Interviews

Interview: Masanobu Tanaka Animation Director—The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian relied heavily on procedural animation to bring Trico to life. Of all the technologies developed for the character, what was the single most important or successful in terms of making the creature appear alive and believable?

The animation control for the fixed “look-at” was among the most important technologies we built. Initially we used rotation from the neck and then the head; however, the problem with this method was that it made Trico look robotic, almost like a toy snake. With guidance from our creative director, Fumito Ueda, we decided upon a method that first fixed the head position and rotation followed by the neck. Real animals have the ability to fix their head position while the body is moving, which was a source of inspiration. We believe that switching to this method allowed us to add more realism to Trico. We named this method shishimai or “lion-dance control” after traditional Japanese lion dancing.

What, if any, were the unique challenges of a giant quadruped character in terms of navigation around the environment, and what animal references did you use most of all for the many subtle animalistic details on display?

Controlling a quadruped animal is no easy task, which we made even more challenging with our desire to build a controller that allowed a huge creature like Trico to squeeze into tight spaces and walk around freely. Major development obstacles included slopes, stairs, corners, and jumping into an abyss. We took great pains to make the movement natural by combining hand-key and procedural animations. In creating Trico’s movements, we referenced cats and dogs, and incorporated adorable animal gestures that were familiar to us.
Often it feels like The Last Guardian is the culmination of the studio’s previous projects. What was learned from animating the many colossi in Shadow of The Colossus in terms of bringing weight to Trico?

Yes, the experience with Shadow of The Colossus helped us a lot in the creation of The Last Guardian’s animations. However, the colossi were not alive, as it were; thus their movement was stiff compared to our desire to make Trico’s more fluid and lovable. With Trico, we definitely incorporated our learning about expressing the colossi’s weight while adding a degree of softness and elegance.

Trico generated strong responses from players in terms of invoking both empathy and frustration (the latter because he wouldn’t simply obey orders), as real animals are wont to do. How important do you believe “disagreeable” AI is to rendering a convincing character?

While I was not in charge of Trico’s AI, my personal opinion is that it’s important to express the AI’s will, not to be disagreeable. However, I think Trico’s AI was not as technically elaborate as to allow for it to have its own will. Instead, we expressed its will with animations, staging, and so forth. With Trico, we emphasized simplicity of AI to allow for easier controls by artists.

The Last Guardian creative director, Fumito Ueda, notably has an animation background. Is there a shared animation philosophy that has developed over the course of the studio’s games, and if so, what might it boil down to?

We have so many philosophies that it is hard to express them all. Regarding The Last Guardian, we took great reference from Fumito Ueda’s pet cat. Personally, I used to have a dog but never a cat, so I frequently referenced the animations of his cat. Also, we were told to emphasize the expression of weight and eliminate popping between animation transitions, as those errors would spoil all the good parts of the game that we worked so hard to bring to life.

Interview: Bruno Velazquez Animation Director—God of War

Revitalizing the style of such a well-known character as Kratos after working with him for over a decade must have been a fun and challenging experience. Were there any animation rules or dos-and-don’ts you built up for him over the years?

Over the course of seven games, we kept an internal document called “Kratos Rules” that the team adhered to for all aspects of realizing Kratos. Everything from the way he looked to the choices he would make and of course the way that he would move and be animated. These rules included such things as “Kratos always maintains eye contact with the enemy unless there is a major rotation; otherwise he is dialed in and focused on the enemy at hand.” The hit frame should personify this idea so his hits feel deliberate and final.

For the new God of War, we looked over each rule and revised them accordingly to reflect an older, more measured Kratos now responsible for raising his son Atreus. For example, “Kratos never runs away or takes a step back from the enemy. He is always moving forward or making the player feel like he is about to move forward.”
While this is still true in the new game, we added the following to the rule: “When forced to fight, Kratos will advance and maintain a smart dominance of the situation. However, he is older and wiser and attempting to turn away from violence as a solution. He wants to change to show his son there is a better way to resolve a problem.”

This was the first entry to the series that heavily utilized motion-capture. What were some of the key challenges of shifting the team over from a keyframe approach, and how did you maintain consistent style between the humans and creatures?

At the beginning of the project I was concerned about getting a team primarily built for keyframe animation to transition to a motion capture–heavy project. The way that it ultimately worked out was to get the whole team to jump head-first into the process. We purchased a motion capture suit that did not require cameras or a complicated setup and encouraged the animation team members to try it themselves. We spent many hours taking turns at wearing the suit and recorded as much data as we could.
Once the animators got to apply their own motion to our various characters, they were able to quickly get past any misconceptions and concerns about the technology and became more comfortable with it. This process emphasized the use of motion capture as

one more tool available to us and by experiencing the process themselves from beginning to end it helped them to accept its use. In the end, we did hire professional actors and stunt performers to capture the motion, but having the animators understand the process from beginning to end was a big step for us.
Once we got comfortable using more realistic animation data we were able to determine how much we could push our fully keyframed characters. We always used Kratos’s and Atreus’s motions as a barometer to keep us consistent.

You state that achieving the balance between fun and responsive gameplay and natural movement is one of your key goals. Do gameplay requirements ever conflict with animation and how do you typically resolve them?

