Theses differ in breadth, depth, and size, depending on the grade they are for, i.e., Bachelor, Master, Diploma, or Doctoral thesis, but their structure is essentially the same:
Summarize scientific and/or application background, formulate precisely the scientific and/or technical problem that the thesis tackles, state clearly the contribution that the thesis makes (YES, even in the introduction – the reader has a right to know what is in the thesis in order to decide whether s/he considers it worth reading), outline thesis structure.
Review in necessary depth and breadth the literature, systems etc. that existed before the thesis has started, i.e., the body of scientific knowledge that the thesis sets out to improve at some point.
The main part of the thesis describing your contribution – its internal structure differs wildly over different theses, depending on what the contribution actually is.
The wrap-up part reformulating the contribution, drawing conclusions, if there are any (a summary is not the same thing like a conclusion!), and sketching open issues (only dumb or ingenious theses claim to have solved everything in their ballpark – decide yourself whether you want me to judge your thesis between these two categories!).
Unless you have had some prior instruction about how to write a thesis, you should give this matter a bit of thought. There are three things to do here:
As a rough guidance, think of the following sizes as defaults assuming common-sense formatting:
| Thesis | Pages |
|---|---|
| Bachelor | 60 |
| Master | 80 |
| Doctoral | 150 |
Deviations of these default sizes are welcome if they make sense. For example, if your topic is in image processing, and your thesis contains many images, then it is very likely to be significantly longer. On the other hand, if a bachelor candidate manages to write down the proof that P is unequal to NP in three pages, then he or she will most probably pass.
A point about formatting. You need not use LaTeX. However, if a student/candidate in Informatics delivers a thesis in a layout that is significantly worse than what TeX/LaTeX has been achieving since 40 years now, then s/he needs to explain that to me. (Remember: Science is all about improving on existing results!) This is particularly true for bibliographies that BibTeX would produce for you as a bibliography has to be, without any further effort – well, provided that you classify correctly the pieces of literature that you cite and that you follow the error and warning messages that BibTeX would deliver you for free.
There are universities these days (after all the doctoral dissertation frauds of 2010 / 11 and later) who think it appropriate to ban Acknowledgements from theses to avoid the candidates’ flattering the professors for better grading. I don’t agree with these universities, and I wonder what they think of their professors’ mindsets. Adding an appropriate acknowledgement if you feel grateful for something is not flattery, but a question of style. But think about what you acknowledge. If your thesis project has gone well, your supervisors (professors or whatever academic ranks) would normally have invested a lot of time in your work, which we would have had other ways of spending, had it not been for your thesis. However, mind that this is the work for which we get paid and which we have chosen voluntarily; mind further that we normally pose thesis problems that are of intrinsic scientific interest for us in the first place. So, appreciate diligent thesis supervision, but don’t be too astonished if you see it happen.
When thinking about what and who to thank for, consider that a thesis is normally the end of some longer period of study. If you have finished it successfully, it is primarily owing to your own work and perseverance, which you have every reason to be proud of. But usually, there are others who have made this possible for you: By financing your study, by donating their time to you, by tolerating your nerviness at exam time, or whatever. Don’t forget them in your acknowledgements, if you decide to insert some. But note: A thesis is a public text, so it is no place for getting too personal – not even in the acknowledgements! And in an academic thesis, all parts have to be truthful. That includes acknowledgements. Acknowledge what is worth acknowledging, and exactly that.