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GOALS AND MEANING 

The preparation of the dissertation is an important opportunity through which the student can express his or her independent skills and analytical and critical aptitudes. It also allows them to learn and experiment with methodological skills of a scientific nature in the context of a topic related to their profession. 

THESIS STRUCTURE 

The thesis must be composed of:

1) FRONTSPACE

It is the identifying element of every thesis. It must contain the following elements: the institution in which the candidate graduates, the degree course to which he or she belongs, the title of the thesis, the name of the candidates, the name(s) of the supervisors, the academic year (Annex A: similar fax)

2) INDEX

This section reports the structure of the thesis, also indicating any chapters and subchapters of the Introduction and Materials and Methods.

They can follow particular indices such as the Index of Tables or the Index of Figures.

Symbols, abbreviations and acronyms mentioned in the text must be reported in full after the index.

3) INTRODUCTION

It describes the motivations that led to an interest in the topic, the circumstances from which the work originated.

As part of this chapter, the student will present the state of the art of the topic he will deal with in his research. He must clearly express the knowledge acquired so far on that topic, accompanied by the greatest number of sources consulted. However, the introduction must not be a quick citation of everything relating to the topic discussed, but must contain the background of the study that will be illustrated.

The PURPOSE OF THE STUDY must emerge from the introduction, in which the reason(s) that pushed the research group to deal with the specific topic covered by the proposed thesis must be clearly identified.

The aim of the thesis is to introduce a new topic that must emerge clearly in the introduction (experimental hypothesis), and it is also important to define the expected hypothesis at this point.

4) MATERIALS AND METHODS

This section explains the method followed to study the problem, any reflections, considerations and justifications inherent to the study and which tools were used to do so.

Generally, this section describes in particular the population, how the study sample was chosen, the research design with data collection and the tools used for the research. This section must include those elements that can enable the reader to repeat the study.

5) RESULTS

In this section you will find the answers to the questions posed in the introduction.

The results must be expressed in a comprehensive manner to allow the reader to understand the path taken and to draw their own conclusions independently.

The statistical tests used, the values ​​of the septa and the significance are reported.

Graphs and tables must be clear and explanatory and must not be a graphic repetition of what is stated in the writing.

6) DISCUSSION

In the discussions, the results are interpreted by translating the numerical statistical data into theoretical and practical concepts. The limitations of the study can also be reported at this stage; in this section the implications of the study and the author's suggestions for applying the results in practice can be included. 

7) CONCLUSIONS

They summarize the results and elements of discussion and bring the discussion back to the topic of the experimental hypothesis as it was expressed in the aim of the thesis that they wanted to support.

8) BIBLIOGRAPHY

In the bibliography it is necessary to report only that literature to which in the article there is a clear direct reference or studies considered fundamental, relevant for deepening the topic covered; it is important to cite primary sources rather than secondary sources that cite the original work, do not report articles or documents that have not been examined.

There are three main categories of styles for writing a bibliography:

1) Harvard system

The author and publication date are cited in the body of the text. For example: 

The author has discussed the implications of these proposals on the National Health Service in another paper (Loft, 1991). Other writers have commented on related issues, notably Lane (1992, 1994) and Lewis (1995). 

The title of the journal and other data must be cited in alphabetical order for the first author as follows:

Annas, G.J. (1997) Reefer madness-the federal response to California's medical-marijuana law. N Engl J Med, 337, 435-9. 

Grinspoon, L. and Bakalar, J.B. (1993) Marijuana:the forbidden medicine. New Haven: Yale University Press. 

2) Vancouver system

The Vancouver System differs from the Harvard Style mainly because:

replaces a progressive number with the name of the Author cited in the body of the text;

the bibliographies are listed according to the order in which they are cited.

A text prepared according to Vancouver Style may look like this:

The author has discussed the implications of these proposals on the National Health Service in another paper 1 . Other writers have commented on related issues, notably Pesce 2. 

The bibliographical entries will be cited in this way:

(1) Annas GJ. Reefer madness-the federal response to California's medical-marijuana law. N Engl J Med 1997;337:435-9. 

(2) Pesce A, Tovagliari D, Chezzi D, Schito GC. Low level resistence to fosfomycin trometamol in Italian uropathogens: results of a three year discentric study. 

Presented at the 7th International Congress for Infectious Diseases, Hong Kong, 10-13 June 1996. Abstract 70.008, p.181. 

Vancouver Style includes: 

  • initials of the authors' names without a period,inserted after the last name; 
  • abbreviations of magazine mastheads, when they need to be abbreviated, without a period; 
  • title of the volume or article in the round, never in italics; 
  • capitalized initial only for the first word of the job title; 
  • page numbers without repeating the hundreds or tens if they do not vary (e.g., 312-5 and not 312-315; 645-62 and not 645-662). 
  • the list of bibliographic entries should be presented in the order in which the individual entries are cited in the text, with Arabic numbering, without parentheses. 

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS 

Please remember that the integral use of parts of texts or articles by other authors can give rise to the crime of plagiarism which can be prosecuted criminally and with the academic consequence of cancellation of the work achieved. 

The degree commission may not approve the defense of theses that lack originality.

The thesis abstract must be delivered approximately 21 days before the thesis discussion on the Moodle portal in the specific section. 

The dissertation abstract is a very brief summary of the complete work you have done. 

The abstract should summarize the key stages of the thesis, from the choice of topic, to the methodology identified, to the results obtained. 

Remember that you have faced a similar path in the introduction (in which you justified the choice of the problem to study and the way in which you did it) and in the conclusions (in which you exposed, in a critical key, the main results you reached ). For this you can help yourself by reporting, even verbatim, sentences that you have written in the text.

The important thing you need to consider is that the style you give to the abstract of your thesis will be different from the one you gave to the introduction. Your aim is not to intrigue the reader to continue reading the thesis, but rather to give a clear and honest picture of what he will find himself reading next.

Therefore, be concise and go straight to the essential points and particular characteristics of your work, without dwelling on describing the theoretical context which will be explored in depth later.

The length of the abstract may vary: if it is not specified, consider that the length of a good abstract is around 200-300 words.

How to write an abstract 

A - What is an abstract? 

  • The abstract is the summary of the scientific work and is the most important part because it is often the only one to be read. 
  • The abstract must briefly but faithfully summarize the content of the scientific work. 
  • The number of words an abstract should contain varies from 100 to 300. 　

B - The abstract must: 

  • Get the reader interested in the topic
  • Induce the reader to read the full-text 
  • Give a precise and concise outline of the content of the completed work 
  • Be autonomous and be able to be entered into a database (e.g., Medline) 

C - How do you structure an abstract? 

  • Starting point (Background), including the question/purpose of the work
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusion

D - Organize the content 

  • STARTING POINT: It must answer the question: Why did you undertake the research? What is the question?
  • METHODS: It must answer the question: What did you study? With what methods? 
  • RESULTS: It must answer the question: What results have you achieved? 
  • CONCLUSION: It must answer the question: How did you interpret the results you obtained?