I. Types of Graduation Thesis
Graduation thesis is a form of academic thesis. In order to further explore and master the writing rules and characteristics of graduation thesis, it is necessary to classify graduation thesis. Due to the different content and nature of graduation thesis, different research fields, objects, methods and expressions, graduation thesis has different classification methods.
Graduation thesis can be divided into theoretical thesis, experimental thesis, descriptive thesis and design thesis according to content nature and research methods. The last three kinds of papers are mainly the forms that science and engineering students can choose, so I won't introduce them here. Liberal arts students usually write theoretical papers. There are two kinds of theoretical papers: one is purely abstract theory, the research method is rigorous theoretical deduction and mathematical operation, and some also involve experiments and observations to verify the correctness of the argument. The other is based on the investigation of objective things and phenomena, the observation data obtained in the investigation and related literature. The research method is to analyze, synthesize, summarize and abstract the relevant data, and put forward some new theories and viewpoints through induction, deduction and analogy.
Graduation thesis can be divided into standing thesis and refuting thesis according to the nature of discussion. Argumentative thesis refers to expounding and demonstrating one's own views and opinions from the front. Argumentative papers are argumentative papers. Writing a thesis requires clear arguments, sufficient arguments, rigorous argumentation, convincing people with reason and convincing people with facts. Argumentative thesis refers to establishing one's own arguments and propositions by refuting others' arguments. If the graduation thesis mainly refutes some wrong viewpoints, opinions and theories, it belongs to refuting graduation thesis. In addition to arguments, arguments and arguments, refuting papers also requires tit-for-tat and reasoning.
Graduation thesis can be divided into macro thesis and micro thesis according to the size of the research problem. Any paper that has a national overall situation and universality and has certain guiding significance for local work is called a macro paper. It has a wide range of research and influence. On the contrary, the papers that study locality and specific problems are microscopic papers. It is of guiding significance to specific work and has a narrow influence.
There is also a comprehensive classification, that is, graduation thesis is divided into four categories: thematic, argumentative, comprehensive and comprehensive:
1. monograph. Based on the analysis of previous research results, this paper expresses opinions in the form of direct discussion and puts forward academic problems of a certain subject from the front. For example, Chapter 12 of this book, The Method and Artistic Analysis of Leadership Highlighting Work Focus, discusses the significance, methods and principles of highlighting work focus, which shows the author's affirmation and understanding of highlighting work focus.
2. Argumentative essay. This is a paper aimed at others' views on an academic problem of a certain subject, with sufficient arguments, focusing on exposing its shortcomings or mistakes, and expressing opinions through debate. For example, has the household contract responsibility system changed the nature of rural collective ownership? In view of the viewpoint that the household contract responsibility system has changed the nature of rural collective ownership, this paper makes reasonable refutation and analysis, and expounds the viewpoint that the household contract responsibility system has not changed rural collective ownership in the form of demonstration. In addition, a paper that refutes several different opinions or popular misconceptions in society with positive reasons is also an argumentative paper.
3. Summarize the paper. This is a kind of paper that introduces or comments on an academic problem of a certain subject on the basis of summarizing the research results of predecessors or present people to express their opinions.
4. Comprehensive papers. This is a paper written by organically combining summary and demonstration. For example, the article "On Several Issues in the History of Ethnic Relations in China" not only introduces the present situation of the research on the history of ethnic relations, but also puts forward several problems worth studying. Therefore, it is a comprehensive paper.
Second, the specifications of graduation thesis
The specification of graduation thesis is also the standard of graduation thesis. The specifications or standards of graduation thesis here are mainly in the quality of graduation thesis. As for the number of words required for graduation thesis, different schools have different regulations. Generally speaking, a graduation thesis needs more than 5000 words.
It can only be identified by comparison. In order to better understand the norms of college students' graduation thesis, we compared several papers similar to college students' graduation thesis. College students (mainly undergraduates) usually write two papers during their school days, one is the academic year paper written by the third year of college, and the other is the graduation paper written near graduation. In addition, graduate students who continue to study for a master's degree after graduation from university should write a master's degree thesis, and graduate students who study for a doctorate should write a doctoral degree thesis. Below, we will make some analysis and explanation on the connections and differences between these four papers.
