Steps to writing a dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is the crowning achievement of your PhD program and an accomplishment of which you can be very proud. For any large project like this, understanding the steps and sequence can help reduce some of the anxiety you may be feeling about writing a dissertation. As you progress through your program, each of the steps described below is designed to help you make concrete progress on your dissertation in smaller, manageable chunks. Step 1: Project Ideation. In your coursework, you will learn a great deal about the theories and practices central to your field of study.

A Short Guide to How to Write 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. Before embarking on any substantial writing for your dissertation you will need to check the exact requirements regarding:. There are some conventions that guide the structuring of dissertations in different disciplines. You should check departmental and course regulations.

The title itself is an important opportunity to tell the potential reader what your research is about. You will need it to be succinct, specific, descriptive, and representative of the research you have done. There is likely to be a required format for the title page in your discipline, so you need to check what that is.

This may be one of the shortest sections of your thesis or dissertation, but it is worthwhile taking great care to write it well. Essentially, the Abstract is a succinct summary of the research. It should be able to stand alone in representing why and how you did what you did, and what the results and implications are.

It is often only one page long, and there may be a word limit to adhere to. The Abstract is an important element of the thesis, and will become a document in its own right if the thesis is registered within any database. The examiners will therefore assess your Abstract both as part of your thesis, and as a potentially independent document. It can be best to write the Abstract last, once you are sure what exactly you are summarising.

Alternatively it can be useful to write the abstract earlier on, as an aid to identifying the crucial main thread of your research, its purpose, and its findings, which could then guide the structure of the dissertation. It might be useful to look at how others have managed. It is certainly an academic exercise, but perhaps not too different from the concise explanations of your research you may have had to give to relatives and neighbours over the last few years, in terms of its brevity, accessibility, and comprehensiveness.

This is your opportunity to mention individuals who have been particularly helpful. Reading the acknowledgements in other dissertations in your field will give you an idea of the ways in which different kinds of help have been appreciated and mentioned. The contents pages will show up the structure of the dissertation. This is a useful check on whether amalgamation of sections, or creation of further sections or sub-sections is needed.

Although this is the first piece of writing the reader comes to, it is often best to leave its preparation to last as, until then, you will not be absolutely sure what you are introducing. The introduction has two main roles:. The purpose of this chapter is to show that you are aware of where your own piece of research fits into the overall context of research in your field.

To do this you need to:. This can lead logically into a clear statement of the research question s or problem s you will be addressing. In addition to the research context, there may be other relevant contexts to present for example:. It can be difficult to identify the best order for sections in this chapter because the rationale for your choice of specific research question can be complicated, and there may be several inter-linked reasons why the research is needed.

It is worth taking time to develop a logical structure as this will help to convince examiners of the relevance of your research, and that you understand its relevance.

It will also provide you with a framework to refer back to in your discussion chapter, when you reflect on the extent to which your research has achieved what it set out to do. In these chapters a straightforward description is required of how you conducted the research.

If you used particular equipment, processes, or materials, you will need to be clear and precise in how you describe them. You must give enough detail for another researcher to replicate your study. You will need to check which style of reporting is preferred in your field.

For example a scientific dissertation would probably have very clear separation between the results and the discussion of those results; whereas a social science dissertation might have an overall chapter called Findings, bringing the results and their discussion together. This is where you review your own research in relation to the wider context in which it is located. You can refer back to the rationale that you gave for your research in the literature review, and discuss what your own research has added in this context.

It is important to show that you appreciate the limitations of your research, and how these may affect the validity or usefulness of your findings. Given the acknowledged limitations, you can report on the implications of your findings for theory, research, and practice.

This chapter tends to be much shorter than the Discussion. This section needs to be highly structured, and needs to include all of your references in the required referencing style. As you edit and rewrite your dissertation you will probably gain and lose references that you had in earlier versions.

It is important therefore to check that all the references in your reference list are actually referenced within the text; and that all the references that appear in the text appear also in the reference list. You need to check whether or not the appendices count within the word limit for your dissertation.

Items that can usefully go in the appendices are those that a reader would want to see, but which would take up too much space and disrupt the flow if placed within the main text. Again, make sure you reference the Appendices within the main text where necessary. If your dissertation is well-structured, easy to follow, logical, and coherent, your examiners will probably enjoy reading it, and will be able to listen to your argument without the distraction of trying to make all the links themselves.

The only way to achieve a consistent argument throughout a piece of writing is by creating some kind of plan or map of what you want to say. It can be useful to think of the research question or topic going like a strong thread throughout the dissertation: linking all the elements of the study, and giving coherence to its reporting. Moving from doing the research to writing a comprehensive account of it is not necessarily easy.

It can be helpful to break the task down into smaller, more easily accomplished elements. The process of producing your writing plan could go as follows. It can be a good idea to put the word limit to the back of your mind at this point, and concentrate on getting everything recorded in a document. You can always edit upwards or downwards later as necessary. It is likely, and advisable, that you will not wait until the end of your research before starting to write it up.

You may be required to produce one or more chapters for assessment part way through your research. The process described above can be used for any individual chapter you are working on. It is important to be prepared to critique and revise your own work several times.

Even the early chapters submitted for assessment, and passing that assessment, may need to be revised later on. This is not a failure, but a positive sign of increased experience and skill. You will refer to the work of others as you make your argument. This may involve critiquing the work of established leaders in the field.

It is important that you are assertive about what you are arguing, but it is unlikely that, in a dissertation project, you will be able to be definitive in closing an established academic debate. You should be open about where the gaps are in your research, and cautious about over-stating what you have found.