Gameplay requirements always seem to affect and conflict with our inner animation desires. However, our team understands that gameplay is king. This is why we worked very closely with the combat designers who are responsible for building Kratos, Atreus, bosses, and all enemy AI characters. As we figure out the gameplay and identify the timing of motions that will serve the gameplay best, we identify data that includes hit-frame numbers and the total amount of frames a combat move needs to feel responsive. The animation team then finds creative solutions to maximize the use of keyframes available by focusing on the spacing of our poses.
A good example of this is the motion of the Blades of Chaos, which are keyframed frame-by-frame because the spacing and positions of each frame had to work for gameplay as well as being smooth enough so the trail effects wouldn’t look linear. When working on the cinematic kills where Kratos dispatches his enemies, however, the animation team had much more freedom to let loose with the animation timing. This allowed for the animation team to reach a nice balance with the gameplay team.

A notable visual style choice in God of War was a complete omission of camera cuts in cinematics and action scenes. What was the reasoning behind this decision and what were the related challenges?

Early on in the project we decided that we wanted to make this God of War more grounded and unflinching. Our goal was for the player to feel like they are right there next to Kratos and Atreus, along for the entire duration of the adventure by only focusing on their perspective. Because of this we decided not to cut the camera to show a passage of time or a glimpse of what “the bad guy” was doing in his lair. This was all in aid of a more personal story, so not cutting helped us to make it feel more realistic and visceral than previous games.

We quickly discovered that it was going to be very challenging to shoot scenes, and planning was critical. The moment that things fell into place was when we changed our approach from shooting like a film to instead producing more of a stage play. Once the actors adapted to approaching scenes like this, it really made a big difference. We would spend at least one day rehearsing before shooting so the actors could do a table-read together, absorb all the previsualization we had prepared, and rehearse the staging and movement with the virtual camera. In the end, it all worked out as a well-coordinated dance between our actors and cinematographer.

Abstract

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCh94nJqIo

An abstract is a self-contained summary of a larger work, such as research and scientific papers or general academic papers. Usually situated at the beginning of such works, the abstract is meant to “preview” the bigger document. This helps readers and other researchers find what they’re looking for and understand the magnitude of what’s discussed. 

Like the trailer for a movie, an abstract can determine whether or not someone becomes interested in your work. Aside from enticing readers, abstracts are also useful organizational tools that help other researchers and academics find papers relevant to their work.  

Because of their specific requirements, it’s best to know a little about how to write an abstract before doing it. This guide explains the basics of writing an abstract for beginners, including what to put in them and some expert tips on writing them. 

What’s the purpose of an abstract?

The main purpose of an abstract is to help people decide whether or not to read the entire academic paper. After all, titles can be misleading and don’t get into specifics like methodology or results. Imagine paying for and downloading a hundred-page dissertation on what you believe is relevant to your research on the Caucasus region—only to find out it’s about the other Georgia. 

Likewise, abstracts can encourage financial support for grant proposals and fundraising. If you lack the funding for your research, your proposal abstract would outline the costs and benefits of your project. This way, potential investors could make an informed decision, or jump to the relevant section of your proposal to see the details. 

Abstracts are also incredibly useful for indexing. They make it easier for researchers to find precisely what they need without wasting time skimming actual papers. And because abstracts sometimes touch on the results of a paper, researchers and students can see right away if the paper can be used as evidence or a citation to support their own theses. 

Nowadays, abstracts are also important for search engine optimization (SEO)—namely, for getting digital copies of your paper to appear in search engine results. If someone Googles the words used in your abstract, the link to your paper will appear higher in the search results, making it more likely to get clicks. 

How long should an abstract be? 

Abstracts are typically 100–250 words and comprise one or two paragraphs. However, more complex papers require more complex abstracts, so you may need to stretch it out to cover everything. It’s not uncommon to see abstracts that fill an entire page, especially in advanced scientific works. 

When do you need to write an abstract? 

Abstracts are only for lengthy, often complicated texts, as with scientific and research papers. Similar academic papers—including doctorate dissertations, master’s theses, or elaborate literary criticisms—may also demand them as well. If you’re learning how to write a thesis paper for college, you’ll want to know how to write an abstract, too. 

Specifically, most scientific journals and grant proposals require an abstract for submissions. Conference papers often involve them as well, as do book proposals and other fundraising endeavors. 

However, most writing, in particular casual and creative writing, doesn’t need an abstract. 

Types of abstracts

There are two main types of abstracts: informative and descriptive. Most abstracts fall into the informative category, with descriptive abstracts reserved for less formal papers. 

Informative abstracts

Informative abstracts discuss all the need-to-know details of your paper: purpose, method, scope, results, and conclusion. They’re the go-to format for scientific and research papers. 

Informative abstracts attempt to outline the entire paper without going into specifics. They’re written for quick reference, favor efficiency over style, and tend to lack personality. 

Descriptive abstracts

Descriptive abstracts are a little more personable and focus more on enticing readers. They don’t care as much for data and details, and instead read more like overviews that don’t give too much away. Think of descriptive abstracts like synopses on the back of a book. 

Because they don’t delve too deep, descriptive abstracts are shorter than informative abstracts, closer to 100 words, and in a single paragraph. In particular, they don’t cover areas like results or conclusions — you have to read the paper to satisfy your curiosity. 

Since they’re so informal, descriptive abstracts are more at home in artistic criticisms and entertaining papers than in scientific articles. 

