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No part of this book may be reproducedin any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.  \nMIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email [special_sales@mitpress.mit.edu](special_sales@mitpress.mit.edu).  \nThis book was set in Chapparal Pro by the MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America.  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. isbn: 978-0-262-52713-2  \n10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  \nCONTENTS  \nForeword by Francesco Erspamer ix  \nTranslators’ Foreword xv  \nIntroduction to the Original 1977 Edition xix  \nIntroduction to the 1985 Edition xxiii  \n1 THE DEFINITION AND PURPOSE OF THE THESIS  \n1.1 What Is a Thesis, and Why Is It Required? 1  \n1.2 For Whom Is This Book Written? 4  \n1.3 The Usefulness of a Thesis after Graduation 5  \n1.4 Four Obvious Rules for Choosing a Thesis Topic 7  \n2 CHOOSING THE TOPIC  \n2.1 Monograph or Survey? 9  \n2.2 Historical or Theoretical? 13  \n2.3 Ancient or Contemporary? 16  \n2.4 How Long Does It Take to Write a Thesis? 17  \n2.5 Is It Necessary to Know Foreign Languages? 22  \n2.6 “Scientific” or Political? 26  \n2.6.1 What Does It Mean to Be Scientific? 26  \n2.6.2 Writing about Direct Social Experience 32  \n2.6.3 Treating a “Journalistic” Topic  \nwith Scientific Accuracy 35  \n2.7 How to Avoid Being Exploited by Your Advisor 42  \nvi Contents  \n3 CONDUCTING RESEARCH  \n3.1 The Availability of Primary and Secondary Sources 45  \n3.1.1 What Are the Sources of a Scientific Work? 45  \n3.1.2 Direct and Indirect Sources 50  \n3.2 Bibliographical Research 54  \n3.2.1 How to Use the Library 54  \n3.2.2 Managing Your Sources with  \nthe Bibliographical Index Card File 58  \n3.2.3 Documentation Guidelines 62  \n3.2.4 An Experiment in the Library of Alessandria 79  \n3.2.5 Must You Read Books?  \nIf So, What Should You Read First? 103  \n4 THE WORK PLAN AND THE INDEX CARDS  \n4.1 The Table of Contents as a Working Hypothesis 107  \n4.2 Index Cards and Notes 115  \n4.2.1 Various Types of Index Cards  \nand Their Purpose 115  \n4.2.2 Organizing the Primary Sources 123  \n4.2.3 The Importance of Readings Index Cards 126  \n4.2.4 Academic Humility 142  \n5 WRITING THE THESIS  \n5.1 The Audience 145  \n5.2 How to Write 147  \n5.3 Quotations 156  \n5.3.1 When and How to Quote: 10 Rules 156  \n5.3.2 Quotes, Paraphrases, and Plagiarism 164  \n5.4 Footnotes 167  \n5.4.1 The Purpose of Footnotes 167  \n5.4.2 The Notes and Bibliography System 170  \n5.4.3 The Author-Date System 174  \n5.5 Instructions, Traps, and Conventions 179  \n5.6 Academic Pride 183  \nContents vii  \n6 THE FINAL DRAFT  \n6.1 Formatting the Thesis 186  \n6.1.1 Margins and Spaces 186  \n6.1.2 Underlining and Capitalizing 188  \n6.1.3 Sections 190  \n6.1.4 Quotation Marks and Other Signs 191  \n6.1.5 Transliterations and Diacritics 195  \n6.1.6 Punctuation, Foreign Accents,  \nand Abbreviations 199  \n6.1.7 Some Miscellaneous Advice 204  \n6.2 The Final Bibliography 208  \n6.3 The Appendices 212  \n6.4 The Table of Contents 214  \n7 CONCLUSIONS 221  \nNotes 225  \nFOREWORD  \nHow to Write a Thesis was first published in 1977 in Italy, where it has remained in print ever since. Not only has the book provided instruction and inspiration for generations of Italian students, but it has been translated into seventeen languages, including Persian (1996), Russian (2001), and Chinese (2003) . Remarkably, given the book’s success, in a","cbCaibD3tpt0cTbK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibD3tpt0cTbK","pdf",7063596,257,"English","# Contents\n## The Definition and Purpose of the Thesis\n## Choosing the Topic\n## Conducting Research\n## The Work Plan and the Index Cards\n## Writing the Thesis\n## The Final Draft\n## Conclusions","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of a thesis and why is it required?\",\"answer\":\"The thesis is positioned as a structured academic work with a clear purpose and an expected requirement in educational programs. It also clarifies why a thesis remains useful after graduation.\"},{\"question\":\"How should a student choose a thesis topic?\",\"answer\":\"The book recommends deciding whether the thesis is a monograph or survey, whether it is historical or theoretical, and whether it focuses on ancient or contemporary material. It also provides rules for timing and addresses issues such as foreign language necessity and what “scientific” means in the context of the thesis.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the key practices for writing and formatting the final draft?\",\"answer\":\"It guides the student on drafting for the intended audience, using quotes correctly, and managing plagiarism through proper distinction between quotations and paraphrases. It also covers footnotes systems and formatting requirements like margins, sections, signs, transliterations, punctuation, and capitalization, then outlines the final bibliography, appendices, and table of contents.\"}]","How to Write a Thesis - Foreword | PDF",1789949983,648]