10 5 月, 2024

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How to write a thesis opening statement?

10 min read
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The opening report is an indispensable part of the dissertation writing, and only if the opening report of the dissertation is done well can the dissertation be written better. The opening report is a presentation held to elaborate, review and determine the topic of the dissertation, and is an important part of the dissertation writing, and many people are not very familiar with its process and step-by-step content, so that they are not able to complete the part well. The opening report is actually also a stage of assessment, which can well ensure the quality level of the dissertation. The following author will analyze the process of the opening report session and share the main points about the content, so continue to read on.  how-to-write-a-thesis-opening-statement-1

The main links and contents of the opening report

The name of the subject

The name of the topic is a visual response to the focus of the study and its direction, in expressing the name of the topic, to show as much as possible the scope of the study, the object of the study, the content of the study and its research methods, etc.

The basic situation of the subject

This part can be written or not, mainly to explain the source of the subject, the category of the subject and the basic information of the subject graduate students, etc.

Problem formulation

It is an essential part, mainly including the nature of the problem, the problem to be solved and its research hypothesis, research variables, etc.

Current status of the study

It is equivalent to an overview of this research, elaborating on the shortcomings of the current research and what you hope to break through, and proposing your own research direction.

Purpose and significance of the research

Through the research of this topic, what problems you hope to solve and what effects you hope to achieve are generally of theoretical and practical significance.

Research Methodology

What research methods and tools you have used in this study, and what research tools you have employed.

Research progress and plan

What arrangement you hope to make for the research of this problem, to complete a specific research task in a specific period of time

References

Finally, list what primary literature you have referred to in your researcher

Cautions

Before researching, it is always best to write an opening statement and attend the defense of the opening question, and then proceed to do the research when the teacher agrees to open the question.

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1. Determination of the dissertation topic

Whether the topic is chosen properly or not is directly related to the quality of the dissertation, and even to the success or failure of the dissertation. To choose a good topic, we must pay attention to:

(1) The topic should be in line with the research direction, and should not be chosen arbitrarily beyond the scope of the research direction of the major, which will be problematic when defending the dissertation.

(2) The choice of topic should be valuable and novel, where it is difficult to put forward their own opinions on the topic is best not to choose, it is difficult to pass the defense.

(3) The scope of the dissertation should be moderate. Do not “big topic small do”, such as “on quality education” topic is too big.

(4) The feasibility of the chosen topic. If the topic lacks the necessary conditions for realization, it is also undesirable. For example, if the topic is “Wiki in teaching” or “Future classroom teaching model”, there is too little relevant information or it is difficult to obtain empirical data.

(5) The selection of the topic should be accurate and standardized.

Some students do not select the topic accurately, and the topic contains two or even more questions. For example, “A study on open teaching evaluation of online courses based on constructivism”.

The standard is that the words and sentence types used should be standardized and scientific, and the words that are specious should not be used, and the sentence types of slogans and conclusions should not be used. Because we are conducting scientific research, we have to use scientific and standardized language to express our thoughts and opinions.

If this topic is an empirical paper or a research report, it is not bad, but as a topic name, it is not very good. This is because the topic is the problem we are trying to solve, and the problem is being explored and researched, so it cannot have a conclusive tone. It would be more appropriate to change the title to “The Impact of Developing Independent Learning Skills on Improving Classroom Learning Efficiency”.

2. Background and significance of the topic chosen

The question to be answered in this part is: why choose such a topic and what are the theoretical and practical implications of the research problem chosen. After the topic is determined, the significance of the topic is required to be discussed, including theoretical and practical significance. First of all, you should explain what kind of contribution the selected topic may have in theory, and you should explain the position of this problem you are studying in the trajectory of theory development.

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3. Review of relevant domestic and international literature

The question to be answered in this section is: what are the valuable and meaningful results of previous research on the topic I have chosen, what are the shortcomings of the existing results that need to be further explored, or what better methods can be used for the study of this problem.

The overview is mainly to summarize the material, for example, to divide the research history of the topic into stages, to group some important academic views on the topic into categories, and to evaluate some representative views on the topic. Of course, it is more important to find the problems of the topic in the summary and evaluation, such as what are the shortcomings of the past research in today’s level of thinking? What are the new breakthroughs that can be obtained from your own conditions?

4. The main content of the study

The main content of the study is the specific objectives to be achieved at the end of the project, to solve which specific problems. Research content should be clear and unambiguous, not general and vague.

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5. Research methods, technical routes

The research method should be specific, detailing how you used the research method you chose. Taking the questionnaire method as an example, the following aspects should be specified:

1) Whether the questionnaire is self-administered or revised by others

2) the reliability and validity of the questionnaire

3) The dimensionality of the questionnaire, i.e., from which aspects to investigate (or what are the main elements to be investigated)

4) The statistical method to be used and what software to be used.

6. Innovations and creative results that can be expected

The innovation to be achieved is the highlight of the paper, to “concrete”, “appropriate” to write the main points of innovation, not too abstract, to their own ideas and what is different from the existing research, but also to say where their ideas compared to the existing Otherwise, it cannot be said to be “innovative”.

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7. Main references

References play a very important role in evaluating the quality of a proposal. The teacher can see whether the student has a good understanding of the research problem by the quantity and quality of the references provided. Usually, the teacher can see whether the student has read the more valuable or classic literature in the study of this problem. If the number of references provided by the student is small and of low value, then without looking at the specifics the teacher can conclude that the quality of the student’s opening paper will not be very high. Therefore students should also pay attention to the reference section.

Format of references:

The format of references is as follows:

(1) Journal type format:

[Serial number] Author. Title of the article [J]. Title of the journal, year of publication, volume number (issue number): starting and ending page number.