What to include in an abstract

As part of a formal document, informative abstracts adhere to more scientific and data-based structures. Like the paper itself, abstracts should include all of the IMRaD elements: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. 

This handy acronym is a great way to remember what parts to include in your abstract. There are some other areas you might need as well, which we also explain at the end. 

Introduction

The beginning of your abstract should provide a broad overview of the entire project, just like the thesis statement. You can also use this section of your abstract to write out your hypothesis or research question. 

In the one or two sentences at the top, you want to disclose the purpose of your paper, such as what problem it attempts to solve and why the reader should be interested. You’ll also need to explain the context around it, including any historical references. 

Methods

This section covers the methodology of your research, or how you collected the data. This is crucial for verifying the credibility of your paper — abstracts with no methodology or suspicious methods won’t be taken seriously by the scientific community. 

If you’re using original research, you should disclose which analytical methods you used to collect your data, including descriptions of instruments, software, or participants. If you’re expounding on previous data, this is a good place to cite which data and from where to avoid plagiarism. 

Results

For informative abstracts, it’s okay to “give away the ending.” In one or two sentences, summarize the results of your paper and the conclusive outcome. Remember that the goal of most abstracts is to inform, not entice, so mentioning your results here can help others better classify and categorize your paper. 

This is often the biggest section of your abstract. It involves most of the concrete details surrounding your paper, so don’t be afraid to give it an extra sentence or two compared to the others. 

Discussion

The discussion section explains the ultimate conclusion and its ramifications. Based on the data and examination, what can we take away from this paper? The discussion section often goes beyond the scope of the project itself, including the implications of the research or what it adds to its field as a whole. 

Other inclusions

Aside from the IMRaD aspects, your abstract may require some of the following areas:

• Keywords — Like hashtags for research papers, keywords list out the topics discussed in your paper so interested people can find it more easily, especially with online formats. The APA format (explained below) has specific requirements for listing keywords, so double-check there before listing yours. 
• Ethical concerns — If your research deals with ethically gray areas, i.e., testing on animals, you may want to point out any concerns here, or issue reassurances. 
• Consequences — If your research disproves or challenges a popular theory or belief, it’s good to mention that in the abstract — especially if you have new evidence to back it up. 
• Conflicts of Interest/Disclosures — Although different forums have different rules on disclosing conflicts of interests, it’s generally best to mention them in your abstract. For example, maybe you received funding from a biased party. 

If you’re ever in doubt about what to include in your abstract, just remember that it should act as a succinct summary of your entire paper. Include all the relevant points, but only the highlights. 

Abstract formats

In general, abstracts are pretty uniform since they’re exclusive to formal documents. That said, there are a couple of technical formats you should be aware of. 

APA format 

The American Psychological Association (APA) has specific guidelines for their papers in the interest of consistency. Here’s what the 7th edition Publication Manual has to say about formatting abstracts:

• Double-space your text.
• Set page margins at 1 inch (2.54 cm).
• Write the word “Abstract” at the top of the page, centered and in a bold font.
• Don’t indent the first line.
• Keep your abstract under 250 words.
• Include a running header and page numbers on all pages, including the abstract.

Abstract keywords have their own particular guidelines as well: 

• Label the section as “Keywords:” with italics.
• Indent the first line at 0.5 inches, but leave subsequent lines as is.
• Write your keywords on the same line as the label.
• Use lower-case letters.
• Use commas, but not conjunctions.

Structured abstracts

Structured abstracts are a relatively new format for scientific papers, originating in the late 1980s. Basically, you just separate your abstract into smaller subsections — typically based on the IMRaD categories — and label them accordingly. 

The idea is to enhance scannability; for example, if readers are only interested in the methodology, they can skip right to the methodology. The actual writing of structured abstracts, though, is more-or-less the same as traditional ones. 

Unstructured abstracts are still the convention, though, so double-check beforehand to see which one is preferred.

3 expert tips for writing abstracts

1 Autonomous works

Abstracts are meant to be self-contained, autonomous works. They should act as standalone documents, often with a beginning, middle, and end. The thinking is that, even if you never read the actual paper, you’ll still understand the entire scope of the project just from the abstract. 

Keep that in mind when you write your abstract: it should be a microcosm of the entire piece, with all the key points, but none of the details. 

2 Write the abstract last

Because the abstract comes first, it’s tempting to write it first. However, writing the abstract at the end is more effective since you have a better understanding of what is actually in your paper. You’ll also discover new implications as you write, and perhaps even shift the structure a bit. In any event, you’re better prepared to write the abstract once the main paper is completed. 

3 Abstracts are not introductions

A common misconception is to write your abstract like an introduction — after all, it’s the first section of your paper. However, abstracts follow a different set of guidelines, so don’t make this mistake. 

Abstracts are summaries, designed to encapsulate the findings of your paper and assist with organization and searchability. A good abstract includes background information and context, not to mention results and conclusions. Abstracts are also self-contained, and can be read independently of the rest of the paper. 

Introductions, by contrast, serve to gradually bring the reader up to speed on the topic. Their goals are less clinical and more personable, with room to elaborate and build anticipation. Introductions are also an integral part of the paper, and feel incomplete if read independently. 

