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in 1977, Eco published a little book for his students, How to Write a Thesis, in which he offered useful advice on all the steps involved in researching and writing a thesis - from choosing a topic to organizing a work schedule to writing the final draft. Remarkably, this is its first, long overdue publication in English. Ecos approach is anything but dry and academic. He not only offers practical advice but also considers larger questions about the value of the thesis-writing exercise. How to Write a Thesis is unlike any other writing manual. It reads like a novel. It is opinionated. It is frequently irreverent, sometimes polemical, and often hilarious. Eco advises students how to avoid " thesis neurosis" and he answers the important question " Must You Read Books?" He reminds students " You are not Proust" and " Write everything that comes into your head, but only in the first draft."

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"Although first published in Italian in 1977, before Eco (The Name of the Rose) became an internationally renowned novelist, this guide to writing a thesis - originally aimed at Italian humanities undergraduates - brims with practical advice useful for writing research papers. . . . His advocacy of index card files to organize data seems quaintly nostalgic in the age of laptops and online databases, but it only underscores the importance of applying these more sophisticated tools to achieve the thoroughness of the results that he advocates." - Publishers Weekly

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Umberto Eco, geboren 1932 in Alessandria, lebte zuletzt in Mailand. Er studierte Pädagogik und Philosophie und promovierte 1954 an der Universität Turin. Anschließend arbeitete er beim Italienischen Fernsehen und war als freier Dozent für Ästhetik und visuelle Kommunikation in Turin, Mailand und Florenz tätig. Seit 1971 unterrichtet eer Semiotik in Bologna. Eco erhielt neben zahlreichen Auszeichnungen den "Premio Strega" (1981) und wurde u. a.1988 zum Ehrendoktor der Pariser Sorbonne ernannt.
Er verfasste zahlreiche Schriften zur Theorie und Praxis der Zeichen, der Literatur, der Kunst und nicht zuletzt der Ästhetik des Mittelalters. Seine Romane "Der Name der Rose" und "Das Foucaultsche Pendel" sind Welterfolge geworden.
2011 wurde Umberto Eco mit dem "Premio Pavese" ausgezeichnet und 2014 erhielt er den "Gutenberg-Preis" der Landeshauptstadt Mainz und der Internationalen Gutenberg-Gesellschaft. Er verstarb 2016.

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