4 Organizing Your Multimodal or New Form Thesis
The inclusion of nontraditional elements in your thesis might happen in a number of ways. For example, you might want to include code in an appendix, or you might be planning to submit a video or data set as a supplemental file. In some cases, some elements might require additional information to make their purpose clear. In other cases, including additional elements could mean that your thesis is submitted as discrete parts instead of as one cohesive PDF.
The expansion of the thesis beyond a traditional PDF has implications for your readers. While you might know how the pieces of your thesis fit together, your readers might not. Fortunately, there are a number of optional elements you may add to your thesis to help navigating your materials easier.
Digital Manifest
Think of this as a Table of Contents for the different components of your thesis. For each element, include information such as file type, a brief description of the element, and a URL if needed. For example, an MFA student from the Art department might include a video alongside their thesis. In this case, the student would list the video, the video’s file type, and a brief description of the video’s contents and purpose.
A Note on Technical Specifications
This is where you can provide an overview of the elements of your thesis and explain how they fit together. Presented as prose, the Note on Technical Specifications is flexible, giving you space to include any explanation that might help the reader understand the organization of your work. Following the example above, the Note might include text that explains how the student’s video was shot and edited, and how its content fits together with what’s in the PDF.
List of Variables
If your thesis is a database or includes code, you may include a List of Variables. The list’s contents should be presented in alphabetical order.
Glossary of Functions
If your thesis is mostly code, you may include a Glossary of Functions that lists important functions as well as a brief description of what each function does.
If you have questions about adding these elements, please contact the Graduate College. For more information on these elements, see Shirazi and Zweibel, “Documenting Digital Projects.” Full citation information and a link to the article can be found on the next page.
