In order to further improve the thesis research of international students, the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) held an online academic workshop on " thesis writing and revision " for international students (17th) on May 11, inviting internal and external reviewers to have an open discussion with international students. Professor Zhao Shurong, director of the SPAA International student program and the Center for West African Studies, presided over the event.

Professor Zhao Shurong firstly introduced the purpose of the workshop and invited the internal and external reviewers to introduce themselves. She emphasized that SPAA has always attached great importance to the quality of the thesis research conducted. Affected by the epidemic, many international students are conducting online study and thesis writing overseas. This workshop was designed to help international students better understand the issues within their particular thesis and how to address them by making effective modifications, comprehending expert evaluation standards, and subsequently how to prepare for the next master's thesis defense.

Professor Xing Qiangguo, an external evaluation expert from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, began by observing that, in general, all students displayed a degree of comprehension of the research subject and a basic framework for their specific study which he regarded adequate for graduate level research. He also proposed that the organization and implementation process of questionnaires and interviews be discussed in depth in the study design so that readers may readily grasp the entire research process.

Associate Professor Liu Yan from SPAA stated that the reviewed theses fully demonstrate the research ability and effort of international students. She consequently advised international students to write their work in a clear and succinct academic writing style, and to interact with their supervisors on thesis revisions on a regular basis. Dr. Kuang Yalin emphasized on the coherence and logic of concepts when writing as well as structure of the thesis. He also advised international students to avoid broad and/or vague research questions, stating that the thesis should represent its own in-depth insight and perspective.

Afterwards, Professor Zhao Shurong analyzed the topic selection, outline and structure of the thesis in detail with examples based on three international students' papers. By comparison, she explained what should be included in the abstract of a thesis and how to organize the table of content. By combining the outlines of the three international students' theses, she analyzed the differences in the structure of quantitative and qualitative research, as well as the characteristics of case studies.

The event also attracted the participation of 2021 international students preparing to start their thesis research. Professor Zhao Shurong and the participating experts took this opportunity to comment on the topic selection of their theses, by sharing with the international students how to improve the selection of the thesis topic from the perspective of narrowing the scope of research questions.

Finally, in the interactive question-and-answer (Q&A) session, the international students communicated with experts based on the problems they encountered in the writing and revision of their thesis in order to clear up any confusion and learn how to further improve their thesis. Asfaw Seyfu Alebachew, our 2020 international student studying online in Ethiopia, said: "This is an opportunity to help international students understand the problems within their research work and how to effectively revise these problems so that students can be fully prepared in their next thesis defense.” Lilian Wanjiru Njaramba, another international student from Kenya, stated that the workshop provided her with insight on what a thesis abstract should entail and how its contents should be arranged which proved useful in the revision of her abstract. She also added that the reviewers’ comments during the workshop also proved significant as students were able to clarify on the anonymous review comments in detail and make the necessary revisions. According to Safo Richard Blankson from Ghana, “the workshop will assist most students in choosing a topic of interest as well as publishing papers in the future.” Other International students also pointed out that the workshop proved insightful, encouraging them to conduct more proper research. At the end of the meeting students present extended their gratitude to the professors and experts in attendance. And our 2021 intel student Aneta Pisarikova from Czech also said by attending the event she had clearer picture about how to define an appropriate research title and fully aware the significance for the title defining for a productive research.

Up to 30 attendees from 2020 and 2021 international students ,faculty and staff were present .