Some Important Points on Thesis Writing
The dissertation or thesis is the most important piece of writing that a student will undertakein the masters programme. It is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and complex, providing
the examiner with a bird’s eye view of the research skills acquired by the student. Given its
length and skill requirements, masters dissertations are often used as a key metric to evaluate
students wishing to pursue doctoral studies.
The thesis is a coherent piece of work where a research question (identified by way of athorough literature review) flows and links directly to the research objectives, methodology,
and analysis of data. It should also have a concise argument that can be easily identified with
the question. Excellent dissertations DO NOT cover all the literature associated with aconcept/study, but selectively utilize the literature, bridging ideas from across subfields/disciplines, in order to provide a new answer to a question.
Importantly, in comparison to doctoral dissertations that are often written between 3 and 6
years, the masters thesis simply showcases mastery of literature review rather than providing
an original answer to a question based on primary data collection. While it is not expectedthat the student will generate new data to proffer a novel answer, it is anticipated that thestudent can demonstrate his/her ability to bring together various conceptual ideas in order toprovide a coherent argument.
In the GSID, masters theses are often expected to have empirical support, although thesupreme level of internal and external validities are not necessarily required.
In terms of language, it is crucial that it is written in formal, academic language with minimaluse of first person (except when used as “In this thesis, I argue that…”) and in present tense
form.
Caution! Different disciplines may have different models or standards.
Word countMost dissertations are between 15-25,000 words, including bibliography, footnotes, andfigures. Tables and appendices are usually excluded from the word count.
In the case of the GSID, a Master thesis may have around 40-50 pages. There’s a limit for theavailability of English writing check.
Referencing Style
In the social sciences, the standard referencing styles are either Harvard style (in-text citation
using author-date system) or Chicago style (footnotes/endnotes citation).
Format of the Thesis
It is common to use double space for main text (single space in Tables and direct quotes) inA4 size paper.
Originality of the Thesis
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The thesis is expected to illustrate independent and critical thinking, but an importantcriterion is originality or novelty of the dissertation. At the PhD level this is generated
through new conceptual breakthroughs by bridging and synthesizing various literatures, theapplication of an existing framework into a new research field, and methodologicalinnovation in answering key questions.
At the masters level, originality involves conducting primary data collection (e.g. going into
fieldwork or creating a new database for a statistical model), synthesizing multiple secondary
sources (e.g. newspapers, policy documents, interviews conducted by other authors), and/or
demonstrating critical engagement and mastery of the literature on the topic. Oftentimes, thestudent must combine these different methods to show originality of their work. Given therelatively shorter time period in doing the research, it is NOT expected that ground-breaking
research will be achieved at this level.
Using Figures and Tables
It is often the case that students would add tables and figures to offer visual presentation of
the data collected. This is highly encouraged but they should be done carefully, ensuring thatthe tables and figures are explained, analysed, and discussed in the main text. Tables andfigures, just like interviews, are not proof of the argument itself; rather they merely present
the findings in a more systematic and orderly way.

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[ TITLE OF THE THESIS ]Submitted by[ NAME ]In Partial Fulfilment of
NAME OF MASTERS DEGREE[ DEPARTMENT / INSTITUTE ][ NAME OF UNIVERSITY ][ CITY/COUNTRY ]MONTH / YEAR3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTTABLE OF CONTENTS (one page)
TABLE OF FIGURES (one page)
LIST OF TABLES (one page)4

