do you have to write a thesis in med school

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INFORMATION FOR

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Formal MD Thesis Requirement

All students at Yale School of Medicine engage in research and are required to write an MD thesis during medical school. The only exceptions are students who have earned a PhD degree in the health sciences before matriculation and students enrolled in Yale’s MD-PhD program. The YSM MD Thesis is under the governance of the EPCC, which meets regularly to recommend rules, regulations, and deadlines.

Students should review the 2024-2025 Research Guide for Students , known as the Thesis Guide, for all information pertaining to the YSM thesis and associated processes and deadlines.

Deadlines/Important Dates

Thesis approval process, thesis prizes, required formatting and components of the md thesis, examples for reference section formatting, avoiding the risk of copyright violation when submitting the md thesis, thesis deadlines for the 2024-2025 academic year, md students:.

The Office of Student Research has worked with the Dean’s Office and other educational stakeholders to establish deadlines for theses submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in May 2025. The deadlines ensure that students have sufficient time to complete their theses and that there is sufficient time for rigorous assessment and revision before final approval. These deadlines are strictly followed. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their theses well before the Class of 2025 Thesis Deadlines provided below. This timeline provides students, mentors/advisors, and sponsoring departments sufficient time for useful review and revision. It should be recognized by all concerned that the integrity of the thesis requirement and effective, rigorous review requires adherence to these deadlines. OSR will hold periodic Zoom “Class of 2025 Thesis Check-in Sessions” and will distribute reminder emails with more detailed instructions as these deadlines approach.

*Students missing the August 22nd, January 17th, and/or March 28th deadlines will be referred to the Progress Committee to ensure they receive adequate support to make progress towards this graduation requirement. Students missing the January 17th and/or March 28th deadlines will be ineligible for thesis prizes at graduation .

Extensions beyond the above thesis deadlines will be granted only for special circumstances and must have the approval of the student’s thesis mentor/advisor, Head of Advisory College, and the Departmental Thesis Chairperson . Students seeking an extension for the January 17, 2025, deadline must submit a Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form to their Head of Advisory College, and the Departmental Thesis Chairperson, for approval. Extensions, if granted, are granted in 2-week increments. An OSR staff member will confirm that an extension for the student has been received and will provide an updated timetable of deadlines that the student must adhere to. If a student is unable to meet the extended deadline for thesis submission, they must submit a new Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form following the same process listed above. A new Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form is required for each 2-week extension period. In the event of an extension, if granted, the following ABSOLUTE Class of 2025 Thesis Extension Deadlines will apply:

*All late theses require an extension. The student must submit the Thesis Deadline Extension Request Form by January 17, 2025, at 5 pm.

MD/MHS Students:

Consistent with degree requirements, MD-MHS students must present their thesis to their three-person committee prior to the January 17th deadline. Students are encouraged to start arranging the date of this committee meeting in the fall to avoid unanticipated delays. The MD-MHS process will be tracked in Medtrics.

*Students missing the August 22nd, January 17th, and/or March 28th deadlines will be referred to the Progress Committee to ensure they receive adequate support to make progress towards this graduation requirement. Students missing the January 17th and/or March 28th deadlines will be ineligible for thesis prizes at graduation.

MD-PhD Students:

A different process applies to students in the MD-PhD program. For students enrolled in the combined MD-PhD Program, the dissertation submitted to and approved by the Graduate School will satisfy the MD thesis requirement. Therefore, MD-PhD students who have already defended their dissertation and received their PhD should provide this information to OSR via Medtrics.

To ensure compliance with YSM graduation deadlines, MD-PhD students in the class of 2025 who have not defended and submitted their dissertation to the Graduate School by the October 1, 2024, deadline will be required to submit a copy of their dissertation directly to the OSR in order to fulfill the MD thesis requirement. Further instructions and deadlines will be provided in the fall of 2024. Please note that MD-PhD students must also defend and submit their dissertation to the Graduate School no later than March 15, 2025, to meet the Graduate School spring degree deadline for conferral of the PhD degree. MD-PhD students who have not yet defended their dissertation should provide this information to OSR via Medtrics. If there are any questions about the process, please contact the MD-PhD Office.

Financial support is not provided for writing the thesis.

