The Personal versus the Conventional or Public Aspects of Research

Abstract

Planning, drafting and writing a research thesis is an extremely personal endeavor or, from the beginning to the end of the process, the researcher will leave a definite imprint that is undoubtedly his from his finding an original topic to contriving a well backed-up research proposal. In this paper, we are going to describe in detail the extremely personal aspects of writing a thesis or dissertation which are finding a topic, using the library and the internet selectively, turning one’s topic into an argument and the importance of the outline, contriving a well-backed-up research proposal. Opposed to the personal aspects of the research is the conventional: the student will have to conform to the regulations governing the format and presentation of the Master dissertation of his institution. Special forms are required for the style of the references, layout of the bibliography which the student has to follow very closely. These conventional rules make uniform not only theses but also the numerous articles written worldwide by millions of scholars. These conventions, in fact, help the personal aspects of the thesis acquire a public dimension. Keywords: original topic- Library and Internet search- topic into argument- a well-backed-up research proposal- mold of a conventional format.