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How to Write a Complete Dissertation?

Structuring a dissertation

By Inspire MarketingPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Structuring a dissertation

A dissertation is considered the most vital form of writing in academia. The length of a dissertation will be daunting, and you would be struggling where to start. Another challenge is that the more and more you research it will seem never-ending. In order to make your dissertation writing process easy, this piece gives you the needed information on how to structure your dissertation and what to include in it.

Dissertation structure

All the dissertations are not structured the same. The type of your research paper will depends on various factors including place, domain, topic, and approach. Now we will see the different sections of the dissertation and the significance of each section. Each section contributes to the research and should not be considered trivial.

Title page

This is the initial page of your document and contains the dissertation’s title, your name, institution, department, degree, deadline date, and the research supervisor. The university’s name, logo, and student number can also be given on the title page.

Acknowledgement

If you are doubtful whether to have your acknowledgment section, it is suggested that it is included. It is a great way of showing gratitude to those who helped you in creating your dissertation. This will have the supervisors, research participants, and well-wishers like friends or family.

Abstract

The abstract or executive summary will depend on your area of study. You are supposed to give a summary of your research paper in an abstract. First, it should introduce the topic of discussion and research problem and then provide crisp details about research methodology, findings, and conclusion. The abstract, though a concise part, is the initial part that the reader will read. Hence, write it correctly.

Table of contents

This section lists each section of the research paper’s contents. It gives an outline of your dissertation structure and will help to easily go through the document. Note that all parts of your dissertations should be present in this important section. Microsoft Word also has a feature for generating table of contents.

List of figures and tables

You would used a large number of tables and figures in your dissertation. You can organize this by itemizing them in a numbered list. Here also the Microsoft Word feature comes to help.

List of abbreviations

Suppose you have used several abbreviations in your dissertation. You can have an alphabetical list of abbreviations, thus making it comfortable for the reader to see their meanings.

Glossary

You might have used technical jargons and unfamiliar terms in your dissertation. It is a good thing to add a glossary. Here also list these terms in an alphabetic manner and explain each term shortly.

Introduction

The purpose, relevance, and significance of your research topic is written here. The reader should comprehend what the dissertation chapters should cover by reading the introduction. The introduction should give adequate importance to your research topic, providing the needed background information. It should also clearly provide the research’s scope besides stating your research questions. A gist of the dissertation structure is also given here. Whatever details you have included in the introduction, it should be lucid and also relevant to your research paper. The what, why and how of your research should be clearly emphasized in the introduction.

Literature review

The literature review section is the analysis of your research wherein you gain a comprehensive grasp of the body of knowledge that already exists on your topic. You have to gather sources and choose the most appropriate ones, critically analyse each source, and find associations between them. You should come up with an argument that justifies your research. You would concentrate on addressing a literature gap, adopt a new theoretical perspective, augment already present knowledge with fresh data, etc. The literature review generally becomes the core factor for a theoretical framework wherein you evaluate the important concepts and patterns that structure your research.

Methodology

The ”how” of your research is the methodology section, and it helps the reader to gauge the research’s authenticity. You can include the general approach and type of research (qualitative, quantitative etc,) your ways of gathering data (interviews, questionnaires) the participants in the research, your ways of assessing data (statistical assessment) tools used including computer programs, the hurdles you encountered in the research, and an assessment of your methods. The key is in giving a correct report of your work as well as justifying that you took the best approach.

Results

This section can have sub-questions and relevant hypotheses. In certain domains, the results section does not come along with the discussion sections. In some other domains, the two are in the same section. Here, you should tell how the result associates to the question or whether the hypothesis was supported. It would be a good choice to add tables and illustrations if they help the reader comprehend your results. You should take care to add even those results that didn’t meet your expectations. Extra information including entire questionnaires and interview transcripts can be added in an appendix.

Discussion

You have to work on the meaning and the significance of your results in the context of your research question in the discussion section. The results should be explained in a comprehensive manner, elaborating on whether they are up to your expectations. But be genuine enough in acknowledging the limitations.

Conclusion

The research question is the key to the research, and the conclusion section should briefly answer it. The reader should have a clear knowledge of your pivotal argument and understand what your research paper has contributed. Generally, the conclusion is the final chapter of your dissertation though sometimes it may come before the discussion. A sound reflection of your findings is what makes the conclusion effective. When you have the conclusion at the end, you need to have a recommendation that follows it. Phdwritingassistance.

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