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Research Contribution – Thesis Guide

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Research Contribution

Definition:

Research contribution refers to a novel and significant addition to a particular field of study that advances the existing knowledge, theories, or practices. It could involve new discoveries, original ideas, innovative methods, or insightful interpretations that contribute to the understanding, development, or improvement of a specific research area.

Research Contribution in Thesis

In a thesis , the research contribution is the original and novel aspect of the research that adds new knowledge to the field. It can be a new theory , a new methodology , a new empirical finding, or a new application of existing knowledge.

To identify the research contribution of your thesis, you need to consider the following:

• What problem are you addressing in your research? What is the research gap that you are filling?
• What is your research question or hypothesis, and how does it relate to the problem you are addressing?
• What methodology have you used to investigate your research question or hypothesis, and why is it appropriate?
• What are the main findings of your research, and how do they contribute to the field?
• What are the implications of your research findings for theory, practice, or policy?

Once you have identified your research contribution, you should clearly articulate it in your thesis abstract, introduction, and conclusion. You should also explain how your research contribution relates to the existing literature and how it advances the field. Finally, you should discuss the limitations of your research and suggest future directions for research that build on your contribution.

How to Write Research Contribution

Here are some steps you can follow to write a strong research contribution:

• Define the research problem and research question : Clearly state the problem or gap in the literature that your research aims to address. Formulate a research question that your study will answer.
• Conduct a thorough literature review: Review the existing literature related to your research question. Identify the gaps in knowledge that your research fills.
• Describe the research design and methodology : Explain the research design, methods, and procedures you used to collect and analyze data. This includes any statistical analysis or data visualization techniques.
• Present the findings: Clearly present your findings, including any statistical analyses or data visualizations that support your conclusions. This should be done in a clear and concise manner, and the conclusions should be based on the evidence you’ve presented.
• Discuss the implications of the findings: Describe the significance of your findings and the implications they have for the field of study. This may include recommendations for future research or practical applications of your findings.
• Conclusion : Summarize the main points of your research contribution and restate its significance.

When to Write Research Contribution in Thesis

A research contribution should be included in the thesis when the research work adds a novel and significant value to the existing body of knowledge. The research contribution section of a thesis is the opportunity for the researcher to articulate the unique contributions their work has made to the field.

Typically, the research contribution section appears towards the end of the thesis, after the literature review, methodology, results, and analysis sections. In this section, the researcher should summarize the key findings and their implications for the field, highlighting the novel aspects of the work.

Example of Research Contribution in Thesis

An example of a research contribution in a thesis can be:

“The study found that there was a significant relationship between social media usage and academic performance among college students. The findings also revealed that students who spent more time on social media had lower GPAs than those who spent less time on social media. These findings are original and contribute to the literature on the impact of social media on academic performance, providing insights that can inform policies and practices for improving students’ academic success.”

Another example of a research contribution in a thesis:

“The research identified a novel method for improving the efficiency of solar panels by incorporating nanostructured materials. The results showed that the use of these materials increased the conversion efficiency of solar panels by up to 30%, which is a significant improvement over traditional methods. This contribution advances the field of renewable energy by providing a new approach to enhancing the performance of solar panels, with potential applications in both residential and commercial settings.”

Purpose of Research Contribution

Purpose of Research Contribution are as follows:

Here are some examples of research contributions that can be included in a thesis:

• Development of a new theoretical framework or model
• Creation of a novel methodology or research approach
• Discovery of new empirical evidence or data
• Application of existing theories or methods in a new context
• Identification of gaps in the existing literature and proposing solutions
• Providing a comprehensive review and analysis of existing literature in a particular field
• Critically evaluating existing theories or models and proposing improvements or alternatives
• Making a significant contribution to policy or practice in a particular field.

Advantages of Research Contribution

Including research contributions in your thesis can offer several advantages, including:

• Establishing originality: Research contributions help demonstrate that your work is original and unique, and not simply a rehashing of existing research. It shows that you have made a new and valuable contribution to the field.
• Adding value to the field : By highlighting your research contributions, you are demonstrating the value that your work adds to the field. This can help other researchers build on your work and advance the field further.
• Differentiating yourself: In academic and professional contexts, it’s important to differentiate yourself from others. Including research contributions in your thesis can help you stand out from other researchers in your field, potentially leading to opportunities for collaboration, networking, or future job prospects.
• Providing clarity : By articulating your research contributions, you are providing clarity to your readers about what you have achieved. This can help ensure that your work is properly understood and appreciated by others.
• Enhancing credibility : Including research contributions in your thesis can enhance your credibility as a researcher, demonstrating that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to make valuable contributions to your field. This can help you build a strong reputation in the academic community.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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How to make an original contribution to knowledge

“The thesis can address small gaps within saturated research areas.”

When PhD candidates embark on their thesis journey, the first thing they will likely learn is that their research must be a “significant original contribution to knowledge.” On the face of it, the idea seems simple enough: create something new, establish a niche for oneself, further science and add some important piece to the sum of human understanding. And yet, there is little to no consensus as to what exactly this phrase means. This lack of consensus is particularly challenging for students, as it opens them up to risk in matters of external review and their graduate school progression.

