Resources for undergrad thesis writers

Below are resources I’ve compiled for undergrad thesis writers. (I’ll continue to update this whenever I encounter resources I think are useful.)

Writing resources:

• “Writing economics” guide by Neugeboren and Jacobson
• “Writing as a Social Scientist” by David Eli

Developing your topic:

• Template for starting to write causal papers by Joshua Goodman

Regression model questions:

• “So you’ve decided to make a regression model” flowchart by Nick HK

Tips on managing papers:

• Throughout thesis-ing you’ll encounter lots of papers. It’s easy to skim dozens of papers one week and then completely forget which one said what the next week. So, to help you out with managing papers, I strongly suggest you use some existing tools to help you out.
  • Two options: Zotero or Mendeley

Typesetting:

• Want to typeset but not sure where to start?
  • I made a basic structure of a thesis project in Overleaf for you all. Here it is!^[More on the template: The project includes a .tex file (the main text of the paper), a .bst file (that’s just there for bibliography style–no need to edit that or worry about it ever), a .png file (an example of an image you can insert into your thesis), and a .bib file (the bibtex bibliography file). The thesis is the .tex file, but it calls on all the other files. It calls on the .bst and .bib files to make and format the bibliography and (author-year) citations using AER guidelines. It also calls on the .png image to insert that image into the text. Most commands you need to know to typeset a thesis (make sections, add footnotes, cite papers, add equations, add tables/figures) are shown in the template. The .bib file is where you should put the information for articles you’re reading that you’ll want to cite. You’ll create a name for the reference in the bib file (e.g., the first one in the example .bib file is named tir11) and then you can call that specific reference at any point in the .tex file using various cite commands. The bibtex framework will save you so much time when it comes to making a proper set of citations/bibliography.]
  • Want to build off this template for your own thesis? You can make an Overleaf account and then copy this project and build off this underlying structure for your own thesis. (Instructions on how to copy a project here.)

Using beamer:

• Want to try out using Beamer for presenting? Well, here are some Beamer presentations about Beamer presentations (meta):
  • Natalia Emmanuel’s slides here
  • Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham’s slides here – he also shares the tex code for that presentation here
• Want to leave Beamer for xaringan? Check out links here under “Using xaringan for slides”

Making theory diagrams:

• Want to make diagrams for theory concepts?
  • I’ve heard good things about these two tools: mathcha.io & TikZit
  • Threads with additional suggestions: here and here. (After asking around, it sounds like lots of people just ad hoc make these sorts of diagrams with PowerPoint or even Google Drawings.)
  • TikZ examples here from Grant McDermott