How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis - 8 Step Tutorial + Examples

In this video we're going to look at how to write  a dissertation or thesis in eight straightforward   steps. We're going to look at big picture level  process for developing a high quality dissertation   or thesis step by step we'll also share some  useful tips and tricks to help you optimize   your approach and minimize wasted time. So grab  a cup of coffee grab a cup of tea whatever works   for you and let's jump into it. Hey and 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 look at how to write a   high quality dissertation or thesis in eight  simple steps so that you can approach your   project with confidence if you're new here be  sure to hit that subscribe button for more videos   that can help you conquer your dissertation or  thesis now before we jump into it let's just   clarify some terminology you'll notice that  i'm using the words dissertation and thesis   interchangeably in the u.s a thesis is usually  completed at the end of a master's level   degree and a dissertation is completed for  a phd or doctoral degree while in the uk   and some other countries it's the other way  around now naturally a phd level project will   be more demanding than a master's level one but  the fundamentals remain the same they're both   formal academic research projects and they both  follow the same process well for the most part so   don't get wrapped up in the lingo in this video  dissertation equals thesis with that out of the   way let's take a look at how to craft a winning  dissertation or thesis step by step writing   a dissertation or thesis is a journey a long  journey with many twists and turns along the way   it's a multi-step process and you can't skip past  or try to shortcut any steps each step depends on   completing the step before it so it's important to  approach your project systematically or you'll end   up doing a whole lot of unnecessary reworking  now broadly speaking there are eight steps to   the dissertation writing journey i'll outline them  first and then we'll look at each of them in a bit   more detail i've also got videos and articles on  the grad coach blog that explain each step in more   detail i'll include the links to these below this  video now the very first step you need to take is   to clearly understand exactly what a dissertation  or thesis is now this might sound obvious but so   many students get it wrong and then they end  up paying dearly for this misunderstanding   don't worry i'll break it down for you next you'll  need to find a unique and valuable research topic   and research questions this can be a tricky task  but it's essential to take the time to find a high   quality topic or you could end up in a  very difficult situation down the line   now once you've got your topic nailed down you'll  need to craft a persuasive research proposal   to convince your university that your topic is  suitable and manageable once your proposal's   been approved it's time to start your research  and write up your actual dissertation or thesis   the first chapter that you'll need to  write up is your introduction chapter   which will need to provide a clear description and  justification of your research the next task will   be for you to review the existing literature  and compile a comprehensive literature review   that synthesizes the current research in your  area now once that's done you'll need to design   a rigorous research methodology and undertake  your own research this is where the real action   happens next you'll need to craft your findings  and discussion chapters where you'll explain   exactly what you found and what it all means  in relation to your original research questions   lastly you'll need to write up your conclusions  chapter where you bring your project full circle   and discuss the implications of your findings  a quick disclaimer these eight steps cover the   typical dissertation or thesis writing process  some universities will have slight differences   some may specify a topic for you so you can  just skip the first step some might require   a brief outline of your research rather than a  full proposal and so on so use your discretion   and make sure you're familiar with your  university's specific requirements before   you start your project if you understand each  of these steps and work through them carefully   you should be able to move through your  dissertation or thesis relatively smoothly   and avoid any major hurdles along the way if some  of these steps sound like gibberish don't worry   we're going to dive into each of them in this  video but a quick side note while i've mentioned   some of the chapters and the rough structure  of the dissertation document here there are   a few other bits and pieces that you'll need  to include if you want to learn exactly how to   structure your dissertation we've got a separate  video covering that i'll include the link below alright now you've got an idea  of the big picture process   of how to write a dissertation so  let's jump into each of the steps the very first step in your research journey is  to understand what a dissertation actually is   now this probably sounds like a no-brainer but  all too often students come to us at grad coach   for help with their research and the underlying  issue is that they don't fully understand what   a dissertation or thesis actually is so what  is a dissertation well at the simplest level   a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of  academic research reflecting the standard research   process the key phrase here is the research  process but what is the research process this   process involves four important