Aside from the risk it poses to student’s success (for example, attrition), an ill-defined standard for the contribution to knowledge creates risks for the student during the external examination of the thesis. This can happen in two ways.

First, an external examiner may have biases towards pet theories or concepts and may dismiss the work if he or she does not agree with the opinions presented. Arguably more disastrous, supervisors themselves may recommend that a thesis be put forward for defence which the external examiner feels is not significant. This misplaced confidence can result in the entire work being disregarded, or the shattering award of a conciliatory master of philosophy.

Fortunately, there are ways to both clarify the concept of a significant original contribution to knowledge and to prepare to defend it.  After all, “to escape with a PhD, you must meaningfully extend the boundary of human knowledge. More exactly, you must convince a panel of experts guarding the boundary that you have done so,” says Matt Might, an assistant professor at the University of Utah and author of The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D .

The first step for PhD students is to recognize that a thesis will be built on other people’s work in a rigorous, precise way and is not expected to lead to an immediate and fundamental paradigm shift in the field. On this point, the best PhD theses investigate a circumscribed area, rather than overselling the originality or expertise. The significant original contribution emerges from small gaps within saturated research areas as novel interpretations or applications of old ideas. The researcher can accomplish this in many ways, for example, by creating a synthesis, by providing a single original technique, or by testing existing knowledge in an original manner. Although the thesis has to be innovative, this doesn’t necessarily mean revolutionizing the existing discourse; there is also value in adding new perspectives.

Similarly, and partly because of the time required to complete a doctoral degree, students must resist becoming wrapped up in what they’re looking at in the moment and thus forgetting the big picture. This is especially true for people writing manuscript-style theses in the natural sciences, which represent many small parts of an overarching idea and contribution.

To mitigate this tendency to digress, and to supress any panic around a “crisis of meaning,” doctoral students should at all times be able to summarize their significant original contribution in two sentences. From an examiner’s perspective, it is critical to include this in the dissertation itself – nailing it in the second sentence of the abstract allows the examiner to focus on the justification and verification of this statement. Having a well-bounded and clear idea of one’s contribution contextualizes the work and can protect the student from undue criticism.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual candidates to justify their significant original contribution. Being aware of the indistinctness of these criteria, they must make a concentrated effort to keep track of this contribution, be able to defend it and keep it at the forefront of their minds when their confidence begins to flag. This is always an iterative process, starting with a literature review and later comparing results against the significance of other works.

To protect themselves against overconfidence and insularity, students must look beyond their supervisor and department throughout their PhD program by trying to publish, presenting papers at conferences and discussing the work in as many spheres as possible to get feedback. These activities will not only serve to bolster the inward and outward argument for the research but will also help manage the risk of receiving a nasty surprise when it comes time to defend.

Making a small, significant contribution to knowledge remains the standard against which a PhD dissertation is measured; for their own sake and the sake of their research, students must learn to embrace it.

Heather Cray is a doctoral student in the department of environment and resource studies at the University of Waterloo.

Other stories that might be of interest:

• The PhD is in need of revision
• Margin Notes | PhD completion rates and times to completion in Canada

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Thanks for this issue raised here. it has been a problem eating me up. I am just finalising a doctoral in Mathematics, but the contribution to knowledge is not too clear to me. reading through this piece however kindled something in me. How I wish some specific s were given in the sciences, it could help further. thanks anyway.

Hi, thank you for this great article. I have read it a couple times and have saved it for future reference to help other colleagues.

Could you please clarify one thing? Thank you.

Are you saying that filling a gap is what will become the contribution to knowledge. I.e let’s say I notice that there is a limited exploration of x so the purpose of this study is to a b c. Is ABC my contribution to knowledge? Thank you in advance.

Very interesting article! At what point and to what extent would the “contribution to knowledge” be simply that? While I appreciate the relevance of your article, I agree with the above comment about vagueness. How DOES one relay the “knowledge” to research and make it applicable?

Oh, great! Thank you for this concise discourse. It demystifies the misunderstanding around Contribution to Knowledge. Very helpful.

I am a student in a professional doctorate program in the UK. I am having a great difficulty with my advisor on exactly this issue. What is the original contribution to knowledge of my project. I chose a Health Policy research project that will showcase the state of a certain health system with regards to oncology care and it will evaluate the quality of clinical care based on the current standard of care. This a study that hasn’t been done before and I feel that this is my original contribution to knowledge. My advisor insists that this is a needs assessment and that there is no original contribution to knowledge. This issue has been bringing me down for about 2 years now. I don’t know what to do. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Original contribution doesn’t have to be about inventing the wheel. It boils down to you looking at the gap in literature, theory and praxis which your work is filling. Look at what you have brought newly which previous studies have not considered. You perspective to the issue is the original knowledge you are bringing to the table.

How to write a PhD thesis: a step-by-step guide

A draft isn’t a perfect, finished product; it is your opportunity to start getting words down on paper, writes Kelly Louise Preece

Kelly Louise Preece

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Congratulations; you’ve finished your research! Time to write your PhD thesis. This resource will take you through an eight-step plan for drafting your chapters and your thesis as a whole. 

