How long is a thesis paper? Now, this depends on your given word count. However, most of these papers are usually between 20,000 to 30,000 words. If you are currently writing your thesis and you need help, then continue reading. In this article, you will be getting a guide to writing a thesis paper.
Tips for Writing a Thesis Paper: How Long is a Bachelor’s Thesis Paper
- Make a Realistic Plan
The first thing to do is read your assignment carefully and make sure you understand it. If there is anything you do not understand, ask your lecturer or assigned supervisor to help you clarify. Also, make sure you read the instructions, know the word count, the deadline, the formatting method, how to submit, etc.
As a student writing a thesis, you cannot afford to miss instructions as this can cost you some marks.
After reading through, the next thing to do is plan your time. Construct a realistic timeframe of when you should be done with sections of your thesis within the specified timeframe. For example, you can make a daily goal of 2k words or a weekly goal of 5k words. This will help you to easily achieve your word count goal of how long is a master’s thesis paper.
- Select Your Topic
Usually, as a master’s student, your lecturers may allow you to select your topic. In some schools, they may give you a theme but still ask you to pick a topic surrounding that theme. Now, coming up with a topic for your thesis can be a bit tasking. This is because you want a topic that stands out yet is something you can write about. To generate a topic easily, it is better to identify a particular problem and see how to provide a solution. You can also ask an expert in your field for their help or you can read other research work for inspiration. Just make sure that whatever topic you choose is relevant to your theme.
- Research
When writing your thesis, you are going to do a lot of research work. Of course, whatever research material you use has to be an academic one. This will include academic books, journals, websites, videos, etc. As someone writing a thesis, you should not only go for materials that support your stance. You should also go for those that contradict your ideas. This will help you in getting a balanced result at the end of your thesis. Also, it is during research that you will be able to create your thesis research questions.
- Write and Submit
During your research, you will get a good number of sources that you will need. You may even use a line from a source to show your argument. When writing a thesis, your chapters will follow a particular structure. First of all, you will write chapter one which is the introductory part of your thesis. In this chapter, you will explain what your thesis is about: the main points, your research questions, and what to expect in other chapters. However, it is advisable that you write the rest of your chapters first before writing your chapter one.
The next chapter is chapter two which is your literature review. Here, you will write about and critique all the relevant sources to your thesis. You will also show how your thesis differs from these previously written works.
After chapter two, you will write your chapter three which is your methodology chapter. In this chapter, you will give a detailed explanation of how you did your research. In chapter four which is your analysis and discussion/result chapter, you will explain in detail what you got from your research. It is also in this chapter that you will show whether you have answered your research question(s) or not. Finally, you will write your chapter five which is your conclusion chapter. Here, you will summarize everything that you have done so far and you can even make recommendations.
Ebay Thesis
I’ve selected Ebay to do my business thesis on because they are a widely-known company whose influence spreads from coast to coast and really throughout the world. I’m going to focus my paper on Ebay’s use of user data to sell targeted ads, which in turn increases their revenue. Lots of companies, especially the digital tech companies, have begun keeping data of their users in order to sell it to advertisers.
In theory, the logic behind this is to allow the advertisers to advertise to people who are more likely to buy their stuff. For example, Ebay would take data on a college student, and give it to these advertising agencies. It does this through tracking customer’s browsing data in order to gauge their interests. In the case of the college student, if they were browsing for school supplies or something, it would be reported to these advertising companies so they could try and sell their stuff to the student. Ebay’s move is relevant to the overall structure of the technology industry, something that I call “Big Tech,” because it’s a move following Google, Amazon, and Facebook in order to boost ad revenue (Graziano 1). Some users of these organizations may wonder why this is a big deal. They would say probably reckon that this seems harmless. Some may actually welcome this, as they’d see these companies as trying to enhance their experience and make it better by selling them useful ads instead of useless ads. However, some people – like myself – may view this as an egregious act of overreach and a breach in privacy to people that are using these products. The thing is that by taking data on users, it may be used for bad intentions will be explained more in the paper. While these companies may try and justify this because we, as a consumer, are using their product and choose to have our data taken. However, these tech companies have built up a huge monopoly, or oligopoly, and consumers don’t have anything else to use.
Many bad things can go wrong. What if these companies get hacked or breached? What if the government demands information on the consumer? Will these tech companies cave or protect the consumer? In 2014, Ebay was hacked and 145 million of their users were exposed; their personal data was hacked and it was considered one of the biggest hackings ever. Initially, Ebay believed that user data was safe, but upon later inspection it was revealed that individuals were unmasked (Finkle 1).
I want to focus my paper on the rise of tech companies and why this doesn’t bode well for our privacy or rights guaranteed by our constitution. By taking in mass amounts of user info and tracking our search history, it leaves ordinary U.S. citizens open to blackmail by either hackers or bad forces inside of the government.
Here is my thesis statement as of right now: Ebay’s decision in tracking user data along with several other tech companies endangers the privacy of many citizens and leaves them exposed if a cyberattack hacks into these companies.
As for the structure of my paper, I’d like to start off with a history of the tech industry, centered around Ebay, and how it rose to prominence and eventually began overreaching through this ad tracking system. I will then transition into Ebay’s case and the risk of taking in private information. Finally, I will conclude and tie in Ebay’s case with the rest of the tech industry and look to try and make a resounding argument that is applicable to society to as whole and not just Ebay.
Works Cited
Finkle, Jim, and Deepa Seetharaman. “Exclusive: EBay initially believed user data safe after cyberattack.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 23 May 2014, www.reuters.com/article/us-ebay-cybercrime/exclusive-ebay-initially-believed-user-data-safe-after-cyberattack-idUSBREA4M0PH20140523. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Graziano, Dan. “EBay will now use your data to sell targeted ads.” BGR, 11 Apr. 2013, bgr.com/2013/04/11/ebay-user-data-sharing-advertising-425896/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Conclusion
How long is a thesis paper? When you apply all the tips in this article, you will be able to write and complete your thesis in no time. So, put all these tips to work.