Thesis Preparation and Approval

Preparation for thesis submission begins in the summer of the fourth year. At this time, timeline and practices are posted to the OSR website, distributed via email, and reviewed with students in class meetings. Because thesis approval is a lengthy process involving three levels of review, students are encouraged to manage their time well and start writing their first draft early in the fall semester of their final year of medical school. The thesis approval process will be tracked in Medtrics.

July: OSR website is updated, thesis deadlines are distributed via email to all students in the graduating class, and an informational session is held. Students should be on track to complete their thesis research by early-fall. Any student anticipating a challenge in this regard should contact the OSR as soon as possible. By mid-August, all students expecting to graduate in May must submit their tentative thesis title and thesis mentor/advisor through Medtrics. The OSR will contact all thesis mentors/advisors to confirm this role and to provide information and expectations regarding the thesis process. Therefore, students should confirm the faculty member’s willingness to serve as thesis mentor. Students missing this deadline, or whose mentors/advisors express concern regarding the student’s progress, will be referred to the Progress Committee to ensure adequate support for this graduation requirements.

August – December: Students should finalize research and draft their thesis. As the semester progresses, activities should shift from the data generation/analysis to thesis writing. Students should do their best to complete the first draft of the thesis by mid-late December. Because students are also involved in the residency application and interview process, they are discouraged from starting new projects at this time.

December – January: This period is devoted to reviewing and editing of the thesis draft that is ultimately approved by the faculty thesis mentor/advisor and submitted by the student to the Thesis Chair of their sponsoring department. The YSM faculty thesis mentor/advisor will be asked to complete a thesis assessment that evaluates the student’s performance on YSM’s research-related educational objectives and provides formative summative feedback via Medtrics.

January – March: The Departmental Thesis Chair coordinates thesis review by external reviewers. An “external reviewer” is defined as an individual who is not directly involved in the project. This individual may be a Yale faculty member internal/external to YSM or may hold a faculty appointment at an outside institution. This reviewer reads the thesis, completes the assessment, provides formative summative feedback, and makes recommendations for any required changes to the thesis. Departmental Thesis Chairs review assessments and transmit thesis approvals to the OSR. These assessments and approvals will be managed via Medtrics.

March: Theses and their associated assessments undergo school-level review by the OSR. Students receive YSM approval of their thesis along with summative feedback obtained during the review process. Students incorporate any required changes into their thesis and upload to the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library/Eli Scholar via the ProQuest platform.

April: The OSR confirms that theses have been deposited into the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library and the YSM registrar receives the names of students who have completed the thesis requirement.

The central role of the medical student thesis is to assess student’s performance on the YSM’s research-related educational program objectives. As such, all students are expected to produce an excellent piece of scholarly work. In recognition of these achievements, the OSR has worked to develop an award process that celebrates the outstanding research done by YSM students without creating a competitive atmosphere. Hence, thesis awards are based on milestone-based assessments submitted by thesis mentors/advisors and reviewers during the approval process, and internal review of the final thesis that was deposited into the Yale Medicine Digital Thesis Library. Consistent with all other graduation prizes, YSM MD Thesis Awards will remain confidential until they are announced in the YSM Commencement Program on May 19, 2025. While some departments may elect to confer thesis “honors” based upon their own internal review, this recognition is distinct from YSM graduation prizes and is not under OSR’s purview.

Read about the required formatting and components for the thesis .

See helpful examples for reference section formatting.

Read about avoiding the risk of copyright violation when submitting the MD Thesis.

2024-2025 Research Guide for Students

Apply for a thesis extension.

Do You Have To Write Essays In Medical School? (Explained Plus Tips!)

Because writing isn’t a huge part of being a doctor, you might be thinking it’s pretty low on the list of activities med students do.

We know you have to write essays for applications, but do you have to write essays in medical school?

Some med schools, specifically the top tier ones, expect students to write formal research essays in med school. Others might ask for essays as part of a final assessment for a specific course. Although essay writing isn’t as heavy as it can be in other majors, it is often required of med students.

In this article I’ll go into the question further. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• When you might need to write essays in med school
• What types of subjects/topics you could be asked to write about
• If you have to write a medical dissertation or research paper
• What tips you can use to improve your med school writing

Having written my fair share of med school essays myself (especially in subjects like biophysics, social medicine and even anatomy and physiology), I know how annoying a task it can sometimes be. And that’s as a former English major!