Organise your material

Before you start, it’s important to get organised. Take a step back and look at the data you have, then reorganise your research. Which parts of it are central to your thesis and which bits need putting to one side? Label and organise everything using logical folders – make it easy for yourself! Academic and blogger Pat Thomson calls this  “Clean up to get clearer” . Thomson suggests these questions to ask yourself before you start writing:

• What data do you have? You might find it useful to write out a list of types of data (your supervisor will find this list useful too.) This list is also an audit document that can go in your thesis. Do you have any for the “cutting room floor”? Take a deep breath and put it in a separate non-thesis file. You can easily retrieve it if it turns out you need it.
• What do you have already written? What chunks of material have you written so far that could form the basis of pieces of the thesis text? They will most likely need to be revised but they are useful starting points. Do you have any holding text? That is material you already know has to be rewritten but contains information that will be the basis of a new piece of text.
• What have you read and what do you still need to read? Are there new texts that you need to consult now after your analysis? What readings can you now put to one side, knowing that they aren’t useful for this thesis – although they might be useful at another time?
• What goes with what? Can you create chunks or themes of materials that are going to form the basis of some chunks of your text, perhaps even chapters?

Once you have assessed and sorted what you have collected and generated you will be in much better shape to approach the big task of composing the dissertation. 

Decide on a key message

A key message is a summary of new information communicated in your thesis. You should have started to map this out already in the section on argument and contribution – an overarching argument with building blocks that you will flesh out in individual chapters.

You have already mapped your argument visually, now you need to begin writing it in prose. Following another of Pat Thomson’s exercises, write a “tiny text” thesis abstract. This doesn’t have to be elegant, or indeed the finished product, but it will help you articulate the argument you want your thesis to make. You create a tiny text using a five-paragraph structure:

• The first sentence addresses the broad context. This locates the study in a policy, practice or research field.
• The second sentence establishes a problem related to the broad context you have set out. It often starts with “But”, “Yet” or “However”.
• The third sentence says what specific research has been done. This often starts with “This research” or “I report…”
• The fourth sentence reports the results. Don’t try to be too tricky here, just start with something like: “This study shows,” or “Analysis of the data suggests that…”
• The fifth and final sentence addresses the “So What?” question and makes clear the claim to contribution.

Here’s an example that Thomson provides:

Secondary school arts are in trouble, as the fall in enrolments in arts subjects dramatically attests. However, there is patchy evidence about the benefits of studying arts subjects at school and this makes it hard to argue why the drop in arts enrolments matters. This thesis reports on research which attempts to provide some answers to this problem – a longitudinal study which followed two groups of senior secondary students, one group enrolled in arts subjects and the other not, for three years. The results of the study demonstrate the benefits of young people’s engagement in arts activities, both in and out of school, as well as the connections between the two. The study not only adds to what is known about the benefits of both formal and informal arts education but also provides robust evidence for policymakers and practitioners arguing for the benefits of the arts. You can  find out more about tiny texts and thesis abstracts on Thomson’s blog.

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Write a plan

You might not be a planner when it comes to writing. You might prefer to sit, type and think through ideas as you go. That’s OK. Everybody works differently. But one of the benefits of planning your writing is that your plan can help you when you get stuck. It can help with writer’s block (more on this shortly!) but also maintain clarity of intention and purpose in your writing.

You can do this by creating a  thesis skeleton or storyboard , planning the order of your chapters, thinking of potential titles (which may change at a later stage), noting down what each chapter/section will cover and considering how many words you will dedicate to each chapter (make sure the total doesn’t exceed the maximum word limit allowed).

Use your plan to help prompt your writing when you get stuck and to develop clarity in your writing.

Some starting points include:

• This chapter will argue that…
• This section illustrates that…
• This paragraph provides evidence that…

Of course, we wish it werethat easy. But you need to approach your first draft as exactly that: a draft. It isn’t a perfect, finished product; it is your opportunity to start getting words down on paper. Start with whichever chapter you feel you want to write first; you don’t necessarily have to write the introduction first. Depending on your research, you may find it easier to begin with your empirical/data chapters.

Vitae advocates for the “three draft approach” to help with this and to stop you from focusing on finding exactly the right word or transition as part of your first draft.

This resource originally appeared on Researcher Development .

Kelly Louse Preece is head of educator development at the University of Exeter.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter .

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How To Write a Significance Statement for Your Research

A significance statement is an essential part of a research paper. It explains the importance and relevance of the study to the academic community and the world at large. To write a compelling significance statement, identify the research problem, explain why it is significant, provide evidence of its importance, and highlight its potential impact on future research, policy, or practice. A well-crafted significance statement should effectively communicate the value of the research to readers and help them understand why it matters.

Updated on May 4, 2023

A significance statement is a clearly stated, non-technical paragraph that explains why your research matters. It’s central in making the public aware of and gaining support for your research.

Write it in jargon-free language that a reader from any field can understand. Well-crafted, easily readable significance statements can improve your chances for citation and impact and make it easier for readers outside your field to find and understand your work.

Read on for more details on what a significance statement is, how it can enhance the impact of your research, and, of course, how to write one.

What is a significance statement in research?

A significance statement answers the question: How will your research advance scientific knowledge and impact society at large (as well as specific populations)? 