steps firstly  asking a very specific well-articulated research   question or set of research questions a research  question is an overarching high-level question   something that you'll try to answer by  undertaking research now don't confuse   this with the specific questions that you'll ask  those who you interview or survey participants   this research question or set of questions then  forms the foundation of your research topic   secondly assessing what other researchers have  said about this research question and importantly   whether they've already answered it in other words  what research already exists concerning your topic   if the existing research hasn't answered the  research question adequately the next step   involves undertaking your own research which often  means collecting and analyzing your own data in a   systematic rigorous fashion and lastly answering  your original research question or questions based   on the findings of your analysis simply put the  research process is about asking and answering   important questions in a systematic process driven  fashion this probably sounds pretty obvious but   all too often people think they've done research  when in fact what they've done is started with a   vague poorly articulated question not taking the  time to see what research has already been done   regarding the question collected data and  opinions that support their existing position   but ignored anything that challenges it undertaken  a flimsy unscientific analysis and then drawn   highly questionable conclusions based on that  analysis if you want to see the perfect example of   this in action just look out for the next facebook  post where someone claims that they've done   research all too often people consider reading  a few blog posts to constitute research so it's   no surprise then that what they end up with  is an opinion piece not actual research okay   okay i'll climb off of my soapbox now but the  key takeaway here is that a dissertation is a   formal piece of research reflecting the research  process it's not an opinion piece or a place to   push your own agenda or try to convince someone  of your position writing a good dissertation   involves asking a question and taking a systematic  rigorous approach to answer it even if it turns   out that the answer is opposite of what you  originally expected if you're willing to follow   the research process and are comfortable leaving  your opinions and preconceived ideas at the door   you're already off to a good start so let's  jump into the next step finding a research topic as i mentioned the very first step of  the research process is to identify a   specific well-articulated research question  in other words you need to find a research   topic that asks a specific question or set  of questions sounds easy enough right all   you've got to do is identify a question  or two and you've got a research topic   well not quite a good dissertation research  topic has a few important attributes specifically   a solid topic should be clear unique and important  let's take a look at each of these attributes attribute number one clarity  your research topic needs to be   crystal clear about what you're planning  to research what you want to figure out   and within what context there shouldn't be any  ambiguity or vagueness about what you'll research   so here's an example of a clearly articulated  research topic an analysis of factors influencing   consumer-based organizational trust in u.s  low-cost equity brokerage firms as you can see in   this example it's very clear what will be analyzed  factors impacting organizational trust amongst who   consumers and in what context the  u.s low-cost equity brokerage firms attribute number two uniqueness your research  should be asking questions that haven't been asked   before or that haven't been asked in a specific  context like in a specific country or industry   for example sticking with the organizational trust  topic it's quite likely that organizational trust   factors in the us have been investigated  before but the specific context low-cost   equity brokerages could make this research unique  therefore the context makes this research original   now one caveat applies when you're using context  as the basis for originality if you do this you   need to have a good reason to suspect that your  findings in this context might be different from   the existing research otherwise there's no reason  to warrant researching it for example you might   argue that the equity brokerage environment is  unique in that it is a high ticket high risk   type of service and therefore different factors  might impact consumers decisions to trust affirm attribute number three importance asking a unique  or original question is essential but originality   alone is not enough when it comes to research  questions the question you ask or rather the   answer to that question needs to create value  successfully answering your research question   should provide some value to the field of  research or the industry you can't research   something just to satisfy your own curiosity your  research needs to make some form of contribution   either to research or industry so for example  researching the factors influencing organizational   trust would create real world value by enabling  businesses to tailor their operations to leverage   the factors that promote trust that knowledge  would have a clear benefit on the industry   so how do you go about finding a clear  unique and valuable research topic   well there's a process for that too  which we've covered in a separate video   and an article on the grad coach blog  i'll include the links below this video right once you've