Avoid These Mistakes to Make a Stylish Thesis

Your thesis is not a cluster of papers that record your research in words but a source of communicating your original ideas eloquently to your audience. You have to be wary while developing your thesis. Here are a few tips you should use to avoid mistakes that can fall out of your research committee’s approval.

Use of passive voice

You are generally advised to write in an active voice and maintain the consistency throughout your paper.

For example:

Active voice: Students tormented the class teacher.

Passive voice: The class teacher was tormented by students.

It is better if you write a sentence in active voice as it explicitly conveys to readers that who is the subject and what it does. Sentences are short and precise when you use active voice.  However, you can use the passive voice when your focus is on action instead of a subject. For instance, students with late payments are not allowed to participate in the football match.

Wrong use of hyphens

Hyphens are one of the most abused punctuations in the English language. More often than not, this problem is noted in theses written by scholars for whom English is not the first language. Most of the words can be joined and separated such as the eighteenth century, gone girl, timeframe, and so forth. However, you need to use hyphens when you connect two words to make a new adjective. For instance, error-free, off-campus, off-beat, finely-tuned, and the like. You should use a free dictionary if you are not sure about the use of hyphens.

Wrong use of semicolons

The semicolon is another overused punctuations in theses. Semicolons are used to connect two main clauses. For instance, Spanish is spoken throughout South America; in Brazil the main language is Portuguese. However, semicolons are not used in contemporary English. Full stops and commas are more natural than semicolons. Most of the scholars use semicolons instead of commas in sentences. For instance, since he has been back at work; he has been feeling great. Try to avoid these mistakes as these minor issues cause problems.