Stylistic aspects
Contents
5. Stylistic aspects¶
The written Master’s Thesis (as well as the Master’s Thesis presentation at the university) is to be in English. As one of the objectives of such works is to contribute to the scientific community at large, these contributions have the capacity to reach a larger audience when written in English. Using English in this way also demonstrates a student’s ability to engage with their subject matter in depth in a language that is increasingly vital to professional endeavors.
The thesis is also a student’s chance to demonstrate their command of English as well as the ability to use the formal style of writing required by such works. For this reason, special attention should be paid to the following points dealing with these aspects.
5.1. Spelling¶
Many variations of English exist within the English-speaking world; among these variations are, among other aspects, differences in spelling. Since American English and British English constitute the largest of these variations, students should choose to follow either the American English or British English spelling of a word and use this throughout the thesis.
Important
The spelling of a particular word must be consistent throughout the thesis, either American English or British English.
5.2. Capitalization¶
Students should follow the rules for “sentence case” rather than “title case”, throughout the thesis. This means that for parts such as the title of the thesis and headings, words are capitalized or in lowercase following the same rules as in a sentence.
These means that most words are written lowercase, except for the following, which are capitalized:
first word of the title, heading, or sub-headings
first word of captions of figures and tables
proper nouns (such as brand names, company names)
labels such as “Figure” and “Table” within the body of the text as well as at the figure and table itself
5.3. Formal wording¶
To achieve the formal and objective tone expected of a thesis:
avoid first-person and second-person pronouns (e.g. I, we, you)
avoid contractions (e.g. don’t, isn’t, won’t) and write such words out in full
avoid informal words (e.g. big, kind of, stuff) and use more formal and precise words
Use this list of informal words and their replacement by formal counterparts.
5.4. Inclusive language¶
In order to avoid discrimination and create a balanced representation of both genders when writing and speaking in English, there are a number of techniques that can be employed.
Use gender-neutral nouns:
Instead of mankind use humankind
Instead of chairman use chair, chairperson
Instead of manpower use staff, labor force, employees, workers, human resources
Instead of businessman use business manager, executive, head of firm, representative
Use the plural they, their, them rather than he or his
Workers should know their rights. (Not: A worker should know his rights.)
Has each student chosen their thesis advisor? (Not: Has each student chosen his/her thesis advisor?)
Use he/she or his/her:
Each student needs to collect his/her I.D. before entering the building.
If a student studies hard, she/he will succeed.
Further reading on inclusive language can be found here
5.5. Cautious language¶
In a piece of writing such as a thesis, there are statements, or claims, that cannot be made with absolute certainty. In order to be accurate when writing a work such as a thesis, it is essential to use language that expresses the degree of certainty based on the evidence on hand, and when possible, provide a context or source of authority to understand the claim.
Compare these statements:
The number of electric vehicles will surpass the number of gas-powered cars.
According to a recent ÖAMTC report [1], electric vehicles are predicted to replace gas-powered cars within the next thirty years.
The first statement is problematic because it claims absolute certainty and is missing a context for the claim being made. The second statement not only makes the degree of certainty clearer (predicted), but also provides the context within the next thirty years and source (ÖAMTC report) of the claim. In this way, the language used is cautious.
Using this type of language prevents writers from making over-generalizations and allows them to make room for exceptions as well. A variety of phrases using cautious language can be found here.
5.6. Concision¶
When writing is concise, the ideas are communicated in as few words as possible. Another way of thinking about this comes from the American writer William Zinsser who said, “The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.”
To make a piece of writing more concise:
Re-read your work and consider: which words could be taken away without meaning getting lost? Which sentences could be combined or re-written to eliminate redundancies?
Read your writing out loud. Do all the supporting sentences in a paragraph work hand in hand to support the main idea, or are some off topic and better elsewhere, or removed all together?
For example, notice that no meaning was lost when making this wordy sentence…
The reason why many people want to go abroad is because of the fact that they want to experience other cultures.
… into a concise one:
Many people go abroad to experience other cultures.
5.7. Sentence length¶
Sentences in English are generally shorter than those in German. However, rather than aiming for a fixed number of words per sentence, focus instead on the amount of information contained in each sentence. If it is difficult to remember how a sentence began, it likely contains too much information, and needs to be broken up. At the same time, too many short sentences in a row can also be a challenge to read. Thus, aim for a mix of long and short sentences to increase the readability of the text and keep the reader engaged.