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Brief Tips on Thesis Writing
This is originally posted in the Doctorate Support Group, Facebook Group on the 5th May 2015.
Quick sharing based on Today’s PhD viva session. I was the assistant to Chairperson who transcribed the comments 
:). The examiners decided before the viva that the student deserves B1 (Minor Corrections).
Interesting thing is,
1) Total number of chapters: 5 (ONLY)
2) Total number of Hypotheses : 6, 1 rejected
3) Non-probabalistic sampling is used, number of respondents 400++ (there is a solid justification for using this type of Sampling Technique)
4) Instrument is Scenario Based Questionnaire
Title: Influential Factor Model of Individual Unethical Behavior in Social Networking Sites. (Final title after Viva as suggested by examiners)
What is special? The topic is IMPORTANT (vs INTERESTING) and still less being studied. Good problem background and statement.
Thesis is written in a comprehensive and coherent way. No English grammar and etc issues. Note: It is a learning process, the SV said his English was not that good when he started doing his MSc ( previously he did his MSc at the same faculty & with the same SV) But I believe, the student sent his thesis for proof reading.
Student answered confidently, showed that he knows his work and can defend what he has written. Finally B1 with Merit!
Note 1: Do not worry too much about the number of pages. Just make sure you know and are confident with what you do/what you have written.
Note 2: Of course you should check your University’s thesis format regarding the number of pages! And make sure the number of pages is within the limit.
ALL THE BEST!
Pengorbanan yang bukan sedikit
Pagi ini saya menjalankan tugas sebagai Pengerusi proposal defense salah seorang pelajar PhD bidang Sistem Maklumat.
Sesi penilaian masih dijalankan dalam talian pada masa ini walaupun pelajar berada di Johor Bahru. Sebelum sesi berlangsung, saya dapati nama pelajar agak familiar. Namun, saya hanya sedari dan ingat siapa pelajar tersebut sebaik sahaja sebelum sesi penilaian bermula.
Nama insan hebat ini Osama, berasal dari Libya. Kenapa saya kata beliau hebat?
Pada pendapat saya dia sangat kuat dan tabah mengharungi proposal defense ini. Tercapainya dia peringkat ini dalam perjalanan pengajian PhD adalah satu kejayaan besar.
Kenapa?
Tahun lepas pada bulan November, kami dikhabarkan satu berita. Anak lelakinya berusia 4 tahun meninggal dunia kerana terjatuh dari apartment ketika sedang bermain di ruang balkoni. Innalillahi wainna ilaihi rojiun. Qodar Allah.
Kemudian, pada bulan Disember, kami mendapat berita beliau di hospital untuk mendapatkan rawatan mata. Mata kirinya hampir buta kerana terlalu banyak menangis.
Apa pun, saya sangat kagum dengan semangat beliau dan pencapaian beliau. Dalam keadaannya begitu, Alhamdulillah dia berjaya menghantar proposal PhD untuk dinilai pada Semester ke 3. Alhamdulillah. Saya pasti Penyelia dan Penyelia bersama telah berikan sokongan yang sangat baik bagi menghasilkan proposal tersebut.
Sesi berjalan dengan baik. Pelajar diminta untuk membuat pembentangan selama 20-30 minit. Kemudian diikuti dengan sesi soal jawab dari satu bab ke satu bab. Kedua-dua orang penilai telah berikan komen yang sangat membina bagi memastikan kajian benar-benar memberi faedah kepada kerajaan Libya yang menaja pengajian beliau di UTM. Komen-komen yang diberikan adalah bagi memastikan seterusnya selepas sesi proposal defense ini, penyelidikan dapat dijalankan dengan lancar. Secara kesuluruhan, idea yang diutarakan dalam proposal yang dibentangkan adalah sangat baik. Sebelum sesi penilaian, kedua-dua orang penilai telah berikan keputusan masing-masing dan saya dapati ada perbezaan keputusan yang dicadangkan. Sebelum keputusan akhir dibuat pelajar diminta diletakkan di Lobby.
Setelah perbincangan dibuat, kedua-dua penilai bersetuju memberi keputusan yang sama. Alhamdulillah Dia LULUS sesi pembentangan tersebut! Namun ada pembetulan yang perlu dibuat dalam tempoh maksima 3 bulan dan perlu disemak semula oleh kedua-dua orang penilai.
Sebaik sahaja diminta pelajar dimasukkan semula ke ruang perbincangan, dan sebaik saya menyampaikan khabar bahawa beliau lulus, terus beliau menangis. Saya percaya , itu adalah air mata kegembiraan dan keterharuan. Dalam esakan itu, dia cuba bercakap namun tidak berapa difahami. Setelah tenang sedikit, “Thank you to everyone, thank you to UTM for the support”. Tanpa sempat menutup kamera, beliau terus meluru ke pintu yang boleh dilihat menerusi kamera.
