Basic Rules For Composing A Good Master's Thesis Outline

Students that undertake graduate studies understand that carrying out research and writing dissertations and research essays is central to their learning and performance. Before you embark on writing a paper, it is important to learn about the major components of the essay, the way you should structure it and the do’s and don’ts that govern the process. Here are a few basic rules that ill guide you when composing a Master’s thesis outline.

The abstract

The person who will read your paper will turn to the abstract to understand what your research was based on. It is therefore advisable to write the outline in a manner that will pique the interest of the person who will read the essay. Make sure that you summarize the main content of your dissertation in the abstract. However, you do not have to include all the aspects of the essay in the abstract. Most experts recommend writing the abstract after you have finished writing the paper because this is when you will have a clearer idea of the ideas discussed and you will be in a better position to write the abstract.

The foreword

Even though there are no specific guidelines in writing the foreword, there is general information that you are supposed to give. Most people use this as an opportunity to thank the people who helped them in making the project a success. These could be your supervisors, teachers and even family members.

The introduction

There are two main reasons for writing a thesis introduction. The first is to give information about the content of the essay and the second is to draw the attention of the reader. Choose your words wisely when you are writing the introduction because this will be the first impression that the reader of the thesis gets about you and your project. The introduction should include:

• The background that informed your theme of choice.


• A discussion of the research question your essay tackles.


• An outline of the main details of the rest of your essay.

When you have these important parts of the essay written in the best possible manner, then you can get into the main body of the paper. Make sure that you use examples and graphs, diagrams and other visual aids that help bring home the point. After the main body, you will be required to write a conclusion. Lastly, ensure that your paper comes with a good bibliography of the sources you referred to when you were researching.