After exploring vast research and receiving faculty approval comes the challenge of structuring a dissertation to clearly express arguments in your paper. Putting various pieces of information into your dissertation puzzle thus requires you to be well familiar with the research structure.
This article will highlight some tips for planning a dissertation to help you overcome any stumbling blocks along the way. However, consult the faculty guidelines as there might be some slight variations in the dissertation structure based on your institution.
What is the structure of a dissertation?
The dissertation structure is an outline that indicates how various pieces of information will be presented within your essay. This outline indicates the sub-sections in your essay and the information to present within various dissertation chapters.
Some of the key sections of a dissertation include the title page, acknowledgments, the abstract, a table of content, the introduction, a literature review, a methodology section, the results, a discussion, a conclusion, references, and an appendix.
How to structure a dissertation
Here, we will discuss the standard dissertation structure and highlight some of the issues to address in various sections of your paper. Ensure to check your faculty guidelines as some faculty may merge various portions or specify the information they expect within various chapters.
The basic format of the dissertation contains:
- The title page
The title page is the initial page of your dissertation. This section contains the title of your paper and administrative details such as your name, the unit code and title, the professor’s name, and the submission date.
When going about your title page, be keen to ensure that your title clearly defines your essay’s purpose. Also, check various guidelines from the department and your referencing style to determine how you’ll present information on the title page.
- Acknowledgments
Here, recognize all the people who supported your efforts to make your dissertation a reality. However, limit this section to a few paragraphs as it is not crucial to your arguments.
- The abstract
The abstract is a vital part of your essay. This section allows readers to gauge the relevance of your paper to their needs and is also used to rank your paper on various academic databases.
Here, highlight the gap that necessitated your research, your key insights, the methodology, findings, and the conclusion for your essay. The abstract should be concise and highlight the key details that might give the reader a gist of your overall arguments.
- The table of contents
A dissertation is a copious task comprising multiple topics. It is thus prudent to include a table of content, guiding a reader to various pieces of information within your paper. This makes it easy to trace the information that is of interest to a reader, saving time for those looking for specific details in your dissertation.
- Introduction
The introduction is the first core chapter of your paper. This chapter is more detailed than the abstract and offers a background for your paper. The background establishes the basis for your research questions and highlights the knowledge gaps your dissertation will cover.
Within your introduction, you should also tackle the scope of your arguments and highlight your research methodology. This chapter thus serves to introduce your reader to the key issues addressed in your dissertation.
- Literature review
This section of your dissertation should highlight all the sources that have touched on ideas relating to your argument. However, do not repeat the information from these sources, rather criticize them to highlight how well they have addressed the research questions.
For this, you can highlight various conflicts in existing documents and show how various ideas motivated your research perspectives.
- Methodology
This chapter should outline the process you intend to follow in investigating your research questions. Also, highlight your justification for various tweaks you made in the research variables.
Ideally, your methodology should be relevant to your field and adhere to various ethical guidelines. This section should also highlight the specifics of your research to allow for replication in case someone wants to confirm your findings.
- Results
This section contains the raw results yielded from your research. Ideally, package your data in graphical methods that highlight relationships that are crucial for your study.
You may also cover a summary that outlines the findings without interpreting the implications of the findings to your field. Also, avoid including calculations within this section as they may impair your capacity to highlight crucial connections. Instead, save your calculations for the appendices section.
- Discussion
Here, interpret your results and support your claims with relevant and credible sources. Within this section, respond to your research questions and allocate each idea a paragraph.
Ideally, the ideas in your paper should be complimentary and ensure a smooth flow of arguments.
- Conclusion
The conclusion section should reiterate the key information addressing your research questions. You may also acknowledge the limitations of your research here and make recommendations for future studies on your topic.
Avoid bringing in new arguments in this section as this may bring about incompleteness in your dissertation.
- References
This section outlines all the sources that have been used to support various claims within your work. Unlike bibliographies, the references should only tackle sources that have been quoted within your text.
- Appendix
The appendices are the last section of your paper. However, these, like the references don’t affect the final word tally of your paper. The appendix should carry all relevant data that you omitted in the results section.
Final take
We hope that this structure of a dissertation will help you overcome various challenges in writing your dissertation. Feel free to consult our team for guidance and custom dissertation support on various aspects of your dissertation.