got your topic pinned down the   next step is to craft a convincing  research proposal let's take a look once you've pinned down a high quality research  topic the next step is to convince your university   to let you research it no matter how awesome  you think your topic is it still needs to get   that rubber stamp of approval before you can  move forward the research proposal is the tool   you'll use for this job so what goes into  a research proposal well the main job of a   research proposal is to convince your university  advisor or committee that your topic of research   is worthy of approval but convince them of what  well this varies from university to university   but generally they want to see that one  you have a clearly articulated unique   and important topic two you've done some  initial reading of the existing literature   relevant to your topic in other words you've  done a basic literature review three you have   a provisional plan regarding what data you'll  collect how you'll collect it and how you'll   analyze it in other words a provisional research  methodology at the proposal stage it's generally   not expected that you've extensively reviewed the  existing literature but you will need to show that   you've done enough reading to identify a clear  gap for original or unique research similarly   they generally don't expect that you have a rock  solid research methodology mapped out just yet   but you should have an idea of whether you'll be  undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis   and how you'll collect your data i'll explain  this more in detail later in this video   long story short don't stress about having every  detail of your research meticulously thought   out at the research proposal stage this will  develop as you progress through your research   however you do need to show that you've done  your homework and that your research is worthy   of approval now a quick tip in your research  proposal it's really important to show that your   project will be manageable you need to show that  you will actually be able to pull off the project   given your constraints what constraints you ask  you need to think about the practical limitations   such as time money resources like lab equipment  access to your sample of interest and so on no   matter how solid your research topic may be it's  of little use if you don't have the resources to   pull it off well your university will want to see  that you can in fact undertake your research given   your constraints so think about these factors  carefully and communicate your plan of action   clearly so how do you go about crafting  a high quality convincing proposal   well again we've covered that in detail in another  video and a blog post links below this video right once you've crafted your killer  proposal and you've got it approved   it's time to start your research and write up  your actual dissertation or thesis so let's do it once your proposal has been approved it's time  to get writing the good news is if you put the   time into crafting a high quality proposal  you've already got a head start on your first   three chapters of your dissertation in other words  the introduction literature review and methodology   chapters this is because you'll be able to  transplant a lot of what you already have in your   proposal into these three chapters now of course  you'll still need to put in quite a bit of work   but you'll have a solid foundation ready to go  so what's the introduction chapter all about   well the purpose of the introduction chapter is to  set the scene for your research so that the reader   understands both what you'll be researching and  why it's important in other words it covers the   same ground as the research proposal and that  it explains and justifies your research topic   a good introduction chapter helps orient the  reader so that they understand where your research   is headed and what you're trying to figure out  without getting into all the nitty gritty details   so what exactly goes into the introduction chapter  a good introduction chapter needs to pack in a few   essential ingredients the exact requirements can  vary slightly between universities and degrees   but generally you'll need to include the  following number one a brief background to   your study explaining the broad area of research  you're going to be sinking your teeth into   now this will be fairly high level as you'll get  into detail in the next point number two a problem   statement explaining what the problem is with the  current state of research so basically where the   specific knowledge gap exists that your research  will address number three your research questions   in other words the overarching questions that your  study will seek to answer based on the knowledge   gap you stated number four the significance of  your study so basically why it's important to   answer your research questions and how the  findings will be useful in the world as you   can see this is all about explaining the what and  the why of your research it's about defining and   justifying your research topic essentially the  introduction chapter is the salesman of your study   selling your research to the first time reader  and hopefully getting them interested to read more   this selling is something that you would  have done in your research proposal already   so you can draw on that content as the  foundation of your introduction chapter   so how exactly do i write the  introduction chapter you ask   well we've covered that in detail on the  grad coach blog links below this video now with your introduction chapter  out of the way and your research topic   clearly defined and justified the next step