The Role of Thesis Examples as You Produce Your Own

Most of us learn best when we have models or examples to follow. Every classroom teacher, for instance, knows that in the teaching of ay new concept or skill, there is a “tried and true” process for getting student to mastery. First, the concept or skill is introduced by the teacher; the next step is for the teacher to provide examples or models so that students can see what is called the “application” phase of learning. Only then are students asked to practice what they have learned, first with guidance and then independently.

Now, there will be no classroom teacher providing instruction and giving you a thesis example for you to follow as you ultimately produce your own. You are basically on your own to independently learn the basics, to get as much information as possible from your advisor and, of course to locate examples of thesis works in your content field. Because theses are not published in the same manner as dissertations, you may have difficulty finding examples of a thesis in your specific field, but there are some strategies that may yield results.

Finding Good Thesis Examples

1. Ask your advisor to see some examples of theses that have been submitted and approved in the past. Most advisors keep copies of really good ones, and having such a piece to review can be really helpful.
2. ProQuest does have a selected number of theses within its database, so you may want to launch a search there is see if there a few examples of thesis works in your field.
3. Get online and do a search. You will find lots of guides for writing theses that have pretty complete example thesis sections. If, in your search, you key in your specific field, you may even get better results.
4. Also online, you will find that if you conduct a search for specific sections of a thesis, you will get good examples of these as well. So, if you need a thesis proposal example, google that term, add your topic at the end, and you are likely to get some great samples that will help you write your own.
5. Don’t be shy about asking doctoral students and teaching assistants in your department if you can see a copy of their theses. Chances are they will be quite flattered and be happy to let you review and study theirs as an example thesis that received departmental approval.

Taking Some Independent Steps

In the end, looking at an example of thesis writing is certainly a good exercise, if only to see structure and presentation. However, you do have to ultimately “buckle down” and write your own. While this may cause anxiety and fear that your will not be good enough to “pass muster” in your department, remember that you have intelligence and skills that will allow you to produce a solid and scholarly written piece. As well, you can seek outside help from a professional writing service like TrustedDissertations.com, who will have a graduate-degreed researcher/writer in your topic area with whom you can consult.