UNIVERSITY OF LA SALLE

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION SCIENCES

BA IN SPANISH, ENGLISH, AND FRENCH

THESIS OUTLINE1

BASIC TIPS

The introduction chapter must contextualize and present your research topic and objectives. Also, it must present

the significance, scope and limitations of your study.

The literature review should center the previous work/research done in the respective field and also include facts

or figures relevant to your investigation.

The methodology chapter must entertain a meticulous description of the research paradigm and method for

investigating your research topic and your justification for the use of these methods.

The findings/discussions must element the main findings and explain them or interpret them.

Try to start the conclusions/recommendations section by briefly mentioning the initial proposals then a summary

or a commentary on the findings in your own words. Suggest possible solutions or provide recommendations

that must be looked upon by the reader as a way out of the questions/problems you mentioned in the initial part

of the thesis.

Enlist the references used and the sources used in the bibliography section of your thesis.

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PRELIMINARIES

Title page

Approval sheet

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

List of tables

List of illustrations/Figures/Graphs

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study (Talk succinctly about what previous studies and/or authors have said and shown.)

1 This is a suggested outline. Some researchers do not write their research reports exactly as it is proposed here. However, it

is important to try to write all the sections so one has a complete document.

1.2 Statement of the problem (Present the general topic and nature of your study and then you specify the

concrete problem you want to investigate. In other words, formulate both the general topic and your specific

point of view.)

1.3 Research question(s) (Specify what you want or hope to know, understand or learn by doing your study.

Remember your questions need to be focused on one central phenomenon of interest. Begin your research

questions with the words what or how to convey an open and emerging design. You can ask both a central

or general question that asks for a concrete phenomenon or topic and specific questions that narrow the focus

of the study. Examples of qualitative research questions are: How can peer-pressure in college students’

result in increased levels of substance abuse?, What is the relationship between social media usage patterns

of students and his grades?, Why do intermediate students at a BA in English avoid using English out of

their EFL classes? Examples of action research questions are: What are the effects of having basic EFL

students use reflective journals in their classes?, How can work on affective learning strategies help students

develop their self-esteem as EFL users?, How can the use of task-based teaching increase the effectiveness

of team work in the EFL classroom?)

1.4 Objectives of the study (Explain what you expect to get out of the study. In other words, specify what you

want to do. Choose the verbs carefully: explore, describe, identify, characterize, discover, understand,

study, and make sense are typical verbs in qualitative research whereas improve, enhance, develop,

contribute to, impact, and increase are typical verbs in action research. Research objectives are the

specific tasks or components researchers will undertake in order to fulfill their research aims.)

1.5 Significance of the study (Support or explain why your study is important or relevant. Why is your study

worth doing? What issues do you want your study to clarify, and what practices and policies do you want it

to influence?)

1.6 Scope and limitations (The researcher should inform the reader about limits or coverage of the study. The

scope identifies the boundaries of the study in term of subjects, objectives, facilities, area, time frame, and

the issues to which the research is focused. Sample phrases that help express the scope of the study: The

coverage of this study…; The study consists of…; The study covers the…; This study is focused on…; etc.

The limitation of the study is delimiting a study by geographic location, age, sex, population traits,

population size, or other similar considerations. It also identifies the constraints or weaknesses of your study

which are not within the control of the researcher. Sample phrases that expressed the delimitations of the

study: The study does not cover the…; The researcher limited this research to…; This study is limited to…,

etc.)

CHAPTER TWO

RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

(The purpose of this chapter is to show that you have identified and understood the main theoretical and practical

concepts, the current and past research contexts and directions, and the subject boundaries in your research topic.

In other words, this chapter shows that you have made yourself fully familiar with what exists in the subject area

within which your research topic resides. Remember: the literature review is not simply a “list” of unconnected

summaries or reports of what different authors or theories say about your research topic. In fact, it is the

demonstration of your ability to integrate and evaluate the literature. You are expected to be able to categorize

authors or theories by certain trends or approaches, identify their key contributions to a field, indicate their

similarities, differences, and particularities, and even highlight gaps or discrepancies. Most experts recommend

examining your sources critically before you decide to use them because literature reviews should be succinct

and give a basic picture of the state of knowledge and of major questions in your topic area. General tips: Ensure

that citations are properly referenced. NEVER mention authors that you do not include in your reference section.

For direct quotations, always indicate the page number of the book or journal you take them from. For indirect

quotations, paraphrase ideas in a clear and simple way. Write well-structured sentences and coherent paragraphs.

Use connectors and transitions appropriately: firstly, in addition, similarly, consequently, specifically, however,

therefore, so that, although, whereas, in fact, in contrast, on the one/other hand, to start with, as a result, etc.

Above all, provide a reasonable and logical structure in your literature review.)