Academic year thesis, graduation thesis, master's degree thesis and doctoral degree thesis are a kind of relationship from shallow to deep, with different academic levels, so there are different specifications or standards.
1. academic paper. It is the ability of college students to analyze and solve an academic problem for the first time after they have finished three years of basic courses in college and have certain basic knowledge. The title of the paper should not be too large, the length should not be too long, the issues involved should not be too wide, and the issues discussed should not be too deep. Novices write papers mainly to accumulate experience in writing papers, master the methods of writing papers, and lay the foundation for writing graduation papers and dissertations in the future. The first two years of college are basically listening to lectures, reading books and accepting previous knowledge; Writing a thesis is not about listening to lectures, reading books, taking notes and summarizing the knowledge of predecessors, but asking yourself to use the knowledge of predecessors to solve some unsolved problems. Writing academic papers is a new job for college students to learn for the first time, so writing academic papers is carried out under the guidance of experienced teachers.
2. Graduation thesis. It is a paper for college students to discuss or solve a problem independently by using the knowledge of basic courses and professional courses they learned last semester. It is written after the initial experience of writing the academic year paper, and the topic is a little bigger and deeper than the academic year paper. Its basic standard should be: through graduation thesis, it can roughly reflect the author's academic level and ability to analyze and solve a basic problem in this discipline by using the basic knowledge learned in three or four years. Of course, its topic should not be too big, its content should not be too complicated, and it needs some originality, so it can better analyze and solve problems that are not too complicated in the subject field. The length of university graduation thesis is generally about 5000 words, and the length of undergraduate graduation thesis is generally more than 6 words. The graduation thesis of college graduates can be used as a bachelor's degree thesis.
3. Master's thesis. This is a master's degree thesis, and the academic level is higher than the bachelor's thesis. Must be able to reflect the depth of the author's knowledge and have the author's own new ideas. Article 5 of the Regulations on National Academic Degrees stipulates that graduate students in institutions of higher learning and scientific research or personnel with the same academic qualifications as graduate students can obtain a master's degree if they have a solid basic theory and relatively systematic professional knowledge in this discipline and have the ability to engage in scientific research and professional and technical work independently. In other words, the master's thesis emphasizes that the author should have his own new ideas and originality on academic issues, and the length is generally long, and he should read more relevant important documents before writing.
4. Doctoral thesis. This is a very important scientific research achievement. It requires that the author must have a solid and profound knowledge base in a certain subject field and must have original achievements; Should have a high academic level and academic value, can inspire and guide others to study similar problems and explore other issues, and play a leading and pioneering role in a certain discipline.
By comparing the above-mentioned similar papers, we can make clear the specifications or standards of graduation thesis, which has a specific guiding role in the writing of graduation thesis. When writing a graduation thesis, it is impossible to use all the professional basic knowledge of university stage studies, but some professional basic knowledge used within the limits required by the topic must be used accurately. In the process of writing a thesis, we should think more and think carefully, closely focus on the topic, and use professional knowledge to make the thesis stick to our own truth and make sense, reflecting the ability of comprehensively applying what we have learned to analyze and solve problems. Although college students' graduation thesis can't fully discover the truth that predecessors have not discovered, they should try to put forward some new opinions on the basis of predecessors' achievements. They shouldn't just repeat what their predecessors said. They shouldn't copy things from one place to another, make a new face and take others' achievements as their own.
Basic requirements of graduation thesis writing
Graduation thesis has certain requirements in content and form, which is also one of the basic basis for assessing the achievements of the thesis. The specific requirements of graduation thesis writing will be discussed in detail in the relevant chapters in the future. Here, let's talk about some principles of graduation thesis writing.
First, adhere to the principle of integrating theory with practice.
Writing graduation thesis must adhere to the principle of integrating theory with practice. Theoretical research, especially social science research, must serve reality, socialist modernization and the construction of two civilizations. Theory comes from practice and reacts to practice. Scientific theory plays a guiding role in practice and can be transformed into great material strength through people's practical activities. The task of scientific research is to reveal the regularity of the movement of things, and use this regularity to guide people's practice and promote social progress and development. Therefore, the graduation thesis must pay attention to the reality of socialist modernization and pay close attention to the new situation and new problems in social life.