Aim to be modest but realistic in relating your own research to the broader context. Once you have the dissertation in draft form it becomes easier to see where you can improve it. To make it easier to read you can use clear signposting at the beginning of chapters, and write links between sections to show how they relate to each other. Another technique to improve academic writing style is to ensure that each individual paragraph justifies its inclusion. More ideas will be presented in the Study Guide The art of editing.

You may choose to review your draft from the standpoint of a dissertation examiner, which might involve preparing a list of questions that you want to see answered, then reading through your dissertation scribbling comments, suggestions, criticisms, and ideas in the margin.

If you have a marking guide then apply it to your dissertation and see if there are aspects that you can improve. While you do this, be aware of whether you need to increase the number of words, or decrease it to reach your target. As you read you can then cross through material that appears unnecessary, and mark points that could be expanded. This will then form the basis for your next, improved, draft. Just as it can be difficult to begin writing, it can also be difficult to know when to stop.

You may begin to feel that your dissertation will never be good enough, and that you need to revise it again and again. It may be helpful to divert your attention for a while to the finishing off activities you need to attend to:. Coming back afresh to look critically at the main text may then enable you to complete it to your satisfaction. Remember the dissertation needs to demonstrate your ability to undertake and report research rather than to answer every question on a topic.

It is important to allow yourself enough time for the final checking and proof reading of the finished document. Barrass R. A guide to better writing for scientists, engineers and students. London:Chapman and Hall. Taylor G. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Email: studyhelp if you are a University of Leicester student please use your University email address.

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A comprehensive literature review supporting your research. A discussion of your choice of research design, data collection and analysis, and details of the research.

The way you approach the most important challenge of your university academic career; which is your project write up or paper review or dissertation, can shape the quality of your finished work and in turn determine how much relevance your work would enjoy and of course, secure high grades. Having to write a dissertation signifies that you have gotten to the near end of your educational journey; whether as a final year student or an almost PhD holder. At this point, you are expected to showcase your skill and research capacity in your educational field. This means you would be presenting results of the training you have undergone through an original piece that will provide academic and scientific value.

A dissertation proposal is a brief overview of the aims and significance of your dissertation research. The aim of the proposal is to demonstrate to your dissertation committee that your dissertation will represent an original and beneficial contribution to your field.

The practice of dissertation writing is a prolific and formative step in the advanced academic world. For those required to write a dissertation in order to satisfy the requirements of their degree program, the thought of having to take everything they have learned over the course of the last 3 or 4 years and use that knowledge — and their research and analytical skills — to create a lengthy document capable of delivering some sort of value to thought leaders in the scientific or academic world is stressful. And with good reason.

What are the Steps in Writing a Dissertation?

Date published 27 February by Shona McCombes. Date updated: 27 March Set the stage for your research with a clear focus and direction. To write your introduction, you can break it down into five steps:. If you wrote a dissertation proposal , you can use this as a template, as it contains many of the same elements. However, you should revise your introduction throughout the writing process and return to it at the end, making sure it matches the content of your dissertation.

What Are the Steps in Writing a Dissertation?

Writing a graduate dissertation is not easy, but it can be fun — and very fulfilling. At this stage in your studies you should be beginning to demonstrate an ability to apply your knowledge independently in the production of an original piece of research that pushes back the frontiers of knowledge and, in so doing, enhances the experience of life for ours and future generations. By asking you to produce a dissertation that is grounded in existing scholarship but that provides new insight we aim to help you to move that process of self-development along. To paraphrase Newton, we see a little further by standing on the shoulders of giants. So, in that spirit, below is a little advice on how to approach and successfully complete your dissertation in a timely manner. But, before I start, we need to be sure what a dissertation is. Here is the Oxford English Dictionary definition:. To this I would add that a dissertation is an extended piece of academic writing that challenges you, under the guidance of a supervisor, to participate independently in the academic discourse. Hence, it requires you to gather, process, analyse, and present information and ideas to a greater level of complexity and originality than you may have done previously.

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The purpose of a dissertation is to illustrate your competence and ability to carry out research in your field of study as well as to showcase your findings in a creative paper that will prove to be scientifically valuable. Before we proceed, we should make you aware of the precise meaning of a dissertation. This word is generally utilized to refer to the ultimate findings of an autonomous activity and study for an undergraduate plan.

How to write a dissertation introduction

If you want to gain proficiency in writing your dissertation, you should know that there are generally three steps involved. Below you will find a basic breakdown of these three steps. Research is the first step of the process involved in completing a dissertation, and it is very important. This is the case for several reasons, including that the quality of research that you do will determine how relevant, factual, and current your dissertation is. For this reason, it is a good idea to give yourself plenty of time to read a plethora of articles and books from a wide variety of sources during the period in which you conduct your research. In many cases, individuals who write a dissertation find that the research they do regarding their subject dramatically alters the primary claims they attempt to explain and defend in their work. After you have completed the necessary research regarding your dissertation topic, the next step in the process will be to write the work. Typically, students will go through several drafts of their dissertation before completing the final copy. During both the research and writing phases of the dissertation process, the student should communicate with the dissertation advisor in order to attain insight, instructions, and correction. There is no one correct way to write a dissertation given that each student will bring a unique perspective, vocabulary, and frame of reference when completing the work. However, the dissertation advisor can oftentimes help the student write more effectively -which means helping the student convey information in a profoundly clear and concise manner without sacrificing his or her unique style. The third step in the process of completing a dissertation is defending it. Defending the thesis is oftentimes the most important and exciting aspect of the process for the student.

Writing a dissertation

Have you ever heard of such a thing as a dissertation? You should know how difficult and important it is if you had. This is a paper you have to accomplish in order to become a Ph. There are many unclear nuances. The majority of students wonder how long it takes to write a dissertation , how to select a topic or how to format the text?