
Just think of a poster presentation in an important meeting. You
are
standing there, a bunch
of visitors with different backgrounds show-up at your poster asking you to
present your work.
Professor - Hi, I'm Prof. X. I heard you just obtained your PhD
degree.
Congratulations! Now tell me what you have done.
You - Hello Sir, I'm <name>, I work in <institute>, with
<name> and
<name>. My work has been to develop a model of
<something> to explain <evidences> and
Give hints about <other problems>. We used <method>
and tried <other thing>,
and we found that <best> is the best way to do it.
Other professor - Oh wow! Interesting, I worked on the exact
same field!
Why did you choose this problem?
Y - Because <this and that>.
O - But isn't this useless?
Y - No because if you look at <fact> you might wonder
whether it has a
relationship with <other fact> and this work might help
understanding this
issue.
O - I see. But I heard <people> solving <similar
problem> with <methods
Different from your>.
Isn't also Michael <last name> in <lab in the US> doing the
same?
Y - True, we might have tried that, but their method doesn't
fullfill <some
requirement> and can't explain <some cool aspect>.
As you have seen, we just went through our Titlepage
(introducing yourself
And your institution), the abstract (a short, sounding summary)
and the
Introduction. The content of the Introduction chapter is needed
to justify your work and identify it in light of other labs' research. As you
see, it's not a summary of what you have done.
P - Ok, we got it, so how did you solve <problem> and what
is your model
about?
Y - Ok, here is what I have done. First I developed
<tools> by using <some
software> to interface to <some hardware>. Then I...
P - Wait a sec! Wouldn't it been easier to just use
<this>?
Y - No for <this and that reason>. This new tool can be
used also for
<this and that>.
P - Alright, go on.
As you see, in the Methods you should always provide a little discussion
for each of the important aspects of your research. We will skip
the other
parts of the thesis because I think you got the point.
Y - That's it!
P - Ok, interesting! We got the story. And... so what?
Y - Well, first of all our work shows that while <this>
has revealed to be
true, <that> has revealed unimportant and <this
other> is not true. It's
like <analogy>, right? That's why probably the work of
<authors> I told you in
the beginning didn't lead to <some result>. Isn't this
exciting?
Annoying professor - Oh, right, and would your model work in
<other
condition>?
Y - Well.. We tried something similar. we tried doing
<this>, which we
didn't put in the results, and the preliminary results suggest
that it <does/doesnt>
work.
A tall professor - If it does, will it be better than my model?
Y - Certain <yes/no>... We compared <this measure>
with your model and the
result <is/is not> in favor of our model.
Kind professor - Cool, so what do you think, is it better to
follow now
<this line of research> or <this other>?
Y - From my experience, both have interesting aspects...
This is the Discussion. It's a... discussion. People want to
understand
what's the benefit of your research, what are the insights they
can gain on the
field from your research.
P - Ok guys, I have to catch a train soon, so now please
summarize your
work so I can remember you in the future.
Y - Alright. The field is <field>. The main issue of
existing models is
<issue>. We thought "Well, why don't we
<action> in <this way>". The
Results are <results>. In the future it would be
interesting to go in <some
direction> to improve <aspect>.
And here we go, our Conclusion chapter is done! But before
leaving the
meeting, we need the most important chapter: Acknowledgments.
Let's say the poster
session is over. You meet a friend and he proposes to have a
drink.
Your friend - Do you want a drink? Let's leave this boring room
and have a
drink on the balcony.
Y - Alright!
Your friend - So, how do you feel now that is over?
Y - Relieved but also excited, there is a lot to do!
Your friend - What do you think was the best part of your stay
in
<institution>?
Y - Well I think <person> and <colleague> have been
very important for all
the drinks and stuff. The fun I had doing <this funny
activity> helped me in
releasing the tension.
But also the inspirational conversations I had with
<friend> and <professor> have been very important
for this work. It's been
difficult to always deal with my <girl/boy>friend and
explain her that
playing <sport> once a week is not wasting time for the
thesis but it is a way to
improve productivity on the coming week. In conclusion, I think
I should be
thankful to my family.
Friend - ...why??
Y - I don't know, but this is how acknowledgments always end.
- F. Stefanini