You might also see it called a “Significance of the study” statement. Some professional organizations in the STEM sciences and social sciences now recommended that journals in their disciplines make such statements a standard feature of each published article. Funding agencies also consider “significance” a key criterion for their awards.

Read some examples of significance statements from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) here .

Depending upon the specific journal or funding agency’s requirements, your statement may be around 100 words and answer these questions:

1. What’s the purpose of this research?

2. What are its key findings?

3. Why do they matter?

4. Who benefits from the research results?

Readers will want to know: “What is interesting or important about this research?” Keep asking yourself that question.

Where to place the significance statement in your manuscript

Most journals ask you to place the significance statement before or after the abstract, so check with each journal’s guide. 

This article is focused on the formal significance statement, even though you’ll naturally highlight your project’s significance elsewhere in your manuscript. (In the introduction, you’ll set out your research aims, and in the conclusion, you’ll explain the potential applications of your research and recommend areas for future research. You’re building an overall case for the value of your work.)

Developing the significance statement

The main steps in planning and developing your statement are to assess the gaps to which your study contributes, and then define your work’s implications and impact.

Identify what gaps your study fills and what it contributes

Your literature review was a big part of how you planned your study. To develop your research aims and objectives, you identified gaps or unanswered questions in the preceding research and designed your study to address them.

Go back to that lit review and look at those gaps again. Review your research proposal to refresh your memory. Ask:

• How have my research findings advanced knowledge or provided notable new insights?
• How has my research helped to prove (or disprove) a hypothesis or answer a research question?
• Why are those results important?

Consider your study’s potential impact at two levels: 

• What contribution does my research make to my field?
• How does it specifically contribute to knowledge; that is, who will benefit the most from it?

Define the implications and potential impact

As you make notes, keep the reasons in mind for why you are writing this statement. Whom will it impact, and why?

The first audience for your significance statement will be journal reviewers when you submit your article for publishing. Many journals require one for manuscript submissions. Study the author’s guide of your desired journal to see its criteria ( here’s an example ). Peer reviewers who can clearly understand the value of your research will be more likely to recommend publication. 

Second, when you apply for funding, your significance statement will help justify why your research deserves a grant from a funding agency . The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, wants to see that a project will “exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved.” Clear, simple language is always valuable because not all reviewers will be specialists in your field.

Third, this concise statement about your study’s importance can affect how potential readers engage with your work. Science journalists and interested readers can promote and spread your work, enhancing your reputation and influence. Help them understand your work.

You’re now ready to express the importance of your research clearly and concisely. Time to start writing.

How to write a significance statement: Key elements 

When drafting your statement, focus on both the content and writing style.

• In terms of content, emphasize the importance, timeliness, and relevance of your research results. 
• Write the statement in plain, clear language rather than scientific or technical jargon. Your audience will include not just your fellow scientists but also non-specialists like journalists, funding reviewers, and members of the public. 

Follow the process we outline below to build a solid, well-crafted, and informative statement. 

Get started

Some suggested opening lines to help you get started might be:

• The implications of this study are… 
• Building upon previous contributions, our study moves the field forward because…
• Our study furthers previous understanding about…

Alternatively, you may start with a statement about the phenomenon you’re studying, leading to the problem statement.

Include these components

Next, draft some sentences that include the following elements. A good example, which we’ll use here, is a significance statement by Rogers et al. (2022) published in the Journal of Climate .

1. Briefly situate your research study in its larger context . Start by introducing the topic, leading to a problem statement. Here’s an example:

‘Heatwaves pose a major threat to human health, ecosystems, and human systems.”

2. State the research problem.

“Simultaneous heatwaves affecting multiple regions can exacerbate such threats. For example, multiple food-producing regions simultaneously undergoing heat-related crop damage could drive global food shortages.”

3. Tell what your study does to address it.

“We assess recent changes in the occurrence of simultaneous large heatwaves.”

4. Provide brief but powerful evidence to support the claims your statement is making , Use quantifiable terms rather than vague ones (e.g., instead of “This phenomenon is happening now more than ever,” see below how Rogers et al. (2022) explained it). This evidence intensifies and illustrates the problem more vividly:

“Such simultaneous heatwaves are 7 times more likely now than 40 years ago. They are also hotter and affect a larger area. Their increasing occurrence is mainly driven by warming baseline temperatures due to global heating, but changes in weather patterns contribute to disproportionate increases over parts of Europe, the eastern United States, and Asia.

5. Relate your study’s impact to the broader context , starting with its general significance to society—then, when possible, move to the particular as you name specific applications of your research findings. (Our example lacks this second level of application.) 

“Better understanding the drivers of weather pattern changes is therefore important for understanding future concurrent heatwave characteristics and their impacts.”

Refine your English

Don’t understate or overstate your findings – just make clear what your study contributes. When you have all the elements in place, review your draft to simplify and polish your language. Even better, get an expert AJE edit . Be sure to use “plain” language rather than academic jargon.

