...
The main purpose of an abstract is to contextualize and describe the work in a concise and easily understood manner. The abstract should not contain highly technical and scientific phrases. Potential reader from other engineering background can understand your work. Read through the entire thesis and distill main points or a short summary. Sentence connectivity and clarity in writing are extremely important in the abstract. Clarity is achieved by providing information in a predictable order (something like storyline). Consolidate the below points into 2 -- 4 paragraphs. Remember that the sentences must be linked to each other, similar to a story line. The examiner will like to read the abstract and encouraged to read the thesis.
| Round Rectangle | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||
|
Help:| Tip |
|---|
-- Write abstract after completing all chapters and appendices of the thesis. Then, revise the abstract after one day with fresh mood. -- Make sure that there are no spelling errors in the abstract. -- Try to main number words in the abstract between 150 and 300. |
Acknowledgement
Proposed length: 1 page
...
Above guideline must be followed everywhere in the thesis, e.g., chapters, paragraphs, equations, etc. The same rules applied where ever you use math and equations in the thesis. It is strongly recommended to use NIST guideline, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), for prescribing the symbols and the numbers. Checklist on page number five and six of NIST guide provides short detail to prescribe the units.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Proposed length: 2 - 3 pages or depending on need
Introduction is the first chapter generally students prefer to write very early. The introduction shapes reader-expectations of what they will find by reading the thesis. Include some nice figures/illustration in the introduction. This will help readers to understand the research field effortlessly. You can cite figures from the literature and internet. However, if you have own prepared illustration/figure, it gives positive impact to the reader and indicates your creativity. The initial paragraphs describe broad area of your discipline and the bigger challenge in the field. Then, narrow down the description towards your specific field of research, and present overall challenge in your field. Discuss concept and overall objective of the work, including importance of the work. At the end of this chapter, a potential reader receive more clarity about the research area, research gaps, and why this research is so important, what value does this work carry, etc. This will set tone for the upcoming chapter, i.e., Literature review, and maintain continuity.
| Round Rectangle | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||
Since almost all thesis/projects in the Waterpower laboratory belongs to hydropower and hydro turbine. The first and second paragraphs should talk about the Renewable energy and Sustainable energy broadly and the statistics. The third and fourth paragraphs should talk about the hydropower and hydroelectricity. Then, hydropower in Norway, if relevant. The subsequent paragraphs should talk about the hydraulic turbines towards your field of research. Then, you should write about the core discipline of your research work broadly. Remember that the language should never be highly technical in this chapter. Once you have introduced the research topic broadly in the previous paragraphs, you should now describe the core topic of research and the challenges in broad way. Discuss concept and overall objective of the work, including importance of the work. At the end of this chapter, a potential reader must be clear about the research area, research gaps, and why this research is so important, what value does this work carry, etc. This will set tone for the upcoming chapter, i.e., \Literature review, and maintain continuity. This chapter should provide a comprehensive detail about the research, which you are going to present. You can also divide this chapter into subsections depending on need. The last paragraph (100 words) should outline the thesis/project chapters as well as broad organization. |
Write goal and main objectives of your research work at the end of the chapter. You should consider bullet points to write the objectives.
Chapter 2. Literature review
Proposed length: 2 - 4 pages or depending on need
In Chapter 1, you have already discussed the overall field of research as well as broad challenge. Now, this chapter is more scientific and specific to your work. In this chapter, you should ONLY talk about the literature, which is directly relevant to the project tasks, results and work you are presenting in the thesis. Selection of appropriate article indirectly indicates expertise and depth of knowledge you are presenting in the thesis.
Present state-of-the-art in the scientific field, i.e., what has been done during previous years, which methods have been applied, what are the main conclusions, how those conclusions are relevant to your work, etc. You can also discuss if you disagree with the method or conclusion from the literature. Literature review is aimed to indicate that you are not conducting the work/research, which is already conducted in previous years. It is important that you describe what has been done so far, what is missing and what are you continuing as part of your work. This will help reader on what new knowledge is coming up through your work. You have to be critical when reading the previous work. If you are disagreeing with the previous literature, there is no problem. You can also mention why disagreement. This is called critical reflection, which indicates you have good knowledge of research in the field.
You should organize your literature (paragraphs) in one of the following orders depending on your choice,
- according to the year (chronological) of research.