is to  review the existing research to assess the current   state of knowledge and lay a foundation  for your topic enter the literature review   as i mentioned earlier you'll need to do an  initial literature review in steps two and three   to find your research gap and craft a convincing  research proposal but that's just scratching the   surface once you reach the literature review  stage of your dissertation you'll need to dig   a lot deeper into the existing research and then  write up a comprehensive literature review chapter   so what's the literature review all about  well there are broadly speaking two stages   in the literature review process reading up  and writing up sounds pretty obvious sure   but we see so many students making the age-old  mistake of trying to craft their literature   review before they've digested all of the  existing research this just results in multiple   rewrites and a whole lot of unnecessary pain so  let's look at these two stages a little closer   stage one reading up the first thing you'll  need to do is take a deep dive into the existing   literature and research to gain an in-depth  understanding of the current state of knowledge   regarding your topic this will include resources  like journal articles textbook chapters industry   reports and so on now while you don't need  to read every single article you do need to   ensure that you cover all of the literature that's  relevant to your core research questions and then   create a comprehensive catalog of that literature  which you'll use in the next step cataloging your   resources as you read is essential there's  just no way you'll remember who said what   once you've worked your way through a few dozen  journal articles now you don't need anything   super fancy here a simple excel spreadsheet will  do the trick just fine in fact we've put together   an excel template that you can use to catalog  your literature you can download this for free   on the grad coach website i'll include the link  below now i'll give you a warning this stage   of the literature review process the reading  and digesting all of the relevant literature   it is a time-consuming and intellectually  demanding process many students underestimate   just how much work goes into this stage so make  sure that you allocate a good amount of time for   this when you're planning your project schedule  you see you could very easily spend weeks if not   months reading and making sense of all of the  literature and this is an essential task you   can't afford to get any of it wrong without a  firm knowledge of the existing research your   dissertation will be built on shaky foundations  now thankfully there are ways to fast track the   reading process we've published an article  on how to optimize your reading process   so that you can conquer those lengthy journal  articles more speedily i'll include a link below   stage two writing up once you've worked your way  through the literature and digested all of it   you'll need to write up your actual  literature review chapter this too is   quite a big task but you can save yourself a  lot of pain by having a clear understanding of   what you need to achieve before you start  outlining and writing so what do you need   to achieve in your literature review chapter  well many students make the mistake of thinking   that the literature review chapter is simply  a summary of what other researchers have said   now this is partly true but your literature review  needs to provide so much more than just a summary   to pull off a good literature review chapter  you'll need to achieve at least three things   first you need to synthesize the existing research  not just summarize it you need to show how   different pieces of theory fit together what's  agreed on by researchers what's not why this might   be and so on second you need to highlight the  research gap that your research is going to fill   you've got to define the problem with the current  state of research so that your research can   provide a solution to that problem and last but  not least you need to use the existing research   to inform your research methodology and approach  to your research design for example you might   use survey questions or likert scales from  previous studies in your own survey design   so as you can see a good literature review is  more than just a summary of the published research   it's more than a he said this and she said that  and they said this it's about bringing all the   research together synthesizing it to lay the  foundation for your own research so it deserves a   lot of love and attention take the time to craft  a comprehensive literature review you will not   regret it as always we've got a detailed video and  blog post covering how to undertake a literature   review step by step we've also got a post covering  how to structure your lit review chapter so that   you can start with a clear outline and avoid  wasting time on dead ends links below this video okay with your literature review out  of the way it's time to get to the real   action designing and executing your  research strategy let's jump into it once you've completed your literature review  and have a sound understanding of the existing   research the next step is to undertake your  own research finally in other words this is   where you'll collect and analyze your own data  importantly you'll need to design your research   specifically so that it can help you find  the answers to your unique research questions   there's no one-size-fits-all approach  there are two steps at this stage   designing your research strategy and  executing on it let's take a look at those the first step is to design your research