GENERAL TOPICS

How to Write a Seminar Paper, a Research

Proposal and a Thesis
Contents
1. Your Seminar Paper
2. Your Research Proposal
3. Your Thesis
4. Good Writing Style

Your Seminar Paper

A seminar is a small group of students and teachers. A seminar paper is a record of what you say to
the group about a topic you have studied.

Preparing a seminar paper gives you practice in technical writing which will help you when you write
your thesis. For information on format see the instructions at the end of each issue of the Asian
Journal of Energy & Environment, or any other international journal.

Title
The title of your seminar paper should state your topic exactly in the smallest possible number of
words.

Author's Name
Put your name, your ID number, the name of your department, and the name of your university under
the title.

Abstract
The abstract should state the most important facts and ideas in your paper. It should be complete in
itself. The length of the abstract should be about 200 words. The abstract should state clearly:

• the problem studied,

• the method used,
• the main results,
• the main conclusions.

Do not put information in the abstract which is not in the main text of your paper. Do not put
references, figures, or tables in the abstract.
Text

The main text of your paper should be divided into sections, each with a separate heading.

The first section should be an introduction to your topic. This section should review the background
of your topic and give an outline of the contents of your paper.

You should get the information for your paper from various sources, such as books, journals, lecture
notes, etc. You must write the paper yourself using this information. You must not copy text written by
other authors. Instead, select only the information you need and summarize this information in your
own words.

The final section of your paper should summarize your conclusions.

Symbols and Units

Write mathematical equations in the simplest possible way so that they can be typed easily. Every
mathematical symbol you use must be defined in the text. Use S. I. units for physical quantities.

References
You must give references to all the information that you obtain from books, papers in journals, and
other sources. References may be made in the main text using index numbers in brackets.

Put a list of references, numbered as in the main text, at the end of your paper. The information you
give in this list must be enough for readers to find the books and papers in a library or a data base.

For a journal paper give:

1. the names of the authors,

2. the year of publication,
3. the title of the paper,
4. the title of the journal,
5. the volume number of the journal,
6. the first and last page numbers of the paper.

For a book give:

1. the author,
2. the year of publication,
3. the title, and the edition number if there is one,
4. the name of the publisher,
5. the page numbers for your reference.

For an internet reference give:

1. the author of the web page,

2. the date of the web page,
3. the title of the web page,
4. the complete URL.
Every reference in your main text must appear in the list at the end of your paper, and every reference
in the list must be mentioned in your main text.

Tables

Tables must have a number and a caption above the table. The reader should be able to understand the
table by reading the caption without looking at the main text. Every table must be mentioned in the
main text.

Figures

Figures must have a number and a caption below the figure. The reader should be able to understand
the figure by reading the caption without looking at the main text. Every figure must be mentioned in
the main text.

Recommended Procedure for Writing a Paper

1. Write your title first. This will define your topic clearly and focus your mind on exactly what
you want the paper to contain.
2. Search the literature and select the references on which the contents of yor paper will be based.
Write your list of references.
3. Make a list of your section headings and subheadings. This list will define the organization of
the contents of your paper. The sections and subsections will contain not only material collected
from other sources but also accounts of new work you have done:-- your observations, analysis
of data, and conclusions.
4. Write the sections and subsections one by one in a simple clear style. Remember that the reader
does not know in advance any of the details of the work you have done, so your account must
be complete and easy to understand.
5. Write the abstract last by picking out the main points in your paper.

Your Research Proposal

The purpose of the research proposal is to show your examiners that you can do good research for
your thesis. The proposal must be a well written document (like an extended paper or a thesis)
containing a thorough study of your research topic.

Guidelines for Writing a Proposal

• Give a survey of the basic facts and theories in your field of research.
• Give an account of the recent work done by other researchers, and what important questions
still remain unanswered.
• Show what ideas you have for new research to find the answers to some of these questions.
• Give details of
◦ the new information you will seek,
◦ the materials to be used,
◦ the equipment needed,
◦ the observations and measurements to be made,
 ◦ how the data will be analysed.
• Give a plan for the papers to be published during the course of your work.
• Make a budget with estimates of all the expenditure needed. It is better to overestimate costs
than to underestimate them in order to avoid a shortage of funds before the work is finished.
• Make a month-by-month schedule of the work to be done during the whole project.

