What is a dissertation
If you're contemplating graduate school, you may have heard that a comprehensive paper is required to graduate, and you likely wonder what exactly is the difference between a thesis and a dissertation. It's good that you're thinking ahead. There are definite differences between the two terms, though they are sometimes used interchangeably and often confused. Both papers are similar in their structure, as they contain an introduction, literary review, body, conclusion, bibliography and appendix.
What is the Difference Between a Thesis and a Dissertation?
This article helps you work out exactly what you should include and where to include it. For example, dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies. In many cases, each will be a separate chapter, but sometimes you might combine them. For example, in certain kinds of qualitative social science, the results and discussion will be woven together rather than separated.
The order of sections can also vary between fields and countries. For example, some universities advise that the conclusion should always come before the discussion. The acknowledgements section is usually optional, and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation.
This might include your supervisors, participants in your research, and friends or family who supported you. The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about words long. In the abstract, make sure to:. In the table of contents, list all of your chapters and subheadings and their page numbers. The dissertation contents page gives the reader an overview of your structure and helps easily navigate the document. All parts of your dissertation should be included in the table of contents, including the appendices.
You can generate a table of contents automatically in Word if you used heading styles. If you have used a lot of tables and figures in your dissertation, you should itemize them in a numbered list.
You can automatically generate this list using the Insert Caption feature in Word. If you have used a lot of abbreviations in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings. If you have used a lot of highly specialized terms that will not be familiar to your reader, it might be a good idea to include a glossary.
List the terms alphabetically and explain each term with a brief description or definition. The introduction should:. Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant to your research. By the end, the reader should understand the what , why and how of your research. Before you start on your research, you should have conducted a literature review to gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic. This means:. For example, it might aim to show how your research:.
The literature review often becomes the basis for a theoretical framework , in which you define and analyze the key theories, concepts and models that frame your research. In this section you can answer descriptive research questions about the relationship between concepts or variables.
The methodology chapter or section describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its validity. You should generally include:. Your aim in the methodology is to accurately report what you did, as well as convincing the reader that this was the best approach to answering your research questions or objectives. Next, you report the results of your research. You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses, or topics.
Only report results that are relevant to your objectives and research questions. In some disciplines, the results section is strictly separated from the discussion, while in others the two are combined. For example, for qualitative methods like in-depth interviews, the presentation of the data will often be woven together with discussion and analysis, while in quantitative and experimental research, the results should be presented separately before you discuss their meaning.
In the results section it can often be helpful to include tables, graphs and charts. Full versions of your data such as interview transcripts can be included as an appendix. Here you should interpret the results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters.
If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. The discussion should reference other scholarly work to show how your results fit with existing knowledge. You can also make recommendations for future research or practical action. The dissertation conclusion should concisely answer the main research question, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your central argument. In some academic conventions, the conclusion refers to a short section that comes before the discussion: first you directly state your overall conclusions, then you discuss and interpret their meaning.
In other contexts, however, the conclusion refers to the final chapter, where you wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you did and how you did it. This type of conclusion often also includes recommendations for research or practice.
What have you added to what was already known? You must include full details of all sources that you have cited in a reference list sometimes also called a works cited list or bibliography. Each style has strict and specific requirements for how to format your sources in the reference list. To save time creating the reference list and make sure your citations are correctly and consistently formatted, you can use the Scribbr Citation Generator.
Your dissertation itself should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents you have used that do not fit into the main body of your dissertation such as interview transcripts, survey questions or tables with full figures can be added as appendices.
Making sure all the sections are in the right place is only the first step to a well-written dissertation. Leave plenty of time for editing and proofreading. Grammar mistakes and sloppy formatting errors can drag down the quality of your hard work. You should plan to write and revise several drafts of your thesis or dissertation before focusing on language mistakes , typos and inconsistencies.
Have a language expert improve your writing. Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes. Generate your APA citations for free! Home Knowledge Base Dissertation. Is this article helpful? Your dissertation without language mistakes and blunders?
Get help from a professional Scribbr editor. Tips for writing an overview of your dissertation.
A thesis or dissertation is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings. Sometimes known as a thesis (in some countries, this term is used only for the final assignments of PhD degrees, while in other countries.
Let's revisit the idea of the thesis itself. It is a hypothesis, a conjecture, a theorem. The dissertation is a formal, stylized document used to argue your thesis.
Your approach to one of the most important challenges of your academic career will determine the quality of your finished work - discover how to devise and stick to a work schedule. Devoting sufficient time to planning and structuring your written work while at university is important, but when it comes to that all-encompassing dissertation, it's essential that you prepare well.
