You should ignore these 7 “tips” from friends for your thesis

Friends and family can help you with the thesis, there’s no question about that! But there are tips and advice that you should ignore, so you don't get into trouble.

We do not want to tell you that you should not listen to your friends and family :-) But you should not follow any of the seven wise pieces of advice mentioned below. You can’t say you weren’t warned!

1. “Why don't you just write 10 pages for your thesis?”

You can easily write 10 pages of nonsense. Simply writing wildly rarely leads to success. Without research and without clarifying the topic and the terms, you are not enough of an expert to write a few pages easily. You probably won't be satisfied with the 10 pages you write. It’s better to start with the outline and the proposal then use the five pages per day writing technique.

2. "Just use a topic from an old bachelor’s or master’s thesis"

Sounds quite reasonable: Just take the topic of another thesis, change it a bit then write your own paper on it. That's a bad idea. It can be a plagiarism issue. Even if you don't copy parts of the older thesis sentence by sentence, your results will probably end up too similar to the old bachelor’s or master’s thesis...

You will have problems finding sources too because of course the previous texts used older sources. The demands of the supervisor matter as well.

3. "I finished my bachelor’s thesis in two weeks"

Of course, there are writers who have written their bachelor’s or even master’s thesis in two weeks. But saying you finished in two weeks sounds better than the truth, that they secretly spent weeks reading, organizing, writing and rewriting... In the end they pulled themselves together just in time to turn in the work.

We recommend writing your bachelor’s or master’s thesis in 31 (working) days, over about 6 weeks.

4.  "Just combine a few outlines to make the outline for your text"

Not a good idea. Writing your bachelor’s or master’s thesis will be much easier if you create your own outline according to your topic. You can follow the Thesis Guide outline template.

The supervisor will notice an outline made up of several bachelor theses. A plagiarism analysis will also bring any used text to light.

In the end, you will also run the risk of having to change the whole outline again after you have completely understood your topic...

5. "Pick a broad topic for your thesis so you can write a lot"

This is the question everyone asks at the beginning: "How am I supposed to write 40, 60 or more pages on this topic? Therefore, a broad topic seems more appropriate, something not too concrete or restricting because there's more to write about...

Example: Chocolate and motivation to learn

You can write hundreds of pages on a subject like this... But the supervisor wants to see your personal contribution which only comes from a concrete question.

Formulating a topic in this way will help you.

Example: Effects of chocolate on the learning motivation of students in Dog City

Please take 10 minutes of your time and take the thesis topic trip.

6. "Find an old bachelor’s thesis and use it for your own from thesis"

We are back on the subject of plagiarism. Of course, you can be inspired by other bachelor’s or master’s theses, but it’s much better to rely on the original sources. Think of a feasible research question and collect the appropriate sources. Copying & pasting can go wrong these days...

7. "Don't submit your topic officially until you're done."

Yes, that's possible in many cases but it’s definitely not advisable. You probably already know that nothing is more motivating than a deadline! So submit your thesis project after you have chosen the topic and supervisor and create a proposal that your supervisor likes. Then get started on your 31-day thesis trip!

Good luck writing your text!

Silvio and the Aristolo Team

PS: Check out the Thesis-ABC and the Thesis Guide for writing a bachelor or master thesis in 31 days.