Kami saksikan beliau menangis sambil memeluk isterinya. Sama-sama mereka menangis. Masyaa ALLAH. Kemudian diikuti, beliau mendokong seorang anak perempuannya. Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah.
Begitulah. Kita ini hamba ALLAH yang akan sentiasa diuji. Begitu pentingnya kita memberikan sokongan pelajar yang menghadapi ujian.
Semoga ALLAH terus limpahkan kesabaran dan ketabahan kepada beliau sekeluarga serta kekuatan untuk meneruskan amanah yang diberikan kepadanya. Perjuangan beliau mendapatkan ijazah PhD ini, bukanlah pengorbanan yang sedikit! Semoga ALLAH berikan ganjaran pahala hamba-hambaNYA yang sabar.
Panel for MyDCIS organized by MyAIS
MyAIS Bids for PACIS2024
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This morning I have the opportunity to join the Malaysia Chapter of the Association for Information Systems represented by Prof. Dr Rose Alinda Alias to bid for organizing the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) 2024.
PACIS is the prestigous IS Conference in Region 3 of AIS. It is an honor to have the opportunity to know the MyAIS Region 3 leaders through this meeting.
The bid involved 2 Chapters which are Malaysia and Vietnam. The last time PACIS organized in Malaysia was in 2017 at Langkawi Island. That was a great experience organizing a conference which participants are from various countries and total number of participants was around 600++.
It was also an honor and I would like to thank MyAIS for giving me the opportunity to be PACIS 2024 Orgainizing Co-Chair (Yes, if we win the bid).
All the best to MyAIS and Malaysia!
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The UTM’s Alumni Spirit
Today’s story is about Samuel Ansong, our MSc IT Management alumni. We call him Sam Song. He has been passionate to purseu his PhD degree, unfortunately due to his commitment with his employer who has sponsored his MSc study, he has to say Goodbye (temporarily I hope) to UTM and went back to Ghana.
Sometimes he call me ‘Mak’ meaning mother. Having him as my student is a blessing. When we first met, I realised that, Wow! We had the same interest which is about FOOD! But…it is the opposite. I am interested to study on how assist people to eat less food by applying Intermittent Fasting assisted by self monitoring using mobile apps. On the other hand, his interest is on promoting people to eat good delicious food! Hahahah, there we go. He even created a Facebook Page on Food . Two different culture.
When I told him about Intermittent Fasting, he explained that it is actually normal for him to not eat for a long period of time. He just got to know the term called Intermittent Fasting is what he has already been practicing. One more thing that I will never forget about his comments on drinks in Malaysia, he asked me: ” Why do Malaysian add sugar in fruit juices?” Heheheh. We, Malaysians are so sweet right? 😉
By the way, he did very well in completing his MSc dissertation titled Design of Gamified Intermittent Fasting Mobile Application for Prolong Use. One advantage that he had is his experience in working with media and his capabilities in using photo editing software. I advised him to design the prototype of an Intermittent Fasting mobile app. I was amazed with his effort in preparing the mobile apps interface printed on cards which can be held by participants of the study. These are examples of two screens that he has produced:
This MSC IT Management Alumni has a strong will and motivation to publish. He has prepared a draft journal article for me to review (still waiting feedback from me though). Last week, I received an email on call for book chapters on Gamification which will be published by IGI Global. I forwarded the link to him. And as expected, he is eager to submit a chapter.
Why do I encourage him to submit a book chapter? This is a goof practice to start writing and publishing for junior researchers. In addition, this may help junior researchers to start build their research profile. Once a book chapter of a conference paper is published, there will be a strong push factor for students to publish more, to upgrade their skills in publishing their scholarly work.
Dr Min, why waste time writing a book chapter? Why don’t you ask your student to push their limits, challenge them to submit to Qi journals for example? My answer is I believe in the LEARNING JOURNEY. Also I believe every student can write and publis to top rank journals. But it needs practice. In education and learning, and in fact in all aspects of our lives – One size does not fit all. Every student has their own capabilities and talents. Sam has prepared a journal article. Inshaa ALLAH awaiting to submit soon. While waiting for the submission, I am motivating him to write a book chapter. I forgot to mention earlier, Sam has published a conference paper that is published in IEEEXplore and indexed by SCOPUS titled A Conceptual Model for Designing a Gamified Intermittent Fasting Mobile App.
This afternoon we had an online meeting. It was quite challenging though. Sam requested me for a meeting to discuss on the book chapter at 1 pm Malaysia time which is 5 am Ghana time! Yesterday I proposed to him that we postpone the meeting to 2pm Malaysia time. It happened that the connection was not good. We can see each other, but unfortunately he can’t hear my voice. And then we ended up changing our virtual background hahahaha. Finally I sort of gave him a short recorded lecture and end the meeting which later I shared with him. Yeah, we must always have a back up plan, asynchronous learning.