strategy  and craft a methodology chapter in your research   proposal you would have outlined a basic research  strategy and methodology but you'll need to get   a lot more detailed here now i won't get into all  the technicalities of the methodology chapter here   but in simple terms this chapter is about  explaining the how of your research how   will you go about finding the answer to your  research question if you recall the introduction   and literature review chapters discuss the what  and the why of your project so it makes sense   that the next point to cover is the how that  is what the methodology chapter is all about   in this section you'll need to make well-justified  decisions about your research design this includes   things like your research philosophy for  example positivism interpretivism or pragmatism   your overall methodology like qualitative  quantitative or mixed methods your sampling   strategy in other words what data you'll  collect and who you'll collect it from your   data collection strategy for example interviews  focus groups surveys your data analysis strategy   like content analysis correlation analysis  regression analysis if some of these words   have your head spinning don't worry we explain  these in plain language on the grad coach blog   you're also welcome to leave a comment below if  you want more clarity about any of these concepts   but right now you don't have to understand  the intricacies of research design   the key takeaway here is that you'll need to make  decisions about how you'll design your research   and you'll need to be able to describe and justify  those decisions in your methodology chapter   right onto the execution of your  research strategy the doing bit once you've worked out your research design the  logical next step is to put it into action and   start collecting your data data collection could  mean undertaking interviews hosting an online   survey or any other data collection method there  are a variety of data collection methods and the   right approach depends on your research aims and  objectives but a word of warning data collection   can take quite a bit of time especially if you  host in-person interviews so be sure to factor   sufficient time into your project plan for this  oftentimes things don't go 100 to plan for example   maybe you don't get as many survey responses  as you had hoped for so bake a little extra   time into your schedule here once you've collected  your data you'll need to do some data preparation   before you can sink your teeth into the analysis  for example if you carry out interviews or focus   groups you'll need to transcribe your audio data  to text in other words into a word document if   you collect quantitative survey data you'll need  to clean up your data usually in excel and get   it into the right format for whichever analysis  software you plan to use like spss r or stata   once you've completed your data prep you'll  undertake your analysis using the techniques   that you described in your methodology depending  on what you find in your analysis you might also   do some additional forms of analysis that you  hadn't planned for for example you might see   something in the data that raises new questions or  that requires clarification with further analysis   this is perfectly normal so don't stress out if  your data leads you down an unexpected path the   type of analysis you'll use depends on the nature  of your research and your research questions for   example if your research is exploratory in nature  you'll often use qualitative analysis techniques   if your research is confirmatory in nature  you'll often use quantitative analysis techniques   but if your research involves a mix of both  you might use a mixed methods approach again   if these words sound like gibberish don't worry we  explain these concepts on the grad coach blog the   key takeaway for now is simply that there's no one  size fits all for research design and methodology   it all depends on your topic your research aims  and objectives a quick tip using the right tools   for the job is a large part of what markers are  looking for when they assess your dissertation or   thesis so take the time to think carefully about  what data you'll collect how you'll collect it and   how you'll analyze it to make sure these choices  align well with your research aims and objectives all right once you've collected and analyzed your   data it's time to present your  results so let's jump into that once you've collected and analyzed your data it's  time to present your findings in a traditional   dissertation or thesis you'll typically present  and discuss your findings in two separate chapters   the results chapter and the discussion chapter  now that being said some universities do allow   or even require you to combine these chapters  so be sure to check with what your institution's   preference is now you're probably wondering what's  the difference between the results chapter and the   discussion chapter right well while these two  chapters are similar the results chapter just   presents the process data without interpretation  and the discussion chapter explains what the data   means the story they're telling in other words  the results chapter just presents the data while   the discussion chapter details your interpretation  of the results for example if you're researching   the factors that influence consumers trust  and equity brokerages you might have used a   quantitative approach to identify the relationship  between potential factors for example consumers   perceptions regarding a broker's competence and  integrity and their feelings of trust towards the   brokerage in this case your results chapter