Thesis writing a routine task that all postgraduate students have to complete. Basically, there is much information concerning writing a thesis that is readily available in the form of books and institutional materials. However, a significant portion of the thesis paper examples is composed of good quality but not perfect theses. In particular, a critical analysis of Elizabeth Thomas Crocker’s thesis “A Trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: Modern Vodou practices in New Orleans” reveals some of the minor issues overlooked, which include in-text citation errors, informal language, and failure to provide relevant information in the “Appendices” section.
In-Text Citation Errors
There are a few in-text citation issues in the thesis paper. In Crocker’s (2008) thesis, some in-text citations have a comma separating the author’s surname and the publication year (p. 10). However, in other cases, Crocker (2008) used it to separate a list of citations (p. 11). For instance, parenthetical in-text citations created by Crocker in one of the thesis paper examples are not consistent through the manuscript. Moreover, no page numbers are given for paraphrased or summarised content (Crocker, 2008, p. 13). In this case, the provision of page numbers facilitates the location of all cited information. Also, it is quite convenient for an audience dealing with a lengthy paper that has multiple sources, such as a thesis. The guidelines for any documentation style must be internalized to avoid flawed in-text citations.
Informal Language in the Thesis Paper Example
Crocker uses very informal language in extensive sections of the thesis. The third chapter, “Methods and History,” is dominated by informal language. In this case, it is evident in the excessive use of the first-person pronoun, “I” (Crocker, 2008, p. 15). Basically, the author’s attempts to elucidate concerning the participants that were included in the research. However, the person does not use the correct choice of words to maintain the formality to follow the rules for the thesis paper examples. Furthermore, Crocker (2008) employs this style of writing for the more significant portion of the third chapter (pp. 15-20). In turn, the extensive use of the first-person perspective makes the author’s work to have a sense of subjectivity. Also, it appears that most of the content is simply the author’s opinion. Thus, a researcher should use informal language sparingly or avoid it entirely when writing a thesis.
Relevance of Information
The thesis lacks an “Appendices” section. Basically, it affects the strength of the evidence used in developing the thesis. For instance, crocker’s (2008) thesis depends heavily on the interviews and other forms of personal communication with Brenda Marie Osbey and Manbo Sallie Ann Glassman (p. 2). In this case, the primary sources employed in Crocker’s thesis are face to face interactions that cannot be retrieved by the audience. Then, the nature of these sources suggests that the author should have made the transcripts available to the readers to aid in their understanding of the context of the quotations. Moreover, the transcripts could have facilitated the accuracy assessment of the author’s interpretation. Hence, the appendix is an optional but crucial aspect of the thesis paper examples. Thus, the development of a thesis requires the author to make most of the primary source available to the audience.
Conclusion on Thesis Paper Examples
In conclusion, Crocker creates a high-quality thesis. However, it still contains some minor errors. Firstly, there are some inconsistencies in the development of in-text citations, covering the thesis paper examples. Secondly, the author uses the first-person perspective in lengthy sections of the manuscript without good reason. Finally, transcripts of personal interviews were excluded, yet they were the core sources of the study.
Reference
Crocker, E. T. (2008). A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: Modern Vodou practices in New Orleans (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from LSU Digital Commons. (Accession No. etd-04092008-014603)