• Avoid acronyms, scientific jargon, and technical terms 
• Use active verbs in your sentence structure rather than passive voice (e.g., instead of “It was found that...”, use “We found...”)
• Make sentence structures short, easy to understand – readable
• Try to address only one idea in each sentence and keep sentences within 25 words (15 words is even better)
• Eliminate nonessential words and phrases (“fluff” and wordiness)

Enhance your significance statement’s impact

Always take time to review your draft multiple times. Make sure that you:

• Keep your language focused
• Provide evidence to support your claims
• Relate the significance to the broader research context in your field

After revising your significance statement, request feedback from a reading mentor about how to make it even clearer. If you’re not a native English speaker, seek help from a native-English-speaking colleague or use an editing service like AJE to make sure your work is at a native level.

Understanding the significance of your study

Your readers may have much less interest than you do in the specific details of your research methods and measures. Many readers will scan your article to learn how your findings might apply to them and their own research. 

Different types of significance

Your findings may have different types of significance, relevant to different populations or fields of study for different reasons. You can emphasize your work’s statistical, clinical, or practical significance. Editors or reviewers in the social sciences might also evaluate your work’s social or political significance.

Statistical significance means that the results are unlikely to have occurred randomly. Instead, it implies a true cause-and-effect relationship.

Clinical significance means that your findings are applicable for treating patients and improving quality of life.

Practical significance is when your research outcomes are meaningful to society at large, in the “real world.” Practical significance is usually measured by the study’s  effect size . Similarly, evaluators may attribute social or political significance to research that addresses “real and immediate” social problems.

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How to write a PhD in a hundred steps (or more)

A workingmumscholar's journey through her phd and beyond, contributions to knowledge and the ‘knowledge gap’.

If you have spent any time reading advice or ‘how to’ books on writing a thesis at any level, you will almost certainly have come across some version of this concept: the ‘knowledge gap’. And you will likely have been told that you have to create a research project or study that will find knowledge to fill a gap in your specific field or discipline’s knowledge base . This idea of filling a gap or hole in what your field knows or does freaks out many students, at all levels. The idea that you have to say something new when you are still learning your field and what it knows and does can be overwhelming.

But, after a conversation with colleagues who work with researcher development starting from senior undergraduate level all the way through Masters to PhD level, I have begun to wonder whether this concept of a knowledge ‘gap’ is actually not all that accurate or helpful as a starter about the purpose or goal of postgraduate research and knowledge creation, even at doctoral level. Maybe, we need to actively reframe the conversations we have with students doing research about how we can and do make different kinds of contributions to knowledge that grow and challenge knowledge in our fields.

The most common starting point for students beginning a research process is in the field itself, reading other studies, papers, research findings and so on. This enables them to see what research is being done, what the current trends are around theory and methodology, substantive findings that support or challenge their own research problem and so on. The literature review is almost always the first thing we ask students to focus on when they are developing a research proposal, especially at doctoral level where there is a firm requirement of a ‘novel’ contribution to knowledge. So, you kind of are looking for a gap, of sorts. But you’re not looking for it in terms of a total silence on your own research problem.

The first problem with the notion of a ‘gap’ or hole in the field that your study can fill, conceptually or empirically or methodologically, is that many students seeing this as meaning exactly that: silence, as in no one has ever done this research before. They feel they must claim that there are no existing studies like theirs for their study to be ‘novel’ and to fill the identified knowledge gap legitimately . In most fields, it is almost never the case that no one has ever done your kind of study before, or asked a similar kind of research question. And you really don’t want that either, because what you are really trying to do with your research is join a field that exists, and push it a tiny bit further; you’re not trying to strike out on your own.

This leads me to the second problem with talking about knowledge gaps and the need to fill them with original or novel claims to knowledge: in essence this can prevent many students from really seeing that they are writing about their research in relation to the field, to join an ongoing conversation , rather than writing about their research as an extended proof of claims that are completely new. We need to reframe teaching about the aim of research as being focused on joining an existing conversation as a new voice that has something of value to add to the field, rather than needing to say something radically new that has not yet ever been said. I think this may help student researchers in two main ways.

The first is with the way they read . Rather than reading every paper looking for a hole or a gap or silence and zeroing in on this, they may begin to read with a greater consciousness of how the field has already addressed similar questions, but perhaps from different angles, or with different theory, or with different methodology. They can then consider how this helps them to build and substantiate a space in which to position their own emerging claims to knowledge . Keeping a reading journal to keep track of these arguments, how they are made, and how they speak to one another or challenge one another (this bit is crucial) may then help students to begin to see the conversation emerging, and where they might be able to join in . Who is saying what, how, and why? Who is critiquing the dominant positions and why? How? Where does my work fit into all of this? What is this ongoing conversation all about?

Thinking and reading like this may then feed into a different, less defensive form of writing . Rather than trying to address every paper or article included in the literature review by showing what it doesn’t say to shore up a claim to the originality of their own research, student research writers may begin rather to craft literature reviews, and perhaps also theoretical and methodological frameworks in their thesis writing, from a different position: as one who is joining an existing field and conversation, unthreatened by all the work that is currently being or has been done. Rather, these sections will be written with the understanding that all the existing work is a resource for substantiating our own claims to knowledge, so that we can show how what we have to add builds on, e xtends, and may perhaps critique the current arguments dominating the conversation in the field.

