The Art of Thesis Writing: From Understanding Research to Writing Success

Authors

Dr. Markus C. Hemmer
IU International University of Applied Sciences
Dr. Thorsten Fröhlich
IU International University of Applied Sciences
https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7688-8459
DOI: https://doi.org/10.61065/nkhnhv50

Keywords:

Academic research, Thesis writing, Research methodology, Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis, Doctorate Thesis, Science, Research Foundations, Ph.D., Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence

Synopsis

2nd Extended and Revised Edition 

716 pages · 218 figures · 93 tables

The Art of Thesis Writing 2nd Extended and Revised Edition is now published for the first time under Open Access, offering a comprehensive, multidisciplinary guide that serves as an intellectual companion for students, educators, and researchers across all fields engaged in academic authorship. Now in its second, expanded edition, the book blends philosophical insight with practical strategies, guiding readers through every stage of thesis development—from the foundations of scientific reasoning to the defence of a completed work.

Structured into five integrated parts—The Science Primer, The Composer’s Guide, The Creator’s Guide, The Writer’s Guide, and The Presenter’s Guide—the book balances epistemological and ontological reflections with actionable advice on methodology, writing processes, visualization, and presentation. It critically examines traditional academic paradigms and adapts to the modern research landscape influenced by AI tools such as ChatGPT, addressing their benefits, limitations, and ethical implications.

Key additions in this edition include:

  • Open Access: Free and accessible for all scholars
  • An expanded chapter on AI-assisted writing, covering language models, multimodal tools, hallucination risks, and ethical concerns.

  • A full chapter on research ethics, with detailed principles, data protection issues, and institutional policies, supplemented by practical checklists.

  • New content on empirical research, particularly the design and implementation of surveys and interviews, including transcription and metadata strategies.

  • A fresh focus on Design Science within research designs, acknowledging its relevance to computing, engineering, and practice-oriented fields.

  • Enhanced writing support, featuring tools like Read Aloud for auditory text review.

  • A reorganization of chapters for improved alignment with academic workflows, such as separating results presentation and discussion.

Enriched with vivid examples, humorous Worst Practice sections, and step-by-step checklists, this edition transforms thesis writing from a daunting task into a structured, creative, and intellectually rewarding process. It offers rigorous yet accessible guidance for producing well-argued, methodologically sound, and clearly articulated academic work, making it an essential resource for both novice and experienced scholars.

Chapters

  • Part I The Science Primer
  • 1 A Field Trip Into the Sciences
  • 2 The Path to Discovery
  • 3 Foundations of Reasoning
  • 4 Reasoning in Practice
  • 5 The Ethics of Sciences
  • Part II The Composer’s Guide
  • 6 Organise to Survive
  • 7 Quill or Word Processor?
  • 8 Integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence
  • 9 Shaping the Layout
  • 10 Mastering a Writing Style
  • 11 Visualising Concepts
  • Part III The Creator’s Guide
  • 12 From the Idea to the Topic
  • 13 Creating a Storyboard
  • 14 Writing a Thesis Proposal
  • 15 Compiling Surveys and Interviews
  • Part IV The Writer’s Guide
  • 16 The Introduction
  • 17 The Literature Review
  • 18 The Research Design
  • 19 The Presentation of Results
  • 20 The Discussion of Results
  • 21 The Conclusion
  • 22 Revision and Editing
  • Part V The Presenter’s Guide
  • 23 Presentations
  • 24 Thesis Defence

Author Biographies

Dr. Markus C. Hemmer, IU International University of Applied Sciences

Markus C. Hemmer is a professor and program director at IU International University. He started his scientific career as a chemical engineer and worked at the universities of Mainz and Hannover in analytical geochemistry. Markus Hemmer continued with chemistry studies in Hannover and Erlangen and received his PhD in computational chemistry on mathematical models for molecular representation. After years in research, he moved to the software industry as a product innovation manager and project manager for scientific information systems.

If asked about his motivation, he would answer: ‘To bridge the gap between science and business’. Always interested in passing on his experience, he continued his education throughout his career, lecturing in the fields of analytical chemistry, research methodology, artificial intelligence, programming, computer networks and IT security. He used his business experience to expand his portfolio to include IT management, quality management, and project management. Over the past eight years, he has supervised more than 400 theses, preferably with his colleague Thorsten Fröhlich.

Dr. Thorsten Fröhlich, IU International University of Applied Sciences

Thorsten Fröhlich, a professor at IU International University, has been a persistent force in entrepreneurship since 1991. His academic roots trace back to the University of Cologne, where he studied Chemistry and obtained a PhD for his research on application-oriented computational models for chemical multicomponent analysis using spectroscopy. Parallel to his academic pursuit, he ventured into the entrepreneurial realm by launching a scientific software company, providing advanced solutions in analytical evaluation and laboratory information systems for several years. In 2000, Prof. Fröhlich manifested his entrepreneurial acumen by initiating and developing information portals such as chemie.de, chemeurope.com, and bionity.com with students from Freie Universität Berlin. His motivation resides in reconciling information technology and business, a vision reflected in his teaching areas at IU International University. As a lecturer in IT Management, Big Data, AI in Business, and the application of computational models to various business applications, he has supervised and co-examined over 300 theses, often in collaboration with his colleague, Markus Hemmer.

The Art of Thesis Writing 2nd Edition

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Published

30 April 2025 — Updated on 27 June 2025

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Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Markus C. Hemmer, Dr. Thorsten Fröhlich (Author)

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Details about this monograph

ISBN-13 (15)

978-3-9825742-2-6

How to Cite

Hemmer, M. C., & Dr. Fröhlich, T. (Eds.). (2025). The Art of Thesis Writing: From Understanding Research to Writing Success. Unchained Intellect Press. https://doi.org/10.61065/nkhnhv50 (Original work published 2025)