Five Basic Parts of a Dissertation Structure

When you receive the task of writing your dissertation, it means that you are now on the final stages of your university study. It also means that you are now commencing a very huge project. The accomplishment of your dissertation would pave way for you to graduate from your studies and at the same time acquire your much desired degree.

Before you could write your dissertation, you have to gain knowledge of some of its elements – one of them is its basic structure. As a student, you need to know the basic structure of dissertation. Why? It is because you cannot proceed writing your dissertation if you have no idea how it is structured.

The dissertation bear a basic structure made up of five main parts:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Review of the literature
Part 3: Methodology
Part 4: Results
Part 5: Interpretations, Conclusions, and Recommendations

First of the basic structure of dissertation is the INTRODUCTION. The introduction basically tells why the student is undertaking the research. It also tells why the dissertation is important, particularly to the target readers. The introduction as well outlines the main questions or problems that will be addressed in the research. It likewise forewarns readers of the limitations of the study, as well as the reasons for them.

When writing a dissertation, a student should also conduct a REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. The review of the literature examines prior researches related to the key aspects of the current dissertation. The review indicates the missing links – things that prior researches have not found out.  The review demonstrates the student’s overall grasp of his current research.

Third part of the basic structure of a dissertation is the METHODOLOGY. The methodology outline the student’s chosen strategies for gathering and analysing data. It also presents the tools that the student has chosen to gather or analyze data.

After the methodology comes the RESULTS part. The student, after gathering and analyzing data, should present and summarise his key findings.  Then the student should interpret the data and link them past theory, research or practice. This should be placed in the last part of the basic structure of dissertation -- INTERPRETATIONS, CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS. The conclusion indicates what has been discovered when the student’s results and prior literature are considered. Then the student should extrapolate his dissertation results to future theory, research, and practice by making suggestions for action.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}