Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How To Structure Your Dissertation Or Thesis (With Examples)

In this video, we're going to dive into the  topic of dissertation and thesis structure.   We're going to look at the typical structure of  a dissertation or thesis, section by section,   as well as the key aspects of each section.  We'll also share some useful tips and tricks   to help you craft a dissertation that impresses  your markers and most importantly, earns marks.   So go ahead grab a cup of coffee, grab a cup of  tea, whatever works for you. Let's jump into it! hey welcome to grad coach tv where we demystify  and simplify the seemingly bizarre world of   academia my name's emma and today we're  going to decrypt the typical dissertation   or thesis structure so that you can structure  your research project in a smooth flowing   logical way that carries a golden thread  throughout now before we jump into it   i've got to throw one disclaimer at  you what we'll look at today is the   typical structure for a traditional dissertation  or thesis especially ones in the social sciences   now some universities will have slightly  different approaches perhaps with a few   extra bells and whistles here and there but  the core components usually remain the same   so be sure to check in with your institution to  see if they have any specific requirements before   you finalize your structure now with that out of  the way let's take a look at the typical structure   of a dissertation or thesis and then jump into  each of the sections to see what they're all about generally there are eight core sections  that make up a typical dissertation   thesis or formal research project universities  have a variety of labels for these types of   projects these sections are number one the opening  admin section which includes the title page   abstract or executive summary and the table of  contents number two the introduction chapter   which introduces and justifies your research  number three the literature review chapter which   looks at the existing research in your space  number four methodology chapter which outlines   how you will design your own research number  five results chapter where you present the   data generated by your research number six the  discussion chapter where you explain what the   data means in light of your research number  seven conclusions chapter where you bring it   all together and answer your research questions  and number eight the closing section which   includes your reference list and appendices we'll  dig into each of these sections in more detail but   before we do that it's useful to understand that  this default dissertation or thesis structure it   reflects the research process as a whole in other  words the research process involves number one   identifying your research questions and objectives  which is what you do in the introduction chapter   number two assessing what research already exists  in relation to your questions which you cover   in the literature review chapter number three  undertaking your own research which you cover in   the methodology and results chapters and lastly  number four answering your original research   questions which you do in the discussion and  conclusion chapters so this dissertation structure   is designed to reflect the research process as a  whole which ensures that your writing has a smooth   logical flow okay with that out of the way let's  take a closer look at each of these sections right so let's take a look at the opening  section of a typical dissertation or thesis   now generally there are four components here  number one the title or cover page number two   the acknowledgement section number three the  abstract or the executive summary and number   four the table of contents and lists of figures  and tables let's take a look at each of these first up the title page which is pretty  straightforward this usually contains the title   of your project along with your student details  like your name and student id as a rule of thumb   you should aim to keep your title concise  there is nothing more off-putting than   really lengthy titles now i've seen some titles  that run over four lines which makes me want to   just skip right past it so how do you compile a  good dissertation title well ideally your title   should very briefly encapsulate the following one  your research topic what you'll be researching   two the context what location area or industry  you're looking at three your broad methodology for   example qualitative quantitative or mixed so let's  take a look at a practical example a quantitative   investigation into the drivers of trust in  insurance brokers a british context so right there   in one line we've captured all three essential  points the topic the context and the methodology   in other words the reader quickly understands that  this is going to be a numbers-based quantitative   piece of research that is looking to understand  what factors cultivate trust in insurance brokers   within the united kingdom keep this topic  in mind as we'll circle back to it later on the next component of your opening  section is the acknowledgement section   now this section is basically just an opportunity  to thank those who have helped you along the way   typically you'll give a little shout  out to your advisors your supervisor   loved ones family even friends now this is a  personal section and there's no right or wrong way   to do it you can even thank your dog for keeping  you company during those long nights of writer's   block but in general this section shouldn't be  more than one page long keep it short and sweet   you're not to earn any extra marks by crafting  a poem of gratitude to your research supervisor next up is the abstract or for some universities  the executive summary this is simply a summary   of each section of your dissertation or thesis  woven into a smooth narrative in other words your   abstract should cover each of the main