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Mastering Your Masters

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Tips to help you write your dissertation

Writing the final assignment for your degree can be stressful time for anyone. It doesn't matter how good you are at your subject, actually writing out your study to a high enough standard to satisfy the examiner of your competence can be difficult for even the brightest student.

Having proofread a lot of students' dissertations, I have come across students who don't know how they should go about an aspect of their write-up, or sometimes even why they have to do that aspect. This blog aims to help clarify many uncertainties and problems that I have come across.

(Be warned: this entry is slightly longer than I hope the majority of entries to be. I wanted to give an overview of most areas for baffled students! More specific detailed information for some areas are to be topics for later entries.)

This entry contains the following (click on the link to jump to the section):

• Before you start
• Starting your writing
• Referencing
• Writing style
• The body of the dissertation

BEFORE YOU START

Working with your tutor

To successfully negotiate the problems you will come across in both conducting your project and writing it up you will need to form a good relationship with your supervisor and sit down with them to discuss what you want to do. In the words of one lecturer: "Come and see us early on. If you turn up in October with a bored expression on your face, you are going to be lumbered with a brain-numbing project. This is because we won't be able to trust you with anything challenging." It's human nature to want to help those who seem to be helping themselves. Likewise, if you look like you're doing the least possible work to get by, no-one will want to give you the time of day!

Brainstorming

Another thing to do before you start is to brainstorm your study area. There is no point in spending half your final year / term reading and researching all areas which may be relevant and not finding much actual information. If you sit down at the beginning and put all your thoughts down on paper, you can rule out anything unnecessary and focus on the areas which are relevant. This will save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. After brainstorming, critically review your thoughts and make a list of:

• The main points you wish to address
• Lesser points which are applicable
• The reading list you currently have
• What evidence you need to back anything up
• Anything else you may be missing

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STARTING YOUR WRITING

Chapters

Dissertations or theses are usually broken up into different chapters to help the reader negotiate their way through your work. Rather than looking at the dissertation as a whole, use the chapter headings to organise your thoughts and break your work down into manageable chunks. I'll go into more detail later about what can go into each chapter, but most dissertations include some, if not all, of the following (check your department's handbook for your specific module):

• Title
• Abstract
• Acknowledgements
• Contents page, figures and tables list, and list of abbreviations
• Introduction
• Literature Review (or the Context of the Study)
• Chapters describing Methods, Sources, Materials, etc.
• Results or Findings
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendices

One good thing about using chapters is that you don't have to start at the beginning and finish at the end. In fact, a lot of students I've known don't do the first draft of their introduction until after they've finished drafting their discussion. And everyone does their abstract last.

Break it down

Make a list of all the elements and ideas that you need to include in each chapter, e.g. introduction of ideas, explanations and definitions of key ideas and concepts, graphs and figures needed. Maybe create a list of subheadings of points you wish to address in each chapter and then list all the important content that needs to go into that section – as bullet points if that's easiest. This way you can also add in references, quotes, explanations and conclusions as and when you think of them. Remember to conclude each chapter with a paragraph that brings all the points together.

It is often easier to write an essay using an essay plan, or outline. This way you can achieve a consistent argument throughout your work.

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REFERENCING

You will need to reference anything that you use or cite which is not your own work (and, in the case of using something from one of your own previous papers, you will sometimes need to cite yourself too!) THEREFORE, KEEP A NOTE OF EVERYTHING THAT YOU READ WHICH YOU MAY USE. There is nothing worse than having to back-track and find out where you found a piece of information from.

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WRITING STYLE

How to write paragraphs It is often said that an essay plan should look like this:

1. Introduction – say what you are going to say
2. Main body – say it
3. Conclusion – say what you've said

But that's not exceptionally helpful to anyone who is actually trying to write that essay! However, as a basis on how to write your individual paragraphs it is actually a good idea. For each paragraph, you should include:

1. Introduction – say what the point of the paragraph is
2. Main body – make the point, and back it up with evidence
3. Conclusion – sum up what you have said and reflect critically on it.

Remember each paragraph should contain one key idea. Be careful not to use too much descriptive writing. The majority of dissertations are about analysis and critical reflection, so be explicit about the significance of each point. State why you have included it in your essay and explain how it helps to address the questions or problems within your project.

Style of writing

Your English should be formal, but not too stuffy. You don't need to pepper your prose with long, "posh-sounding" words that you would never use in a conversation. There are two reasons for this: firstly, your reader will probably lose your meaning; and secondly, if it is not a word you use in conversation (even rarely), there is a chance you will use it incorrectly.

At the same time, make sure your sentences are clear and simple. If you try and use long sentences, your reader, getting lost within lots of clauses which have all sorts of other ideas in them, just like that one, and then you utilise a simplistic word to make your English sound posh in the same sentence even though you get the word wrong, both of which are distracting, will have no chance! Alternatively, if you use long sentences you could lose your reader. Lots of clauses can have all sorts of other ideas in them. This, and incorrect words, can be distracting.

Keep it simple. Use the "Intelligent Grandmother" test. If you gave your work to an intelligent lay-person, would they be able to understand what you were trying to say?

