The College Student Union organised the Seminar on Dissertation Writing on Haidian Campus on the afternoon of 18 April, 2024. Professor Bo Yanna, Director of the Institute of Comparative Law, was invited as the guest speaker.

Based on her own research experience and personal experience, Bo Yanna shared in detail the writing process of dissertation with the students from four aspects, including the determination of the topic, the development of the argument, the finalisation of the first draft and the completion of the thesis.

For the process of literature reading, Bo said that students should take good reading notes and find the research theme through the arrangement of literature review. She said, topic selection is the soul of thesis writing and determines the direction of whole writing; therefore, in this process of topic selection, students should always adhere to the problem-oriented.

According to Bo, in the stage of argumentation, students should first organise the material focusing on the topic so as to narrow the scope of thesis statement and screen the material to select and choose appropriately, then straighten out the logic and plan the layout and last advance in an orderly manner and re-focus on the statement.

Bo likened the first draft to a short-term battle in which students must press on. She said, in this process students should be self-tolerant for making mistakes and have the courage for bold attempt, be good at sorting out their own mood to avoid perfectionism, anxiety and escape psychology, and be open to creative writing ideas through positive communication with others. She also emphasised that the first draft should be complete and have a clear point of view and the test the completion of the first draft could be done by the means of self-question and answer.

For the final stage of writing, Bo suggested students to read and revise their paper repeatedly to ensure it meets the requirements of various specifications, such as annotation, language, word count and writing norm, and to ensure it causes no injury, that is, no plagiarism risk, no typo, no punctuation misuse and no format problems. Bo believed that a perfect paper should include a sharp academic position, a clear outline logic, a layer-by-layer argument, enchanting words and sentences, fluent language and strict and standard writing norms.

Finally, Bo concluded that the dissertation writing requires scientific methods, trying spirit and serious attitude. She believed that every student could create a perfect ending to their studies.