The truth is, for many of us, writing is a serious drag. Especially when we thought we’d escaped it by studying medicine…

So are you ready for the good and bad news? Let’s go!

When do I have to write essays in med school?

Depending on where you study medicine, the amount of writing you’ll need to do in med school can vary.

Some schools, like Yale, Harvard and NYU, require you to do a research thesis as part of your degree. In this case it’s not optional (opportunities to publish in these respective schools’ journals also exist).

But most other med schools almost always require some form of essay writing too.

Here are some circumstances that call for it:

• As a “final” exam component of a particular course/subject
• Detailed patient history or physical reports
• Group papers/presentations in classes/seminars

Of course the quantity and level of writing vary. Depending on where you go to school and what’s assigned, you might only ever need to do 1-2 pages of writing for a single course each semester. Others might only ever grade you based on oral examinations or question-based tests.

The different medical school curriculums also factor in. Practice based learning (PBL) schools have a reputation for a fair bit of writing.

Check out the specific curriculums (and grading criteria) for the med schools you’re interested in to get a sense of how much (or if) you’ll need to write. Or talk to existing students.

That’s the only way to know for sure.

What med school subjects involve the most writing?

Common med school subjects that can involve essay writing include:

• Medical ethics
• Clinical practice
• Psychology/psychiatry
• Biostatistics
• Public health and sociology

These are subjects that are a little more “esoteric” than the harder sciences. And ones where a thesis or case study goes well.

Other subjects might ask for essays too. As I mentioned before, I’ve had to write mini-essays for many subject finals (including anatomy, biochemistry, biology, physiology and more). Here’s how it usually works:

• The course syllabus lists all possible topics making up a subject (anatomy, in my case, had something like 350+)
• You draw a topic at random to write about for a set time (usually 30-60 minutes)
• You then present this essay to the professor and are asked questions about it
• Finally you’re awarded a grade based on your performance

Of course this is just my own experience as a student at MU Varna . Your med school might not operate this way, while the pandemic has also encouraged a shift away from the “essay-oral” format.

Related : A Rough Guide To European Medical School Exams

The bottom line is; you could be asked to write an essay on any syllabus topic for any subject in med school.

It depends on the subject’s department and how they like to format final and mid-term exams.

Do you have to write essays in medical school in the UK?

The UK is similar to both US and most European international med schools. Many of their schools expect med students to write essays. Oxbridge is a case in point. Here are a couple of students explaining exactly how this works…

Many other students at UK-based schools suggest the same.

Follow the same advice to know for sure; double check with existing students and the course curriculum (if publically available).

Are med students good at writing essays?

Obviously I write a blog about medical education (and healthcare work) so am no stranger to writing.

For most med students however the story can be quite different.

Not all students are confident writers. Or have a lot of experience.

Oftentimes the closest they’ve got to writing essays are in earlier studies (as pre-meds) or in their carefully put together med school applications. It’s not something you typically get a lot of practice with.

There’s obviously a lot of international students in medicine whose native language isn’t English either. For some, writing essays can seem even more anxiety-provoking.

How well are med students expected to write?

The good news is, at least in my experience, that the standard of writing (especially when it comes to the types of essays you do in final exams, midterms or class presentations), by no means has to be perfect.

The most that’s expected are factors like:

• Handwriting that’s not too difficult to read
• Good grasp of grammar and punctuation
• Solid understanding of the topic you’re asked to write about

Med school professors aren’t looking for well polished, proofread, near perfect essays for the most part.

Not unless they’re submitted as a research thesis (which you’re expected to have put serious time and effort into).

In that case they’re expected to be as professional as possible. For which you’ll usually have a thesis supervisor or research lead to help guide you.

Do medical doctors have to write a dissertation?

There’s no rule that says doctors have to write a dissertation (or even do published research). It’s possible to get into med school, graduate and find a job without ever having done any serious writing.

But it is rare.

To be competitive, especially when it comes to residency applications (and even admissions in some cases), medical dissertations or research papers can help. A lot.

