Your dissertation is probably the longest
piece of writing you’ve ever done
and it can be intimidating to know where to start.
This video will help you work out exactly
what you should include and where to include it.
Hi, I'm Jessica from Scribbr, here to help
you achieve your academic goals.
Before we go into each section, let's take
a quick overview of the elements that are
included in a dissertation or thesis.
Dissertations can take many different forms
you might include different chapters or
use different headings depending on the type
of research you're doing.
But for empirical research in the sciences
or social sciences, this is the most common structure.
Title page
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table of contents
List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations
Glossary
Introduction
Literature review/ theoretical framework
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Reference list
Appendices
How long should each section be?
This is a really common question!
Although it really depends on the type of
research you do, here is a rough idea of the
proportions.
Generally speaking, the literature review
and discussion should take up a bigger portion
of your dissertation.
Whereas the methodology, results and conclusion
are usually relatively short.
If you ever need extra information for a specific
section, we have lots of videos on our YouTube
channel.
In the Scribbr Knowledge Base linked in the
description, you can find dozens of free resources:
how-to articles, templates, checklists and
examples.
Just click this little exclamation mark, we've
got your back!
Now let's go through each section.
The very first page of your document contains
your dissertation’s title, your name, department,
institution, degree program, and submission
date.
The acknowledgement page is where you thank
everyone who helped you, like your supervisors.
The acknowledgements are followed by an abstract.
The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation,
around 150-300 words long.
Include a table of contents so your readers
can easily navigate through your dissertation..
If your dissertation contains a lot of figures,
tables or abbreviations, you can also include
lists of these to make them easily findable.
But this is often optional!
Same goes for the glossary - it's optional,
but if you've used a lot of highly specialized
terms that will not be familiar to your reader,
it might be a good idea to include one.
Now we’ve arrived at the most important
part - the text of your dissertation itself.
The introduction is where you set up your
topic, purpose and relevance, and tell the
reader what to expect in the rest of the dissertation.
In your literature review, you don’t just
summarize existing studies, but develop a
coherent structure and argument that leads
to a clear basis or justification for your
own research.
In the methodology section, you describe how
you conducted your research, allowing your
reader to assess its reliability and validity.
Next, you report the results of your research.
Only report results that are relevant to your
objectives and research questions.
Pay attention, if you're doing qualitative
research, this section might be woven together
with discussion.
In the discussion, you explore the meaning
and implications of your results in relation
to your research questions.
Here you should interpret the results in detail,
discussing whether they met your expectations.
If any of the results were unexpected, offer
explanations for why this might be.
The dissertation conclusion should concisely
answer the main research question, leaving
the reader with a clear understanding of your
central argument.
Throughout your dissertation, you built upon
the research of others.
This research needs to be cited in the running
text and the reference list.
It’s important to follow a consistent citation
style.
You can generate sources and manage your reference
list super easily with Scribbr's citation
generator.
If you want to include any documents that
do not fit into the main body, such as surveys,
interview transcripts, etc., you can add them
as appendices.
Now before you go, here's a tip to kick start
your dissertation.
Create a Word document
Insert the headings of each section
Write down in bullet points what you want
to write in each section
this way you will have a clear view of what
you need to write.
Good luck with your dissertation, you've got
this!
Make sure to subscribbr for more videos related
to dissertation writing!
Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the
next one!