To adhere to the reality of theoretical research and integrate theory with practice, we must spread our feet, go deep into reality and conduct social investigation and research. This is also the basic way for us to correctly understand society. Only when people go deep into reality, widely contact with objective things, get a lot of perceptual materials, and then use scientific logical thinking methods to get rid of the rough and extract the essence from these materials, and then, from the outside to the inside, can we find a new topic that is practical and suitable for our own research. In the practice of China's reform and opening up, new situations, new problems and new experiences emerge one after another, and problems that need to be studied are all over the society. As long as you have a strong interest in practical problems and a high degree of sensitivity, and are good at capturing vivid and typical realistic materials, through in-depth thinking and research, you can get a regular understanding that is conducive to socialist modernization and improve the value of your graduation thesis. Of course, writing a graduation thesis has a wide range of topics, not limited to real-life problems, but also can study professional basic theories and comparative studies between China and the West. However, no matter what research topic you choose, you should implement the principle of integrating theory with practice, make the past serve the present and make foreign things serve China, learn from historical research that is beneficial to the development of real society, learn from foreign research, learn from their successful experiences and failed lessons, or provide some basis for China's foreign policy.
To implement the principle and method of integrating theory with practice, we must study hard and master theoretical weapons. Comrade Li Ruihuan pointed out: "Emphasizing integration with practice does not mean denying the importance of reading. On the contrary, read carefully, read repeatedly, study hard, and truly understand and comprehend. Otherwise, if you don't master theory, how can you talk about integrating theory with practice? " (Qiushi Magazine No.24 1989) Serious reading includes two aspects: First, learn professional courses well and have basic professional knowledge. This is the prerequisite and necessary condition for writing a graduation thesis. Experience tells us that only with the corresponding level of knowledge accumulation can we understand a certain depth of academic problems; At the same time, only with a specific knowledge structure can we study the problems of a certain subject. As Hegel said, before discussing academic issues, we must "have some knowledge", otherwise, "without the basis of discussion, they can only wander in vague and meaningless situations". (Preface to the Third Edition of Little Logic) Second, we should seriously study the basic principles of Marxism and learn to use Marxist positions, viewpoints and methods to analyze and solve problems. Marxism correctly reveals the most general laws of the development of nature, human society and thinking, and has become a powerful ideological weapon for the proletariat and revolutionary people to understand and transform the world. As a great cognitive tool, Marxism does not directly provide answers to various specific problems, but it provides us with correct positions, viewpoints and methods on how to correctly discover, analyze and solve problems. Therefore, when writing graduation thesis, college graduates should learn and master the basic theory of Marxism, and consciously use Marxist positions, viewpoints and methods to guide the writing of graduation thesis.
Second, the argument should be scientific and the viewpoint should be innovative.
(A) the argument should be scientific
The scientific nature of graduation thesis means that the basic viewpoints and contents of the article can reflect the objective law of the development of things. The basic idea of the article must come from the analysis and research of specific materials, not from subjective imagination. The function of scientific research lies in revealing laws, exploring truth and opening up ways for people to understand and transform the world. To judge whether a paper is valuable, the first thing is to look at the scientific nature of the viewpoint and content of the article.
The scientific nature of the article first comes from the careful investigation and study of objective things. Master a lot of rich and practical materials, making it "the foundation of seeking things and the way to accomplish things."
Secondly, the scientific nature of the article usually depends on whether the author can adhere to the scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts when observing and analyzing problems. In scientific research, neither personal prejudice nor conformity is allowed, let alone imagination. But from the actual analysis, and strive to truly reflect the true colors of things.
Thirdly, whether the article is scientific or not depends on the author's theoretical basis and professional knowledge. Writing a graduation thesis is based on the achievements of predecessors, using the scientific theories put forward by predecessors to explore new problems. Therefore, we must accurately understand and master the predecessors' theories and have a broad and solid knowledge base. If you don't know anything about the scientific achievements in the fields involved in the graduation thesis, it is impossible to write a valuable thesis.
(b) Ideas should be innovative.
