Expert Guide to Structure of a Dissertation

March 31, 2023

You cannot afford to compromise on the quality of a dissertation considering its impact on your final grade. unfortunately, the complex nature of the thesis structure format makes a dissertation a daunting process for many students. If you were facing issues with managing your dissertation, this article will assist you in integrating your research findings into your thesis structure.

Structuring a dissertation

Is it easy to structure a dissertation paper? Although the process may seem complicated, structuring a dissertation paper is easy. All that you need to know is:

The chapters involved
How to arrange the chapters orderly
What to indicate in every chapter

When you are ready, let’s discuss the chapters and their requirements.

Cover page

Just as in your exam papers, this is the first chapter to include in the structure of a dissertation. In this section, include your project title, name, admission number, degree program, supervisor’s name, date, time, and institution’s name. Please ensure that you countercheck your details several times to indicate all the identification information recommended by your faculty.

Abstract

An abstract intends to provide the reader with a brief synopsis of the content of your dissertation. It’s best to keep your word count between 100 and 300 since detailed information will be presented in the results and discussion. The following questions should be addressed in your abstract:

What is the research topic in your paper?
What methods did you use in researching?
What were your goals, and have you met them?
What are your findings after the research?

The quality of your abstracts will determine the reader’s urge to go through your detailed information.

A table of contents is relevant to highlight all the topics and their respective page numbers. Including this section in the structure of a thesis paper, enables readers to quickly navigate to their section of interest.

Glossary

Some readers could have trouble comprehending your paper because of the complex jargon used within your work. To overcome this challenge, prepare a glossary explaining the difficult words used in your thesis paper. However, like the abstract, compose your glossary after you finish writing your dissertation paper.

We suggest listing the challenging terminologies as you write your thesis and organizing them alphabetically. This will eliminate the chance of emitting a crucial technical term used within your dissertation.

Introduction

Although you may have succeeded in drawing the reader’s attention in the abstract, you might divert their interest in the introduction. An introduction aims to elaborate on the what, how, and why of your project.

Consequently, it’s crucial to preserve the positive impression by cutting away unnecessary wording from your introduction. Include the following information in your introduction:

A brief introduction about your research topic
the relevance of your research topic
the goals of your research
the purpose of the dissertation for your research topic

Literature review

In this section, you are required to analyze all your research sources used to gather information. Here, avoid reiterating the key theme of each source, rather, gauge each paper critically to highlight the gaps in each resource, therefore, transitioning smoothly to your research goals.

Methodology

In this part, you must emphasize the techniques employed to obtain information for your project. the methodology ought to be detailed to allow for the replication of your research and also highlight the limitations of your research methods to avoid unfair criticism of your paper.

Results

What are the findings of your research? This is what the reader expects to answer in your results. Since it is the most important section in the chapters of a dissertation, ensure that you give accurate data. Your results must align with the topic of interest to ensure the reader’s satisfaction.

here, highlight the findings from your research without elaborating on the relevance of these findings to your research questions. Also, highlight all findings regardless of whether they support your findings or not.

Discussion

Can you justify the reliability of your data? An answer to this question will rule out any doubt in the reader’s mind about the workability of your results. Use all supportive evidence at your disposal to convince the reader how your findings best suit the research compared to others.

Conclusion

A conclusion is important to inform the reader of the key ideas in your paper. the conclusion is designed to emphasize or elaborate further on the key thesis statement of your dissertation writing. Make sure to express your viewpoint on the lessons learned and how they apply to resolve problems in your study field.

References

The structure of a thesis ends with proper citations on the source of your research information. While referencing, use the format your faculty gives, be it MLA, Chicago, or APA.

Final take

After going through the dissertation chapter structure provided in this article, we hope to have assisted you in easily structuring your thesis paper. Whichever part you need clarification on, consult our team for guidance; we will gladly help.