Writing a Thesis

Deutsche Version (original)

How not to go crazy writing your first thesis.

Typst

I advise against both LaTeX and MS Word.

You should be able to concentrate on the content and not be distracted by the tool.

LaTeX can become very complex, no matter how simple the requirements are. It compiles very slowly and requires multiple compilation steps to create a document. Anyone who absolutely wants to use LaTeX should use Overleaf or texifier.

While Word is easy to use, keeping the layout consistent throughout the entire document is a challenge. Simpler formats like Markdown are also rather impractical, as they lack the necessary features.


I've had very good experiences with Typst. The syntax is based on Markdown, so it's easy to learn. However, it has many more features that you need for a scientific paper. These are:


Although I haven't tried it myself, Org-Mode could be a suitable alternative.

Topic

Don't choose your topic too far in advance, or you'll lose interest in it by the time you start working on it. Think about the scope. The four months of work is an unusual period of time, neither really short nor really long.

Also, keep in mind that the scientific way of working takes a lot of time. It must be clear for everything where information comes from, how your results can be reproduced, etc. You need evidence for everything and can't just claim things.

Supervision

Whether it's a professor at the university or a colleague at the company. Find supervisors with whom you get along well. Clarify in advance what the requirements are for you and your work.

It's more important that your supervisors are a good fit for you than for your work.

Also, ask your university supervisor about their grading system so you can align with it. You are not writing your thesis for your personal growth or to enrich the world, but for the supervisor who grades you.

Writing Style

A thesis is written differently than other texts. The scientific style of expression is unfamiliar. LLMs can help you make your writing style more scientific.

Make sure that your entire thesis remains consistent. If you have chapters revised separately by LLMs, it can quickly seem as if each chapter was written by a different person.

This video by Andy Stapleton shows how to use LLMs to write texts without it looking obviously AI-generated.