If you're considering a doctoral program, you've probably been wondering exactly what a dissertation is. You may have heard rumors about the difficulty, expense or stress of producing this important document, but there's no reason to worry. A dissertation is the culmination of your scholarly work in graduate school, and Ph.
Guide to undergraduate dissertations in the social sciences
Undertaken after a student completes coursework and passes a comprehensive examination , the dissertation is the final hurdle in completing a Ph. The dissertation is expected to make a new and creative contribution to a field of study and to demonstrate the student's expertise. In social science and science programs, the dissertation usually requires conducting empirical research. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges , a strong medical dissertation relies heavily on the creation of a specific hypothesis that can be either disproven or supported by data collected by independent student research. Further, it must also contain several key elements starting with an introduction to the problem statement, conceptual framework and research question as well as references to literature on already published on the topic.
Writing and structuring your dissertation
Covid Update: We've taken precautionary measures to enable all staff to work away from the office. These changes have already rolled out with no interruptions, and will allow us to continue offering the same great service at your busiest time in the year. A dissertation is either partly taught and partly researched or completely researched. In the case of the second of these, you will need to find a topic that is both interesting and original and that is capable of sustaining an extended argument. Taught dissertations tend to follow the subsequent structure:. The second type is a dissertation that you have to research from scratch. This means you must focus on an aspect of a topic that you have studied, and which you have found particularly interesting and wish to deepen and widen your research in this area. Then you put together a proposal based on your research, emphasising any original aspects you have uncovered, and once your idea is accepted you proceed as with the taught dissertation.
There are some obvious differences: an essay is relatively short — usually to words — and you are told clearly what to do by someone else.
A dissertation or thesis is a long piece of academic writing based on original research, submitted as part of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. The structure of a dissertation depends on your field, but it is usually divided into at least four or five chapters including an introduction and conclusion chapter. Instead of the standard structure outlined here, you might organise your chapters around different themes or case studies. Other important elements of the dissertation include the title page , abstract , and reference list.
How to write a dissertation
A dissertation or final year project, as a form of assessment differs from other module assessments. The expectation is that you, the learner, take responsibility for your own learning and that you produce a literature review, you choose a method for undertaking a study, write up your findings and discuss the outcomes in a discussion section. So this part of site provides you with a better understanding of the following:. Watch What is a dissertation? Traditionally, an undergraduate degree in the social sciences and humanities uses a dissertation for a final piece of study. The degree might also offer other alternatives such as the option of an extended essay, or an independent learning project, or a senior paper. This is because the process of producing this type of assessment enables you to:. In many ways this is about doing social science rather than writing about the social science that others have produced. Some of these skills are clearly academic and related to your discipline. Others are much broader and develop your effectiveness in collecting, manipulating and interrogating information, its application and the production of reports - all of which are useful skills in employment. For many undergraduate degree students, a significant element of final year study is an independent learning project. According to Todd et al while these projects may vary greatly in scope and nature e. Ultimately you will be drawing together issues of theory, method and methodology and bringing them to bear on your chosen topic.
To access this site, you must enable JavaScript.
This article helps you work out exactly what you should include and where to include it. For example, dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies. In many cases, each will be a separate chapter, but sometimes you might combine them. For example, in certain kinds of qualitative social science, the results and discussion will be woven together rather than separated. The order of sections can also vary between fields and countries. For example, some universities advise that the conclusion should always come before the discussion. The acknowledgements section is usually optional, and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Ph.D. Dissertation
A thesis or dissertation [1] is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings. The required complexity or quality of research of a thesis or dissertation can vary by country, university, or program, and the required minimum study period may thus vary significantly in duration. The word "dissertation" can at times be used to describe a treatise without relation to obtaining an academic degree. The term "thesis" is also used to refer to the general claim of an essay or similar work. Aristotle was the first philosopher to define the term thesis. For Aristotle, a thesis would therefore be a supposition that is stated in contradiction with general opinion or express disagreement with other philosophers b
How to structure a dissertation
Skip to content. Skip to navigation. This Study Guide addresses the task of writing a dissertation. It aims to help you to feel confident in the construction of this extended piece of writing, and to support you in its successful completion. The process of having to describe your study in detail, in a logical sequence of written words, will inevitably highlight where more thought is needed, and it may lead to new insight into connections, implications, rationale, relevance, and may lead to new ideas for further research. The good news is that you have already started writing if you have written any of the following in relation to this study:. In each case the object of the writing was to communicate to yourself, your supervisors, or to others, something about your work. In writing your dissertation you will draw on some of this earlier writing to produce a longer and more comprehensive account.