Give your formal writing the My Fair Lady treatment

Formal papers — the kind that requires abstracts — need formal language. But for most of us, that means changing the way we communicate or even think. You may want to consider the My Fair Lady treatment, which is to say, having a skilled mentor coach what you say. 

Grammarly Premium now offers a new Set Goals feature that helps you tailor your language to your audience or intention. All you have to do is set the goals of a particular piece of writing and Grammarly will customize your feedback accordingly. For example, you can select the knowledge level of your readers, the formality of the tone, and the domain or field you’re writing for (i.e., academic, creative, business, etc.). You can even set a tone to sound more analytical or respectful! 

Conclusion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UElC_YZ0Eo

For many, the conclusion is the most dreaded part of essay writing. Condensing all the points you’ve analyzed in a tidy little package is certainly easier said than done. How can you make a good final impression while emphasizing the significance of your findings? 

Learning how to write a conclusion for an essay doesn’t need to feel like climbing Everest. It is wholly possible to tie everything together while considering the broader issues and implications of your argument. You just need the right strategy.

What do you want to leave your readers with? Perhaps you want to end with a quotation that adds texture to your discussion. Or, perhaps you want to set your argument into a different, perhaps larger context. 

An effective conclusion paragraph should ultimately suggest to your reader that you’ve accomplished what you set out to prove.

How to write a good conclusion

As you set out to write your conclusion and end your essay on an insightful note, you’ll want to start by restating your thesis. Since the thesis is the central idea of your entire essay, it’s wise to remind the reader of the purpose of your paper. 

Once you’ve restated your thesis (in a way that’s paraphrased, of course, and offers a fresh understanding), the next step is to reiterate your supporting points. Extract all of the “main points” from each of your supporting paragraphs or individual arguments in the essay. Then, find a way to wrap up these points in a way that demonstrates the importance of the ideas. 

Depending on the length of your essay, knowing how to write a good conclusion is somewhat intuitive—you don’t want to simply summarize what you wrote. Rather, the conclusion should convey a sense of closure alongside the larger meaning and lingering possibilities of the topic. 

What your conclusion should include

Now that you know what a good conclusion encompasses, you can get into the finer details. Beyond restating your thesis and summarizing your points, what else should the conclusion include?

Here are some strategies for ending your essay in a savvy and thought-provoking way: 

Ask yourself: “So what?” 

At some point in your life, a teacher has probably told you that the end of an essay should answer the question “So what?” or “Why does it matter?” This advice holds true. It’s helpful to ask yourself this question at the start of drafting your thesis and come back to it throughout, as it can keep you in tune with the essay’s purpose. Then, at your conclusion, you won’t be left searching for something to say.

Add perspective 

If you’ve come across a fantastic quote in your research that didn’t quite make it into the essay, the conclusion is a great spot for it. Including a quote from one of your primary or secondary sources can frame your thesis or final thoughts in a different light. This can add specificity and texture to your overall argument. 

For example, if you’ve written an essay about J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, you can think about using a quote from the book itself or from a critic or scholar who complicates your main point. If your thesis is about Salinger’s desire to preserve childhood innocence, ending with a biographer’s statement about Salinger’s attitude toward his own youth might be illuminating for readers. If you decide to amplify your conclusion paragraph in this way, make sure the secondary material adds (and not detracts) from the points you already made. After all, you want to have the last word!

Consider the clincher

At the very end of the essay comes your closing sentence or clincher. As you think about how to write a good conclusion, the clincher must be top of mind. What can you say to propel the reader to a new view on the subject? This final sentence needs to help readers feel a sense of closure. It should also end on a positive note, so your audience feels glad they read your paper and that they learned something worthwhile. 

What your conclusion should not include

There are a few things that you should definitely strive to avoid when writing your conclusion paragraph. These elements will only cheapen your overall argument and belabor the obvious.

Here are several conclusion mishaps to consider:

• Avoid phrases like “in summary,” “in conclusion,” or “to sum up.” Readers know they’re at the end of the essay and don’t need a signpost. 
• Don’t simply summarize what’s come before. For a short essay, you certainly don’t need to reiterate all of your supporting arguments. Readers will know if you just copied and pasted from elsewhere.
• Avoid introducing brand new ideas or evidence. This will only confuse readers and sap force from your arguments. If there’s a really profound point that you’ve reached in your conclusion and want to include, try moving it to one of your supporting paragraphs. 

Whereas your introduction acts as a bridge that transfers your readers from their own lives into the “space” of your argument or analysis, your conclusion should help readers transition back to their daily lives. 

By following this useful roadmap, you can feel confident that you know how to write a good conclusion that leaves readers with a solution, a call to action, or a powerful insight for further study.

Introduction

A thesis statement is a sentence in a paper or essay (in the opening paragraph) that introduces the main topic to the reader. As one of the first things your reader sees, your thesis statement is one of the most important sentences in your entire paper—but also one of the hardest to write! 

In this article, we explain how to write a thesis statement in the best way possible. We look at what to include and the steps to take for writing your own, along with plenty of thesis statement examples to guide you. 

What is a thesis statement?

The goal of a thesis statement is to let your reader know what your paper or essay is about. It helps your reader understand the greater context and scope of your topic, plus it lets your readers know what to expect from the rest of the work. 

