Structuring your dissertation is a complex process that the majority of PhD students are unaware of. It requires precision, uniqueness, and thorough information on the subject.
Which often proves to be a challenge for even the class topper.
Your final project requires a year to do, so what will be your action plan? Let’s discover some professional insight into how to structure a dissertation project. In this blog, we’ll discuss the major features required for paper structuring and their importance.
Students must learn how to structure a dissertation in the exact way their college or university requires. Here, we will share techniques to master dissertation writing without much effort. The steps mentioned below will be helpful for students of all disciplines.
The title page is also known as the cover page and holds its uniqueness among scholars. It’s the first page of the dissertation and contains basic information related to the author or writer. Every college has its own rules that govern what should be added and not. Typically, a dissertation title page has some of the most important structural features.
Some universities don’t allow adding more information. Only your Name, professor’s Name, and title are sufficient. Before you get on with it, ensure your university’s sanctioned format is used in this section.
Acknowledgement is where you thank the person(s), sources such as books, journals, and any help you’ve received throughout the process. This section allows you to give credit to people you think played an important part in this entire write-up. The best example is thanking your professor or your mentor, whoever they might be, who played a key role in this research.
An abstract is a short summary of your work. You add a shortened version of your work here and mention details that make your project worthy of reading. The abstract allows you to attract readers to go through the entire research. There are many opinions on the length of an abstract, but generally, it lies between 300 and 600 words. Still, it depends on the nature of your research.
Additionally, the components of this section are the purpose of research initiation and methods used in acquiring the results. You may also need to add details of your research methods, such as qualitative or quantitative, used in the project.
A common mistake that has become the Achilles heel for students is expanding the summary beyond the parameters defined by the teachers. You must adhere to the parameters set by your professor. Lengthy details should be in the body paragraphs, not in the abstract. So, keeping your details as precise as possible is the key to success.
The table of contents is a simple list of the entire outline of the dissertation. All the important pages you have created must be mentioned here. This helps your readers find the appropriate page quickly without going through the entire research for the desired section.
Table of contents also helps your teachers to find the information relevant to their query. It is an essential part of your dissertation structure and must be added.
A glossary is a section that helps your readers who might not be familiar with subject-specific jargon or acronyms. Your audience can find the exact meaning and technical words you’ve used in your research paper.
An introduction paragraph is the one that played a pivotal role in your dissertation’s success. It’s a point where make or break can result in a big setback. An intro comprises three fundamental parts: a hook sentence, background information, and a thesis statement.
Academic learners must make it persuasive, valuable for the reader’s time and attention, and filled with knowledge. Hook sentence works by retaining your readers to the dissertation’s content, while a background informs them of the historical context and need for a solution. Your thesis statement is your evidence-based argument concisely into a one-line punch to the research question.
Body paragraphs are the parts of the dissertation that help you win your arguments. This section is lengthy and may take up to 80% of the entire research’s word count. The body paragraph of a dissertation may consist of the following parts:
A literature review is reviewing and studying existing literature on your selected topic. You go through it critically and find the gaps in it. The more you study, the more you’ll find them.
These gaps exist due to the time and scope of study and availability of technology of that particular era or year. These gaps provide a direction to research them and offer new solutions.
This section deals with the technical information that might be difficult for readers outside the discipline. You can mention what methods you’ve used and why you chose them.
For instance:
The best research method for social, political science, or literature would be qualitative instead of quantitative, which deals with empirical or statistical results.
This is the last part that deals with the results achieved by a particular student in the research. You must present your arguments and back them with evidence to tackle probing or opposing queries.
A conclusion is the last part of your arguments on the topic. Restating your thesis statement connects it with the above discussion and helps you provide emphasis on your stance.
You must draw a line demonstrating why your stance on the topic is valuable. Summarizing the main points helps you remind your readers why this research is important.
Lastly, add your concluding remarks that work more like a final blow or nail to the coffin. End the discussion by throwing light on the importance of your stance by explaining the value your research will play in future research in your discipline.
The last pages of the dissertation structure include the bibliography that contains all the references you’ve used in extracting the results. Use appropriate citation styles such as APA, MLA, AMA, Chicago/Turabian, etc.
That’s a wrap to our guide on how to structure a dissertation for amazing grades. It is important that you break this tutorial down and practice each section a couple of times. This will ensure a solid command of the dissertation writing process. You can seek help from your professors if you find things challenging, or find out what’s helping your peers.
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