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How to Write a Dissertation
    Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today’s lecture about writing. I have known that you are preparing to write a dissertation at present. Unless you have written many formal documents before, you are going to find that it’s difficult! So, in today’s lecture, I will talk about methods for writing a dissertation.
    The foremost things you should know are two necessary preparations for successful completion of a dissertation.
    The first is planning ahead. A plan imposes a structure on the project and prevents you from drifting aimlessly for long periods of time. It will help motivate you to work during tedious or difficult phases and provides the incentive to make sacrifices.
    The second is the maintenance of healthy balance. The dissertation is such a time-consuming project that it can seem impossible to lead a balanced life. Without a healthy balance of life, you may feel angry, resentful, frustrated, overwhelmed, and depressed on a consistent basis. In order to maintain a healthy balance, it is often helpful to devote time every day and week to your physical, social, intellectual, emotional and spiritual well-being.
    Next, I will provide you with a few general ideas about a dissertation. As we know, a thesis is a hypothesis or conjecture. A dissertation is a lengthy, formal document that argues in defense of a particular thesis. So many people use the term "thesis" to refer to the document that a current dictionary now includes it as the third meaning.
    No. 1: Scientific method. The scientific method adopted in a dissertation means starting with a hypothesis and then collecting evidence to support or deny it. Before one can write a dissertation defending a particular thesis, one must collect evidence that supports it. Thus, the most difficult aspect of writing a dissertation consists of organizing the evidence and associated discussions into a coherent form.
    No. 2: Critical thinking. The essence of a dissertation is critical thinking, not experimental data. Analysis and concepts form the heart of the work. A dissertation also concentrates on principles: it states the lessons learned, and not merely the facts behind them.
    No. 3: Supporting materials. In general, every statement in a dissertation must be supported either by a reference to published scientific literature or by original work. But, a dissertation does not repeat the details of critical thinking and analysis found in published sources; it uses the results as fact and refers the reader to the source for further details. Each sentence in a dissertation must be complete and correct in a grammatical sense. Moreover, a dissertation must satisfy the strict rules of formal grammar. For example, no undefined technical jargon, no hidden jokes, and no slang, even when such terms or phrases are in common use in the spoken language. Indeed, the writing in a dissertation must be clear. Shades of meaning matter, the terminology and prose must make fine distinctions. The words must convey exactly the meaning intended, nothing more and nothing less. Each statement in a dissertation must be correct and defensible in a logical and scientific sense. Furthermore, the discussions in a dissertation must satisfy the strictest rules of logic applied to mathematics and science.
    Thirdly, we have to know what one should learn from the exercise. All scientists need to communicate discoveries; the dissertation provides training for communication with other scientists. Writing a dissertation requires a student to think deeply, to organize technical discussion, to muster arguments that will convince other scientists, and to follow rules for rigorous, formal presentation of the arguments and discussion.
    When writing a dissertation, we should also be clear about definitions and terminology. Each technical term used in a dissertation must be defined either by a reference to a previously published definition for standard terms with their usual meaning or by a precise, unambiguous definition that appears before the term is used for a new term or a standard term used in an unusual way. And each term should be used in one and only one way throughout the dissertation. The easiest way to avoid a long series of definitions is to include a statement. Then, only define exceptions. The introductory chapter can give the intuition of terms provided they are defined more precisely later.
    Last but not least important is language points. There is a principle we should remember, i.e. good writing is essential in a dissertation. As for voice, remember to use active constructions. For example, say "the operating system starts the device" instead of "the device is started by the operating system." Then write in the present tense. For example, say "The system writes a page to the disk and then uses the frame" instead of "The system will use the frame after it wrote the page to disk". Moreover, you should define negation early. For instance, say "no data block waits on the output queue" instead of "a data block awaiting output is not on the queue." At last, you should be careful that the subject of each sentence really does what the verb says it does. All computer scientists should know the rales of logic. Unfortunately the rules are more difficult to follow when the language of discourse is English instead of mathematical symbols. When written using mathematical symbols, the differences are obvious because "for all" and "there exists" are reversed.
    As far as the language points are concerned, there is a key to success: practice. No one ever learned to write by reading essays like this. Instead, you need to practice and practice. This is the secret to writing a good dissertation.
    To conclude, we have discussed some necessary preparations before writing a dissertation. What follows are some guiding principles, including some general ideas of a dissertation and how to reach a good writing. Finally, I provide you with a key to successful writing, i.e. practice. After this lecture, I hope you may find your dissertation-writing smooth.