A secondary benefit of a thesis statement is that it makes it easier to search for papers on a particular topic, especially in the realm of academic writing like research papers and thesis papers (which are sometimes known as dissertations when written for doctoral degrees). For example, if you’re writing a paper of your own, you’ll want to look up other papers to use as evidence and sources. You can simply scan the thesis statements of several papers to see which match your topic and could be worthwhile sources to cite. 

The thesis statement is located at the beginning of a paper, in the opening paragraph, making it an essential way to start an essay. A thesis statement isn’t necessarily the first sentence in an essay; typically you’ll want to hook the reader in an engaging way in the opening sentence before inserting your central idea or argument later in the first paragraph. A thesis statement is often confused with a topic sentence, the first sentence in a paragraph, because they both introduce the central idea of what follows. You can think of thesis statements as the topic sentence of your entire paper.  

What to include in a thesis statement (with examples)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2LAEFbmWWg

Thesis statements are a necessary part of paper and essay writing, but different formats have different rules and best practices. Below, we break down how to write a thesis statement for the most common types of papers. 

How to write a thesis statement for expository and argumentative essays

Expository and argumentative essays are some of the most common types of academic papers. Because they don’t have a formal abstract like research papers, they rely on their thesis statements to provide an overview of what’s discussed. 

Thesis statements for argumentative and expository essays should use strong and decisive language; don’t be wishy-washy or uncertain. You want to take a stand right in the opening so that your readers understand what your paper is trying to show. 

Moreover, thesis statements for these essays should be specific, with some minor details to hint at the rest of the paper. It’s not enough to merely make your point; you also want to provide some basic evidence or background context to paint a full picture. 

If your paper dives into different subtopics or categories, try to fit them into the thesis statement if you can. You don’t have to get into details here, but it’s nice to mention the different sections at the top so that the reader knows what to expect. 

 Thesis statement examplesDespite the taboo, insects make an excellent food source and could stem humanity’s looming food shortage, based on both their protein output and the sustainability of farming them. The backlash to rock ’n’ roll music in the ’50s by religious groups and traditionalists actually boosted the genre’s popularity instead of diminishing it as intended.

How to write a thesis statement for persuasive essays

Similar to argumentative essays, persuasive essays follow many of the same guidelines for their thesis statements: decisive language, specific details, and mentions of subtopics. 

However, the main difference is that, while the thesis statements for argumentative and expository essays state facts, the thesis statements for persuasive essays state clear opinions. Still, the format is the same, and the opinions are often treated like facts, including conclusive language and citing evidence to support your claims. 

Furthermore, unlike with other essays, it’s appropriate to make emotional connections in a thesis statement in persuasive essays. This can actually be a clever strategy to start your essay off on a more personal, impactful note. 

Thesis statement examplesAdvertising should not be allowed in public schools because it’s a distraction from studies and may lead to misguided priorities among the school board, to say nothing of the materialist culture it promotes. Exotic pets provide the same love and companionship as conventional pets, so the laws regulating which animals can and cannot be kept as pets should be more relaxed. 

How to write a thesis statement for compare-and-contrast essays

Thesis statements for compare-and-contrast essays are tricky because you have at least two topics to touch on instead of just one. The same general guidelines apply (decisive language, details, etc.), but you need to give equal attention to both your topics—otherwise, your essay will seem biased from the start. 

As always, your thesis statement should reflect what’s written in the rest of your essay. If your essay spends more time comparing than contrasting, your thesis statement should focus more on similarities than differences. 

It sometimes helps to give specific examples as well, but keep them simple and brief. Save the finer details for the body of your essay. 

 Thesis statement examplesSean Connery and Daniel Craig are the two most popular actors to portray James Bond, but both have their own distinct and at times contradictory interpretations of the character. While capitalism and communism are often viewed as diametric opposites, the truth is that, in practice, both ideologies tend to “borrow” principles from one another. 

How to write a thesis statement in 3 steps

Now that you know what you’re aiming for, it’s time to sit down and write your own thesis statement. To keep you on track, here are three easy steps to guide you. 

1 Brainstorm the best topic for your essay

You can’t write a thesis statement until you know what your paper is about, so your first step is choosing a topic. 

If the topic is already assigned, great! That’s all for this step. If not, consider the tips below for choosing the topic that’s best for you:

• Pick a topic that you’re passionate about. Even if you don’t know much about it, it’ll be easier to learn about it while writing if you’re genuinely interested. 
• Narrow down your topic to something specific; otherwise, your paper will be too broad and perhaps too long. Just make sure it’s not too specific, or you won’t have enough to write about. Try to find a happy medium. 
• Check beforehand that there are enough strong, credible sources to use for research. You don’t want to run out of referential material halfway through. 

Once you’ve chosen a topic—and the angle or stance you want to take—then it’s time to put the idea for your thesis sentence into words. 

2 Phrase your topic as a question and then answer it

It’s not always easy to fit your entire thesis into just one sentence, let alone one that’s written clearly and eloquently. Here’s a quick technique to help you get started. 

First, phrase your topic as a question. For example, if you want to write about Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy, ask yourself, “What influences did Gandhi have on society after his death?” 

If you already know the answer, write it down—that’s a good start for your thesis statement. If you don’t know the answer, do some preliminary research to find out; you can certainly use what you discover as evidence and sources in your essay’s body paragraphs. 

3 Add some polish

Chances are, your first attempt at a thesis statement won’t be perfect. To get it to its best, try revising, editing, and adding what’s missing. 

