A dissertation may appear frightening to you; but easy, cast your fear out because a dissertation paper is only one form of a research paper. The difference is its being lengthy, original and more substantial. Its essence lies on critical thinking, not experimental data. The heart of a dissertation consists of analysis and concepts. The challenging aspect of writing dissertation papers is organizing the evidence and discussions into a coherent form, but here is a simple and effective guide for you.
- Decide on the problem or concern that you want to address. To come up with a relevant original problem, read previous dissertations so that you avoid choosing a concern that has already been studied by many.
- Formulate the problem or title of the dissertation in a way that it gives an idea of what the paper is all about. It must consist of not more than twenty words.
- Write the introduction (Chapter 1). Include the rationale, the importance of the problem, and coherent thesis statement. State the specific questions to be explored. Define new terms conceptually or operationally.
- Support your problem with relevant literature and studies (Chapter 2). Based on your readings, identify the gaps that your paper will bridge, and develop your conceptual paradigm.
- Present methodologies (Chapter 3) used and results (Chapter 4) of measurements that provide evidence in support of the thesis. Demonstrate the viability of the method used.
- Corollaries and Consequences (Chapter 5). Describe the variations, extensions and other applications of the main idea.
- Conclusions (Chapter 6). Summarize the learning and application of the thesis. Include recommendations and possibilities for future research.
The structure or format may vary within universities depending on what they require. Have proper citation. Avoid plagiarism. Good writing is essential in a dissertation but it cannot compensate for scarcity of ideas.
