Writing Dissertation: Fifth Part

This blog post is the fifth and final installment of our writing dissertation guideline. In this part, we will give you some general advice all about dissertation writing.

Developing an Argument

Dissertations that score highly will have a well developed argument. This means that there is a clear a sense of direction in the piece. The arguments of other researchers and your data will be drawn in to lend credibility to your developing argument.

Here are some ways to develop an argument:

1.      Agree with or reject the point of view of another researcher or researchers.

2.      Develop an existing point of view

3.      You could come up with a new perspective on a problem or issue – perhaps by applying a new theory, or introducing new information.

Stating your Opinion

Developing an argument does involve stating your opinion. The market is interested in your opinion, and wants to hear your thoughts on the research question.

However there are conventions for expressing your opinion in academic writing. You should avoid saying ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’. There are number of ways of making your opinion clear, but presenting this opinion in a more balanced way. For example you could use the phrases like ‘It seems clear from the evidence that…’ or  ‘On balance, the evidence suggests that …’ or ‘It is not certain that…’

Linking and Signposting Words

 It is easier to develop an argument if you have some linking words that you can use. These words might also be called ‘signposting words’ because they indicate to the reader an alternative point of view or a change of direction.

Words for adding to or developing:

In addition

Furthermore

Moreover

Therefore

Words for considering other views of evidence:

Alternatively

Nevertheless

Even so

However

To recap what we have discussed in these blog, follow the links below:

Writing a Dissertation: First Part

Writing a Dissertation: Second Part

Writing a Dissertation: Third Part

Writing a Dissertation: Fourth Part

Hope you find our tips and advices helpful in writing your dissertation. We are happy to give you these step by step guides in finishing your work. We are a proofreading company from UK and we are offering proofreading services like academic proofreading, thesis proofreading and essay proofreading. Check our website at https://proofreadmyessay.co.uk/

Writing Dissertation: Fourth Part

I’m writing this blog post in continuation with the series of guide in writing dissertation.

Research Process Chapter

This part of research process is only applicable to School of Social Work students. If you are not in this subject, then you can skip this.

The Research Process chapter requires word count between 800 and 1000. Most students find that they must adapt to some parts of their research methods after the project.

Data Analysis Chapter

The Data Analysis Chapter should highlight the way the research has developed over time. It should also highlight the key issues to do with the research process that the reader needs to know about.

The purpose of the data analysis chapter is for you to outline the results of your data. If you have interview data or written survey responses, you may want to select some quotations that help you to answer your research questions.

The Data Analysis chapter requires word count between 2000 and 2200 words. Explain the results of your research and link the findings to the original research questions.

-          What does your data means?

Link this information to what other researchers have said about your research area. Refer back to your literature review. Make sure you provided enough evidence to allow your reader to evaluate whether your conclusions are valid.

Explain any problems you encountered with the data.

Research Findings Chapter

The purpose of the Research Findings Chapter is for you to link your data to your research questions and the views of other researchers in the field. This chapter needs to be in 1000 to 1200 words in length.

It should:

Explain the specific outcomes of your research project

Refer back to your research questions and show how the project outcomes address the original questions. If there are aspects of the question that have been difficult to answer, explain the reasons.

The Conclusion Chapter

The conclusion chapter should aim to take an overview of the whole project and draw some broad conclusions. The chapter should have words of 800 to 1200.

We have prepared questions for you to help you finalize your conclusion, read them below:

1.      How has the research project extended our knowledge and understanding of the topic?

2.      What key themes have emerged from the project?

3.      What are the limitations of the research?

4.      What direction for future research?

References

A dissertation should include a full list of the sources that have been referred to. Each department has their own referencing convictions. Always check your departmental handbook to make sure that you present your references correctly.

Some important guidelines are the following:

1.      Check spellings of author names throughout your writing

2.      Check that every reference in the texts is in your references list.

3.      Each department has specific guidelines on the format of references. Make sure you follow these.

Abstract, Acknowledgements, Appendices and Contents

There are a few elements to a dissertation that are not needed for essays. These are pages for contents, and abstract, acknowledgements and appendices. These are short pieces to write, but you need to devote some time to them once the main chapters are written.

The abstract is placed after your title page. This should summarize what you set out what you achieve and your main findings. Acknowledgements are placed after the contents page. This is where you thank people who have helped you with your dissertation writing.

Appendices go at the back of the dissertation. Aim to keep these to a minimum. You might include your interview schedule but not full transcripts.

Now that you have almost finished everything in dissertation writing, consider looking for the dissertation proofreading service company so you have ample time to choose which one is the best to hire. Remember, dissertation proofreading is one of the most important processes in your project.

Writing a Dissertation Guide:

Writing a Dissertation: First Part

Writing a Dissertation: Second Part

Writing a Dissertation: Third Part

Writing Dissertation: Third Part

In this third part of writing dissertation guide, we will discuss the purpose of each dissertation chapter, and what you need to do before starting writing a dissertation. The purpose of the introductory chapter is to set out the scope of your research project and to explain how you will go about answering your research questions.

