How to Write a Thesis?

Umberto Eco was one of these professors. In 1977, just before he became famous for The Name of the Rose, he wrote a small handbook to help struggling students. How to Write a Thesis has been in print for over 40 years. Used and beloved by generations of students in Europe and beyond, it was only recently translated into English. What accounts for the enduring popularity of the book?

Eco’s style is wry and funny, even when delving into exacting detail. But what makes this small book, full of old-fashioned advice about typewriting, index cards, and libraries, still relevant today is Eco’s belief in the almost magical power of the thesis journey as a true foundation for future challenges in life. It’s an irresistible love letter to research and the creative thrill of rigorous process.

Your thesis is like your first love: it will be difficult to forget. In the end, it will represent your first serious and rigorous academic work, and this is no small thing.

But it’s not just for academics. Anyone who researches or writes for others will find something useful here.

In many ways, Eco’s advice about approaching the challenge is more important than the details—which are often either outdated, or can vary by institution. Here is a summary of the broader advice.

Four Obvious Rules for Choosing a Thesis Topic

Although we will discuss thesis topics in greater detail in the next chapter, the following rules will help you get started. They do not apply

The Usefulness of a Thesis after Graduation

There are two ways to write a thesis that is useful after graduation. A student can write a thesis that becomes the foundation of a

What Is a Thesis, and Why Is It Required?

A thesis is a typewritten manuscript, usually 100 to 400 pages in length, in which the student addresses a particu­lar problem in his chosen field.

What Does It Mean to Be Scientific?

Some identify science with natural sciences or quantita­tive research. In other words, they believe research is only scientific if it contains formulas and diagrams. From

Is It Necessary to Know Foreign Languages?

This section does not concern those students writing a the­sis on a foreign language or on foreign literature. One would hope that these students know

How Long Does It Take to Write a Thesis?

Let us state from the outset: no longer than three years and no less than six months. This period includes not just the time necessary

Choosing a Thesis Topic: Ancient or Contemporary?

Here I am not attempting to revive the age-old quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. Instead I am here using the term “ancient” in

Choosing a Thesis Topic: Historical or Theoretical?

This choice only applies to certain subjects. A thesis in his­tory of mathematics, Romance philology, history of German literature, and other similar subjects can only

Choosing a Thesis Topic: Monograph or Survey?

The first temptation of any student is to write a thesis that is too broad. For example, the first impulse of a literature stu­dent is

How to Use the Library in the thesis

How should a student conduct preliminary research in the library? If he already has a reliable bibliography, he can obvi­ously search the author catalog to

Direct and Indirect Sources of Primary and Secondary Data of the thesis

Regarding books, a direct source is an original edition or a critical edition of the work in question. A translation is not a direct source:

What Are the Sources of a Scientific Work?

A thesis studies an object by making use of specific instru­ments. Often the object is a book and the instruments are other books. For a

How to Avoid Being Exploited by Your Advisor

As I’ve mentioned earlier, often a student chooses a topic based on his own interests, but other times a student wishes to work with a

Treating a “Journalistic” Topic with Scientific Accuracy

As most Italians know, scores of these stations have appeared in large Italian cities. There are a few even in cen­ters of a hundred thousand

Choosing a Thesis Topic: Writing about Direct Social Experience

Here our initial question returns in a new form: is it more useful to write an erudite thesis on an established, scholarly topic, or one

Index Cards and Notes in the thesis

1. Various Types of Index Cards and Their Purpose Begin to read the material as your bibliography grows. It is unrealistic to think that you

The Table of Contents as a Working Hypothesis in the thesis

After you have conducted your bibliographical research, one of the first things you can do to begin writing your thesis is to compose the title,

Must You Read Books? If So, What Should You Read First?

The examples in this chapter suggest that writing a thesis involves putting together a great number of books. But does a student always write a

An Experiment in the Library of Alessandria

Some may object that the advice I have given so far may work for a specialist, but that a young person who is about to

Documentation Guidelines of the thesis

1. Books Here is an example of an incorrect reference: Wilson, J. “Philosophy and religion.” Oxford, 1961. This reference is incorrect for the following reasons:

Managing Your Sources with the Bibliographical Index Card File

Naturally, to compile a basic bibliography you must con­sult many books. Many librarians will only lend one or two books at a time, are slow

Academic Pride of the thesis

The tricks of academic work are innumerable, and innu­merable are the traps into which you can fall. Within the limits of this short treatment, we

Instructions, Traps, and Conventions of the thesis

In many disciplines (and with increasing frequency) authors use a system that allows them to eliminate all reference notes, preserving only content notes and cross-references.

Footnotes in the thesis

1. The Purpose of Footnotes According to a fairly common opinion, a thesis or a book with copious notes exhibits erudite snobbism, and often represents

Quotations in the thesis

1. When and How to Quote: 10 Rules Generally speaking, you will quote many texts by other authors in your thesis: the textual object of

How to Write the thesis

Once we have decided to whom to write (to humanity, not to the advisor), we must decide how to write, and this is quite a

The Audience of the thesis

To whom do you speak when you write your thesis? To your advisor? To all the students or scholars who will have the chance to

Source: Eco Umberto, Farina Caterina Mongiat, Farina Geoff (2015), How to write a thesis, The MIT Press.