Thesis documentation guidelines: Steps in writing an abstract: 1) Motivation/problem statement: Why do we care about the problem?

What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling? 2) Methods/procedure/approach: What did you actually do to get your results? (e.g. analyzed 3 novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students) 3) Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create? 4) Conclusion/implications: What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in step 1? NOTE: Using 200 words at most in a single paragraph state the steps stated above sequentially. The completed statements should state about the summary of the thesis project. Writing the Preface: The Preface will contain a brief summary of the following steps: 1) Significance of the study: What are the reasons in creating the study? Or how significant is your study? Who will benefit? And what are the benefits? 2) The proposed system: Because of step 1 what is your proposed system and state or describe the proposed system. 3) Structure of the thesis/project document: Give an overview of your document structure or an overview on how did you documented the proposed system. This basically points out on what are the main content of each chapter in your document. Chapter 1 Writing the Introduction: Introduce the content of chapter 1 by stating what the readers will read in chapter 1. Writing the Current State of Technology: 1) Conduct related literature survey: Conduct a survey on latest existing technology related to your study. 2) Referring to step 1 it should contains discussion on the specific problems faced by or that still exist in the technology or field example limitations of the existing systems, software, or algorithm. 3) Lastly the discussion should include only enough detail to show the rationale or reasons behind and the problems in each field or technology, leading to the specific need for the proposed system. Therefore you should sight the lapses or flaws of the current existing system that are related to your study which will lead to the necessity of your proposed system.

Writing the Statement of the Problem: Steps: 1) Introduce the General Problem: Introduce the general problem that the proposed system addresses. 2) Vision: What do you want to achieve in solving the general problem. Or what will be your vision if you solve the problem or the reasons behind the problem and significance of finding a solution to the problem. 3) Issue Statements: These describe the general problem using specific issues as your statements. Note: The statements of the problem should be in interrogative for or the actual statements should emphasize an actual question that is needed to be answered. Writing the Objectives: 1) It should start with To and is followed by an action. Example: To be able to 2) It should be specific: refers to one idea only one general problem or specific problem. 3) It should be measurable. 4) It should be Achievable. 5) It should be Realistic. 6) It should be Time-bounded. 7) It should be easy to understand. 8) It is very clear about who has the responsibility for implementation. It avoids ambiguous and dual accountability. 9) It facilitates constructive discussion regarding how to assess performance. Note: Follow the guidelines format in writing your objective in your thesis or project outline. Writing the scope and limitations: Scope: it is the entire coverage of your study. State the module in an organized sequential manner which means state sequentially the module that is related to one another. Also in each specific module stated, state also the details on how did you design the module this will serve as specification of your module enables the reader to understand the scope of each module (kung unsa ra ang iyang pwede mahimo or gi unsa siya pag design). The least important modules will be stated in the later part. Limitations: This should be part of your system that you did not include. Provide strong justifications that will enable the readers to understand why it is not necessary for you to include the specific limitation that you have stated in this section. Writing a Summary put a summary about the content in chapter 1 or summarize the entire chapter 1.

Sample and Guidelines in Writing Theoretical Framework: Sample Theoretical Framework: FARMERS COMPREHENSION OF USAGE INSTRUCTIONS ON PESTICIDE PACKAGING (Thesis Title) THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK This study was based on the dual coding theory of Allan Paivio (1991). According to Paivio (1986), the human mind operates with two distinct classes of mental representation (or codes), verbal representations and mental images, and that human memory thus comprises two functionally independent (although interacting) systems or stores, verbal memory and image memory. Gredler (2001) also added that dual coding theory has its essential characteristic that information may be stored in long-term memory in nonverbal as well as verbal form. Even if these systems have different functions, these allow dual coding of information because of interconnections of the systems. Each system has different functions, storage-processing characteristics and memory units. The verbal system specializes in processing and storing linguistic and information (words, sentences, etc.). In contrast, the visual system specializes in processing and storing image or picture-like representations (Paivio, 1991). The systems are assumed to be composed of internal representational units, called logogens and imagens, that are activated when one recognizes, manipulates, of just thinks about words or things (Paivio, 2006).

Guidelines in writing the theoretical framework: 1. Examine your thesis title or topic and research problem. Example: Farmers comprehension of usage instructions on pesticide packaging 2. Brainstorm on what you consider to be the key variables in your research. Answer the question: What factors contribute to the presumed effect (dependent variable)? In our example above, it is: What are the determinants of farmers comprehension of usage instructions? What factors influence the way farmers understand usage instructions on packaging (boxes, bottles)? 3. Read and review related literature to find answers to your research question. 4. List the constructs and variables that might be relevant to your study. Group the variables into independent and dependent. In our example thesis topic above, these would be: Dependent variable: Farmers comprehension of usage instructions Independent: Farmers sources of pest management information, perceived credibility of source and frequency of exposure 5. Review the existing computer science theories or Information Technology theories and choose the theory that can best explain the relationships between the key variables in your study. 6. Discuss the assumptions or propositions of this theory and point out their relevance to your research. Guidelines in Determining the Key Variables: Independent variable is typically the variable representing the value being manipulated or changed. Dependent variable is the observed result of the independent variable being manipulated. For example concerning nutrition: Independent variable: Daily vitamin C intake (how much vitamin C one consumes). Dependent variable: life expectancy (the average age one attains). Explanation: The independent variable of daily vitamin C intake (how much vitamin C one consumes) can influence the dependent variable of life expectancy (the average age one attains). Over some

period of time, scientists will control the vitamin C intake in a substantial group of people. One part of the group will be given a daily high dose of vitamin C, and the remainder will be given a placebo pill (so that they are unaware of not belonging to the first group) without vitamin C. The scientists will investigate if there is any statistically significant difference in the life span of the people who took the high dose and those who took the placebo (no dose). The goal is to see if the independent variable of high vitamin C dosage has a correlation with the dependent variable of people's life span. The designation independent/dependent is clear in this case, because if a correlation is found, it cannot be that life span has influenced vitamin C intake, but an influence in the other direction is possible. Note: Based on the given example above in the last part of the statement in the explanation section testing or finding the correlation between your independent and dependent variables will also help you in determining possible other dependent variables that will also provide correlation to your independent variable. Follow the format in writing your theoretical framework in your thesis or project outline.