Mgr.Antonín Zita, M.A.
Seminar on Master’s Thesis Writing
Dangling modifiers
 Showing an increase of 5%, Stanhope [2] claims that the
method of virus detection is feasible.
 After participating in the beta version of the software, the
survey showed that the users had found the user interface too
complex.
Linking words
 The results have shown that the application was successful.
_________, the process has commercial application.
 The way the users behaved affected the overall performance
of the application. Howard [5], _________, explains that
the larger the user base, the more computer errors should
one expect. _________,Allen [6] notes that 50% of these
errors occur on a smaller scale.
Reporting verbs
 Howard [5], for instance, _________that the larger the user
base, the more computer errors should one expect. However,
Allen [6] _________ that 50% of these errors occur on a
smaller scale.
 Howard [5], for instance, argues that the larger the user
base, the more computer errors should one expect. However,
Allen [6] points out that 50% of these errors occur on a
smaller scale.
 Howard [5], for instance, discredits that the larger the user
base, the more computer errors should one expect. However,
Allen [6] refuses the notion that 50% of these errors
occur on a smaller scale.
Commas
 Separating multiple nouns (or other elements in a series)
 The first, second and third experiment have shown that…
 Separating two independent clauses
 Can stand on their own:“We first concluded that the results
were an error in computation, but the second experiment
showed that the error was due to the incompatibility of…”
 Use little conjunctions – FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
so)
 Separating a modifier from the main clause
 Modifier of place, time, … (In 1998 at Berkeley University, the
first computation was made…)