Reframing the ‘knowledge gap’ as joining a conversation with a new voice and a small contribution to the field may also help researchers at other, lower, levels of study, such as Masters, Honours and senior undergraduate levels , where the knowledge gap can be particularly alarming. This is perhaps mainly because these students typically do less reading, and are not required to make a novel contribution to knowledge to attain their degree. Obviously, the more you read the field, the deeper and more nuanced your sense of the conversations in your field will be, as well as how they connect to and challenge one another. But students can join a conversation even at the lower levels, in a more modest form, if they are enabled to see this as what they are doing, rather than using their study to fill a gap that their reading load will not show them adequately.

Making a contribution to knowledge and filling knowledge gaps is spoken about a great deal in postgraduate and researcher education, but I wonder how often we stop and think about how students hear this, and what impact this has on their reading and writing behaviours and choices. I hope this post will help that process along, and help us find different ways to talk to students we work with about their own research purposes and goals.

Share this:

This is a fantastic article and it’s helped alleviate a lot of the anxieties I had about approaching a PhD. Thank you so much for your insight!

Thank you for this feedback, Victoria! All the best for the PhD 🙂

Quite insightful a post. Many thanks.

This is motivating indeed.It answers all questions I had about registering for a PhD.Thanks a lot.

A fantastic stuff. It sheds a lot of light in one of the most intimidating aspects pursuing PhD studies.

Your post is enlightening, thanks.

very informative

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

Establishing Your Contribution

• First Online: 01 January 2014

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• David Evans† 4 ,
• Paul Gruba 5 &
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Think back to when you began your research project. In all likelihood, you wanted to do research because you were intrigued by or eager about something. Perhaps your ideas were vague or ill-formed, and even possibly you were happy to join any existing project in a broad area. But soon you developed a definite problem that you were working on, with the intention of making a contribution to your field.

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Research Going Forward?

This is a good place to remind you that my descriptions of research are to some extent fictionalized. That is, except where a citation is given, I have used real students and research questions, but have altered the research descriptions in ways that I feel preserves their ‘feel’ while making them both anonymous and more accessible to a general reader.

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Evans†, D., Gruba, P., Zobel, J. (2014). Establishing Your Contribution. In: How to Write a Better Thesis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2_7

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Guidance for Statement of Contribution

As stated in the College’s MPhil/PhD regulations , the thesis must consist of the candidate’s own account of his/her investigations, the greater proportion of which must have been undertaken during the period of registration under supervision for the degree. The part played by the candidate in any work done jointly with the supervisor(s) and/or fellow research workers must be clearly stated by the candidate and certified by the candidate and supervisor.

The Statement of Contribution is the mechanism by which the work done jointly with the supervisor(s) and/or fellow research workers can be articulated and certified by the candidate and supervisor.

General purpose

To outline any work done jointly to contribute to the thesis and to fairly represent the contribution from all parties. This statement therefore demonstrates the candidates understanding of the importance of research integrity and supports the examiners to determine the extent of the original contribution to knowledge from the candidate. Detailed statements of contributions should be considered for any group/joint research projects (or aspects of projects such as analysis) where candidates have worked jointly with other parties for all or some parts of the research presented in the thesis.

If the candidate is not certain if a statement of contribution is required they can seek advice from their supervisor or the Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS) , and in some instances the examiners may suggest that such a statement is appropriate following the discussion in the viva or a second review of the corrected thesis.

This detailed statement of contribution is required in addition to the short formal acknowledgement which may include thanks for personal support networks, for minor contributions, e.g. where a publisher has made available a measure free of charge, and often includes a thanks to supervisors (who are expected to regularly review candidates’ work as a matter of course). It is not unusual for the people who are listed in the statement of contribution to also be included in the personal acknowledgement statement.

It is recognised that joint working is a valid part of a PhD programme and there is no inherent detriment to a PhD thesis from the inclusion of a statement of contribution. Indeed, clearly articulating the contribution of others demonstrates a good understanding of the importance of research integrity; conversely, deliberately misrepresenting the work of others constitutes research misconduct.

Guiding principles

a) Outline chapter by chapter if the chapter was the candidate’s own contribution, or, where there is joint working, clearly state the respective contribution of all parties.

b) Acknowledge any direct contributors (and the level of their contribution) clearly.

c) Give a clear explanation of the level of any contributions at all stages of the research process as necessary:

I.     Formulation of ideas/hypotheses

II.    Provision of material/stimuli

III.   Generation of data

IV.   Analysis of data

V.    Anything other aspect which merit a clear statement.

d) To state the level of contribution, clearly explain e.g. which part of any data collection or analysis was undertaken by the candidate, which part by a collaborator, which part was genuine joint working where it is impossible to separate out individual contributions. If you are not clear how to present this information your supervisor or examiner should be able to advise or suggest someone who can help.

e) It is expected that any statement of contribution is submitted to all examiners, may be questioned during any viva examination, and is published as part of the thesis.

f) A typical statement of contribution is around one page in length, but there is no space restriction and if more space is required this should be taken. The statement should be signed by both the student and the supervisor.

