Do you know which is the best method to write a dissertation? Well, it is simple. You must decide its structure in advance. Since the dissertation is a long piece of writing there must be a blueprint that one has to follow. The outline of a dissertation serves as this boundary and divides this big task into small achievable goals. Let us have a look at some commonly used dissertation structures and learn how to write a dissertation structure.
Empirical and Non-empirical Dissertations
Dissertations are basically of two types - empirical and non-empirical. Empirical dissertations involve gathering data on your own. The students follow certain ethical methods to gather data, conduct experiments, questionnaires and observations. In non-empirical dissertations, students look into already published materials. They do not collect any fresh data. They rather use the data already present. For instance, if you are writing about a public scenario or types of behaviour, you will be creating an empirical dissertation. If you are working on a theory you will be preparing a non-empirical dissertation.
Basic Dissertation Structure
Title page
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Glossary
Introduction
Dissertation Literature review
Methodology
Results and Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
Reference list
Appendices
These are the fifteen chapters or headings that are present in a dissertation. But, not every dissertation follows the same layout. There are various that might affect the structure of your dissertation. This includes the topic of your dissertation, the type of the dissertation, and the location of the dissertation.
Sometimes university guidelines include the structure to be followed. Otherwise, you must check some dissertation layout samples online or consult your dissertation supervisor so that you prepare the correct structure for your dissertation. Here are a few examples to explain to you how it goes.
Suppose you are preparing a dissertation in Humanities which is more theoretical than empirical. Then, your dissertation structure will include a number of case studies.
If you are preparing a social science dissertation, that includes empirical research then you can combine two or more chapters from the above list into one. For instance, certain professors ask to include discussions within the dissertation rather than mentioning them as a separate chapter.
The structure may vary on the university guidelines also. For instance, some universities ask to present the conclusion before the discussion. Some ask to include reference list and bibliography together. The placement of chapters may also vary according to different universities.
The empirical dissertations always include these two chapters - data analysis and findings. Similarly, empirical dissertations always include these chapters - dissertation literature review and interpretation of data.
Hope now you got to know how to write a dissertation structure completely and what factors help in deciding the structure of the dissertation. Do keep these points in mind when you start working on your dissertation and decide the structure at the beginning itself.