Remember the core traits for thesis statements we mentioned above: decisive language, a happy medium of specific but not too specific details, and mention of subtopics. If you’re struggling to contain everything in a single sentence, feel free to move the secondary information to the following sentence. The thesis statement itself should only have what’s most necessary. 

If you’re in doubt, read your thesis statement to a friend and ask them what they think your paper is about. If they answer correctly, your thesis statement does its job. 

Next comes the hard part—writing the rest! While the bulk of the writing lies ahead, at least you’ve nailed down your central idea. To plot out your supporting argument, follow our advice on essay structure and let your ideas flow. 

Methodology

Published on 25 February 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on 13 December 2021.

In your dissertation or thesis, you will have to discuss the methods you used to undertake your research. The methodology or methods section explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research. It should include:

• The type of research you did
• How you collected and/or selected your data
• How you analysed your data
• Any tools or materials you used in the research
• Your rationale for choosing these methods

The methodology section should generally be written in the past tense.

Table of contents

1. Explain your methodological approach
2. Describe your methods of data collection and/or selection
3. Describe your methods of analysis
4. Evaluate and justify your methodological choices
5. Tips for writing a strong methodology
6. Frequently asked questions about methodology

Step 1: Explain your methodological approach

Begin by introducing your overall approach to the research. What problem or question did you investigate, and what kind of data did you need to answer it?

• Quantitative methods (e.g. surveys) are best for measuring, ranking, categorising, identifying patterns and making generalisations
• Qualitative methods (e.g. interviews) are best for describing, interpreting, contextualising, and gaining in-depth insight into specific concepts or phenomena
• Mixed methods allow for a combination of numerical measurement and in-depth exploration

Depending on your discipline and approach, you might also begin with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology.

• Was your aim to address a practical or a theoretical problem?
• Why is this the most suitable approach to answering your research questions?
• Is this a standard methodology in your field or does it require justification?
• Were there any ethical or philosophical considerations?
• What are the criteria for validity and rigorousness in this type of research?

In a quantitative experimental study, you might aim to produce generalisable knowledge about the causes of a phenomenon. Valid research requires a carefully designed study with controlled variables that can be replicated by other researchers.

In a qualitative participant observation, you might aim to produce ethnographic knowledge about the behaviours, social structures and shared beliefs of a specific group of people. As this methodology is less controlled and more interpretive, you will need to reflect on your position as researcher, taking into account how your participation and perception might have influenced the results.

Step 2: Describe your methods of data collection and/or selection

Once you have introduced your overall methodological approach, you should give full details of the methods you used to conduct the research. Outline the tools, procedures and materials you used to gather data, and the criteria you used to select participants or sources.

Quantitative methods

 Surveys
Describe where, when and how the survey was conducted.

• How did you design the questions and what form did they take (e.g. multiple choice, rating scale)?
• How did you find and select participants?
• Did you conduct surveys by phone, mail, online or in person, and how long did participants have to respond?
• What was the sample size and response rate?

You might want to include the full questionnaire as an appendix so that your reader can see exactly what data was collected.

 Experiments
Give full details of the tools, techniques and procedures you used to conduct the experiment.

• How did you design the experiment (e.g. between-subjects or within-subjects)?
• How did you find and select participants?
• What tools or technologies did you use in the experiment?

In experimental research, it is especially important to give enough detail for another researcher to reproduce your results.

 Existing data
Explain how you gathered and selected material (such as publications or archival data) for inclusion in your analysis.

• Where did you source the material?
• How was the data originally produced?
• What criteria did you use to select material (e.g. date range)?

Quantitative methods example

The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 questions that the respondents had to answer with a 7-point Lickert scale. The aim was to conduct the survey with 350 customers of Company X on the company premises in The Hague from 4-8 July 2017 between 11:00 and 15:00. A customer was defined as a person who had purchased a product from Company X on the day of questioning. Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in the survey anonymously, and 408 customers responded. Because not all surveys were fully completed, 371 survey results were included in the analysis.

Qualitative methods

 Interviews or focus groups
Describe where, when and how the interviews were conducted.

• How did you find and select participants?
• How many people took part?
• What form did the interviews take (structured, semi-structured, unstructured)?
• How long were the interviews and how were they recorded?

 Participant observation
Describe where, when and how you conducted the observation.

• What group or community did you observe and how did you gain access to them?
• How long did you spend conducting the research and where was it located?
• How did you record your data (e.g. audiovisual recordings, note-taking)?

 Existing data
Explain how you selected case study materials (such as texts or images) for the focus of your analysis.

• What type of materials did you analyse?
• How did you collect and select them?

Qualitative methods example

In order to gain a better insight into the possibilities for improvement of the product range, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 returning customers from the main target group of Company X. A returning customer was defined as someone who usually bought products at least twice a week from Company X. The surveys were used to select returning customer participants who belonged to the target group (20-45 years old). Interviews were conducted in a small office next to the cash register, and lasted approximately 20 minutes each. Answers were recorded by note-taking, and seven interviews were also filmed with consent. One interviewee preferred not to be filmed.

Step 3: Describe your methods of analysis

Next, you should indicate how you processed and analysed the data. Avoid going into too much detail—you should not start presenting or discussing any of your results at this stage.