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION (4-5 pages, 2-2,500 words)
The introduction needs to set out the context of the study, its significance, and the main
literature to be synthesized and used in the research project. It is important that the
introduction covers the following issues:
1) What is the study about and what is the potential contribution of the research. It
should clearly state this, i.e., “The study is about the relationship between X and Y…
/ This research examines the institutional and political conditions that underpin Z… /The thesis investigates / probes into the role of A in B…”
2) Set out the research objectives and/or research questions of the study. The
research objective is what the reader will learn after the research questions have beenanswered. The research questions, on the other hand, are specific points of inquiry
that would allow the reader to understand the big contribution of the thesis. It is
common that there is ONE big question (contextualized and based on the literature
review), which can then be broken down into sub-questions (3 questions maximum).
The sub-questions are interlinked with each other, and all together, provide ananswer/argument to the main question of the thesis. It is often a mistake that students
have many questions which cannot be answered by the thesis. ALL QUESTIONSNEED TO BE ANSWERED BY THE THESIS. If they cannot be addressed in thethesis, then they are too big for the thesis to cover, and therefore, should be revised3) Set out the main hypothesis, arguments, and/or research questions of the project. The
thesis, depending on how it is structured, needs to provide an indicative answer to themain query. It should be answered through a combination of literature review,primary data collection, and the use of secondary sources.
4) At some point in the introduction, it should also state the research strategy used inundertaking the project. This may explicitly say “The study utilizes a quantitative /qualitative / fieldwork-based / mixed methods approach to explain X”.
5) What are the three or four main bodies of literature that the research intends to bring
together. It should say this explicitly, for example, “The study brings together social
movements, human rights and everyday politics literature in order to examine A”, or“The research draws from new institutionalist perspectives and organizational studies
to analyse Y”.
6) A brief outline of the chapters to come. It should clearly indicate how many chaptersthere are and what are the order of chapters.
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK / LITERATURE REVIEW (6-7 pages,
3-3,500 words)
In this chapter, the research outlines the main bodies of literature to be synthesized indeveloping the conceptual tools needed to answer the research questions. The question andthe literature review are connected to each other. The questions, in order to be relevant, must
identify a research gap that has been overlooked in previous studies. The gap can beproduced by way of a thorough review of existing studies that deal with the concept or ideas
to be used in the study. But, at the same time, the research question should clearly indicate
the relevant literature to be used in the study.
In other cases, a dissertation might use an already developed/widely used theoreticalframework, with the intention of choosing concepts within the framework. In the social
sciences, it is often the case that students will choose one or two concepts that will be5developed in the chapter. The student must identify how he/she intends to use the concept inorder to adequately answer the research question, noting as well the pitfalls and shortcomingsof the conceptual framework. In this way, it demonstrates independent thinking and criticalthought by showing precisely how the concept will be useful for the research.
As a way to achieve this, some students might want to start with conceptual mapping: aprocess of clustering ideas and concepts with the aim of identifying the relationship ofdifferent concepts and how they overlap with each other. Using various sources, the student
might be interested to map out how various authors used the concept either as independent,
intermediate, or a dependent variable. By way of outlining the different uses and misuses of aconcept, the student can have a better understanding at how he/she might be able to use theconcept in the study.
As a starting point, the literature review should use a combination of books, journal articles,
and edited collections. It is against the canons of scholarship to use newspapers, blogs, andWikipedia as a baseline in developing the conceptual/theoretical framework. The student
should also seek to go beyond empirical details often found in an article or book; instead, thefocus must be on how an author used the concept to develop the study. It is good practice to
see how a concept has been used across different regions, sectors, and case studies, which
will then allow the student to find common patterns in terms of the use of the concept. As an
exercise, the student can fill in a table that outlines each article (see Table below as an
example) although it should be noted that the table should NOT be included in the thesis.
Authors
1. Sekeris(2015)

2.

King and
Lieberman(2009)

3.

Ziblatt(2008)

Conceptualization of state capacity
Weberian notion of state capacity as“capacity to collect taxes (fiscal) andenforce property rights (legal)” (fromBesley & Persson 2010) vs state power
defined as the “ability to broadcast
power”; Coercive capacity is distinctivefrom revenue raising capacity; State power
as a precondition to the development ofstate capacity
Stateness and state-building need to bebroadened beyond the Weberian
understanding of centralized stateauthorities emerging in the process ofstate-building; State cannot be captured ona one-dimensional continuum or through aWeberian model based on coercive
capacity located in centralizedbureaucracies; to unlock the ironies ofstate-building without a bureaucracy, weneed to look at the apparent emergence ofstate strength and capacity out of links
with society rather than autonomy from it.
State capacity as the ‘institutional
capabilities of governance’ (p. 274) asapplied to subnational and city politics, orthe level of development of agovernment’s technologies of governance,
the capability to implement its objectives.
State infrastructural power is a broader
concept referring not to the capacity of
specific public agencies but to three
dimensions of governments – its
capability, its overall territorial reach andits weight or presence in the lives ofcitizens.

Argument
State capacity is not uniformly distributed within nationalboundaries; the reach of the state is limited to the areas
surrounding capital city or regional cities; geography isessential to the projection of state power but it does notdeprive the central government from the capacity tobroadcast power – state power is endogenous anddistribution is a result of rational decision-making among
elites.

Empirical reference
Madagascar (verysuperficial)

The American state was a ‘segregated’ state until early
1970s; understanding of the extent to which regulatory
forms of the American state represent a distinctive statesociety associational patterns. American state-building,strength and institutional capacity form through links withsociety – states are negotiated arrangements between thecentral government and powerful sub-national units ,patterns of competition and contestation among politicalparties, and as relations among ‘public’ and ‘private’
providers of social welfare.