For example:

[1] Wang Haisu. A brief discussion of accounting information disclosure model [J]. Fiscal Research, 2004, 21(1): 56-58.

[2] Xia Luhui. Research report on the teaching situation of thesis in higher education [J]. Higher Science Education, 2004(1): 46-52.

[3]Heider, E.R. &uctureofcolorspaceinnamingandmemoryoftwolanguages[J].ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearch,1999,(3):62-67.

(2) Format of monographs

[Serial number] Author. Book title. Place of publication: publisher, year of publication: starting and ending pages. For example:

[4] Ge Jiashu, Lin Zhijun. Modern Western Financial Accounting Theory. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press, 2001: 42. [5] Gill,: Macmillan, 1985: 42-45.

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8. Appendix

  • Arrangement of the relevant parts of the opening report
  • Arrangement on the time and place of the opening report
  • The opening report of master’s degree in education and master’s degree in higher education is generally arranged to be held in the third to fourth semester after the basic end of classroom study. The public demonstration meeting of the topic selection report of master’s degree should be at least one year apart from the time of dissertation defense.
  • In principle, master of education and master of higher education should return to the school to make the opening report. The dissertation research can be conducted in the original unit or back to the school according to the needs.
Procedural arrangement of the opening report
  • (a) Master of Education and Master of Higher Education students should, under the guidance of their supervisors, extensively investigate and research, read literature and determine the topic of their dissertation.
  • (b) Fill in the report of topic selection and application of topic selection for master’s degree dissertation on schedule, have it examined by the supervisor, and submit the application of topic selection and the report of topic selection to the college.
  • (c) The opening report meeting must be conducted in the college, and the college will set up a number of opening report review groups according to the second-level disciplines according to the topic selected by the graduate students. The review group is composed of 3-5 experts with postgraduate training experience and associate or higher titles, who will argue the feasibility of the topic chosen for the dissertation, analyze the difficulties and clarify the direction to ensure that the dissertation is completed on time and reaches the expected result.
  • (d) The expert group discusses and votes whether to agree to the opening report.
The basic structure of the opening report
  • (a) The basis for selecting the dissertation topic, including the current situation of domestic and foreign research, the theoretical significance or practical value of the selected topic, the characteristics of the research and the important bibliography, etc.
  • (b) Main research content, key problems or technical difficulties to be solved and the expected objectives to be achieved.
  • (C) the main research method or technical route, the implementation plan.
  • (d) Research location, annual plan and budget.
  • (e) The prediction of novelty of the thesis or the prediction of economic and social benefits of the thesis and the vision of application of the results.

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Process of the opening report session

(I) Degree course audit. After the completion of the postgraduate courses (except professional courses), the supervisor and the postgraduate management shall conduct a comprehensive inspection of their course study, and the opening report shall be conducted only after all the courses in the cultivation program have passed the grade.

(2) Writing a qualified literature review and opening report. Before proceeding to the opening of the topic, the graduate students must write a high-quality literature review with sufficient contents and clear ideas, and on this basis, establish a topic and write the opening report. The opening report should include the following contents:

  • the purpose of the subject research, its theoretical and practical significance, research trends and developments at home and abroad;
  • the content and main research methods and technical lines of the subject graduate student;
  • the conditions for completing the subject;
  • the research progress, specific arrangements and expected results, etc. After submitting the opening report, the graduate student should submit it to the supervisor for careful review and prepare the relevant references and various theoretical analysis or pre-experimental experimental data as the basis of the opening.

(c) Fill in the application form of the opening report. After the above work is done, the graduate student should submit an application to the supervisor and the competent department of the graduate student in the second-level unit in order to arrange the specific time and place of the opening report, and submit one copy of the approved application form and the opening report (including literature review) to the Cultivation Section of the Graduate School for record, and receive the evaluation form of the opening report of the graduate student.

(4) The opening report of doctoral students shall be open to the whole university and be questioned, and the 3-5-member evaluation team of the opening report composed of the supervisor of doctoral students, members of the degree committee, members of the sub-committee and experts from outside the university shall make a comprehensive evaluation of the opening report of doctoral students’ dissertations, respectively on the basis of topic selection, innovation, difficulty of topic selection, feasibility, reasonableness of the research work plan, reasonableness of the time schedule of scientific research work, financial support and the oral report of the graduate students. The team will evaluate and score the topic selection, innovation, difficulty, feasibility, reasonableness of the research plan, reasonableness of the research schedule, financial support and the oral report of the graduate student, etc. After weighting the scores, the topic will be officially opened only if it passes. Those who do not meet the requirements must reopen the topic. If a doctoral student is evaluated as having poor research ability and lacking in cultivation prospect, he/she cannot enter the dissertation stage and will be screened in the mid-term instead. Master’s students can be completed within the second-level college.

(5) The evaluation form of the opening report is an important proof of the opening of the dissertation and the determination of the topic of the dissertation for the graduate students. The form should be filled out on the spot, and the evaluation experts shall sign it on the spot after giving the corresponding evaluation opinions and send it to the Degree Office of Graduate School for record. The supervisor and the graduate student shall make copies and keep them for their own records.

(6) The application for master’s degree in medical science, master’s degree in clinical medicine, master’s degree in philosophy and doctoral degree in clinical medicine by the working staff with equivalent academic ability shall be carried out according to the above procedures.

After reading the analysis and explanation of the author, I believe you have a deeper understanding of the process of the opening report, what are the links, what is the specific process, what steps need to pay attention to, these are mentioned, I hope you can read carefully, master the key points and skills, and then complete the writing of the part of the opening report.

How to write a thesis opening statement?