How to write a dissertation, Exercises of English

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How to write a dissertation

Alastair Beresford February 2020 With significant contributions from previous presenters, including Neil Dodgson, Anuj Dawar and Robert Mullins.

But it’s only February….

October November December January February March April May Planning Core project Extensions Evaluation Writing Revision Exams You are here Lent End Easter Start Deadline Complete Draft

How to write a dissertation

• What
• Why
• When
• Who
• How

What is the dissertation?

A document of about 10,000 words … describing your project … in a carefully prescribed format … worth a quarter of your final mark

What? 10,000 words!

• I’ll never be able to write that much!
• [Yeah, okay.]
• I’ll never be able to fit it into 12,000 words, let alone 10,000!

Advice for terse writers

It would be very hard to describe a Part II project properly in under 7,000 words

1. Write 7,000 words as best as you can
2. Then see how you can improve your core by adding more words:
   • Longer explanation of the key algorithms?
   • More results?
   • More detailed analysis of the results?

Advice for all: What are the key points?

Cover all the key points. Some ideas on how to find them:

• what did you set out to do?
• what did you actually do?
• how did you do it?
• what are the results?
• how good are the results?

A dissertation is not a diary of things done

• It is a report not a diary or lab notebook
• Do not write the dissertation in the order in which tasks were completed write it in the order that will make most sense to the reader
• Decide on what is important and what is irrelevant or less important detail

Read existing

dissertations

• Every Part II student has written a dissertation. There are over 3,000 in the library
• You will learn a lot by reading a few

Start writing in February and finish in March

• Finish programming, testing and results-gathering by end of Lent Term
• Prepare a complete draft by the end of March
• Ask your supervisor and Director of Studies to read
• Update and submit at the beginning of the Easter Term

Who is the “reader” of your dissertation?

Who is the “reader” of your dissertation?

• Two or three computer science lecturers or professors
• You may assume intelligence and computer science knowledge
• They may not know the detailed area of your project
• You should demonstrate you know the detail in your chosen area
• They prefer good writing
• They will read your dissertation fairly quickly

Examiners read ~40 dissertations in two weeks

• Be clear and concise
• Tell them what you want them to know
• Do not assume they know anything beyond Part IB
• Say things up front, don’t hide interesting stuff, you are not a mystery writer or a magician
• Do not use code extracts when prose will do a better job

Provide signposts to tell the reader…

• where you are going
• why you are going there
• how you are going to get there