Decide upon the writing and referencing style for your thesis. For a master's thesis or Ph.D. dissertation, you'll have to choose either Harvard or American Psychological Association (APA) style. Select the style indicated in your department or university writing guidelines.
Write the thesis proposal. This encompasses the first three chapters of the entire dissertation. These chapters include an introduction to your topic, a literature review of the subject matter and the research methodology. Acceptance of your proposal is indicative that the research you're going to do is valid and can help fill gaps in existing knowledge.
Get your proposal approved by your faculty supervisor, chair of your research committee and the university Institutional Review Board. Once this is done, you can now get started with the actual research for your study. The research can only be carried out if you've clearly defined your research methodology: research design, sample size, theoretical framework and means of data collection and data analysis.
Rewrite the first three chapters of your thesis (the proposal chapters) to indicate a shift from the future (what you proposed) to the past (what you actually did). Then write the rest of the thesis.
Section your thesis chapters to accurately reflect your ideas, your research and your conclusions. Start by writing the sections you're comfortable with and know more about, such as the actual research and data collection techniques. From here, move on to recording your empirical data and creating graphs to analyze this data for conclusive results. One chapter should be entirely dedicated to your study results.
Cite all references used in the text of your thesis in the correct style (either APA or Harvard). These references refer to ideas, quotes or data that have been picked from other literature you used in your manuscript.
Prepare your thesis presentation and practice in front of a mirror before your final presentation. This way, you'll not only get the practice, but the chance to clarify and condense your ideas.
Take into account the time you have for your presentation. This is important because it helps you determine the amount of PowerPoint slides you need and how much time you should spend on each one.
Show confidence. You know your subject matter. However, avoid being defensive or aggressive in proving your points.