would  just present the results of the statistical test   numbers charts and graphs for example  correlation or regression results   while your discussion chapter would explain what  the numbers mean in relation to your research   question or questions for example factor one has a  weak relationship with consumer trust well factor   two has a strong relationship importantly your  discussion chapter needs to be linked back to the   literature review do your findings align with the  existing research if not why might this be also   your discussion should link back to your research  questions you need to discuss what the findings   mean in terms of your original research questions  what answers do they provide to those questions   let's look at a practical example sticking with  the same research topic of consumer trust the   discussion section would clearly outline which  factors seem to influence trust and which factors   don't by doing so this section would be linking  back to and addressing the original research   question right with your findings presented and  discussed all that's left to do is wrap up your   dissertation or thesis by drawing your conclusions  and discussing the implications let's do it last but not least you'll need to wrap up your  dissertation or thesis with the conclusion chapter   in this chapter you'll bring your research full  circle by highlighting the key findings of your   study and explaining what the implications of  these findings are but what exactly are the key   findings and implications well the key findings  are those findings that directly relate to your   original research questions and overall  research objectives which you discussed in   your introduction chapter in other words the key  findings are the answers to your original research   questions so this section closes the loop for your  research project let's take a look at a practical   example sticking with the trust topic this study  set out to identify which factors influence   consumer-based trust in u.s based low-cost  equity brokerage firms the results suggest   that the following factors have a large impact on  consumer trust factor x factor y factor z well the   following factors have a very limited impact  on consumer trust factor e factor h notably   within the 25 to 30 age groups factor e had a  noticeably larger impact which may be explained   by contextual factor a as you can see this section  reminds the reader what you set out to research   and then clearly states exactly what you found  now let's take a look at the implications the   implications explain what your key findings  mean for industry or for research in your area   the implications might look something like this  these findings having noteworthy implications   for us-based low-cost equity brokers specifically  the large impact of factors x and y implies that   brokers need to consider investing in initiatives  that cultivate these perceptions such as a and b   the limited impact of factor e suggests that  brokers should not over invest in activities such   as c and d so as you can see the implications  sections brings things back down to earth   it explains what the impact of your findings are  and how these can be used in industry or academia   the key findings and the implications are the  main components of the conclusions chapter but   depending on the university there may also be  some other extras that they want covered here   most importantly though the conclusion chapter  must cover the what what your study found and   the so what what the findings mean for the  industry or research this brings the study   full circle addresses your research objectives  and it closes off the document neat and clean   we've covered a lot of ground in this video well  done on making it this far i hope that you've   managed to get a solid high-level understanding  of how to write a dissertation or thesis   to recap the eight steps to writing a quality  dissertation are as follows one understand what   a dissertation or thesis is that is a research  project that follows the research process   two find a unique or original  important and manageable research topic   three craft a convincing research proposal four  write a clear compelling introduction chapter to   outline and justify your research five undertake  a thorough review of the existing research and   write up your literature review chapter six  design and execute your own research strategy   seven present and interpret your findings eight  draw your conclusions and discuss the implications   if you follow these eight steps you'll  be on a tried and tested path to writing   a top-notch dissertation or thesis be sure to  also check out our other videos and blog posts   where we deep dive into each of these steps and  explain how to conquer them if you enjoyed the   video please hit the like button and remember  to leave a comment if you have any questions   if you're in the process of writing your  dissertation or thesis subscribe to the grad   coach channel for more research related content  if you need a helping hand with your research be   sure to 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's all for this episode  of grad coach tv until next time good luck you

Channel: Grad Coach

Views: 25,987

Keywords: how to write a dissertation, how to write a thesis, dissertation writing, thesis writing, writing a dissertation, writing a thesis, dissertation, thesis, dissertation introduction, thesis introduction, dissertation tutorial, thesis tutorial, dissertation writing steps, thesis writing steps, dissertation examples, thesis examples

Id: 1Ir9z_O4P3A

Length: 37min 58sec (2278 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 29 2021