Quantitative methods

In quantitative research, your analysis will be based on numbers. In the methods section you might include:

• How you prepared the data before analysing it (e.g. checking for missing data, removing outliers, transforming variables)
• Which software you used to analyse the data (e.g. SPSS or Stata)
• Which statistical methods you used (e.g. regression analysis)

Quantitative methods example

Before analysis the gathered data was prepared. The dataset was checked for missing data and outliers. For this the “outlier labeling rule” was used. All values outside the calculated range were considered outliers (Hoaglin & Iglewicz, 1987). The data was then analysed using statistical software SPSS.

Qualitative methods

In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language, images and observations. Methods might include:

• Content analysis: coding and categorising themes and ideas
• Narrative analysis: looking at storytelling structures and tropes and interpreting their meaning
• Discourse analysis: looking at communication and meaning (including language, images, and nonverbal interactions) in relation to their social context

Qualitative methods example

The interviews were transcribed and open coded to categorise key themes and identify patterns. Each theme was analysed to gain a deeper understanding of participants’ perceptions and motivations.

Step 4: Evaluate and justify your methodological choices

Your methodology should make the case for why you chose these particular methods, especially if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. Discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.

You can acknowledge limitations or weaknesses in the approach you chose, but justify why these were outweighed by the strengths.Lab-based experiments can’t always accurately simulate real-life situations and behaviours, but they are effective for testing causal relationships between variables.Unstructured interviews usually produce results that cannot be generalised beyond the sample group, but they provide a more in-depth understanding of participants’ perceptions, motivations and emotions.

Tips for writing a strong methodology

Remember that your aim is not just to describe your methods, but to show how and why you applied them and to demonstrate that your research was rigorously conducted.

Focus on your objectives and research questions

The methodology section should clearly show why your methods suit your objectives and convince the reader that you chose the best possible approach to answering your problem statement and research questions. Throughout the section, relate your choices back to the central purpose of your dissertation.

Cite relevant sources

Your methodology can be strengthened by reference to existing research in the field, either to:

• Confirm that you followed established practices for this type of research
• Discuss how you evaluated different methodologies and decided on your approach
• Show that you took a novel methodological approach to address a gap in the literature

Write for your audience

Consider how much information you need to give, and don’t go into unnecessary detail. If you are using methods that are standard for your discipline, you probably don’t need to give lots of background or justification. But if you take an approach that is less common in your field, you might need to explain and justify your methodological choices.

In either case, your methodology should be a clear, well-structured text that makes an argument for your approach, not just a list of technical details and procedures.

Discuss obstacles

If you encountered difficulties in collecting or analysing data, explain how you dealt with them. Show how you minimised the impact of any unexpected obstacles. Pre-empt any major critiques of your approach and demonstrate that you made the research as rigorous as possible.

Literature Review

The 12 principles of animation

“Back when video games were still in the Pac Man era, Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston introduced (in their 1981 book, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation)1 what are now widely held to be the core tenets of all animation, the 12 basic principles of animation. (Jonathan 2019) ”
Thomas P Thesen (2020) proposed the Reviewing and Updating of the 12 principles of animation in his journal. “The expansion of the 12 principles of animation into the various animation techniques requires a consideration of their development, which, in the 1930s and 1940s was sufficient for animation’s hand-drawn animation needs; since then, the principles have proven themselves accurate and incredibly helpful for subsequent decades. Nevertheless, this article indicates that a refinement of the principles is required to accommodate a broader range of animation techniques. The great advantage of the 12 principles of animation is their simplicity and logic; however, they do not apply in their entirety (as the full set of 12) to hand-drawn digital animation, stop-motion animation, experimental or digitally animated media.”

Since this theory was written in the era of purely hand-drawn 2d animation, although Thomas P Thesen (2020) has upgraded and supplemented this, the 12 principles of animation and game animation are in the process of evolving from 2d traditional animation to 3d computer animation. The association with other interactive media is not obvious.” Game and Animation are considered as two different fields. The definition of animation is “moving picture” and game is a kind of animation which can be controlled by users. Actually, many principles of animation are applied to the production of games, and are even more emphasized in the game contents (Hyeon, Nam-Kook, 2006, p25) ” My goal is to re-examine The 12 principles of animation from the perspective of 3D game animation.

5 fundamentals of game animation

This concept was proposed by Jonathan Cooper, which is different from traditional animation and perfectly applicable to the 5 fundamentals of game animation. “The 12 animation principles are a great foundation for any animator to understand, and failure to do so will result in missing some of the underlying fundamentals of animation—visible in many a junior’s work. Ultimately, however, they were written with the concept of linear entertainment like TV and film in mind, and the move to 3D kept all of these elements intact due to the purely aesthetic change in the medium. Three-dimensional animated cartoons and visual effects are still part of a linear medium, so they will translate only to certain elements of video game animation—often only if the game is cartoony in style. (Jonathan 2019) “

It is a supplement to the 12 principles of animation, not a replacement. My aim is to summarize my overall understanding of the five principles of game animation based on the theory proposed by Jonathan Cooper, and to illustrate why these five principles are so important.