The introduction part should consist 800 to 1,000 words. It should describe your topic and introduce the research questions. It should also explain the significance or importance of the topic and why you have chosen it. The structure of the dissertation should be explained by describing the purpose of each chapter.

After finishing the proposal plan, you can start reading. It would be good if you have already started reading some resources. This is the best thing to do for preparation for literature review.

This process is useful because it introduces you to what other researchers are saying about your topic of interest.

Undertaking a literature survey could involve:

1.      Meeting with your supervisor to ask for recommended texts.

2.      Meet the subject librarian who can give advice on possible sources. Looking for sources include looking for books and journal articles through library catalogue. Also you can use recommended websites. Before reading the whole piece of the resources, consider reading the abstracts first so you can decide whether they are relevant enough in your research.

Once this literature survey is complete, you can start your literature review chapter. A lot of people write the Literature Review chapter first. This is a chapter that you can write without having gathered any primary data. Students carrying out an extended literature review will need 2 or 3 literature review. The function of the Literature Review chapter is:

-       - To identify the key debates in your research area which includes the theories or ideas of researchers in the field.

-          - To evaluate these ideas. Can you see any flaws in the arguments presented?

-         -  To analyse the assumptions of other researchers

The data collection for primary researchers can be time consuming. It needs to be well thought out to avoid collecting more data than you can use.

Ask your supervisor for advice on data gathering and leave enough time to the research site. When conducting interviews, make sure that you are prepared for the meeting.  Then think about how you will record any information you gathered. Finally, set up a system for analyzing and storing your data.

The methodology chapter is another chapter that can be written early in the process. You can start on this as soon as you have decided on your data collection methods. The purpose of the methodology is to allow you to justify your chosen research methods.

The methodology should include:

-        -  State your research question and how it relates to existing literature.

-         - Describe how you will investigate your research questions (interview? questionnaire?)

-      - Explain why these methods are suitable in helping you to answer your research questions. Why use these methods and not the others?

-         - What are the limitations of your chosen approaches?

-         - Are there any ethical issues you need to consider?

Your Methodology chapter should include your references. There are no. of books in the library that cover the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and you should refer to some of these in relation to the methods that you have chosen.

The next article, we will discuss about Research Process chapter. Make sure to read the writing dissertation guide or click the links below:

Writing a Dissertation: First Part

Writing a Dissertation: Second Part

Writing a Dissertation: Fourth Part

In the middle of your planning and writing, you may need dissertation proofreading service. Make sure to get the best and reliable one so you can finish your work on time. 

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.

Writing a Dissertation: First Part

This article will outline the process of researching and writing a dissertation. We intend to help the Masters students but this could also be a good write-up for students who are required to write dissertations as part of their undergraduate degrees.

Before doing any planning or writing your dissertation, it is essential to know the answers of these key questions to help develop your dissertation.

-        -Who will be my dissertation supervisor?

-         -When is the deadline

      -How many words to use in writing the dissertation?

After answering these questions, we now go to first step of planning. The first step would be is choosing a topic. Now think about a topic that would best interest you and one you won’t get bored about.

Do not choose a topic that took researchers to find answers for years, choose a less complex and manageable topic. Your aim is to choose a brief research topic and a short time scale, rather than a PhD thesis or a life’s work.

Begin evaluating the modules of your course. Check if there are certain topics that you enjoy studying. When you find an interesting topic, put it down and note some possible questions about it. Construct as much titles that come into your mind until you have 2 topics that you think will work for you.

You have to gauge how much time you need to finish your dissertation and be realistic with it as students like you have other commitments to attend to. Ask these questions to yourself when you’re about to start the dissertation.

-          -Can I finish my project before the deadline?

-         - How will my finances be affected with dissertation? Will it be costly?

-          - Do I need to travel to the research site? Is this feasible?

-          - Can I easily get access to the research site?

Your dissertation supervisor is likely become a good source of support throughout the dissertation process. Your supervisor should be knowledgeable about your topic and can give you good advice so your process will be smooth.

At your initial meeting, bring with you your gathered questions as we have discussed above. Present them to your supervisor and don’t be afraid if these are very basic and not impressive as he/she will assess them. He/she will help reveal your interest.

Inquire if your questions are workable and can be improved. Also ask for some advise where to expand your research, what to read about your topic. Make sure to put it down so you remember everything.

Do not lose contact with your supervisor throughout the process, include them in the loop so they can supervise your progress. They are very helpful to students who show interests with their work and ask questions.

To reduce stress and issues in producing your dissertation, make use of organization. Organize everything since the start of your planning. Oversee how many chapters you need to write. Count the number of weeks between now and the deadline. Come up with a no. week you plan to spend on each chapter both researching and writing. Give enough time at the end for dissertation proofreading. It is a very crucial process, you have to understand why dissertation proofreading is important. 

This is just the initial part of writing a dissertation. Read the second part of the process here.