- according to flow phenomenon.
- according to research method.
Finally, write summary of the literature on the topic (100 words) that will justify that your current research is new. The paragraph will create foundation for your work and the given tasks.
Selection of appropriate article indirectly indicates expertise and depth of knowledge you are presenting in the thesis. Use relevant keywords to search relevant journal articles. Use google scholar for global literature. Use ntnu open to find NTNU thesis.
...
What is a literature review?
...
| Round Rectangle | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||
Use free software Zotero for research article management. You can use some addons to manage literature efficiently, example, ZotFile, Better BibTeX, etc. Finding literature via Google Scholar and ResearchGate is practice. When you read the literature and research articles, it is good practice to write a summary paragraph (200 words) with some bullet points when you complete the reading. The collected summary will be helpful to write this chapter. It is also good practice to write this chapter along with your literature review. |
What is a literature review?
A literature review is a critical analysis of published sources, or literature, on a particular topic. It is an assessment of the literature and provides a summary, classification, comparison and evaluation. The literature review is generally in the format of a standard essay made up of three components: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. It is not a list like an annotated bibliography in which a summary of each source is listed one by one. Present state-of-the-art in the scientific field, i.e., what has been done during previous years, which methods have been applied, what are the main conclusions, how those conclusions are relevant to your work, etc. You can also discuss if you disagree with the method or conclusion from the literature. Literature review is aimed to indicate that you are not conducting the work/research, which is already conducted in previous years. It is highly important that you describe what has been done so far, what is missing and what are you continuing as part of your work. This will help reader on what new knowledge is coming up through your work. You have to be critical when reading the previous work. If you are disagree with the previous literature, there is no problem. You can also mention why disagreement. This is called critical reflection, which indicates you have good knowledge of research in the field.
Why do we write literature reviews?
...
- What are the key terms and concepts?
- How relevant is this article to my specific topic?
- What are the major relationships, trends and patterns?
- How has the author structured the arguments?
- How authoritative and credible is this source?
- What are the differences and similarities between the sources?
- Are there any gaps in the literature that require further study?
Chapter 3. Theory and methods
Proposed length: 4 - 7 pages or depending on need
It is difficult to come up with an appropriate title of the chapter. Alternative titles of this chapter may be Material and methods, Solution approach, Experimental method/technique, Numerical method/technique, Experimental setup, Numerical modeling. You may select appropriate title, which describes method you have used to complete the task and to obtain results. Overall, this chapter should contain critical information related to theory and methods, which you are going to use to solve the problem. Avoid writing of long theory, which already exists in the books and the internet commonly, including Wikipedia.
One can use ``Theory and methodology" as chapter title however, clear difference should be in mind.
Method vs. methodology: understanding the difference
A method is simply the tool used to answer your research questions --- how, in short, you will go about collecting your data. Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys, and statistical tests).
A methodology is the rationale for the research approach, and the lens through which the analysis occurs. Said another way, a methodology describes the “general research strategy that outlines the way in which research is to be undertaken” Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project. It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.
Ask yourself whether you are describing how you will collect your data (method), or if it’s the broader strategy for your research approach (methodology). With one methodology, you can apply several different methods to support or reject the research hypothesis.
What can you include?
In this chapter, you can write direct scientific theory of your work (avoid repeating information, which is included in the chapter 1). Avoid theory commonly available in all types of literature, for example, working principle of turbine, what is hydropower, etc.
You can present following topics in this chapter (note---this is just suggestion):
- Three-dimensional geometry and meshing of numerical model.
- Mesh independence study.
- Short mathematical presentation of turbulence modelling.
- Experimental test rig.
- Measurement procedure.
- Calibration procedure and uncertainty quantification.
- Data processing techniques.
- Background about coding and mathematical representation.
- Range of parameters.
- Boundary conditions and physics.
- Instrumentation.
- Numerical modeling.
- Data analysis techniques.
- All relevant information for results and discussion.
This is the last chapter before the results. Therefore, you should provide sufficient information that will help reader to interpret the results. Do not repeat information, which is already presented in chapter 1 and chapter 2. Avoid figures and illustrations from literature. You should prepare your own illustrations and present here. This chapter represents your own work and its description hence borrowing someone's illustration will not give positive impact.