USA in comparative
perspective withindustrialized welfare
statesState capabilities determine political outcomes, i.e. public
service provision, at subnational levels. Whilst most focus
on demand side of policy formulation (income inequality,
ethnic diversity, responsiveness of democratic regimes tovoter preferences), these accounts over look the supply sideof policy creation – whether or how governments respond tosocial preferences and whether the state is capable of
implementing policy – which may determine the outcome.
Governments with high institutional capabilities toimplement policy help translate pre-existing social
preferences into actual policy outcomes. “Governments withvarying capacities to implement similar preferences mightalso have difference perceptions of threats, opportunities,
and problems, helping to establish different priorities in thefirst place” (pp. 276). Thus, municipal governments withgreater capacity will also pursue the creation of public
goods.

Pre-1914 Germany using
new dataset on 84 larger
cities’ municipal
hospitals and infant
health clinics using OLS
probit regression model***Table prepared by J. Nem Singh for his own research.

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Different meanings of literature review
Reviewing literatures have several meanings and completely different purposes. The first
meaning of literature review is to explore the field. This might be triggered by a curiositydriven walkabout in University library, suggestion by professor, or reading through astandard textbook. Literature reviews logically have no end. It can be continued until clear
understanding of the indicated field is achieved (this might be achieved by reading a standard
textbook, but not always the case).
The second meaning of literature review is to build up the strategy by clearing up all related
literatures in the field. The purpose of this is to figure out a breakthrough for one’s study andto make sure that it is really a promising breakthrough. This task is systematized, which will
be explained in the following part.
The third meaning of literature review is to develop a hand-made conceptual toolbox for anargument. Concepts, terminologies, models, etc. must be clearly defined and carefully
scrutinized in relation to previous usage by scholars.
How to collect literatures?

1. Searching
literatures

5. Amplifying
scope

2. Orderingsignificance

4. Setting
breakthrough3. Reading

Collecting literatures- List of literature for a related field of study is not easily found. Searching literature requiresa multiple iteration of bibliographical collection.
1) You can start looking at a book or an article on its title and abstract, which probably matchyour interest. You can use ProQuest, Web of Science, EBSCO databases or other e-journal
database, as well as google scholar, besides your nearest library (some databases need licenceto access).

72) Make your decision to read or not that literature. Should you have any faint doubt that
there’s something closer to your interest, you’d better keep on searching other literature
instead of taking time to read through the one in your hand.
3) Before you start reading, you also need to check what literature are included in its
bibliographical list. You might find there another one to which you should direct your timeand efforts. Please also pay attention to publication year because only what available
previously are covered in bibliographical list.
4) When you read, take notes as detailed as your time allows to figure out how you may
contribute to the field.
5) You also need to check keywords to repeat the searching process once again withamplified scope.
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (3-4 pages, 1,5-2,000 words)
This chapter outlines the general research strategy and the key methodological issues of the
project. Methodological description can be included in the Chapter 1 or next to the analytical
Chapter.
The research should be clear and concise in terms of strategy, i.e. “The research employs asingle case study approach in order to analyse the relationship between X and Y”; “The study
uses a multi-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative techniques to establishZ”; or “The study uses the OLS probit regression model to analyse A”.
The chapter should contain the following points:
1. A justification as to why the methods chosen are appropriate to answer the researchquestion. This can be done either by citing several credible studies that have
employed similar techniques (with a clear explanation how the present study will beusing it); or by explaining how the approach will provide specific answers to thequestion. The main question to ask here is: “what difference in terms of findings will I
get if I used an alternative research method?” In asking this question, the researcher isable to justify why the chosen approach will provide the best chance and mostcomprehensive way to answer the question.
2. Very specific discussions of the research techniques, i.e., structured/semi-structured
interviews, use of existing database, primary/archival documents needed for the study,
access to respondents, specific data to be collected in a fieldwork-based research, how
to do comparative studies (how variables were chosen, database used, etc).
3. A discussion of the scope and delimitation of the study, i.e. what does the study cover
and what does it not cover, and whether there are specific limitations in the approachand how the student intends to address these limitations.
4. Very specific details (e.g. list of interviewees/respondents, descriptive data fromsurvey, tables/figures needed to contextualize the study) should be included as anappendix. The student should choose very carefully what is to be included in the main
text of the chapter and in the appendix.
5. In quantitative studies, it is common that the hypotheses and null hypotheses are
discussed extensively in this section. It usually proceeds after the literature review.
6. The chapter should have appropriate references/citations using research methods andsocial science techniques, as well as studies that similarly employed the techniques in
the present study.