Motion capture

“In considering computer animation techniques, there are basically three general approaches to motion control. The first is artistic animation in which the animator has the prime responsibility for crafting the motion. The foundation of artistic animation is interpolation. The second is data-driven animation, in which live motion is digitized and then mapped onto graphical objects. The primary technology for data-driven animation is referred to as motion capture. The third is procedural animation, in which there is a computational model that is used to control the motion. (Parent, 2009, p.4) ”

As one of the core technologies of game character animation, Mocap plays an important role in the game industry. I searched a lot of literature, most of the technical application of mocap is in the production of movies, and now the game industry needs this technology more than any movie production. In this chapter, my goal is to take the online game Moonlight Blade as an example to analyze the advantages, disadvantages and irreplaceability of mocap in the production of 3d game animation.

Bibliography:

Jonathan, C. (2019) Game AnimVideo Game Animation Explained America: CRC Press. Available at: https://ereader.perlego.com/1/book/1578667/2 (Accessed 05 October 2021).

Thomas P, T. (2020) Reviewing and Updating the 12 Principles of Animation Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1746847720969919  (Accessed 14 October 2021).

Seon-Young, L. (2016) A Study on Realization of In-game Animation Korea: Korean Society of Cartoon Animation Studies. Available at: https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201613360957505.page  (Accessed 25 October 2021).

Hyeon K., Nam-Kook L. (2006) The Study about Application of Animation 12 principles on 3D Mobile Game -With Game [Fly to The Music] Korea: The Korea Contents Association. 2 (2), pp. 25.

Parent, R. (2009) Computer animation complete: all-in-one : learn motion capture, characteristic, point-based, and Maya winning techniques America: Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 69-88.

Alberto M. (2000) Understanding Motion Capture for Computer Animation and Video Games America: Academic Press.

Tom S. (2013) Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation Cambridge: The MIT Press pp, 171-217.

Andrade, D. (2016) 12 Principles of Animation for CG Animators. Available at: https://www.lynda.com/3ds-Max-tutorials/Principle-11-Solid-drawing/474685/542366-4.html?org=shu.ac.uk (Accessed 28 October 2021).

Furniss, M. (Ed.). (2009) Animation: Art and industry America: Indiana University Press.

Blair, P. (1994) Cartoon Animation America: Walter Foster Publishing.

Lasseter, J. (1987) Principles of traditional animation applied to 3D computer animation America: Computer Graphics 21(4), pp. 35–44.

Lord, P., Sibley, B. (1998) Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation London: Thames & Hudson.

Thomas, F., Johnston, O. (1981) The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation White Plains, NY: Disney Editions.

Webster, C. (2012) Action Analysis for Animators Waltham, MA: Focal Press.

Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation London: Routledge.

Williams, R. (2001) The Animator’s Survival Kit London: Faber & Faber.

McGillivray, C. (2007) How psychophysical perception of motion and image relates to animation practice. Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation (CGIV), pp. 81–88.

Williams, R. (2012) The Animator’s Survival Kit New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

O’Connor, D. (2018) The 21 Foundations of Animation. Available at: http://www.angryanimator.com/word/?fbclid=IwAR0miCy-DA-NBjtYJWbBPxEYPtDuMT2CYrz3tmJwHNqxErOc5MU1S-zNGVE (Accessed 12 November 2018).

INDEX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIYC6zG265E

How to write a literature review

Published on 22 February 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on 3 May 2021.

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research.

Conducting a literature review involves collecting, evaluating and analysing publications (such as books and journal articles) that relate to your research question. There are five main steps in the process of writing a literature review:

1. Search for relevant literature
2. Evaluate sources
3. Identify themes, debates and gaps
4. Outline the structure
5. Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

Table of contents

1. Why write a literature review?
2. Search for relevant literature
3. Evaluate and select sources
4. Identify themes, debates and gaps
5. Outline your literature review’s structure
6. Write your literature review
7. Frequently asked questions about literature reviews

Why write a literature review?

When you write a dissertation or thesis, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your dissertation addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.

The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps.

Step 1: Search for relevant literature

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic.

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research objectives and questions.

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.Research question exampleWhat is the impact of social media on body image among Generation Z?

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.Keywords example

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• JSTOR
• EBSCO
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search:

• AND to find sources that contain more than one keyword (e.g. social media AND body image AND generation Z
• OR to find sources that contain one of a range of synonyms (e.g. generation Z OR teenagers OR adolescents)
• NOT to exclude results containing certain terms (e.g. apple NOT fruit)

Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.

Step 2: Evaluate and select sources

You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It’s important to keep track of your sources with references to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full reference information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

You can use our free APA Reference Generator for quick, correct, consistent citations.

Step 3: Identify themes, debates and gaps

To begin organising your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.Example of trends and gapsIn reviewing the literature on social media and body image, you note that:

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly-visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat – this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure

There are various approaches to organising the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order.

Try to analyse patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

Thematic

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organise your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Step 5: Write your literature review

Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Dissertation literature review

If you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic (“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”).

Stand-alone literature review

If you are writing a stand-alone paper, give some background on the topic and its importance, discuss the scope of the literature you will review (for example, the time period of your sources), and state your objective. What new insight will you draw from the literature?

Body

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, make sure to follow these tips:

• Summarise and synthesise: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole.
• Analyse and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, you should summarise the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasise their significance.

Dissertation literature review

If the literature review is part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research. This can lead directly into your methodology section.

Stand-alone literature review

If you are writing a stand-alone paper, you can discuss the overall implications of the literature or make suggestions for future research based on the gaps you have identified.