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THE BODY OF THE DISSERTATION

It is often best to write the first three chapters mentioned below last. This way you know the results of your project, and can be sure to include anything unexpected which comes up

Abstract

This is a concise, comprehensive summary of your research. If published, your abstract will be where your reader goes to ascertain whether or not your paper is relevant to their needs. Abstracts are one of the shortest sections of any dissertation; however it is probably one that you should take greatest care over. They are usually examined as both a part of your thesis and a stand-alone document. Do your abstract last, when you know what the rest of your paper looks like.

Contents, and figure and table lists

The contents page is a good overview of the structure of the dissertation. It will show the space given to your different sections, and allowing you to check whether sections are needed to be amalgamated or created.

Introduction

It is often said that the best way to write an introduction is as if it were a funnel. Start off broadly, introducing the area in which your project is based, and becoming more specific throughout the chapter until you finish with your thesis statement and hypothesis:

    1. Establish the general area of your project

a. Introduce the broad subject

b. Define the concepts involved

c. Explain how the area is important, problematic, interesting – justify why you are writing a dissertation about it

d. Introduce and review other studies in the same general area – include differing viewpoints

    2. Establish your particular area

a. Introduce the more specific area

b. Show how prior knowledge can be extended – discuss limitations

c. State the value of previous research

    3. Explain the purpose of your project

a. Explain where there is a gap in previous research

b. Outline your project and show why it is important

c. List the thesis statement and hypothesis questions

d. Explain the structure of the statement

Literature review

Out of all of the areas that seem to perplex students, the literature review appears to be the most problematic. I'm not entirely sure if it is because the university didn't explain very well what it is for, or because the student didn't actually attend the lecture. Either way, the message isn't getting through.

The literature review is to show that you are aware of where your project fits within the context of what is already known. It provides an overview of the current research and is used as a foundation and support for any new insight your study provides

Writing a literature review is often very difficult as you are dealing with so much information. A lot of students use a similar "funnel approach" as described in the introduction.

Subheadings are a good way of organising what you want to say. Find the main themes or arguments and make a section for each of them. Group the relevant papers with the corresponding argument. List the arguments and information given in each paper under the subheading and explain why each are relevant. If possible try to get either differing viewpoints or different authors backing the argument up under this list. Also add your own critical review of what the papers are saying. Back up everything you say with evidence.

Once you have your sections sorted, it's time to write the review. The funnel approach suggests you start out broadly and become more specific throughout.

1. Broad themes: show that you are aware of the breadth of the subject. You don't have to write a lot in this section.
2. Overlapping areas: Discuss any research or argument which overlaps your general study area
3. Directly related arguments: Review any studies or themes directly related to your project. This section should be the largest part of the review.
4. Conclusion: Finally tie up all the arguments

Chapter(s) describing methods, sources, material etc.

If you are conducting empirical research, rather than a meta-analysis or a narrative dissertation, you will need to describe in this chapter exactly how you carried out your study. Enough detail must be provided so that someone knowledgeable in your field could replicate the experiment from this description.

Don't forget to include all data and analyses, as the examiner needs to see these too. If it will interrupt the flow of your writing, place them in appendices at the back.

Results / Findings

The way results or findings can be reported differs in many different ways. Your module handbook or supervisor will be able to advise the best way to go about presenting these. Just be sure that they are clear, any labels, headings, notes or captions are correctly placed, and if you say that table 5.6 is below in the text, then that table is where it should be.

Discussion

Despite being near the end of the document, the discussion is often written shortly after the literature review! To write this section, you need to reverse what I told you for the introduction. Start off specifically, discussing and reviewing your project, and finish up placing it back into relation to the wider context of the area of study. However, DO NOT repeat the information in your introduction.

Your discussion should tell your reader what your findings mean and how valid they are. Summarise your findings in a paragraph. After that you need to put it into the broader context. Go back through your literature review and see where it fits in. If it doesn't fit in, or contradicts something, think about why it does that.

Rather than trying to write your discussion FOR your dissertation, write it out firstly as if you were emailing what you'd done to a friend. Explain why you did what you did. Enthuse about the implications of what you found. Tell them what went wrong and how you could make it better next time. What is the significance of your results? Why should we care? Make sure you differentiate the difference between strong results and weak results as you explain your conclusions.

When you are discussing your results, make sure you do so in context of either interpreting what they mean, or by linking them in to other research. Discuss what connotations your findings have for future research, and how your study could be improved or added to.

Conclusion

Many students make the mistake of simply summarising their research in their conclusion chapter. It should be a much shorter chapter than your discussion; however, it is just as important. In this section, "conclusions" need to be made about the main points which occurred during the study, with explanations about what these mean for your area of research.

You may also want to:

• Include a brief recap of what you have covered, highlighting the most important points
• Refer to the wider areas your study is based in
• Evaluate the main arguments

Refer back to the title of your thesis, and the thesis statement if they are different, and ensure that anything you write is directly relevant. Make sure that your conclusion is backed up by all the evidence and arguments that you have presented, and be careful not to introduce anything new in this chapter. Everything you talk about in your conclusion should be discussed thoroughly elsewhere in your dissertation.

Referencing

Make sure that EVERYTHING you discuss which is not your own work is cited, both in the text and in a reference section at the back. All references are displayed in a certain way, e.g. Author–Date, and your university should tell you how to present them. Be careful that you follow this formula, as marks can be lost in this section too

Once you have finished writing your dissertation, go through your work ticking off each in-text citation with its corresponding reference.

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