Your methods section says “requests submitted through the online form”. The results say “electronic requests”. Do they mean the same documents? First check whether the log also includes requests sent by email. If it does, that small change in wording can change what the result means.
Start with one sentence from the results. Underline the name of the group and find the rule you used to select it in the methods section. Note which cases meet that rule. If two terms cover the same cases, settle on one for your own writing. If one term covers more, note where the boundary lies in your working glossary.
Do the two terms refer to the same thing?
Open the two passages side by side. Check what you are describing and what you counted in each. One student can submit two requests, for example. If your methods count requests, changing the wording to “students” in the results would require a separate count of people.
- Different words for the same requests. If “form submissions” and “form-based requests” refer to exactly the same records, choose the wording that is easier to follow. Here, “requests submitted through the online form” works well.
- One term covers more cases. If “electronic requests” includes both form and email submissions, use it when referring to both channels together. Name the form explicitly in a paragraph about that channel alone.
- Authors define a term differently. In your literature review, explain what each author's definition covers. In your methods, state which definition you use in your own study and how you identify the cases it covers.
Maciej Sydor points out that using several synonyms for the same things can make a thesis harder to follow. Tomasz Michta discusses how broader and narrower concepts relate to one another. In our example, that relationship helps explain how two perfectly valid terms can describe groups of different sizes.
The 2025 guidelines from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics at Rzeszów University of Technology call for clear writing and vocabulary appropriate to the field. The EASE guidelines for scientific articles in English recommend explaining unusual or ambiguous terms at first use. For a thesis at a university in Poland, check your own faculty's guidance, especially on foreign-language terms and abbreviations.
What belongs in a working glossary?
A sheet of paper or a separate file is enough. Start with terms that appear in both the methods and the results. For each one, note the term you have chosen, the definition, its source and a case that is easy to misclassify. Add any variants and abbreviations you want to search for. The glossary helps you edit. If you are considering a list of terms in the thesis itself, follow your university's guidelines and consider what the reader needs.
An example from a request log
Imagine you are writing a public administration thesis about a student service desk. In the fictional log, the “channel” field shows how each request came in. Two entries in the glossary might look like this.
- Request submitted through the online form. The channel is marked “form”. If someone emails an attachment with the same fields, the channel is still email.
- Electronic request. The channel is marked “form” or “email”. Use this as the shared term when you discuss both channels.
Add a rule for when you count a request as closed. In this example, the status must appear in the log by the time observation ends. Each entry represents one request. The same person may submit several.
What does one word change in a result of 62.5%?
The fictional log contains 30 electronic requests. Twenty-four came in through the form and six by email. By the end of the observation period, 15 form submissions had been closed and the other nine were still in progress. The statuses of the six email requests are outside this calculation.
A sentence from the results, before and after editing
Before editing. “62.5% of electronic cases were closed, which means that most students received help.”
After editing. “By the end of the observation period, 15 of the 24 requests submitted through the online form had been closed (62.5%).”
The fraction 15 / 24 applies only to the form. To report the percentage for both channels, you also need the number of closed email requests. The log counts requests, and a closure status only tells you that the entry was closed. To find out how many students received help, you need to check the outcomes and count distinct people.
You could caption the chart “Percentage of online form requests closed”. In the abstract, name the group and give the counts, for example “15 of 24 online form requests were closed”. If the spreadsheet and the draft show different percentages, check which values and filters the calculation uses before you edit the sentence.
Where else should you look for the old term?
- Start with your own writing. Search for different forms of the term, including plurals, inflected forms and abbreviations. Use a copy of the file or track changes. Read the sentence and the surrounding paragraph before making each edit.
- Keep the wording of your sources. Preserve quotations, source titles and original questionnaire items. If a term from a source needs explaining, add a sentence alongside it. Check the translated abstract too and make sure it refers to the same group.
- Move on to the places where you report a result. Compare the research question, methods, subheadings, captions, conclusions and appendix. When a term is unclear, leave a comment with a question you can answer by checking the data, such as “Does this figure include email requests?”.
Read the draft as someone who has never seen the log
Start with a chart caption or a sentence from the conclusion. Can you tell which requests it covers? Go back to the definition and check that it describes the same group. Then read the abstract. If you still need your working glossary to understand the result, clarify the sentence that made you pause.
If the uncertainty comes from a term in a publication, check that your paraphrase preserves the source's meaning. Try the guide to paraphrasing academic sources.
Questions about editing and reviewing a thesis
What is the difference between proofreading and editing?
Proofreading focuses on language accuracy, spelling and punctuation. Editing also addresses sentence structure, style, paragraph organisation, flow and the logic of your argument. I tailor the scope to the condition of your text and the changes it needs.
I offer both proofreading and editing for bachelor's and master's theses, coursework, reports, other academic papers and presentations.
Can an unfinished thesis be checked?
Yes. I can assess existing chapters and their layout, noting which elements cannot yet be checked. A comprehensive assessment of the link between results and conclusions requires providing those parts.
Sources
- Sydor, M. (2014). Wskazówki dla piszących prace dyplomowe. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Przyrodniczego w Poznaniu, pp. 60-61. ISBN 978-83-7160-725-7. DOI 10.17306/978-83-7160-725-7.
- European Association of Science Editors (2011). EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to be Published in English. Journal of Tehran Heart Center, 6(4), 206-210, “Scientific content” section. PMCID PMC3467956.
- Michta, T. (2022). Systemy pojęć w terminologii i słowniku. Wydawnictwo Prymat, pp. 40-41. ISBN 978-83-7657-484-4.
- Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszów University of Technology (2025). Wytyczne do opracowania i redakcji pracy dyplomowej, section 5.2, p. 13.
Discuss the terminology in your thesis
Tell us which terms are causing trouble. Include the definition, the passage with the result and any guidelines you have. We can use those to decide whether the wording needs editing or the definition and the way the group was counted need a closer look.
Share a passage for editing