chapters  of your document in the same order highlighting   the key points it should not introduce any new  information or arguments it should only summarize   what you've already written somewhere else a  good abstract or executive summary should allow a   first-time reader to understand the essence  of your project in other words what you were   trying to find out your research objectives how  you investigated it your methodology and what   your findings were your conclusions let's look at  examples sticking to the same research topic that   i mentioned earlier at a minimum your abstract  would need to explain that you were looking to   identify which factors cultivate and increase  consumer trust in uk-based insurance brokers   and why that's worth investigating so your  justification you'd also need to briefly   explain your research methodology and why you  designed your research the way that you did   and last but not least you'd need to state what  your key findings were which factors were most   important in terms of cultivating trust now keep  in mind that although this section is right up   front in your dissertation or thesis it should be  the last thing that you write so only tackle this   section once you've completed the rest of your  dissertation it is no use trying to summarize   your work before you finalized it or you'll  just end up rewriting it multiple times also   doing this section right at the very end serves  as a bit of a sanity check it helps ensure that   everything ties together neatly and that there  is a smooth narrative throughout the document the final component of your opening section  is the table of contents along with the list   of figures and tables now these are pretty  self-explanatory they simply list the sections   and their respective page numbers now a tip  to make your life a little easier make use   of microsoft word's automatic table of contents  generator which will build the table of contents   based on your heading structure this ensures  that all the pages and their numbers are 100   correct and it looks neat and clean i'll include  a link below this video to show you how to do this   now along with the abstract the table  of contents should be completed last   or you'll need to update it every time  you add something to your document right that covers the opening section  of the typical dissertation or   thesis structure so let's move on to the  next section the introduction chapter   all right let's look at the first and possibly  most important chapter of your dissertation or   thesis the introduction chapter as you'd  expect this chapter's job is to introduce   your research aims and objectives but even  more importantly it must justify your research   it needs to make a clear argument about why  your research is important and needed so what   goes into this chapter well typically you'll  need to cover a few things the what meaning   what you'll be researching and in what context  what are your research aims and objectives and   core research questions what is the scope of your  research and what will you not cover next you'll   need to discuss the why in other words why is this  important what new knowledge will it provide who   will benefit from this knowledge and in what  way the next logical step is the how now you   don't need to go into detail here but you should  give a brief high level overview of how you'll   approach your research in terms of methodology for  example qualitative quantitative or mixed methods   and lastly you should briefly outline the high  level structure of your dissertation or thesis   this way your reader knows what to  expect and they can jump to specific   sections that might be of interest to them so  as you can see the introduction chapter sets the   scene for your reader and of course your marker  it provides a high level overview of the what   why and how of your research so that the reader  has a clear view of where you're going with your   research at grad coach we see so many students  that rushed through their introduction chapter   and as a result they didn't have a clear direction  for their research and they ended up wasting a lot   of time on things that were not relevant to their  project so it's important that you put the time   and effort into crafting a rock solid introduction  chapter a quick side note while you will generally   write this section in the early stages of your  research it's quite normal to come back around   and revise or rework sections as your research  progresses so don't stress if your research takes   a slight turn along the way you can always update  the section down the line right now that we've got   the introduction out of the way it's time to  look at the next chapter the literature review let's look at the literature review chapter now  so now that you've outlined your research aims   and objectives the next step is to discuss  what research already exists and what that   research says in relation to your own research  in other words the literature review is basically   about seeing what is already known or at least  theorized about your topic and research questions   this is a really important step as you don't  want to reinvent the wheel or repeat existing   research instead you want to build onto what is  already known by doing this you'll be standing on   the shoulders of giants and adding to the body  of knowledge as opposed to just regurgitating   what's already been done so what do you need to  cover in the literature review well basically   you need to present and synthesize the existing  research that's relevant to your research question   synthesize is the key word here a literature  review is not just a summary of the existing   research he said this and she said that and so on  a good literature review is about synthesizing the   existing research grouping ideas concepts  and theories in relation to your own research   identifying what's agreed upon and what's not  agreed upon and what areas are