Your Thesis
A thesis is a complete record of the research you have done for a postgraduate degree. It should
contain

• Title page,
• Abstract,
• Acknowledgements,
• Contents (a list of chapters and sections),
• List of Tables,
• List of Figures,
• List of Symbols and Abbreviations,
• Chapters divided into sections all with separate headings,
• References,
• Appendix (if needed).

The chapters of your thesis should be numbered 1, 2, 3, ... ; the sections in the chapters should be
numbered 1.1, 1.2, ... ; 2.1, 2.2, ... ; 3.1, 3.2, ... ; etc.).

References must be made in the main text of your thesis wherever you refer to the work of other
researchers, or use information from other sources. These references are usually required in every
chapter of the thesis. The references are made by giving the names of the authors and the years of
publication in the main text. In a thesis with a large number of references this method is easier to
manage than the method using index numbers. The full references are listed at the end of the thesis in
alphabetical order of the authors' names.

The First Chapter should give:

• the general background of your work,

• a review of the work done by other people,
• the objective of your own work,
• the reasons why your work is interesting and useful.

The Middle Chapters should give detailed information about your work so that other people could
repeat what you have done, or could do further work starting where your work finished. In these
chapters you should

• explain the theory,

• describe exactly how you did the work,
• give the results you obtained.

The Last Chapter should:

 • state the conclusions you have drawn from your work,
• compare your conclusions with the opinions of other people (Are your conclusions the same or
different?),
• suggest what new work should be done to answer questions raised by your work and extend our
knowledge further.

Good Writing Style

Short scientific articles, such as the sections in a paper or in the chapters in a thesis, have a title and a
number of paragraphs. The title indicates the main topic in the article. The first sentence in each
paragraph indicates what the paragraph is about. The other sentences give facts and reasoning about
the topic of the paragraph.

EXAMPLE

The Growing Hole in the Ozone Layer

Scientists at NASA have recently detected the largest-ever hole in the
ozone layer over Antarctica. The ozone protects us from harmful
ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The hole in this protective layer is
blamed on human-made chlorine compounds such as refrigerants and aerosol
sprays.

Chlorine is present in the ozone layer in forms that do not affect

ozone. But in early winter, when it is very cold, clouds form in the
stratosphere. The chlorine gases collect on cloud particles; there they
are converted into forms that are extremely destructive to ozone.
Sunlight over Antarctica then triggers the reactions that destroy the
ozone.

The size of the hole in the ozone layer used to be about 12 million
square kilometers covering only Antarctica (1985). Now (2000) the size
of the hole is 28 million square kilometers. The growing hole has
reached the tip of South America and is approaching New Zealand.

[This example is based on an article in the Bangkok Post, 2001.]

Analysis of this Example

The title indicates (1) that the article is about the hole in the ozone layer and (2) that the hole is
growing.

The first sentence in the first paragraph indicates that the paragraph is about the detection of the
largest-ever hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. The remaining sentences in the paragraph give
more facts about this topic:

• That the ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

• That the hole in this layer is caused by man-made chlorine compounds.
The first sentence in the second paragraph indicates that the paragraph is about chlorine in the
ozone layer. The remaining sentences explain how chlorine destroys ozone.

In the third paragraph the first few words indicate that the paragraph is about the size of the hole in
the ozone layer. The rest of the paragraph gives data on the size of the hole.

EXERCISE

The following paragraphs are about the formation of fog. The information contained in the two
paragraphs is similar but not exactly the same, and the information is presented in different ways.
Write a paragraph of your own about the formation of fog based on these passages.
"Most fog formation involves the withdrawal of heat from the air, mainly
through cooling of the ground by radiation and movement of the air over
the colder ground. The temperature of the air in contact with the ground
is cooled to the dew point temperature where saturation is reached. In
contrast, we have seen that stratus and cumulus clouds above the ground
form when air is lifted to the condensation level." [Based on: H. Reihl,
Introduction to the Atmosphere, 1978]
"Unlike thick, rain-producing clouds, which are characteristically
formed by the expansion and cooling of rising air, fog is usually caused
by the cooling of humid surface air below its dew point temperature.
This cooling can result from radiational processes, from the mixing of
warm and cool air masses, or from warm moist air moving over a cooler
surface." [Based on: G. T. Trewartha & L. H. Horn, An Introduction to Climate, 1980]

By R. H. B. Exell, 2001. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi.

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