Version: 20 March 2018

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How to Write a Good Conclusion (With Examples) 

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Published: May 31, 2024

Students often spend a great deal of time crafting essay introductions while leaving the conclusion as an afterthought. While the introduction is one of the most vital aspects of an essay, a good conclusion can have just as much of an impact on its effectiveness. Knowing how to write a good conclusion is crucial, as it encapsulates your main points and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

A well-crafted conclusion should serve as the final pitch for your arguments. Your reader should walk away with a clear understanding of what they just read and how it applies to the core of your thesis. With the right approach, your conclusion can transform a good essay into a great one, making it both memorable and impactful.

This article will guide you through four simple steps of writing compelling conclusions. Each step is designed to help you reinforce your thesis and articulate your final thoughts in a way that will resonate with your teacher or professor. With a bit of practice, you can learn how to stick the landing and give every essay the finale it deserves.

What Is the Purpose of the Conclusion Paragraph?

Understanding the purpose of the conclusion paragraph is essential for effective essay writing. The conclusion paragraph should be more than just a summary of your essay. It should consolidate all your arguments and tie them back to your thesis.

Remember, all good writing inspires emotion. Whether to inspire, provoke, or engage is up to you, but the conclusion should always leave a lasting impression.

If in doubt, Smodin’s AI Chat tool can be handy for gauging the emotional impact of your conclusion.

By mastering the art of writing a powerful conclusion, you equip yourself with the tools to ensure your essays stand out. Whether it’s the first or last essay you’re writing for the class, it’s your chance to leave a definitive mark on your reader.

How to Write a Good Conclusion

This approach ensures your conclusion adds value and reinforces your arguments’ coherence. Here are three simple and effective practices to help you craft a solid conclusion.

Restating Your Thesis

Restating your thesis in the conclusion is a common practice in essay writing, and for good reason. It helps underscore how your understanding has deepened or shifted based on the evidence you provided.

Just understand that a restatement of your original thesis doesn’t mean a complete word-for-word repeat. You should rephrase your original thesis so that it elucidates the insights you touched on throughout the essay. Smodin’s AI Rewriter can help refine your restatement to ensure it is fresh and impactful.

Here are a few tips to effectively restate your thesis

• Show Complexity : If your essay added layers or nuances to the original statement, be sure to articulate that clearly.
• Integrate Key Findings : Incorporate the main findings of your essay to reinforce how they supported or refined your thesis.
• Keep It Fresh : Again, you want to avoid repeating the same things twice. Use different wording that reflects a nuanced perspective.

Finally, always ensure that the restated thesis connects seamlessly with the rest of your essay. Always try to showcase the coherence of your writing to provide the reader with a strong sense of closure.

Using AI tools like Smodin’s Outliner and Essay Writer can ensure your writing flows smoothly and is easy to follow.

Providing an Effective Synthesis

Providing an effective synthesis should enhance your original thesis. All good arguments should evolve and shift throughout the essay. Rather than simply summarizing these findings, you should integrate critical insights and evidence to demonstrate a deeper or more nuanced understanding.

Draw connections between the main points discussed and show how they collectively support your thesis. Also, reflect on the implications of these insights for the broader context of your subject. And once again, always use fresh and engaging language to maintain the reader’s interest.

The last thing you want is for your reader to view your essay as a collection of individual points. A good essay should read as a unified whole, with all the pieces tying together naturally. You affirm your argument’s significance when you tie all the pieces together in your conclusion.

Providing New Insights

Also, think of this step as your opportunity to propose future research directions based on your findings. What could a student or researcher study next? What unanswered questions remain? If you’re having trouble answering these questions, consider using Smodin’s research tools to expand your knowledge of the topic.

That isn’t to say you can leave open-ended or unanswered questions about your own thesis. On the contrary, your conclusion should firmly establish the validity of your argument. That said, any deep and insightful analysis naturally leads to further exploration. Draw attention to these potential areas of inquiry.

(Optional) Form a Personal Connection With the Reader

Forming a connection with the reader in the conclusion can personalize and strengthen the impact of your essay. This technique can be powerful if implemented correctly, making your writing more relatable, human, and memorable.

That said, slime academics discourage using “I” in formal essays. It’s always best to clarify your teacher’s or professor’s stance before submitting your final draft.

If it is allowed, consider sharing a brief personal reflection or anecdote that ties back to the main themes of your essay. A personal touch can go a long way toward humanizing your arguments and creating a connection with the reader.

Whatever you choose, remember that your conclusion should always complement the analytical findings of your essay. Never say anything that detracts from your thesis or the findings you presented.

Examples of Good Conclusions

Let’s explore some examples to illustrate what a well-crafted conclusion looks and sounds like. The following are two hypothetical thesis essays from the fields of science and literature.

• Thesis Topic: The Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reefs
• Introduction: “Coral reefs act as the guardians of the ocean’s biodiversity. These underwater ecosystems are among the most vibrant and essential on the entire planet. However, the escalating impact of climate change poses a severe threat to their health and survival. This essay aims to dissect specific environmental changes contributing to coral degradation while proposing measures for mitigation.”
• Conclusion: “This investigation into the impact of climate change on coral reefs has revealed a disturbing acceleration of coral bleaching events and a significant decline of reef biodiversity. The findings presented in this study establish a clear link between increased sea temperatures and coral reef mortality. Future research should focus on the resilience mechanisms of coral species that could influence conservation strategies. The fate of the coral reefs depends on humanity’s immediate and concentrated action to curb global emissions and preserve these vital ecosystems for future generations.”