The innovation of graduation thesis lies in its value. The innovation of the article, in general, requires that we should not simply repeat the views of our predecessors, but must have our own independent opinions. The reason why academic papers should be innovative is determined by the purpose of scientific research. Fundamentally speaking, people carry out scientific research in order to understand those areas that have not been recognized by people, and the writing of academic papers is the written expression of research results. Therefore, the research and writing process itself is a creative activity. In this sense, if an academic paper is not creative, it is not scientific research, so it cannot be called an academic paper. Although graduation thesis focuses on the basic training of students' scientific research ability, creativity is still a basic requirement it emphasizes.
Of course, we should correctly understand the specific requirements of academic papers, especially graduation papers. It can be manifested as achievements in new fields that have not been explored by predecessors and new topics that have not been done by predecessors; It can be manifested as further research on the basis of predecessors' achievements, new discoveries or new opinions, forming a single opinion; It can also be manifested in re-summarizing and expressing existing materials or opinions from a new perspective. The article can scientifically explain new problems in real life and propose solutions, which is naturally creative; Even if we just put forward some new phenomena and problems that can arouse people's attention and thinking, it is still a kind of creativity. In the "Regulations on Invention Awards" issued by the Achievement Bureau of the State Science and Technology Commission 1983 in March, it was pointed out: "In scientific and technological achievements, only innovation in the objective world is invention, and ... as for scientific achievements in understanding the objective world, that is discovery." The regulations clearly stipulate "new": "new" refers to what the predecessors did not have. What is known and what is published is not "new". These regulations can be used as an important basis for us to measure the creativity of graduation thesis.
According to the principles stipulated in the "Regulations" and combined with writing practice, the following specific aspects can be considered to measure the creativity of graduation thesis:
(1) has certain theoretical or practical significance in the discipline field of this major, and through independent research, I put forward my own understanding and views.
(2) Although it is a problem that others have studied, the author adopts a new argument angle or a new experimental method, and the conclusions put forward can inspire people to some extent.
(3) Be able to clarify the confused views on a certain issue with your own powerful and thorough analysis. Although there is no updated viewpoint, it can provide some necessary conditions and methods for others to re-study this issue.
(4) Put forward and solve the problems in actual production and life to a certain extent with newer theories and methods, and achieve certain results. Or provide new ideas and data for solving practical problems.
(5) Put forward and solve the problems in this discipline to some extent with the theories of related disciplines.
(6) Use newly discovered materials (data, facts, historical facts, observations, etc.). ) to prove the proved point of view.
Creativity in scientific research requires us not to blindly follow predecessors' conclusions, but to be good at independent thinking, dare to put forward our own independent opinions and dare to deny those outdated conclusions. This requires not only a diligent learning attitude, but also a spirit of pursuing truth and being brave in innovation. To correctly handle the relationship between inheritance and innovation, any innovation does not come out of thin air and is always based on the achievements of predecessors. Therefore, we should seriously study, study and absorb the achievements of our predecessors. But this kind of knowledge is not eaten alive without analysis, but is to be inherited, criticized and developed.
Third, the arguments should be informative and rigorous.
(a) Arguments should be informative.
It is not enough for an excellent graduation thesis to have a good theme and viewpoint, it must also be supported by sufficient and informative argumentation materials. Graduation thesis is different from general argumentative thesis, which is the remarkable feature of graduation thesis. In a general argumentative essay, the author only needs to analyze one or two arguments to prove a point, while the graduation thesis must take a lot of argumentation materials as the basis and pillar of his own point of view. Every time the author establishes an opinion, he should consider: what materials are used as the main evidence and what materials are used as circumstantial evidence; Whether you will have different opinions or negative opinions on your own views, and how to explain or refute the objections held by others. The opinions and opinions that the author is required to put forward in the graduation thesis are really his own, and in order to make his own opinions recognized by others, there must be a lot of sufficient and convincing reasons to prove his correctness.
The argument of graduation thesis should be sufficient and applied appropriately. It is impossible and unnecessary to quote all the research results, facts, incisive expositions, all the actual data, observation results and investigation results in a paper, but take what is necessary and discard what is dispensable. Arguments serve arguments, and simple material accumulation can not only prove arguments, but also powerfully explain arguments, on the contrary, it gives people a feeling that the article is dragging its feet, chaotic and meaningless. Therefore, it is very important to choose the necessary arguments in the collected materials. Generally speaking, we should pay attention to the novelty, typicality and representativeness of the argument, and more importantly, we should consider whether it can effectively explain the point of view.
