Errors in Thesis Writing and Opinions towards the Handbook and Format for Thesis Writing of Kasetsart University’s Graduate Students.

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1( to identify the format errors in thesis writing, 2) to gather the students’ opinions on the handbook and format for thesis writing, and 3) to study the problems and errors in thesis writing of graduate students. The study was started with the scrutiny of 960 draft theses submitted during the years 1988 and 1989. The second part of the study was carried out on 79 graduate students who submitted draft theses during September and October 1990 for which the authors were also requested to fulfilled the questionnaires. Percentual calculation was employed in the study. The results of the study could be summarized as follows. 1. The most common error was “reference” and “heading” respectively. 2. Problems of using thesis handbook were insufficient explanation and examples especially those for reference. 3. Most of students were satisfied with handbook layout and thesis format. They also pointed out that citation part should be of top priority for improvement. 4. Students’ opinion indicated that the reference errors were the first, the heading were the second, and the last was content citation. 5. The students suggested that the handbook contain more explanations and examples, whereas format of the reference be improved.