Notice how the conclusion doesn’t simply restate the thesis. Instead, it highlights the definitive connection between climate change and coral health. It also reiterates the issue’s urgency and extends a call of action for ongoing intervention. The last sentence is direct, to the point, and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

If you’re struggling with your closing sentence (or any sentence, for that matter), Smodin’s Rewriter can create hundreds of different sentences in seconds. Then, choose the sentences and phrases that resonate the most and use them to craft a compelling conclusion.

• Thesis Topic: The Evolution of the American Dream in 20th-Century American Literature
• Introduction: “The American Dream was once defined by prosperity and success. However, throughout the 20th century, the representation of the American Dream in popular literature has undergone significant changes. Are these representations indicative of a far-reaching sentiment that lay dormant among the American public? Or were these works simply the result of disillusioned writers responding to the evolving challenges of the times?”
• Conclusion: “Works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison illustrate the American Dream’s evolution from unbridled optimism to a more critical examination of the American ethos. Throughout modernist and post-modernist literature, the American Dream is often at odds with core American values. These novels reflect broader societal shifts that continue to shape the national consciousness. Further research into contemporary literature could provide greater insight into the complexities of this concept.”

You will know exactly what this essay covers by reading the introduction and conclusion alone. It summarizes the evolution of the American Dream by examining the works of three unique authors. It then analyzes these works to demonstrate how they reflect broader societal shifts. The conclusion works as both a capstone and a bridge to set the stage for future inquiries.

Write Better Conclusions With Smodin

Always remember the human element behind the grading process when crafting your essay. Your teachers or professors are human and have likely spent countless hours reviewing essays on similar topics. The grading process can be long and exhaustive. Your conclusion should aim to make their task easier, not harder.

A well-crafted conclusion serves as the final piece to your argument. It should recap the critical insights discussed above while shedding new light on the topic. By including innovative elements and insightful observations, your conclusion will help your essay stand out from the crowd.

Make sure your essay ends on a high note to maximize your chances of getting a better grade now and in the future. Smodin’s comprehensive suite of AI tools can help you enhance every aspect of your essay writing. From initial research to structuring, these tools can streamline the process and improve the quality of your essays.

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Augmenting Group Contributions Online: How do Visual Chart Structures Applied to Social Data Affect Group Perceptions and Contributions

Humans are social beings and throughout our evolution we have survived and thrived thanks to our ability to cooperate [7]. Overcoming our current societal challenges from sustainability and energy conservation [8] to democracy, public health, and community building [9] will all require our continued cooperation. Yet, many of these present us with a dilemma where our short-term personal goals are at odds with the collective long-term benefits. For example, many of us listen NPR radio but never make a donation to help cover its operational costs. The success of cooperation during such dilemmatic situations often depends on communication, reward and punishment structures, social norms and cues [10], [11], [12], [13]. But how to encourage cooperation online where social cues are not readily available?

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of digital technologies, cooperation among individuals increasingly happens online where data-based feedback supports our decisions. Problematically, people online are often not only remote and asynchronous, but often also anonymous, which has resulted in de-individuation and antinormative behavior [14]. Social data, information that users share about themselves via digital technologies, may offer opportunities for social feedback design that affords perceptions of social cohesion and may support successful cooperation online.

This dissertation seeks to answer the normative question of how to design for cooperation in social data feedback charts in dilemmatic situations online. I conducted mixed methods design research by combining theory-driven design with a series of controlled experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk to understand the perceptual and behavioral effects of visually unifying social data feedback charts. To achieve this, I mapped the design space for home energy feedback ( Chapter 2 ) to guide my iterative and user-centered theorizing about how visual unity in social feedback charts might prime viewers with unified group perceptions ( Chapter 3 ). I then validated my theorizing with controlled perceptual ( Chapter 4 ) and decision experiments ( Chapter 5 ).

The triangulated results offer evidence for visually unifying cues in feedback charts affecting social data interpretation ( Chapter 4 ) and cooperation online ( Chapter 5 ). Two visual properties: data point proximity and enclosure -, trigger variable levels of perceivable social unity that play a partial role in participants’ decision to cooperate in a non-monetary social dilemma situation online. I discuss the implications for future research and design ( Chapter 6 ).

Several sources have funded the data collection in support of my Ph.D. work: Dr. Victor Yingjie Chen (2019), the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship by the Dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University (2018), the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) grant (#1737591) (2017), The Dean of Purdue Polytechnic’s Research Award of Excellence (2016), and Whirlpool Corporation (2015).

Degree type.

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Computer Graphics Technology

Campus location

• West Lafayette

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Advisor/supervisor/committee co-chair, additional committee member 2, additional committee member 3, additional committee member 4, usage metrics.

• Collaborative and social computing
• Human-computer interaction
• Information visualisation
• Pervasive computing
• Sensory processes, perception and performance
• Social design
• Human information behaviour
• Visual communication design (incl. graphic design)