The materials and data cited in the graduation thesis must be correct and reliable, which can withstand scrutiny and verification, that is, the correctness of the argument. The specific requirement is that the cited materials must be confirmed repeatedly. First-hand materials should be fair, verified repeatedly, personal likes and dislikes and assumptions should be removed, and their objective truth should be retained. Second-hand data should be traced back to the source, find the exact source, and deeply understand its meaning, and cannot be taken out of context. Quoting other people's materials serves your own argument, not as an ornament to the chapter. When quoting other people's information, you need to make some efforts to screen and identify it, so as to be accurate. When writing your graduation thesis, you should quote your own practical data and survey results as evidence. If the content of the article is the result of the author's own personal practice, then the value of the article will increase many times. Of course, for college students with limited knowledge and few practical opportunities, it is inevitable to repeat the work of others in the first scientific research and quote more practical achievements and data of others in their graduation thesis. But if the content of the whole article is a combination of indirect things, and you get very little, it will completely lose the meaning of writing a graduation thesis.
(B) the argument should be rigorous
Argumentation is the method and process of proving an argument with arguments. The argument should be rigorous and logical, so as to make the article convincing. The author should proceed from the overall situation of the article, put forward, analyze and solve problems according to the laws of objective things and the procedures of people's understanding of objective things, so that people's logical procedures and cognitive procedures can be unified and the whole article can form a logical whole. Locally speaking, the analysis of a problem and the explanation of a phenomenon should reflect a relatively complete process of concept, judgment and reasoning.
Graduation thesis is an article style based on logical thinking, which demands to understand a large number of scientific styles, reflect the essence or law of things through concepts, judgments and reasoning, and infer the unknown from the known. All kinds of graduation thesis adopt this thinking form. Social science papers often use known facts and take the form of inductive reasoning to gain an understanding of the unknown. In order to make the argument rigorous and logical, we must: (1) judge the concept accurately, which is the premise of logical reasoning; (2) Explain the process of understanding objective things in a hierarchical and orderly manner; (3) The leap process from "reality" to "emptiness" and from "thing" to "reason" should be embodied by combining the theory with the reality, that is, from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge.
In addition, writing graduation thesis should also pay attention to the clarity and standardization of style. Academic papers, investigation reports, popular science books, feasibility reports, publicity outlines, etc. Everyone has their own characteristics, and they should not be confused with each other in writing methods.
Importance of topic selection
The so-called topic selection means choosing the topic of graduation thesis, that is, before writing the thesis, selecting and determining the problems to be studied and demonstrated.
When discussing the topic, we should first make clear the three concepts of topic, topic and topic. These three are all academic problems of a certain discipline, but they are different. First of all, the topic is different from the topic. A subject usually refers to a major scientific research project of a certain discipline, and its research scope is much larger than the subject. For example, the construction of socialist spiritual civilization is a big topic, including many topics, such as the position and function of spiritual civilization, the content and characteristics of spiritual civilization, the relationship between spiritual civilization and material civilization, the development of culture, education and science in spiritual civilization, and the construction of ideological morality. Secondly, the topic is different from the topic. Topic refers to the title of the paper, and its research scope is generally smaller than the topic. For example, if the author chooses the topic of ideological and political work in enterprises, he can choose many specific topics to write his paper: the characteristics of ideological and political work in enterprises in the new period, the problems existing in the construction of party organizations in foreign-funded enterprises, the guiding principles of ideological and political work in enterprises, and the ideological and political work should grasp people's ideological laws and so on.
Correct and appropriate topic selection is of great significance to writing graduation thesis. By selecting the topic, we can roughly see the author's research direction and academic level. Einstein once said that in the face of science, "it is often more important to ask questions than to solve them". Asking questions is the first step to solve problems. Choosing the right topic is equivalent to completing half of the thesis writing. Choosing a good topic can play a multiplier role.
First, the topic can determine the value and utility of graduation thesis.
