Guides

Thesis and paper guides

Practical guides for reading your thesis or paper the way your committee or reviewers will, before they do.

• How to check your thesis before submission: 7 steps

  A 7-step way to check your thesis the way a committee will: research question, argument, method, findings, literature and references.

• What questions does the committee ask in a thesis defense?

  Thesis defense questions by type: contribution, method choice, limitations, alternative explanations, literature and future work, with examples.

• How to prepare for your thesis defense: from weeks before to corrections

  How to prepare for a thesis defense: what to do weeks before, the day before and during it, presentation structure, rehearsing answers and corrections.

• How to check your thesis references: from citations to DOIs

  How to check thesis references: match citations to the reference list, verify DOIs, find retracted papers, check accuracy, style and fake citations.

• Methods chapter mistakes committees pick up most often

  Common methods chapter mistakes: a design that does not fit the question, unjustified sampling, validity, analysis assumptions, ethics and limitations.

• How to write a discussion chapter

  How to write the discussion chapter of a thesis or paper: structure, comparing with the literature, unexpected results, limitations and common mistakes.

• How to write a literature review: from summary list to argument

  How to write a literature review: organise sources by theme, build synthesis sentences, identify the gap and avoid the most common mistakes.

• How to write a thesis proposal: what the committee checks

  How to write a thesis proposal: an answerable research question, scope, method plan, timeline and what the committee checks at proposal stage.

• Read your paper like a reviewer before you submit it

  Before submitting your paper to a journal, read it like a reviewer: what reviewers look for, a pre-submission checklist and desk rejection reasons.

• How to use AI for thesis writing (and how not to)

  When is AI a legitimate feedback tool for thesis writing, and when does it become a problem? Fabricated citations, privacy, policies and disclosure.

• Is ChatGPT feedback enough for your thesis?

  An honest comparison of getting thesis feedback from ChatGPT or another chatbot: what it does well, where it falls short, and how to use it better.