A dissertation is a long scholarly publication that focuses on an original research project. Your dissertation may be the longest form of writing you’d ever write – either as a college student or during your master’s. As a result, determining where to begin and the structure of the dissertation can be difficult.
Although it can be challenging to determine and create, you can take steps to make the process easier. This piece will examine the standard dissertation structure and how to choose one.
Choosing the structure of the dissertation: steps to take
The template dissertation structure can differ between fields and locations. It generally depends on your location, method, topic, course of study, and institution.
For example, dissertations in the humanities are frequently organized like lengthy articles. The chapters are grouped around distinct topics or case studies to bolster a thesis in such dissertations.
However, in sciences or social sciences, how you describe the structure of the dissertation is quite different. Each investigation, topic, or case study has its chapter in such dissertations, although they can be merged.
Although this applies to most institutions, there are some variations. If you’re unsure about how to structure your dissertation, check your department’s and institution’s standards and ask your supervisor.
Structure of dissertation: what is the structure of the dissertation meant to look like?
If you aren’t given any specific instructions about your dissertation’s structure or format, there’s a general standard you can stick to. These are some of the components:
- Title page
The title of your dissertation, your name, department, institution, graduate degree, and due dates should appear on the first page of your paper.
Your student number, supervisor’s name, and the university’s emblem can also be included – in some cases. A good title must be concise and specific and describe the study you’re doing.
- Acknowledgments
The acknowledgment section is usually optional. It allows you to express gratitude to all who assisted in the composition of your dissertation. It would help if you restricted this to one or half a page.
- Abstract
The abstract is a brief description of your dissertation that is generally between 150 and 300 words long. While this would appear at the beginning of your finished dissertation, it is best to write it after you have completed your dissertation.
Despite its brief length, the abstract is the first (and sometimes only) element of your dissertation that most people will review, so you must get it correct.
- The table of contents
Insert every one of your chapters and subsections, together with their page numbers, in the table of contents. The contents page of your dissertation provides an outline of your organization and aids in document navigation.
The table of contents should cover all sections or chapters of your dissertation, including the appendices and references. If you utilize heading styles in Word, you may manually build a table of contents.
- The core chapters
This dissertation chapter structure comprises the crux of your dissertation and will determine your grade.
- Introduction
The first chapter is the introductory chapter, where you introduce your study. The introduction should be concise, engaging, and relevant to your research. The reader should be able to comprehend a bit of the what, why, and how of your study from your introduction.
- Literature review
Before beginning your research, you should undertake a literature review to get a complete overview of the existing academic work on your issue.
- Methodology
The methodology section explains how you did your research and allows the reader to judge its credibility.
- Results
This chapter shows that you have completed your data collection and analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative, or mixed approaches. In this chapter, you’ll give the exact findings of your research.
- Discussion
This chapter will examine and analyze the data analysis outcomes that you have presented. Here, you discuss what your results signify, particularly regarding your study topic(s).
- Conclusion
The conclusion of your dissertation should briefly address the major research question. In addition, it should provide the reader with a clear comprehension of your key point and re-iterate the value of your study.
- Reference list
In a reference list, you will give detailed information about all the mentioned sources.
It’s crucial to have a consistent citation style. Each style has its own set of rules for how to structure your sources in your reference list.
- Appendices
Only necessary material that directly helps to address your research topic should be included in your dissertation.
Conclusion
Structuring and writing dissertations are challenging to work for most students, but they must be completed. Of course, you could feel compelled to abandon everything and throw the manuscript away, but that will not benefit you, will it?
Preparing, planning, conducting research, and producing content are all demanding tasks, but following this guide will make them a lot less stressful than it already is.
