Style and Stylistics Essay Example for Free

Style and Stylistics EssayWhat is a dissertation?Your dissertation is non your dissertation. Neither is it a unriv bothed liner ab prohibited what you atomic number 18 doing. Your dissertation is a position or proposition that a person (as a taildidate for scholastic honors) advances and offers to maintain by argument. Websters 7th hot Collegiate Dictionary. I tactile sensationed at how hoi polloi play chess is not a thesis commonwealth adapt memories of old games to play new games is. Similarly, I wrote a program to play chess is not a thesis playing chess requires a database of actual games is. A thesis has to look at something. in that respect are m whatsoever kinds of theses, especially in computing machine science, but near of them can be lumped into one of the following classes1. mental work at X is a feasible way to do task Y2. process X is a better way to do task Y than any frontly cognise method3. task Y requires process X4. sight drug abuse process X to do task Y5. process X is a terrible way to do Y6. people dont use process XFeel free to substitute process X with memory scheme X or what ever else might make one theory different from another. Make surely you clearly specify the class of tasks Y to which your thesis applies.Besides being a proposition, a thesis has to dupe another property it mustiness say something new. Understanding natural language requires context is not a thesis (except maybe in a linguistics department) process X is a feasible weapon for adding context sensitivity to natural language understanders is, as is context is not required for visual understanding. What is a defence reaction?A acknowledgment faces evidence for a thesis. What kind of evidence is apprpropriate depends on what kind of thesis is being defended. dissertation process X is a feasible way to do task Y sensation defense reaction for this kind of claim is an analysis of the complexity, or completeness, or whatever, of the theoreti cal algorithm. In computer science, the more common defense is based on empirical results from running an experiment. A inviolable defense here means more than one example, and answers to questions such as the following. What are the capabilities and limits ofyour experiment? How often do the things that your experiment does come up in the real world? Whats involved in extending it?If its easy to extend, why startnt you? If your example is a piece of a larger system, how realistic are your assumptions about input and fruit? Thesis process X is a better way to do task Y than any previous(prenominal)ly known method The same kind of defense applies here as in the previous case, but now serious comparisons with previous systems are required. Can your result do the same examples the previous results did, or can you make them do yours? Can you prove they couldnt do your examples? If you claim to be more efficient, what are you measuring? Thesis task Y requires process XThis is usuall y defended by a logical argument. It is usually very tough to do, even if the argument doesnt have to be formalized. Thesis people use process X to do task YMany students make the mistake of filling this kind of thesis to defend. It requires serious experimental evidence to defend, unless your real thesis is of the previous form, i.e., only process X is possible. Selected excerpts from protocols and surveys of your officemates are not psychological evidence, no matter how much they might have inspired your work. Thesis process X is a terrible way to do Y, or people dont use process X This is a reasonable thesis if process X is a serious contender. The defense would be an analysis of the limits of process X, i.e., things it cant do, or things it does wrong, along with evidence that those things matter. I have piles of theses in my dissertation. Which one should I pick for my defense? Defending a real thesis is hard. If you turn over you have a lot of theses, you probably just have a bunch of undefended claims. One good thesis, or two so-so theses, with adequate description and defense, is more than enough to fill up a dissertation.I have the opposite problem. I dont think I have any thesis by these standards. Highly unlikely. If youre bright, educated, and have worked hard on a topic for more than a year, you must have learned something no one else knew before. The first mistake that students make is to think that a thesis has to be grander than the theory of relativity. A thesis should be new and interesting, but it doesnt have to change the foundations of all we believe and hold dear.Dont try to come up with a thesis first, and then investigate it. lead up by exploring some task domain.Take some initial ideas and push them hard for a year or so. Now, stop and think about what youve done and what youve learned. Among your accomplishments and experience, there will be several good candidate theses. Pick one.Test it out on your advisor and other faculty mem bers. Test it out on other students. Is it a claim that you can describe clearly and briefly? Is it a claim that anyone cares about? Is it a claim that people dont find perfectly obvious, or if they do find it obvious, can you convince them that it could easily be false.Once youve refined your claim into a good thesis, now you can memorise what kind of defense is appropriate for it and what more you need to do. This is where the hard part comes, psychologically, because to create a defense for your thesis, youre going to have to attack it harder than anyone else. What happens if the thesis fails? Negate it and defend that In a year or so of focused search, you should be ready for a real thesis defense. See how easy it is, erst you know how?Almost all of useven if we dont do it consciouslylook early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We restore to that condensation as a thesis statement. Even if your assignment doesn t ask a ad hoc question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue youd like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question youd like to write about. A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes * take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree * deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment * express one main idea* imprecate your conclusions about a subjectOverview of Thesis Styles* A thesis is a written inventory chronicling question conducted by the student in a particular area. Besides documentation of results and interpretation of experimental research, the document contains an extensive review of the literature pertaining to the subject area. * In general, the thesis begins with an overall statement of introduction and purpose for the study, including overall objectives. This instalment is followed by the literature review. This literat ure review stands alone, and is presented inaddition to the literature cited when discussing the results of the research. The results of the research are then documented, including information on the methods, results and discussion of results. The last part of the thesis is usually a general discussion designed to draw broad conclusions, synthesize information, and suggest areas for future study.In most cases, a thesis contains more detailed information than would normally be submitted for publication. * In general, the masters thesis should demonstrate that the student has mastery of the field in which she/he presents her/himself, and is fully conversant with the applicable literature. An essential feature of Ph.D. study is the candidates demonstration of competence to complete a research project and present the research findings. The Ph.D. thesis must constitute a distinct contribution to knowledge in her/his major(ip) field of study and the genuine must be of sufficient merit to be, in the judgement of the examiners, acceptable for publication.* There are two main thesis styles1. The Traditional Style Thesis in which the major components the methods, results of the research and discussion are presented in discrete sections following the overall introduction and literature review. As indicated above, a general discussion should normally follow the discussion of the research results. * 2. The Paper Style Thesis is similar to the traditional style thesis in a broad sense, except that the research results are packaged as discrete units or chapters, either as published manuscripts, or in a form suitable for publication in scientific journals.In the paper style thesis, each(prenominal) section or chapter has its own abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion in addition to the overall abstract, general introduction and literature review. If the chapters have been published or are more or less ready for publication, the paper style thesis may n ot contain as much detail as the traditional style thesis. * The quality of thesis style depends to an extent on the kind of study that was done, whether discrete chapters are warranted or the material is best described as a single entity. The style is chosen in consultation with, and canonic by, the students advisory committee before writing commences. The following sections describe the main elements of each style of thesis.