Sam will always be my student and my ‘son’. Hope to see you again in Malaysia as a PhD in Information Systems student at Azman Hashim International Business School, inshaa ALLAH.
PhD Progress Meeting with Irliana
PhD journey is different from one to other student. It is a unique experience.
Irliana did her MSc Computer Science by research under my supervision. I always admire her motivation, confidence and perseverance in her learning journey. She is working full time and studying part time AND she pays her tuition fees on her own. No funding at all. Masya-ALLAH.
Upon completing her Masters, she started her PhD journey with my mentor Asssoc. Prof Dr Azizah Abd Rahman. Hahaha..there was a question in mind in this supervisor’s head. “Why does she not register under my Supervision ehhh? Ahhh yes, I am not that good Supervisor probably”.
But, yeah. It is a student’s freedom to choose who she/he wants to be supervised. Afterall, Assoc Prof Dr Azizah is my mentor. No heart feeling gitu. Have you heard this phrase “Rezeki Tidak Salah Alamat”. It happened that Assoc Prof Dr Azizah decided to retire earlier than she should. Thus, masya-ALLAH, finally, Irliana was a ‘gift’ to me from Assoc Prof Dr Azizah, along with 2 other students.
The key is, accept anything with an open mind and open heart. Be confident with the rizq that ALLAH has and will grant to you. There will always be inner peace. 🙂
Going back to her PhD research journey, it was with many challenges. She was at a cross road at a certain point to either continue or quit due to the complexity of collecting data since the title she was proposing that time was still early in Malaysia, something related to Work from Home Moms. Oh yes, at that time it was rare. Now with the COVID 19 Pandemic, probably there is no more issue on data collection. The second challenge is gearing the topic for PhD in Information Systems. At that time, we saw, most issues were pressing from the expect of Human Resource Management rather than usage of Information Systems.
Alhamdulillah finally she decided to choose a new topic. No no, NEVER QUIT! This is always my advice to my students. Quiting is not the option after your hard work, after spending money for your tuition fees and precious time, your LIFE!.
Yesterday, when she presented her proposed model after about 5th revisions, I told her, ” Yes! Now you sound like a PhD student!” Alhamdulillah I am proud that she has achieved to that level of thinking – the ability to synthesise and justify her work. I always tell my students that I am a bit fussy when it comes to the model development. It is better for you to revise as many as 10 times, do it right first. Then insya-ALLAH your data collection will be smooth.
Insya-ALLAH, may ALLAH ease her the remaining journey. ALL THE BEST Irliana!
Online Workshop: Mendeley Reference Manager Software
Alhamdulillah, I had a great session with UTM Postgraduate students sharing on usage of Mendeley Reference Manager and Mendeley Cite for managing references while writing thesis and research articles.
I managed to capture some screens of the participants during the starting of the session. It feels good to look at the faces and feel that there are students listening to my talk. Great to know that some are from other parts of the world which is still 4 am in the morning! Opps. Thanks for attending.
Thank you very much to Postgraduate Students Society (PGSS), School of Computing together with the School of Postgraduate Studies (SPS) for inviting me to share this. I saw 314 participants stayed till the end of the session. I hope they are listening and not only just waiting for the attendance list form heheh
Feel free to email me at this email address : minshah@utm.my
PhD Progress Meeting
Today I had a meeting with Dr Norasnita (main Supervisor) and Lina for her PhD progress update.
Lina has graduated MSc IT Management at the School of Computing just last year. Oh Yes, her graduation ceremony was online! Congratulations Lina for receiving the Best Student Award during the ceremony. Alhamdulillah, great supervision from Dr Norasnita. She managed to publish a few publications from her MSc Dissertation.
Upon completing her studies, she started working at UTM Research Computing (UTM RC) as a Research Officer who is in charge of preparing documentation for systems developed by the UTM RC team.
Alhamdulillah, she got the offer to further her PhD studies last semester and managed to secure funding for her tuition fees. Now she is doing her PhD in proposing a Gamification Framework for Behaviour Change in E-Commerce.
Good progress so far. We aim that she will publish a SCOPUS indexed conference paper this semester before facing her proposal defense. All the best Lina!
IIUM PhD External Examiner
Alhamdulillah for the opportunity given by IIUM to examine their student’s PhD thesis entitled :
THE ROLE OF E-SERVICE QUALITY IN PROPELLING BRAND ATTACHMENT AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY MORE.
| Date / Day | : 11 March 2021/ Thursday |
| Time | : 9.00 a.m.(Malaysia Time) |
| Venue | : Video Conferencing (via GOOGLE MEET) |
Student is Gul-E-Rana from Pakistan and an academician in Saudi. At the time of viva-voce session, it was 4 am in the morning. This is one of the challenges faced by students facing their viva-voce during the pandemic. However, I think overall, based on experiences examining PhD thesis online, students felt more relaxed compared to a face to face session.