lacking research   and pulling it all together into a foundation  for your own research let's look at a practical   example if your research is about the factors  that cultivate trust in insurance brokers your   literature review should clearly identify which  factors have been proposed in existing research   which are agreed upon which are contested  which may be missing in specific context   which methodologies are used and so on by  doing this you are building a base for your   own research there are various ways to structure  your literature review including chronologically   thematically and by methodology but the right  structure depends on the nature of your research   now that is way beyond the scope of this video  so i'll include a link below this video to a   grad coach blog post it covers literature review  structure in detail i'll also include a link to   another grad coach video that explains how to  write a literature review from start to finish   so check out those before you start your  literature review right now that we've   covered the literature review chapter it's time to  move on to the methodology chapter so let's do it on to the dreaded methodology chapter this  chapter is all about the how of your research   in other words how will you design your research  collect your data and analyze it to help answer   your research questions in this chapter you  need to specify exactly how you'll approach your   research and even more importantly why you chose  to go that route in a dissertation or thesis the   marker or markers want to see that you have a firm  understanding of research methodology and design   they want to know that you know what techniques  and methods to use in a specific situation so it's   really important to justify every choice you make  in this chapter to show that you know which tool   to use for the job at hand okay so what exactly  do you need to cover in the methodology chapter   well the core design choices you typically  need to discuss are number one your research   philosophy for example positivist interpretivist  or pragmatist number two your research approach   for example inductive or deductive number three  your methodology qualitative quantitative or   mixed methods number four your time horizon for  example cross-sectional or longitudinal number   five your data what data will you collect and  how for example interviews surveys etc number   six your sampling strategy who will collect  data from number seven your analysis techniques   for example statistical analysis thematic analysis  etc the right approach to each of these design   choices depends on your research aims objectives  and questions as well as practical limitations for   example for most research projects you won't  be able to undertake longitudinal research   due to time constraints of the degree program  this is why it's really important to justify   every choice you make here your choice might  not be ideal but as long as it's well justified   it can still earn you marks if some of these  words sound like gibberish to you or maybe you   just want to learn more about research methodology  and the research design choices check out the grad   coach blog where we explain these choices in  plain language i'll include a link below this   video right now that we've covered the methodology  chapter the next step is to actually undertake the   research and present your findings which is what  the results chapter is all about let's jump to it the results chapter or sometimes this is  called the findings or analysis chapter   is where things start getting exciting well at  least for a nerd like me up to this point in your   dissertation or thesis you've just spoken  about what others have done and what you   will be doing now it's time to actually get doing  and show what you found in the results chapter   your task is purely to present the results  of your data collection and analysis   not to interpret them in relation to the  literature or your research questions   the interpretation bit is covered in the next  chapter the discussion chapter now this might seem   a little bit awkward especially for qualitative  data but splitting up presenting the results and   interpreting the results it can help keep things  more digestible for the reader now that being said   some universities do prefer students to combine  the results and discussion chapter blending the   data and interpretation so be sure to check with  yours and understand what their preferences are   okay so how exactly do you approach this chapter  well it largely depends on your methodology   quantitative or qualitative for quantitative  studies or research that was focused on numerical   data you'll usually start by presenting some  basic statistics covering the demographic data   for example statistics covering gender age  ethnicity and similar breakdowns from there   you'll present your descriptive statistics your  means averages medians modes standard deviations   and so on from there you'll move on to inferential  statistics if they're needed such as t-tests   correlations regressions and so on now if this  lingo sounds like gibberish to you don't stress   i'll include a link to one of our blog posts  that covers quantitative analysis methods   for qualitative studies the approach is a  little bit different and it can vary quite   a bit depending on your analysis approach with  qualitative research you may not have a specific   hypothesis and thus you'd want to report on topics  or themes that popped up during your analysis   now depending on your type of analysis you  would likely present a diagram explaining   how you collapsed your codes into themes then you  would name and define the themes supporting these   themes with quotes from your participants now the  key thing to remember is that you should show not   tell in other words be sure to quote your sources  verbatim as to show what your research has found   whatever you do remember that the results chapter  