Writing a Dissertation – A simple guide

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Writing a Dissertation – A simple guide

Section One

  1. Introduction 10%

You will need to introduce your topic here.

  • State the research area of interest.

What is the research topic/ subject area /issues/problems/motivations?

Why is the important? Why should it be of interest to the reader/ academic community/ the society? What will this add to the field of study.

How are you going to accomplish the task? Is it quantitatively or qualitatively?

State your expected contribution(s).

  • State the research questions:

This can be 2, 3, 4 or more depending on the expected results/ gap/contributions/significance of the research.

  • Or your hypotheses

Background of the study (context of your study) 2%   – (optional)

Give some background study to your research:

This can be discussions on the context of your study

The origin of your topic of interest

The motivations for your interest

 

  1. Literature review 18%
  • Or your hypotheses

 

  1. Research Method: Quantitative or qualitative           15%

Discussion of research methodology

Access to data

Research data analysis and instruments

Any anticipated challenges and how these will/have been overcome

 

Limitations

Ethical consideration

 

  1. Findings / Results 40%

 

Findings/results/and Interpretation of data analysis

 

  1. Discussions (optional) 10%- 5%

 

  1. Conclusion 15%

Implications of your study and contributions to the body of knowledge

  • Recommendation for further study

 

REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Section Two

Some guides in developing your research topic and writing

It may be that the easiest way to begin to hone in on a specific topic is to go back through all of the lecture slides, notes and assignments that you have completed so far. Was there a topic that you were particularly interested in? Was there a concept that you thought could have been developed further?

You can also start by looking at relevant journals and publications until you find a more explicit direction.

 

Writing your proposal and dissertation

Depending upon the referencing system preferred by your university department, you will need the following information:

  • Book/Journal title
  • Author(s)
  • Editor(s) (edited books only)
  • Chapter Title
  • Page(s)
  • URL (for online sources only)
  • Publisher

 

*However, majority of your citations should be journal articles.