General writing tips for med school essays

As for tips on how to approach your writing in med school, here are a few pointers that’ve helped me:

• Don’t aim for perfection : keep the language simple and the arguments easy to understand
• Define everything : your professor will be looking to see you understand what you’ve written about
• Break it up : use subheadings to divide the essay up and improve the flow (don’t throw it all out there in one chunk)
• Practice : sketch out essay outlines for the high yield topics (those likely to show up on exams) and attempt a couple

Getting comfortable with the process will help improve your confidence.

Med school essays aren’t anything to fear for the most part. For the more serious research or thesis-based essays, make sure you follow the guidance of the research lead or project coordinator.

Summary: Writing essays in med school

You might get lucky and never have to write an essay in med school but it’s unlikely. Writing is more central to a successful doctors career than you might think.

Being more confident with it (and learning how to do it better) can definitely help when it comes to reports, research, patient communication and everything else.

Writing is still a major skill you’ll want to focus on if you plan on a career in healthcare.

• https://medicine.yale.edu/education/research/mdthesis/

Born and raised in the UK, Will went into medicine late (31) after a career in journalism. He’s into football (soccer), learned Spanish after 5 years in Spain, and has had his work published all over the web. Read more .

Premed Research That Impresses Medical Schools

Here are at least six research areas where you can leverage experiences to stand out on your medical school applications.

Research that Impresses Medical Schools

Getty Images

When writing about research on applications, describe not only what was done, but also write what was learned through research experiences.

One question premedical students frequently ask is, “Do I need to do research in order to be competitive for medical school ?” 

My short answer: No.

It's not necessary for a medical school applicant to be involved in research , let alone publish a paper, in order to have a strong application. However, research only strengthens one’s application and never hurts it. Research doesn't guarantee acceptance to a medical school, and it's not necessary to gain acceptance.

However, I encourage premed students to conduct research at some point during their premed careers. Being involved in a research project trains premeds to think critically about an unresolved problem.

Research allows us to gain a better understanding of the unknown. Our current medical knowledge is built on clinical research . Drugs we prescribe patients underwent rigorous clinical trial studies, for example, and diagnostic work-up and treatment plans rely on evidence-based medicine based on research data.

Many premed students think that the research they conduct needs to be medical or scientific in nature. Another common misconception is that a strong premed must be involved with basic science research, often called bench research. While many premeds conduct medical-related research, these beliefs are not true. I have mentored amazing premed students with research ranging from Shakespearean play analysis to the creation of medical devices for individuals with disabilities.

6 Types of Medical Research

Here are six common health-related research directions I commonly see among premeds that reflect the breadth of research you can pursue:

• Basic science research
• Clinical research
• Public health research
• Health public policy research
• Narrative medicine research
• Artificial intelligence research

Basic Science Research

Basic science research, often called “bench research,” is the traditional research conducted in a laboratory setting. It tackles our fundamental understanding of biology .

Premeds involved with basic science research often study cells, viruses, bacteria and genetics. This research may also include animal and tissue specimens.

Examples: A premed student interested in cancer biology may study the cellular pathway of a specific tumor suppressor gene. Another premed student may probe how gut bacteria affect protein folding.

Clinical Research

Clinical research is the arm of medical research that tests the safety and effectiveness of diagnostic products, drugs and medical devices. It involves human subjects.

Examples: A premed interested in COVID-19 may conduct clinical trial research on new COVID-19 treatments. Another premed interested in dementia studies whether sleep improves depression among Alzheimer’s patients.

Public Health Research

Public health research studies the health of communities and populations in order to improve the health of the general public. Topics can range from vaccine access, disease prevention and disease transmission to substance abuse, social determinants of health and health education strategies.

Examples: A student interested in health equity may conduct public health research on how health insurance status and geography affect heart attack mortality. A premed excited about environmental science may look at the health impacts of wildfire smoke.

Health Public Policy Research

Premeds engaged in health policy research aim to understand how laws, regulations and policies can influence population health. Premeds may engage in both domestic and global policy research.

Examples: A premed interested in nutrition researches the effectiveness of nutrition programs in the Philippines. Another premed interested in economics studies health insurance markets in America.

Narrative Medicine Research

Narrative medicine research involves gathering stories from patients and their loved ones in order to understand the patient experience. As noted on the Association of American Colleges website , “Those stories can illuminate how a person became ill, the tipping point that compelled them to seek help, and, perhaps most importantly, the social challenges they face in getting better.”

