Useful Tips on Structuring a Dissertation and Thesis

A dissertation can be very crucial because your dissertation can get you to your degree of a Master’s or Ph.D. Your dissertation will be considered as proof that what you have learned during your stay at an institute and what you have researched. On the basis of your dissertation, you will be judged whether you can critically analyze a topic or not. Writing a dissertation isn’t an easy task at all because you need to provide the world with something new and something better. In order to write an astonishing dissertation, you need to provide comparisons, and you need to state your findings. Those dissertations which are focused are termed as more fruitful and engaging.

There is a hell of a difference between the structure of the decertations of university life and college-level essay. To write a dissertation for your Master’s and for your Ph.D., you need to have intellectual qualities and extra-ordinary writing skills. If you lack any of these skills, you won’t be able to write your dissertation on your own.

Lots of things are dependent on the type of dissertation, for example, originality and scholarships. To write a dissertation for your Master’s level, you need to conduct secondary level research. In your Master’s degree, you need to draw new conclusions from your experiments. If you are writing your dissertation for your doctoral study assignment, you need to conduct the primary level of research. In your primary research, you need an input of new knowledge and practices to the chosen field of science.

The quality of your dissertation will depend greatly on the structure you will follow in your dissertation. Whether you are writing a dissertation for your college life or for your university life, you need to follow the structure of your institute. It is compulsory to read the instructions carefully before start writing the dissertation. Dissertation writing is an art, and students need to be sure before writing a dissertation. Some of the students may require assistance from the professionals, and you can get your guidance from your professor. However, the general structure of a dissertation remains the same for almost all types of dissertations.

How Can You Structure Your Dissertation?

As far as the structure of a dissertation is concerned, there are not many differences if we compare the structure with the structure of an article. A perfect dissertation must have some essential points like the topic of your research, experimental part, materials and methodology, and results and discussions. At the end of your dissertation, makes sure to write the conclusions by telling the readers what you have concluded from your study. If you want to write any sort of a dissertation, you need to write the above-mentioned chapters in your dissertation.

Each and every institution has its own requirements that need to be followed by the students. The requirements and structure of a thesis may be varied on the basis of your discipline. Make sure about the length of a chapter of your dissertation, what chapters to include in your dissertation, and what to add in your main body. If you aren’t getting what is required to write your dissertation, ask for online help or get assistance from your professor.

Title page

As far as a title page is concerned, it is entirely different for every university. When you are assigned to write your dissertation, your university staff will provide you a format that you need to follow to make your title page. A title page may include the name of the student, student’s identity, roll number or registration number, name of department and university, level of your degree, the title of dissertation along with the final date of submission. Your title page has to be very attractive because it will the first thing your supervisor will look at. Even if you go for the scrutiny committee, they’ll look at your title page first.

Abstract

An abstract is the summary of your entire dissertation, and it must not exceed 250-500 words. It is very difficult to write an abstract because you need to sum up your whole work in a single chapter. In order to write an eye-catching abstract, make sure to state your topic efficiently, why you have selected this particular topic, and what you have concluded out of your research. At the end of your dissertation or thesis, make sure to write your findings. It is recommended to write your abstract at the end of your thesis because at the end of your thesis, you will be able to know all the nitty-gritty of your dissertation.

Table of contents

At the top of your title page, there has to be the table of contents on which all of your chapters are stated.

Introduction

On the basis of your introduction, you can grab the attention of your reader. Make sure to provide the answers to some crucial questions to get your reader on board. You can consider your introduction to the background of your research topic, and you have to plan it accordingly. Your introduction must be answerable to methodological questions. Also, let the reader know how important your research is and why there is a need for this research. Write about why you have chosen this topic and what you are planning to conduct scientific research.

Consider your introduction, a starting point of your dissertation. If your topic is “effect of coconut water on hypertension,” you need not only to explain hypertension but coconut water as well. As a dissertation is a scientific form of writing, you need to provide pieces of information having a scientific background. You have to cite the sources from where you have gathered your data for your introduction.

