Thesis

In this project, we were asked to write an article in an academic thesis format. It must be 1500 words and must feature academic-style citations with all sources adequately referenced.

To begin, I researched all four types of thesis styles and chose an expository type. I then needed to find a suitable topic. When I had come up with two ideas, I had to make a choice and explain why I chose that one. To pass this stage of the project, I needed approval from my tutor, which I got after I explained my reasoning.

My next step was researching my topic. I was present when this drama was happening, so I have a lot of personal accounts that I needed to back up with evidence. My most significant source came from Reddit and other individual reports from YouTubers speaking on the issue in videos. However, I found numerous articles on the history of YouTube and the 'YouTube Partner Program' on the internet. I stored and organised all my research on a research tracker; however, I uploaded some secondary research examples on my blog's research page.

Part of the project was conducting our own Primary research. Therefore, we needed to design a questionnaire that we could send to everyone we knew. The results of this questionnaire could be used as evidence for our thesis. Later on, I ran a focus group of four people, where I got more detailed responses on my topic. This went very well, and almost all of the answers I got supported my arguments.

I wrote my thesis statement and finalised my thesis title using my research. I was also able to produce an academic poster which I created to present to my class and teachers. I've always benefitted from having a structured plan for anything I write, so designing a list I could use and refer to when writing was necessary for a good thesis layout.

I found writing my thesis a challenge. It was good to challenge myself as I have never written in an academic style like this before. Also, I enjoyed adding the referencing/citations to my work. It felt like it was all coming together nicely, and using mybib.com was so useful as it automatically ordered the references alphabetically.

If I were to do it again, I would add an interview with an expert. Even though I did ask a friend of mine if he would answer some questions, he let me down several times and eventually stopped replying. This YouTuber would've been the perfect candidate as he has over three million subscribers on YouTube and has been on youtube since 2007. Unfortunately, I was running out of time by this point, so I gave up and focused more on my other primary research sources.

Overall I was very pleased with my thesis. I liked the article's structure and how I backed up every statement with supporting evidence. I included more than enough citations and references, and I liked the layout and design of the paper.