Examples: A premed student interested in how Asians perceive disease can interview Asian patients about their attitudes toward herbal medications in cancer treatments. Another premed student interested in caregiver support can interviews caregivers of patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation to understand families’ decision-making processes.

Artificial Intelligence Research

Medical research utilizing artificial intelligence is increasingly popular, and premeds can analyze a large set of information to find medical discoveries. Premeds who conduct AI research typically have a skillset in computer science.

Examples: A premedical student interested in radiology may use AI to analyze hundreds of chest X-rays to create a program that better detects pneumonias. Another premed student may create and refine an algorithm using EKGs to better pick up abnormal heartbeats.

Remember that research not limited to these six categories. I've also met premeds engaged in journalistic research and business consulting research. As long as you have a research question and a scientific approach to analyze the question, then your pursuit can usually be considered research.

How Research Can Strengthen Medical School Applications

Research can strengthen your medical school application in several ways.

First, when a research project is related to a student’s interests, research involvement shows the application committee that the student is committed to advancing that field .

When writing about your research on applications, not only describe what you did, but also write what you learned through your research experiences. These lessons can include adaptability, analytical thinking and resilience.

Furthermore, you can discuss research through writing stories on secondary applications . For example, a common secondary essay prompt asks you to discuss a time when you failed or faced a challenge. You can write an essay about a challenging time you faced in your research and discuss how you overcame it. This will allow the admissions committee to gain insights into how you critically think through a problem.

Second, medical schools greatly favor independent research, in which students are leading the projects. In independent research, a premed forms a research question and a hypothesis. Then, the student gathers, analyzes and interprets data.

A student conducting independent research is in contrast to a student who helps another researcher with part of a project, or a student who follows protocols such as clinical trials recruitment, without thinking critically through the research design and analysis.

Third, becoming an author on a published paper can be a significant milestone and a valuable boost for a premed’s application. Of course, being a first author on a manuscript is an excellent feat, but it is not necessary for being seen as a strong student.

Other than publishing in academic journals, premedical students can showcase their research through poster presentations and talks. Presenting research conveys that you are excited about sharing your work and that you can explain your research to others, even those outside your field. These are all strong ways to indicate achievement and passion related to research.

The Value of Research for Premeds

Conducting premed research can provide firsthand insight into how much research you want to pursue throughout your career. After conducting research, some students may decide to get an M.D.-Ph.D. joint degree. Other students may come to the realization that their strengths lie elsewhere and conduct minimal research as doctors.

Through research, aspiring physicians will develop important skills that will help them in patient care. They will learn how to read and write research papers and evaluate treatment options by analyzing how robust the evidence is toward a specific treatment.

There are many advantages of engaging in research as a premed, only one of which is improving your medical school application. Since research is the cornerstone of medical advancement, research can help you become a more thoughtful doctor.

Medical School Application Mistakes

Tags: medical school , research , graduate schools , education , students

About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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Section 8 of the AMCAS® Application: Essays

New section.

Here you will upload your Personal Comments essay.

• AMCAS® Sign In

Every applicant is required to submit a Personal Comments essay. The available space for this essay is 5,300 characters (spaces are counted as characters), or approximately one page. You will receive an error message if you exceed the available space. Click the "What information should I consider including in my personal comments?" link in the application or see Section 8 of the  AMCAS Applicant Guide  for suggestions of things to think about when writing this essay.

• If you're applying to an MD-PhD program, you must complete two additional essays: the MD-PhD Essay and the Significant Research Experience Essay.
• To avoid formatting issues, we recommend that you type your essay directly into the AMCAS ® application rather than copying and pasting your essay from other software.
• Alternately, you can draft your essay(s) in text-only word processing software, such as Microsoft Notepad or Mac TextEdit, then copy and paste your essay(s) into the application. Copying formatted text into the application may result in formatting issues that you will not be able to edit after your application is submitted.
• Proofread carefully! There is no “spellchecker” in the AMCAS application, and no changes will be permitted to this section after you have submitted your application.

Send us a message .

Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. ET Closed Wednesday, 3-5 p.m. ET

The 2025 AMCAS application is now open . If you wish to start medical school in Fall 2025, please complete and submit the 2025 AMCAS application.

As of October 30  AMCAS is:

Marking transcripts as "Received" that were delivered on or before:

Paper (mailed) – October 29

Parchment – October 29

National Student Clearinghouse –  October 30

Certree –  October 30

Processing applications that reached "Ready for Review" on  October 29.

Processing Academic Change Requests submitted on  October 30.

Outline of the current AMCAS application process, policies, and procedures.

This resource is designed to help you prepare your materials for the AMCAS ® application but does not replace the online application.

The application processing fee is $175 and includes one medical school designation. Additional school designations are $46 each. Tax, where applicable, will be calculated at checkout. 

If approved for the Fee Assistance Program, you will receive a waiver for all AMCAS fees for one (1) application submission with up to 20 medical school designations ($1,030 value). Benefits are not retroactive.

• Melbourne Medical School
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Writing a thesis

A thesis is a written report of your research, and generally contains the following chapters: introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion. It will also have a list of references and appendices. Check with your faculty/department/school for degree-specific thesis requirements. You may also find it helpful to look at published theses (in your department) to see how they are structured. (Internationally, the ‘thesis’ may be referred to as a ‘dissertation’).

• Gruba, P., & Zobel, J. (2014). How to write a better minor thesis . Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.
• Stoddart, K. (1991) Writing Sociologically: A Note on Teaching the Construction of a Qualitative Report. Teaching Sociology (2), 243-248.
• Mullins, G. and M. Kiley (2002). It’s a PhD, not a Nobel Prize: how experienced examiners assess research theses. Studies in Higher Education . 27(2): 369-386 .
• Thesis Bootcamp
• Shut Up and Write Sessions
• Study Skills workshops (including Word for Thesis and Introduction to NVivo workshops).

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Search the site, search suggestions, to thesis or not to thesis.

For many students at Harvard, whether or not to write a thesis is a question that comes up at least once during our four years.

For some concentrations, thesising is mandatory – you know when you declare that you will write a senior thesis, and this often factors into the decision-making process when it comes to declaring that field. For other concentrations, thesising is pretty rare – sometimes slightly discouraged by the department, depending on how well the subject lends itself to independent undergraduate research. 

In my concentration, Neuroscience on the Neurobiology track, thesising is absolutely optional. If you want to do research and writing a thesis is something that interests you, you can totally go for it, if you like research but just don’t want to write a super long paper detailing it, that’s cool too, and if you decide that neither is for you, there’s no pressure. 

Some Thesis Work From My Thesis That Wasn't Meant To Be

This is from back when I thought I was writing a thesis! Yay data! Claire Hoffman

While this is super nice from the perspective that it allows students to create the undergraduate experiences that work best for them, it can be really confusing if you’re someone like me who can struggle a little with the weight of such a (seemingly) huge decision. So for anyone pondering this question, or thinking they might be in the future, here’s Claire’s patented list of advice:

1.    If you really want to thesis, thesis.

If it’s going to be something you’re passionate about, do it! When it comes to spending that much time doing something, if you’re excited about it and feel like it’s something you really want to do, it will be a rewarding experience. Don’t feel discouraged, yes it will be tough, but you can absolutely do this!

2.    If you really don’t want to write one, don’t let anyone tell you you should.  This is more the camp I fell into myself. I had somehow ended up writing a junior thesis proposal, and suddenly found myself on track to thesis, something I hadn’t fully intended to do. I almost stuck with it, but it mostly would have been because I felt guilty leaving my lab after leading them on- and guilt will not write a thesis for you. I decided to drop at the beginning of senior year, and pandemic or no, it was definitely one of the best decisions I made.

3.    This is one of those times where what your friends are doing doesn’t matter. I’m also someone who can (sometimes) be susceptible to peer pressure. Originally, I was worried because so many of my friends were planning to write theses that I would feel left out if I did not also do it. This turned out to be unfounded because one, a bunch of my friends also dropped their theses (senior year in a global pandemic is hard ok?), and two, I realized that even if they were all writing them and loved it, their joy would not mean that I could not be happy NOT writing one. It just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my (limited) time as a senior! On the other hand, if none of your friends are planning to thesis but you really want to, don’t let that stop you. Speaking from experience, they’ll happily hang out with you while you work, and ply you with snacks and fun times during your breaks.

