Writing a Dissertation: Second Part

This article is the continuation of the first part of the process in writing dissertation. In this part, you will be able to have an idea on how to make your dissertation a fun and hassle-free process.

Try to look at the dissertation as a series of short pieces of work, rather than as a 10,000 word whole. Breaking the tasks down into chunks should help you to do this. Make a ‘to do list’ and mark as finished in each task that you've done in each chapter.

Plot the tasks onto a weekly planner, and then onto a daily planner. As you go through the tasks and finished them, remember to mark them finished. By constantly doing this, you will see the progress as you make your dissertation.

The two types of dissertation are:

1.   1. A project that involves an element of primary research. Primary research which involves gathering data of your own. You can gather data by conducting interviews or questionnaires.

2.      2. A project that is based on an extended literature review or theoretical research. This sort of project relies on data that has been collected by other researchers. It is useful when the topic you are studying is very sensitive, or the data very difficult to collect.

There is a set format for the structure of your dissertation. Your course handbook shall contain exact details. In planning dissertation, these are the no. of words you can follow:

·         Introduction ( 800 – 1,000 words)

·         Literature Review ( 1,200 – 2,000 words)

·         Methodology ( 1,500 – 2,000 words)

·         Research Process (School of Social work only) (800 – 1,000 words)

·         Data Analysis ( 2,000 – 2,200 words)

·         Research Findings ( 1,000 – 1,200 words )

·         Conclusion (800 – 1,000 words)

Each chapter’s suggested no. of words is according to an 8,000 to 10,000 dissertation words.

Start the dissertation with introduction with 800 to 1000 words then followed by literature review and so on.

You might have specific issues that should be written in 2 or 3 chapters, each devoted to specific issues in the literature. (4,000 to 5,000 words)

You might want to go for key themes from the above chapters relating them to your research question. This chapter can go between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

Some department requires their students to submit dissertation plan before they start writing. Producing a plan is a good idea, even if it’s not a course requirement. It will help you to identify where you are going with the project. In writing a proposal, it could be done this way:

This project will consider…

The project aims to…

The data will be gathered by…

These methods were chosen because…

Potential problems with the project are…

Expected outcomes are…

After you produced these and shown to your supervisor, you may be ready to start your research.

For the first part of writing a dissertation, go here. And for the third part, please click this link.