An alternative is to place a table of contents proper (listing only the chapters) at the very beginning of a work, and a more detailed version with exhaustive subdivisions at the end. Another alternative is to place the table of contents with the chapters at the beginning, and an index of subjects at the end, generally accompanied by an index of names. However, this is not necessary in a thesis. It is sufficient to write a detailed table of contents, and preferably to place it at the beginning of the thesis, right after the title page.
The structure of the table of contents must mirror that of the text, as must the format. This means that if in the text section 1.2 is a section of chapter 1, you must make this evident in the layout of the table of contents. To clarify, we will provide two models of a table of contents in table 6.4, but you could organize the chapters and sections differently, using Roman and Arabic numerals, letters, etc.
Table 6.4
————————————————————————————————————————
————————————————————
MODELS OF A TABLE OF CONTENTS: Example 1
————————————————————————————————————————
————————————————————
THE WORLD OF CHARLIE BROWN
Introduction 3
1. CHARLIE BROWN AND AMERICAN COMICS
1.1. From Yellow Kid to Charlie Brown 7
1.2. Adventurous and Humorous Threads 9
1.3. The Schulz Case 10
2. DAILY STRIPS AND SUNDAY PAGES
2.1. Differences in Narrative Rhythm 18
2.2. Thematic Differences 21
3. IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT
3.1. The Vision of Childhood 33
3.2. The Implicit Vision of the Family 38
3.3. Personal Identity 45
3.3.1. Who Am I? 58
3.3.2. Who Are the Others? 65
3.3.3. Being Popular 78
3.4. Neurosis and Mental Health 88
4. THE EVOLUTION OF THE GRAPHIC SIGN 96
Conclusion 160
Statistical Tables: Reading Ratings in the US 189
Appendix 1: Peanuts Cartoons 200
Appendix 2: Imitations of Peanuts 234
Bibliography: The Collected Volumes 250
Schulz’s Articles, Interviews, and Statements 260 Studies on Schulz in the
US 276 in Other
Countries 277 ————————————————————————————————————————
MODELS OF A TABLE OF CONTENTS: Example 2
————————————————————————————————————————
THE WORLD OF CHARLIE BROWN
Introduction 3
I. CHARLIE BROWN AND AMERICAN COMICS 7
II. DAILY STRIPS AND SUNDAY PAGES 18
III. IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT 33
IV. THE EVOLUTION OF THE GRAPHIC SIGN 96Conclusion 160
You could number the table of contents shown in table 6.4 as follows:
A. FIRST CHAPTER
A.1. First Section
A.2. Second Section
A.2.1. First Subsection
A.2.2. Second Subsection
Etc.
Or you could present it this way:
I. FIRST CHAPTER
I.1. First Section
I.2. Second Section
I.2.1. First Subsection
I.2.2. Second Subsection
Etc.
You can even choose other criteria, as long as they provide the same immediate clarity and evidence.
As you can see, it is not necessary to conclude the titles with a period. Also, it is a good rule to align the numbers to the right of the column and not the left, as follows:
7.
8.
9.
10.
Not:
7.
8.
9.
10.
The same applies to Roman numerals.
Sophistication? No, cleanliness. If your tie is crooked, you straighten it, and even a hippie does not like to have pigeon droppings on his shoulder.
7 CONCLUSIONS
I would like to conclude with two observations. First, writing a thesis should be fun. Second, writing a thesis is like cooking a pig: nothing goes to waste.
If you lack research experience and are afraid to begin your thesis, you may be terrorized after reading this book. Confronted with all these rules and instructions, you may feel that it is impossible to get out alive. But remember this: for the sake of completeness, I wrote this book for a hypothetical student without any experience. But you have probably already read some pertinent books, and you have probably already acquired many of the techniques described in this book. My book can then serve as a reminder, bringing to awareness what many of you have already absorbed without realizing it. A driver, when he is confronted with a record of his own actions, realizes that he is a prodigious machine that makes vital decisions within a fraction of a second, with no margin for error. And still, almost everyone drives a car, and (as the moderate number of car accident victims indicates) the vast majority of drivers and passengers get out alive.
What really matters is that you write your thesis with gusto. If you choose a topic that interests you, and if you truly dedicate to your thesis the time you have allotted, however short (we have set a minimum of six months), you will experience the thesis as a game, as a bet, or as a treasure hunt. There is the satisfaction of competitive sports in hunting a text that is difficult to find; and there is the satisfaction of solving an enigma in discovering, after long reflection, the solution to an apparently insoluble problem. You must experience the thesis as a challenge. You are the challenger. At the beginning you posed a question which you did not yet know how to answer. The challenge is to find the solution in a finite number of moves. Sometimes, you can experience the thesis as a game between you and your author; he seems to conceal his secret from you, and you must trick him, question him gently, compel him to say what he does not want to say, but what he should have said. Sometimes, the thesis is a game of solitaire; you have all the pieces, and the challenge is to make them fall into place.
If you play the game with competitive gusto, you will write a good thesis. But if you begin with the idea that it is a meaningless ritual in which you have no interest, you have lost before you have begun. If this is the case, as I have already told you (and I do not wish repeat this illegal advice), have someone else write it for you. Or copy it. Do not waste your time, or that of your advisor, the person who must aid you and read your thesis from beginning to end.
If you write the thesis with gusto, you will be inspired to continue. Usually, while a student begins working on his thesis, he thinks only about finishing it, and he dreams of the vacation that will follow. But if you work rigorously, it is not abnormal for you to become obsessed with your work, unable to stop. You want to explore in depth all the points that you have omitted, you want to chase all the tangential ideas that struck you but that you eliminated for brevity, you want to read other books, and you want to write essays. This is the sign that the thesis has activated your intellectual metabolism, and that it has been a positive experience. It is the sign that you are the victim of a compulsion to research, somewhat like Charlie Chaplin’s character in Modern Times, a factory worker who keeps tightening screws even after a long day of work. Like Chaplin, you will have to make an effort to restrain yourself.
But once you have temporarily contained this urge, you may realize that you have a calling for research, that the thesis was not simply the means to a degree, and the degree was not simply the means to career advancement, or to please your parents. However, your motivation to continue research does not necessarily have to translate into a university career. It also does not preclude you from accepting a job offer upon graduation. You can dedicate a reasonable amount of time to research while working another job, without expecting a university appointment. In many fields, a good professional must also continue to study.
If you devote yourself to your research, you will find that a thesis done well is a product of which nothing goes to waste. You can convert your finished thesis into one or more scholarly articles, or maybe even a book (with some revision). But in time, you may return to your thesis to find material to quote for other projects, or to reuse your readings index cards, maybe using parts that did not make it to the final draft of your first work. The marginal parts of your thesis may present themselves anew, as the beginning of new research projects. You may even decide to return to your thesis after decades. Your thesis is like your first love: it will be difficult to forget. In the end, it will represent your first serious and rigorous academic work, and this is no small thing.
NOTES
Translators’ Foreword
1. Umberto Eco, Dire quasi la stessa cosa: Esperienze di traduzione (Milan: Bompiani, 2003), 364.
Our translation. [Trans.]
2. All currency conversions are based on the actual June 15, 1977, exchange rate of Italian lire to US dollars. Introduction to the Original 1977 Edition
1. One could ask why I do not use the female pronoun “she” when referring to a student, candidate, professor, or advisor. It is because I drew on personal memories