Of course, the achievement and value of graduation thesis will be evaluated by the final completion and objective utility of the article. But the topic selection plays an important role in it. Choosing a topic is not only a process of setting a topic and simply defining the scope for the article, but also a process of early scientific research. Choosing a good topic requires the author's thinking, comparison, deliberation and careful planning. Once the topic is selected, it shows that the outline of the paper has been roughly formed in the author's mind. As Zhang Shiying, a famous philosopher in China, said, "It is not easy to ask a decent question, but it is a very important thing. It is not easy to say it, because the problem itself needs to be studied; It is impossible for a person who does not study a certain line to ask questions about a certain line. Just because raising a decent question requires a research process, we can also say that the question has been raised honorably, and the content and value of this article are somewhat. This is the importance of the topic. " (Quoted from How to Write Academic Papers, Wang Li, Zhu Guangqian, etc. The title of the paper is meaningful and the paper written is valuable. If the topic is meaningless, even with great efforts, no matter how good the structure and language of the article are, it will not have positive effects and functions.
A good graduation thesis topic can make a basic estimate of the article in advance. This is because, before determining the topic, the author always has to contact, collect, sort out and study a large number of materials, and determine his own research direction from the analysis and selection of materials to the topic selection. In this research process, the object reflected by objective things or materials constantly collides with the author's thinking movement, resulting in * * * sound. It is in this contradictory movement of unity of opposites that the author has a spark and leap in understanding. This leap must contain reasonable elements, or own unique views, or deepen existing conclusions, or refute different views, and so on. In a word, this leap and ideological spark is an important ideological basis for the graduation thesis to be written. For example, Zhou Jianping, the author of the article entitled "The Method and Artistic Analysis of Leadership Highlighting Work Focus" included in Chapter 12 of this book, has been engaged in party and government leadership for a long time, and has served as secretary of the township party committee, secretary of the district committee, deputy director of the organization department of the county party committee, director of the county labor and personnel bureau and director of the county finance and taxation bureau. In his work practice, he deeply realized that leading cadres have several jobs and their jobs should change frequently. The jurisdiction of township work is not large, but "the sparrow is small and complete", with a needle above and a line below, everything must be managed. As the leader of the county government department, although the function is relatively simple, the line is long and the scope is wide. As the main leader, how to effectively lead the work of the region and the department, there is a scientific leadership method and leadership art problem. When selecting the topic of graduation thesis of Correspondence College of Central Party School, on the basis of collecting materials from many parties and careful consideration, using materialist dialectics and combining with my own work practice, I chose the topic "Leadership Methods and Leadership Art", which not only focused on work, but also achieved success.
Second, the topic can plan the direction, angle and scale of the article to make up for the lack of knowledge reserve.
In the process of studying objective data, with the accumulation of data and the gradual deepening of thinking, all kinds of ideas will come to us, and the ideological sparks and various viewpoints generated during this period are very valuable to us. However, they are still scattered, and it is difficult to determine whether they are useful for the theme of the paper. Therefore, there must be a process of selecting, identifying, collecting and concentrating them. From the individual understanding of individual things to the * * * understanding of general things, from the concrete analysis of the object to find differences and connections, from the input of a lot of information into the brain, to form their own views, and to make sure. It is through the logical thinking process from individual to general, analysis and synthesis, and induction and deduction that the writing direction is generated and gradually clarified in the author's mind, and the focus, argumentation angle and general scale of the graduation thesis are also preliminarily outlined.
The topic selection is also helpful to make up for the shortage of knowledge reserve, acquire knowledge efficiently, and produce results early and quickly. Writing a graduation thesis is to lay the foundation first and then engage in scientific research. In the basic stage, college students need to learn more knowledge, while in the research stage, they should concentrate on studying materials. The topic selection is an organic combination of extensiveness and centralization. In the process of topic selection, the research direction is gradually clear, and the research objectives are more and more concentrated. Finally, we should firmly grasp the topic and carry out research work. Einstein said, "I soon learned to identify things that can lead to profound knowledge, and put aside many other things, many things that fill my head and make it deviate from my main goal." (Quoted from Page 7 of Translation Collection in Memory of Einstein, Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, 1979) To do this, more knowledge must be accumulated. For those who write papers for the first time, if their knowledge is not complete enough, they can aim at the research objectives and directly enter the research process, so that they can supplement and collect relevant information according to the needs of research and make up for the lack of knowledge reserves in a targeted manner. In this way, the process of topic selection has also become a good opportunity to learn new knowledge, broaden knowledge and deepen understanding of the problem.