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CHAPTERS 4-6: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS (15-20 pages, 7,50010,000 words)
In many cases, data presentation and analysis are integrated because presenting empiricalevidence and showing its relationship with social science theories are inter-connected
processes. For this reason, it is advisable to instead divide the chapters into “thematic
sections” that corresponds to the research questions outlined in the introduction.
There are many ways to present the data collected. In qualitative studies, the direct use ofquotes from interviews is an effective way to present the data but it should be carefully done
so and in a way that demonstrates key points of the argument. In policy analysis, for example,
it might be a good idea to present the argument as stated by a policy-maker or bureaucrat
interviewed in the study. In studies on livelihoods and development, an interview with thelocal chief or regional elites is usually a good method to demonstrate the justification of achosen policy strategy/approach. In studies that use surveys, data can be presented in figures
and tables, which can then be explained in the main text as part of the analysis. Statisticalanalysis usually discusses the findings of the regression model. Across all the cases, the mostsalient point is to link the empirical findings with the theory.
Hence, the student must be able to corroborate the empirical work with the theoreticalarguments. Some guide questions to ask when doing data analysis are as follows:
1. What is the expected relationship between variables according to the main theory? Do
the findings of the study reject this relationship? For example, it is often argued that
democracy thrives and becomes consolidated after the country reaches a thresholdincome level (which implies that higher levels of income leads to more consolidated
democracies), does the case study confirm this relationship? If not, what explains thecase?
2. What is the logical flow of the argument, which the chapters follow? It is expectedthat one chapter should provide a context-setting that would explain the empirical andtheoretical background of the study, which is then followed by the body of theargument where evidence is presented and explained in relation to thetheory/conceptual framework. In some cases, there is a section/chapter analysing theimplications of the argument to the broader theory. In this case, the section usually
explains whether the theory should be altered, whether it should consider additional
conditions (necessary, sufficient, or both conditions must be met for X to be causally
related to Y), or if we should think differently about the relationship of concepts
based on the empirical investigation (i.e. The study found an alternative mechanismthat causally explains the phenomenon).
3. In studies that use statistical techniques, the model is usually presented (if not done in
the methods section), followed by a detailed explanation of the table that explains the
key causal relationships between variables, and then possible explanation as regards
the findings.
All figures and tables must also be cited properly. See examples below.

9Figure 1 Key Iron Producers in the World Economy
Iron Ore Production, 2000 and 2014
1600
1400

Million metric tonnes

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

Russian
Kazakhst
Sweden Federati Ukraine
Canada
an
on

India

South
Africa

195

75

34

0

21

87

56

16

35

63

89

411

129

81

33

37

102

68

25

44

56

153

China

Australia

Brazil

2000

224

168

2014

1510

774

Iran

UnitedStatesOthers

Source: ECLAC 2016: 85 (adapted).
Table 3.1: Economic Impact of the Philippine Mining Industry (in US$ million)

Mining Contribution to GDP2
Total Mining Investment
Export Share (Metal Mining)

Export Share (Non-metallic)

2008

2009

2010

2011

20121

$1.205$1.381$1.955$2.237$1.724

0.70%

0.80%

1.00%

1.00%

0.70%

$604.2$719.5$1,053.1$1,149.7$791.7$2,498$1,470$1,929$2,840$2,265

5.2%

3.9%

3.8%

6.0%

4.9%

$211

$156

$162

$177

$145

0.4%

0.4%

0.3%

0.4%

0.3%

Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau (2013), Adapted.
Notes: (1) Preliminary figures (2) In US$ billion

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS (1-3 pages, 2,000 words)
The chapter contains the main summary of the empirical work, the theoretical implications of
the study, and future research gaps that can be explored in light of the present research. Whenmaking recommendations for future study, it is common to reiterate and draw from theliterature review the main gaps that are worth studying, and then corroborating the existing
study and its main contributions. In this way, it strengthens the relationship between thepresent study and the broader set of theories and literature.
The salient point here is that the chapter should NOT contain new analysis, but instead,should focus on bridging the detailed analysis from previous chapters and the broader
theories and arguments in the literature. It should also draw out more clearly the theoretical
implications of the study and why it was worthwhile undertaking a thesis. Finally, if there are10methodological innovations and/or new theoretical insights, these should be highlighted andrepeatedly mentioned throughout the thesis and emphasized in the conclusions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The student must ensure consistency and preciseness when formatting the reference list. All
references mentioned in the thesis should be included. Primary documents, interviews doneby other people, and secondary sources (newspapers, list of archives, etc) can be separated
from the academic sources.
APPENDIX 1, 2, 3…
The appendix should be mentioned and discussed in the main text of the thesis. If there aresources needed, please ensure that there are sources at the bottom of the tables and figures.

Prepared by:
Jewellord Nem Singh, PhD
Freie Universität Berlin / University of Tokyo
02.03.2017 version
Isamu Okada, Ph.D.
Nagoya University
19.05.2020 modified version

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