2.1 Introduction (Give a general idea of what this chapter is about. Talk about the main contents the reader will

find.)

2.2 Theoretical framework (Identify and describe theories relevant to your research problem or topic. In other

words, present and classify all the KEY theories and themes that are useful to explain your research problem

or topic. Organize this information in a systematic, logical and synthetic structure.)

2.3 Conceptual framework (Present one particular section of the theoretical framework that will be the basis of

your study. Here, you need to argue how this concrete perspective can help study or explain the research

problem that you want to explore or understand. In other words, make sure you clarify how this specific

theoretical position will help you approach your research topic and/or question.)

2.4 Related literature (Talk about some local and foreign authors, at least two, that support, defend or validate

your conceptual framework. In other words, use what some authors say to argue in favor of your

perspective.)

2.5 Related studies (Refer to previous local and foreign studies, at least two, that have used, implemented, or

applied the same or a similar conceptual framework. In other words, you need to show that previous studies

have used and found effective the same conceptual perspective or position you have.)

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction (Give a general idea of what this chapter is about. Talk about the main contents the reader will

find.)

3.2 Research design (Explain briefly what is the best research paradigm and method for your study. What will

you actually do in conducting this study? What approaches and techniques will you use to collect and

analyze your data, and how do these constitute an integrated strategy?)

3.2.1 xxxxx research paradigm (Identify and describe the research paradigm you will follow in your study.

Specify what characterizes this research paradigm.)

3.2.2 xxxxx research method (Identify and describe the concrete research method you will use in your study.

Specify what characterizes this research method. Talk about the particular author(s) you will follow.)

3.3 Research population and sample setting (Introduce a general idea about the place where the data are

collected and the people who will participate.)

3.3.1 Research setting (Identify and describe the place, location, characteristics, advantages, difficulties, etc.)

3.3.2 Population (Identify and describe the people, characteristics, age, education, origin, etc.)

3.3.3 Sample (What is sampling? What kind of samples are there? What is the specific sample technique you

will use in the study? Why will you use that sample technique?

3.4 Instructional design2

3.4.1 Approach: what and why teach in a certain way.

3.4.2 Instructional objectives: provide direction to the teacher for selecting the instructional activities that

promote achievement of the desired behaviors. Make sure your objectives are learner-focused.

3.4.3 Activities: tasks, techniques or strategies that the teacher will use to promote successful learning or

improve the teaching situation.

3.5 Data collection (What is it? What data do you want or need to collect? Why do you need that data? How will

you collect data? When will data be collected (chronogram)?)

3.5.1 Data collection instruments (What kind of instruments do you want or need? What specific instruments

will you use? Why are they necessary or important for this study?)

3.5.2 Instrument 1 (surveys) (What is a survey? What are its characteristics? How is it constructed? What is

the structure and design of the concrete survey for your study?)

3.5.3 Instrument 2 (xxxxx) (What is a xxxxx? What are its characteristics? How is it constructed? What is the

structure and design of the concrete xxxxx for your study?)

3.5.4 Instrument 3 (xxxxx) (What is a xxxxx? What are its characteristics? How is it constructed? What is the

structure and design of the concrete xxxxx for your study?)

3.6 Trustworthiness (Explain how you plan to demonstrate the plausibility, credibility and integrity of your

research process. In other words, make clear how you will improve the soundness of your study. You can

talk about different topics such as the use of different types of triangulation, extended fieldwork, participant

feedback, peer review, reflexivity, credibility, etc.)

3.7 Ethical considerations (Explain how you go about topics such as consent, honesty, respect, and justice. In

other words you need to talk about the procedures or measures you take in order to guarantee and enhance

informed consent, confidentiality and privacy, contextual relevance and, above all, the “goodness” or

“appropriateness” of the study.)

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction (Give a general idea of what this chapter is about. Talk about the main contents the reader will

find.)

2 According to your population and research objectives, this can be an optional element in chapter 3.

4.2 Overall Data analysis – (General steps to be used for all the study. Here, you can explain whether your

research has an inductive or deductive approach (Patton, 2002). A deductive approach involves using an a

priori or predetermined framework to analyze data. In other words, the researcher imposes their own

structure or theories on the data and uses these to analyze the information. An inductive approach, on the

other hand, involves analyzing data with little or no predetermined theory, structure or framework and uses

the actual data itself to derive the structure of analysis. In brief, inductive analysis involves discovering

patterns, themes, and categories in the data whereas deductive analysis involves analyzing data using an

existing framework. In practice, however, data analysis relies on both inductive and deductive reasoning. In

this section, you also need to specify the steps or stages your study will follow to analyze data. For example,

if your study is qualitative oriented, you can use Miles and Huberman’s (1994) concurrent flows of activity:

data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification or Freeman’s (1998) data activities:

naming, grouping, finding relationships, and displaying. If your study is action research, you can use

Altrichter, Posch, & Somekh’s (1993) constructive stages: reading data, selecting data, presenting data, and

interpreting data and drawing conclusions or Burns’ (1999) data stages: assembling the data, coding the

data, comparing the data, building interpretations, and reporting the outcomes. ATTENTION: If you are

using an a priori or deductive approach in your research study, DON’T FORGET TO PRESENT AND

JUSTIFY THE CATEGORIES OR THEMES that you used to collect and analyze your data. Also, you need to

explain why you chose those categories or themes and not others.)