Review of literature

If you are writing a dissertation for undergraduate studies, you need to create a separate section with the title of the literature review. If you are writing this an individual chapter, you are obliged to state the current state of studies in relation to your topic. In this section, you need to let your readers know what sort of work has been done on this topic in the past. Whether the work of previous scientists is agreeing or disagreeing with your point, you need to write them as they have written in the past.

Most of the students consider it an outline of publications, but this isn’t the case at all. It has to be a critical analysis of the work some of the scientists have done in the past. In your literature review, you are only supposed to write about the work of some previous scientists. Whether a further investigation is needed or not, it has to be in this section of your dissertation.

Materials and methods

This is one of the most decisive parts of a dissertation. In this section of a thesis, you are supposed to write about the methods you have used to conduct your research. You need to briefly explain the techniques you have used along with the use of materials to make it look more scientific and authentic. One of the reasons you should pay great attention to this part is, the results will be depending on your methodology.

If we talk about the length of this chapter of a dissertation, it varies from university to university as well as discipline to discipline. It is legitimate to write why this methodology has been selected to prove the truthfulness of your study. In this section, you are supposed to write about the collection and investigation of your data. Don’t take this part for granted. It is important as anything else. 

Substantive chapters

In this part of your thesis, you are required to write the main body of your research. This section will deal with the gathering and analysis of your collected data, results you have obtained from your experiments, and discussions. At the start of your dissertation, you need to create a hypothesis for your research, and at the end of your research, you are obliged to write whether your results have supported your hypothesis or not. In your literature review, you have written the theories, and you need to combine your theories with the experimental and practical part.

Results and discussions

In this chapter of your thesis, you have to write the results you have obtained after your experiments. You need to first explain from where you have collected the samples, and then you have to provide the results you have obtained. In this section, you can use tables as well as charts for the presentation of your final data.

In your discussion section, you need to let the readers know whether the results you have obtained are backing your hypothesis or not. It is mandatory to have significant results at the end of your research because significant results will be proof of your valid research. In your discussion section, you need to let the readers know whether you have achieved your goals or not as a result of your research. It is your duty to prove the reliability and validness of your research. Discussion is a part of your thesis, where you have to state the findings of your research. If your study has some sort of limitations, don’t hesitate to write your limitations in your discussions section. There are some limitations that may influence the validity of the outcome. 

Conclusions and recommendations

Usually, this part of a dissertation is brief. You can call this section the summarization of the outcomes of your research. In this section of your dissertation, you are supposed to suggest some future investigations. You have to be spot on with the pieces of information you write in your conclusion because your committee members will read your conclusion after successful reading of your introduction.

On the basis of your conclusions, your committee members will judge whether you have accomplished your goal or not. Your conclusion will be a sort of summary of your results and new results. In your conclusion section, you have to write about the weaknesses and limitations of your research. It is mandatory. 

References

The students often ignore this section. A dissertation can be failed on the basis of the references. At the end of your thesis, you have to cite all the sources from where the data has been collected. You need to write the references in alphabetical order of the author’s surname. Most of the teachers and committee members are experts in writing a reference, which is why you have to double-check your references before submitting your final version.

Appendices

There are some authors who add appendices to their thesis plan, which is the source of getting some extra information. Appendices may include some diagrams, maps, interviews, charts, and tables. You need to write all the material from your appendices in the main body of your dissertation. 

Thesis as a result of scientific publications

If you have written a dissertation that is good enough for a scientific publication, it will be a huge bonus for the author. A dissertation or thesis has to include three parts. You need to write three articles, and your articles must be related to your research. Each of your articles will be a representation of each chapter. In this way, you will not only get a dissertation but three publications as well at the end of this process.

If you want to compose a scientific paper, a dissertation will help you in so many regards. You don’t need to worry much about the structure as a separate paper and to rewrite it several times. You only need to prepare some articles related to your topic keeping in mind the requirements of your field. Make sure to read the journals you are planning to send your publications and plan your publications accordingly.

Before submitting, make sure to read it more than once to look for any sort of mistake. If one of your friends is a professional proofreader, don’t hesitate to ask for his/her help. The dissertation is one of the most difficult forms of writing, if not the most difficult. If you think professional dissertation services can get the job done for you, you can contact us 24/7 and ask us to write your mesmerizing dissertation.