Overall, deciding to write a thesis can be an intensely personal choice. At the end of the day, you just have to do what’s right for you! And as we come up on thesis submission deadlines, good luck to all my amazing senior friends out there who are turning in theses right now.  

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Writing a medical thesis: tips for post-graduate students.

What is a medical thesis?

A medical thesis is the written work resulting from an original research in the field of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and other health and life sciences. It is submitted by the students in order to obtain a higher degree from the University.

However, keep this in mind! The purpose of submitting a medical thesis is not limited to the achievement of a doctoral or post-graduate degree. It is a medium to organize the scientific knowledge in a way to make further progress in the field.

That’s the reason why the experts in  medical thesis writing  stress on the importance of choosing the right topic for your thesis. You must be able to address a genuine problem or series of problems through your medical thesis. Choose a topic that aligns with your interest and where you can offer a fresh perspective through your research study.

Writing your medical thesis

After choosing the topic for your research study, collaborate with your supervisor to design your research study and its goal. Collect all the information and data pertaining to your research before proceeding with your clinical trials.

Now, you are ready with your research data and clinical findings. You just need to pen down your findings in your medical thesis.

That sounds easy, isn’t it?

In reality, it’s not so. But, you need not worry!  Writing a medical thesis  becomes easy and fun if you follow the given steps with competence:

1.Outline the structure of medical thesis

Prepare an outline of the thesis in accordance with the following sections:

• Introduction: Why did you start your study?
• Methods Used
• Results of the study
• Discussion of results

List the major sections and chapters in each. Do a section at a time. Assemble all the figures and tables and organise them into a logical sequence.

2.Writing a title of the thesis

The title reflects the content of your thesis. For writing a perfect thesis title:

• Be concise and accurate. The title must neither be too long nor too short
• Avoid unnecessary words and phrases like “Observation of” or “A study of”
• Do not use abbreviations
• Avoid grammatical mistakes

3.Writing an Introduction

The purpose of writing an Introduction is to provide the reader with sufficient background information on the topic and help him understand and evaluate the results of the present study, without needing to refer to the previous publications on the topic.

• Give this background information in brief in the first paragraph
• Include the importance of the problem and what is unknown about it in the second paragraph
• State the purpose, hypothesis, and objective of your study in the last paragraph

Cite the research papers written on your research topic

• Include unnecessary information other than the problem being examined
• Include the research design, data or conclusion of your study
• Cite well-known facts
• Include information found in any textbook in the field

4.Writing the section of “Methods Used”

This section must be so written that the reader is able to repeat the study and validate its findings.

Write a detailed exposition about the participants in the study, what materials you used and how you analyzed the results

• Give references but no description for established methods
• Give a brief description and references for published but lesser known methods
• Give detailed description of new methods citing the reasons for using them and any limitations if present
• Include background information and results of the study
• Refer to animals and patients as material
• Use trade name of the drugs; instead, use their generic names
• Use non-technical language for technical statistical terms

5.Writing your Results

Keep in mind the objective of your research while writing the “Results” section. The findings of the research can be documented in the form of:

• Illustrative graphs

Use text to summarize small amounts of data. Do not over-use tables, figures, and graphs in your paper. Moreover, do not repeat information presented in the table or figure in the text format. Text must be a summary or highlight of the information presented in tables or figures.

6.Discussing your Results

Good medical theses have a targeted discussion keeping it focused on the topic of the research. Include:

• Statement of the principal findings. Make it clear to show that your thesis includes new information
• Strengths and weaknesses of your study
• Strengths and weaknesses in relation to the other studies
• A take-home message from your study for clinicians and policymakers
• Any questions that are left unanswered in your study to propose new research

How to conclude your medical thesis?

The conclusion of your research study must comprise of:

• The most important statement or remark from the observations
• Summary of new observations, interpretations, and insights from the present study
• How your study fills the knowledge gap in its respected field?
• The broader implications of your work
• How can your work be improved by future research?

However, avoid any statement that does not support your data.

With these tips, write your thesis like a pro and don’t let it delay your doctoral award!

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