Writing an effective dissertation isn’t an easy task. It takes many months, so gather all your energy and willpower to reach the finish line. It’s not easy or simple– but it doesn’t have to be a pain for you either. If you know the following tips and tricks on how to write a dissertation, your journey will be way smoother. So read this article and you’ll find yourself saying ‘I can do my dissertation without any trouble’!
Let’s learn the process of how to write a high-quality dissertation without losing your mind along the way. If you’re someone who’s starting their dissertation, this post is perfect for you. At the same time, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, you’ll learn how to structure a dissertation. So let us begin!
Start With the Basics
Understand exactly what a dissertation is; you must be wondering ‘don’t we already know that?’ However, many thousands of students don’t fully understand what a dissertation actually is. So ask yourself ‘what is a dissertation?’ and answer it in detail. Your answer should sound something like this: a dissertation is a formal piece of research, following the standard research process. In this research process, you should ask a specific question and see what other researchers say about it. Then you’ll answer your research question with the help of your findings.
In simple words: research means to ask a precise question and answer it in a scientific way. Hence a dissertation is not an opinion piece to help you convince someone of your point. So, if you’re writing a dissertation, ask a question and answer it systematically. If you understand this about dissertations, you’re ready to get started!
Find a Unique and Valuable Topic
To come up with that ‘specific question’ we’ve been talking about, you’ll have to search for topics. Most students don’t think it’s easy to find a research question that asks a specific question. Your research topic should be 3 things; clear, unique, and important.
Your topic should clearly reflect what you’re researching and what the content is about. So make sure it’s not too broad or vague or your reader will start off the wrong note. Secondly, your research should ask something which other researchers haven’t asked before. If your topic isn’t completely new but the context is, that can work too. Just make sure that your findings are different from the previous ones or else there’s no point. Last but not the least, your research has to add some value to your field. You can’t justify your topic with only your curiosity.
Make a Compelling Research Proposal
Your research topic may look great to you but you have to convince your university to approve it. No matter how awesome it looks to you, you can’t go ahead with it without their approval stamp. To get your topic approved, you’ll have to do a few things. Firstly, Make sure your topic is clear, unique, and well-written. Secondly, read the existing literature on that topic and have a fool-proof plan of collecting and analyzing data. Although you don’t have to do an extensive literature review, it should be enough to help you see the gaps.
Write a Strong Intro
If you’ve gained approval for your dissertation topic, congratulations! The good news is, as soon as you get the acceptance, you can start the introduction, literature review, and methodology. Naturally, you will start with the introduction to set the scene for the reader. This part is lengthy so set a goal to write at least half a page every day. Hence you’ll be writing all about the background of your study and the gaps in existing research. Moreover, you’ll also have to justify why you chose this area and how it contributes to your field.
The Literature Review
You did the literature review in the research proposal step – but that’s just scratching the surface. Here, you’ll have to dig a lot deeper into the current findings to nail this section. Okay, don’t panic, you don’t need to read every single article for this. Just make sure that you cover everything related to your core research questions. Once you’ve digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Finally, don’t treat it like a summary of what other researchers say because this is the foundation of your paper.
Carry Out Your Research
Start with designing your research strategy to write your methodology chapter. Simply put, you’ll explain the “how” of your dissertation. Thus this is the time to decide how you’ll design your research, so justify your decisions in this chapter. Once you’re done with the research design, you’ll apply it to collect your data. This could mean interviews, online surveys, or any other data collection method. This takes quite a bit of time (especially interviews), so make sure you have enough time for this. If things don’t go 100% according to the plan, give it some time and it’ll work out!
Present Your Outcomes
Phew! The major part of your paper is done and now you just have to present your findings in 2 chapters. The result and discussion. In the results section, you’ll just display your findings in a concise way but with all necessary details. Here you can use tables, graphs, charts, and figures with labels to make your data clear and understandable. Leave the interpretation for the discussion chapter. The discussion chapter is for you to explain your findings in light of the research question and literature review. Highlight any patterns, influences, etc. to make the discussion informative.
Conclusion and Implication
This is the part where you’ll wrap up everything with the help of a compelling summary. Thus, highlight your key findings and explain the implications for future research on this topic. Explain how these findings answer your research questions and what were the gaps and limitations. Make sure you add all the important details in the conclusion within the limited word count. Here, your language skills will come into use because you’ll be writing everything to the point. Finally, explain what this research means to the industry and how it can be improved.
Conclusion:
If you’re still reading this article, you’re in for some huge dissertation success! We know this piece was long to read but it covers everything you need to know about writing dissertations effectively. Many Ph.D. students complain about how hard it was to write their research papers. Well truly, it is the hardest task in postgraduate programs but the road to success isn’t easy. Don’t worry, just because it’s tough, doesn’t mean you can’t write a satisfactory dissertation.
Not many colleges prepare their students to write a dissertation but we’ve got your back! Read all the above-mentioned steps and use them to plan your dissertation writing. Finishing your dissertation is no longer impossible for any student now. The top students only succeed because they know the best writing tips, and now you know it too. Once you start using this universal formula for dissertation writing, you’ll find yourself saying: I can do my dissertation!!!
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