using introduction quotations in a thesis.?

x in the city

Guys,

Does anyone use quotations in a thesis, like at the beginning? Or is it frowned upon? !

brianthebard

Yes. No. What?

Do you want to give an example? Are you referring to the introduction portion of a thesis? Why would you not use quotes there?

El Siglo

I was kind of wondering the same things as my introduction chapter is something like that as well, I start off with a quote like this;

This thesis is founded primarily on the limitations of microfossil techniques for RSL reconstruction studies in Shannon Estuary. Brooks (2007) found that:

“Many of the salt-marsh encountered in the outer Shannon are underlain by wholly minerogenic sequences that cannot be used to accurately reconstruct RSL. Those sites that do contain inter-bedded horizons of organic and minerogenic sediments are characterized by extremely low microfossil counts and the observed lithostratigraphic transitions cannot be directly related to changes in RSL.” (pp. 285-286).

This thesis examines some of the limitations associated with microfossil based RSL reconstruction techniques and explores the potential use of stable isotope and elemental ratio analysis. This thesis will produce new datasets for microfossil assemblages (foraminifera) along with stable isotope (δ13C) and elemental ratios (C/N) for the Fergus Estuary and Clenagh salt-marsh. These new data will be compared with existing data from the surface sediment; foraminifera assemblages, δ13C and C/N from Ringmoylan Quay.

Then I just jump straight into the scientific background etc...

Is that cool?

convert

If you're talking about something along the lines of what El Siglo has posted, then yes, that's fine.

If you're talking about a quotation at the start of every chapter, something like you see in books, then that's also ok.

brianthebard

I probably wouldn't include a quote that quickly in an introduction, preferring to build up to it with a paragraph or so, but I don't see why it shouldn't be ok. If you're really worried I suggest picking 5-10 textbooks that you used for research and that you consider examples of the quality and style of work that you aspire to. Read their introduction and see if they do anything like what you want to. Then decide if its a good idea or not based on what you've just seen.

El Siglo

I had to put in that quotation right at the beginning because that's the reason why I'm doing my thesis, I'm also limited by word count (ca. 15,000) to put in more.

Quick question, do you use references/citations in an abstract?

x in the city

im thinking more the lines of this

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought" AE

!, it sums up my own work pretty well...!

*yawns

El Siglo

x in the city wrote: »

im thinking more the lines of this

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought" AE

!, it sums up my own work pretty well...!

*yawns

This just came to mind...;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-bSZd1vM_A

brianthebard

El Siglo wrote: »

I had to put in that quotation right at the beginning because that's the reason why I'm doing my thesis, I'm also limited by word count (ca. 15,000) to put in more.

Quick question, do you use references/citations in an abstract?

Well that's fine too, especially when you haven't much space you're better to get to the point. There was a thread about abstracts and references a while ago but basically I think you should try to avoid footnotes. You can refer to a person's work or a text, without necessarily having to provide a citation. If you want you can include a cite but we're talking about 300 words or so, sticking to the basic outline of what your project is about is probably the best idea. Again looking at a few abstracts from the same field will give you the best idea of the norms.

x in the city wrote: »

im thinking more the lines of this

"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought" AE

!, it sums up my own work pretty well...!

*yawns

Is this at the top of the introduction? You can do it if you want, one of my friends included a quote at the top of every chapter cause he got some nice ones that suited the tone of each chapter. Its up to you really there isn't too many things you can do wrong stylistically once you stick to the departments guidelines.

x in the city

brianthebard wrote: »

Well that's fine too, especially when you haven't much space you're better to get to the point. There was a thread about abstracts and references a while ago but basically I think you should try to avoid footnotes. You can refer to a person's work or a text, without necessarily having to provide a citation. If you want you can include a cite but we're talking about 300 words or so, sticking to the basic outline of what your project is about is probably the best idea. Again looking at a few abstracts from the same field will give you the best idea of the norms.





Is this at the top of the introduction? You can do it if you want, one of my friends included a quote at the top of every chapter cause he got some nice ones that suited the tone of each chapter. Its up to you really there isn't too many things you can do wrong stylistically once you stick to the departments guidelines.

puttin a quote at the start of every chapater is wayy over kill ffs.

i have this on my introduction, well the page before the introduction. to set the tone as to how boring this work is and how dreary and mundane and ...zzzzzzzzzz

:pac:

Cannibal Ox

I had a short piece in between my content and introductions sections, but I referred to it in both the intro and conclusion. In general, I think that you shouldn't quote something and leave it to speak for itself, particularly when you have very limited word space with a thesis. As long as you're analysing, interrogating, building on, or just discussing a quote, I think you're fine no matter where or how you use them, but if you just let it hang there all alone on a big empty sheet of paper I don't think it works or looks good.

x in the city

why the limited space...?

brianthebard

x in the city wrote: »

puttin a quote at the start of every chapater is wayy over kill ffs.

It worked for him. Out of interest what level are we talking about here? People tend to use thesis to describe any long essay (least I do or used to) but there's obviously different ones.

x in the city

brianthebard wrote: »

It worked for him. Out of interest what level are we talking about here? People tend to use thesis to describe any long essay (least I do or used to) but there's obviously different ones.

my thesis is just electronics stuff...

5 chapters