is purely about presenting the results you should   not be interpreting them or linking them  back to your research questions aims and   objectives just yet interpretation is what the  next chapter is all about unless of course your   university wants you to merge them so on that  note let's jump into the discussions chapter with the data clearly laid out in the results  chapter it's time to get down to business in   the discussion chapter now the discussion  chapter is where you interpret your data   and discuss your findings hence the chapter name  so how do you craft a solid discussion chapter   well every project is a little different  but ideally you want to do the following   in your discussion chapter first you need to  interpret the data to develop meaningful findings   for example if you found strong correlations  between variables in your statistical analysis   you would explain what this potentially means  in the terms of the relationship between them   for example does factor a potentially cultivate  or stimulate trust while factor b has no impact   secondly you should relate your findings  to the literature in other words do your   findings align with the existing research which  you covered in your literature review chapter or   are they at odds with previous research if so  why might that be for example if your findings   are at odds with the existing research could this  potentially be due to a different contextual or   maybe environmental factor like culture or power  dynamics lastly and most importantly you need to   relate your findings to your original research  questions in other words how do these findings   help you address your research questions aims  and objectives do they provide clear answers   or do they suggest that things are a little  bit more nuanced than originally anticipated   for example if your research question  was asking which factors cultivate trust   you need to clearly state which factors seem to  be linked to trust based on your data a final note   about the discussion chapter it's important to  remember that your discussion chapter needs to be   deeply rooted in your results chapter you can't  present new data here or make claims that aren't   connected to a data point in your results chapter  every point you make here must have a supporting   thread in the results chapter think about the  discussion chapter as the glossy front-ended   webpage and the results chapter as the complex  backend code everything on the webpage is there   because of a piece of supporting code right with  your findings clearly presented and discussed you   need to wrap up your dissertation and draw your  final conclusions enter the conclusions chapter you've presented your data  and interpreted your findings   now it's time to bring it all home and wrap things  up neatly which is what the conclusions chapter is   all about its job is to tie your research  together and highlight the key takeaways   a useful thing to keep in mind is that  someone who knows nothing about your research   a layman on the street should be able to read your  introduction chapter and then your conclusions   chapter and nothing in between and still have a  clear idea of exactly what you wanted to figure   out meaning your research aims and objectives and  what you ultimately found meaning your findings in   relation to your research questions your family  and friends should be able to easily digest this   saving them the potential pain of reading an  entire manuscript just to understand what it is   that you study so how exactly do you pull together  your whole dissertation or thesis in this chapter   well again every project is a little different but  a good way to structure this chapter is as follows   first remind the reader what you wanted to  find out in other words your research aims   objectives and questions then state clearly what  you discovered your key findings then relate those   findings back to your research aims objectives  and questions in other words explain how your   findings helped answer your research questions now  once you've done that discuss the limitations of   your research you know what were the potential  issues in your study i mean perhaps your sample   size was too small or your data analysis wasn't  sophisticated enough due to technology issues   here you should also give suggestions as  to how the study could be improved and what   other researchers could do to improve it which is  where the implications and recommendations come   into play so lastly discuss the implications and  recommendations for example how can practitioners   make use of your research and the new knowledge  it's generated what should future researchers look   into things like that by covering these areas  you'll bring your research full circle you'll   answer your research questions and discuss  the implications of your research both for   industry and for academia as i mentioned earlier  a layman should be able to read your intro chapter   and your conclusion chapter and have a clear  understanding of what your project was all about   so when you're writing your conclusion chapter  it's a good idea to re-read your introduction   chapter a few times to get your head in the  zone to ensure that you tie it all together   you don't want any loose ends your conclusion  chapter should circle back to everything you   touched on in your introduction chapter and  remember to make use of simple language here   stay away from complicated and niche  terminology yes i know this can be difficult   but a layman will likely not understand  what you mean by anti-disestablishmentary   now with the conclusion chapter out of  the way it's smooth sailing to the end   all that's left is your reference list and  appendices so let's go take a quick look at that all right on to the final stretch the very  last section of a typical dissertation or   thesis structure is the reference list  and the appendices let's check these out the reference list is one of