Tips and tricks for writing thesis

In order to write a good thesis, it’s advised to start as early as during the initial phases of development.

Follow these steps in order to have clear and structured ideas which are presented clearly:

  1. Outline content (write down chapters that divide thesis content in a meaningful way, e.g. Introduction, Mathematical model of UAV, Position controller of UAV, Software framework and simulation, Experiments, Conclusion)
  2. Write theoretical background of algorithms used or developed (mathematical models and proofs that are the core of what you do) e.g if you are working on voice recognition, describe the theoretical background of the method used, same is for neural networks, control algorithms, mathematical models of dynamic systems, or anything else). You need to prove to the reader that you’ve explored what was at the core of your thesis
  3. Write about tools that were used, provide a brief background, and core capabilities, and reasons why you’ve used such setup.
    If you’re using ROS, write a page or two about it, familiarize the reader with basic concepts such as (node, topic, subscriber, publisher), provide some real-world examples or analogies for some explanation. The same is for hardware. Provide a brief explanation of a device used, pros, cons, most common applications.
  4. Present practical results in an appealing way, describe some pictures, show some data (measurements), describe challenges and problems.
    Keep it brief and precise, but also bear in mind that you’re presenting your practical work based on theoretical assumptions, and make sure to explain similarities, differences between theoretical and practical. If you have experimented, present them here in the scope of the practical work.
  5. Clearly, make sure to put all of the materials used for writing a thesis in literature/references.
  6. In the end, write Introduction and Conclusion. Bear in mind that you’re not writing a story or a movie scenario, and minimize subjectivity as much as you can.
  7. Double-check everything before submission.

You have to be conscious about the fact that anyone, at any time in your life could dig up your thesis and use it for its own interests. Therefore, everything you write in it and the way you write it, is mostly, correct representation of your capabilities at that moment in your life.

How to write thesis?

In order to write quality thesis, it is advisable to follow some general guidelines and use recommended tools. As thesis themes are mostly related to robotics and/or computer sciences using LaTex which is described as :

LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation.

is more a neccessity than whim.

Very convenient way for using LaTeX is web service Overleaf.

Overleaf provides full framework for writing and hosting your files, which is cool because hypothetically you could use your PC and still be able to reach current status of your work. What is Git for code, Overleaf is for scientific papers and thesis.

How to use Overleaf?

  1. Create Overleaf account by registering on following link

  2. Download available templates from this link

  3. Use some of the available tutorials to get familiar with LaTeX, such as this introduction

  4. Share your work with somebody like this

  5. Learn about bibliography management to correctly cite and quote others

Have fun and create cool stuff :)