4.3 Specific Data analysis – (Concrete techniques or strategies needed for the analysis of each instrument. You

can divide your instruments into qualitative or quantitative-based and apply thematic analysis or grounded

analysis to the qualitative ones and descriptive statistics to the quantitative ones.)

4.3 Results/Findings – (You can start this section describing the results per each instrument according to the

CATEGORIES/THEMES/TRENDS/PATTERNS YOU USED OR FOUND. Then, you can present a global

or general view of the main findings that emerged from the study. Make sure you use adequate and clear

tables, charts, matrixes, figures, and maps. Also, include examples or samples from the data you collected.)

4.4 Discussion (In this section, you should basically interpret the results [your literature framework comes in

handy here] and answer the research questions of your study explaining how the results support those

answers. Also, you need to link your results to previous findings. How do your results compare to previous

work done in similar contexts or situations? Are yours new and different in a way that needs explaining? Are

they within the range of expected values based on other work?)

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Introduction (Give a general idea of what this chapter is about. Talk about the main contents the reader will

find.)

5.2 Summary of main findings/results

5.3 Conclusions

5.4 Recommendations and future work

REFERENCES (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

……

……

APPENDICES

(Include all the material you think can be useful to give a clear idea of the things you did and how you did them

during your research study. Most researchers include samples of participants’ answers to the research

instruments, samples of the researchers’ own notes, samples of participants’ documents, samples of the analysis

of each instrument, some photographs, samples of the transcripts of the interviews, letters of consent, etc.)

……

……

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REFERENCE SECTION – BASIC CASES

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Examples

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication.

Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition,

and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY:

Springer.

Basic Format for Journals

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Example

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.

Basic Format for Online Resources

Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Example

Allen, D. (2004). Dealing with your meeting notes. Retrieved January 25, 2008, from

http://www.effectivemeetings.com/meetingbasics/notes.asp

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IN-TEXT CITATIONS: THE BASICS

1. Basic format for a direct quotation

Ordinarily, introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name followed by the year

of publication in parentheses. Put the page number (preceded by “p.”) in parentheses after the quotation.

Critser (2003) noted that despite growing numbers of overweight Americans, many health care providers still

“remain either in ignorance or outright denial about the health danger to the poor and the young” (p. 5).

2. Basic format for an indirect quotation (paraphrasing)

Include the author’s last name and the year either in a signal phrase introducing the material or in parentheses

following it. A page number is not required for a summary or a paraphrase, but include one if it would help

readers find the passage in a long work. (For the use of other locators, such as paragraph numbers or section

names in online sources, see item 12.)

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) explained that sibutramine suppresses appetite by blocking the reuptake of the

neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain (p. 594).

Sibutramine suppresses appetite by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine

in the brain (Yanovski & Yanovski, 2002, p. 594).

3. Work with three to five authors

Identify all authors in the signal phrase or the parentheses the first time you cite the source.

In 2003, Berkowitz, Wadden, Tershakovec, and Cronquist concluded, “Sibutramine . . . must be carefully

monitored in adolescents, as in adults, to control increases in [blood pressure] and pulse rate” (p. 1811).

In subsequent citations, use the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in either the signal phrase or the

parentheses.

As Berkowitz et al. (2003) advised, “Until more extensive safety and efficacy data are available, . . . weight-loss

medications should be used only on an experimental basis for adolescents” (p. 1811).

4. Organization as author

If the author is a government agency or another organization, name the organization in the signal phrase or in

the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

Obesity puts children at risk for a number of medical complications, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension,

sleep apnea, and orthopedic problems (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004, p. 1).

If the organization has a familiar abbreviation, you may include it in brackets the first time you cite the source

and use the abbreviation alone in later citations.

FIRST CITATION

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009)

LATER CITATIONS

(CDC, 2009)

5. Indirect source

If you use a source that was cited in another source (a secondary source), name the original source in your signal

phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include it in your parenthetical citation, preceded by

the words “as cited in.” In the following example, Satcher is the original source, and Critser is the secondary

source, given in the reference list.

Former surgeon general Dr. David Satcher described “a nation of young people seriously at risk of starting out

obese and dooming themselves to the difficult task of overcoming a tough illness” (as cited in Critser, 2003, p.

4).