those things  that all too often gets neglected by students   at this stage of the dissertation writing process  everyone's tired and just wants to wrap things up   so it's really no surprise that the reference  list doesn't get much love but that's really   a shame since it's an essential part of any high  quality piece of research and possibly the easiest   area of the dissertation to earn marks so how do  you craft the perfect reference list well it's   actually a lot easier than most students think  the key is to use reference management software   and i'll explain more about that in a minute  and to log your reference data from day one keep   track of each article's details as you read it  ideally within your reference management software   don't leave referencing right until the  end of your writing log the citation as   you go and insert your citations as you  write okay enough of the lecture back to   reference management software now hopefully this  isn't news to you but so many students we work   with at grad coach seem to be making the huge  mistake of writing out references and citations   manually not only is this a massively time  consuming headache but it will always result   in errors the only way to manage your references  properly is with reference management software   there are loads of options but the two ones that  are free that we always recommend are mendeley and   zotero now we've made video guides for both of  them and i'll include the links to those below   this video if you're manually typing out your  references stop now and go watch these videos on to the appendices this section is  pretty straightforward but there are   a few important points to make first up  the appendices are a place for additional   non-essential supporting info their place for nice  to haves not for essential content core content   needs to go in the body of your dissertation like  the results or discussion chapter your reader   should not have to jump between your chapters and  your appendices to make sense of your arguments   generally the contents in the appendices cannot  earn marks so don't abuse this section to reduce   your word count second each appendix needs to be  clearly labeled and linked to within your body   content you need to mention appendix a appendix b  and so on at the relevant points in your chapters   the appendices cannot be orphaned sections  they need to be linked to in the core content   when you get to finalizing your appendices  make sure that you revise your entire thesis   to check that you reference the correct appendix  incorrect references here can confuse the reader   and make them think that you might have made  things up this will lose you marks lastly   your appendices shouldn't be huge it's hard  to prescribe a number here but i'd say your   page count for appendices shouldn't be more than  20 to 30 of your entire document super lengthy   appendices will just bloat your document and blow  up your printing costs if you're over 30 percent   you might want to consider rather bundling that  content into a downloadable password protected   zip file and simply including the download link  in an appendix keep these three points in mind   when you compile your appendices and you'll have a  happy and hopefully generous marker on your hands all right so now we've covered the standard  structure of a classic dissertation or   thesis to recap the core sections are first the  opening section which is your title page abstract   acknowledgements and table of contents followed  by the introduction chapter the literature review   chapter the methodology chapter results chapter  discussion chapter conclusions chapter and finally   the closing section which is your reference list  and appendices if you follow this you'll have a   dissertation structure that reflects the research  process and presents a smooth flowing discussion   in a logical order remember your research  questions should be at the heart of your project   so you need to keep them in mind  as you work through each chapter   if you connect each chapter to your research  questions you'll have a golden thread that   runs through your dissertation structure which is  the hallmark of a quality dissertation or thesis   now one last tip while we've looked at the  overall structure of the typical dissertation   or thesis here it's also really useful to  think about the structure of each of your   chapters before you start writing it's a really  good idea to loosely map out a structure for   each chapter so that when you get to writing  you will have a clear direction and roadmap   by doing this you'll keep your writing  organized and stop yourself from waffling   of course the structure can change as you  work your way through each chapter but at   least you'll have some sort of guiding structure  to start with again you can find guidance on   our blog regarding potential structures for  key chapters such as the literature review   if you enjoyed the video please hit the like  button and leave a comment if you have any   questions and if you're in the writing process of  your dissertation or thesis be sure to subscribe   to the grad coach channel for more research  related content lastly if you need a helping   hand with your research check out our private  coaching service where we work with you on a   one-on-one basis chapter by chapter to ensure that  you craft a winning dissertation if that sounds   interesting to you book a free consultation with  a friendly coach at www.gradcoach.com as always   i'll include a link below and that is all for this  episode of grad coach tv until next time good luck you

Channel: Grad Coach

Views: 21,371

Keywords: dissertation structure, thesis structure, how to structure a dissertation, how to structure a thesis, how to write a dissertation, how to write a thesis, dissertation writing, thesis writing, dissertation, thesis

Id: NUvo2IXZ1kE

Length: 32min 43sec (1963 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021