cranfield thesis template

Discover our blogs

Defence and Security

Energy and Sustainability

Environment

Manufacturing and Materials

School of Management

Transport Systems

Accessing past Cranfield theses

You may find it helpful to look at examples of past Cranfield theses when you are writing your own. They may be valuable for reading previous research, and for looking at the structure, style and methodology.

Important note: Please do not use them for referencing advice as we have updated both our Author-Date and Numbered referencing styles in recent years.

Here are the top 3 places to find past Cranfield theses. Please note that some of these are accessible only to specific communities or currently-registered Cranfield staff and students.

1. Masters Theses Archive

The Masters Theses Archive contains online copies of Cranfield Master’s theses since 2006 (but also some older ones).  Search or browse by School, title, author, supervisor or date. The links allow you to download the full-text in PDF. (Access limited to Cranfield staff and students).

2. Shrivenham Repository

Access online theses from Cranfield Defence and Security and the Shrivenham site. (Access limited to CDS staff and students). 

3. CERES, the Cranfield Research Repository

CERES contains the full-text of Cranfield research output, including both DBA and PhD theses. The database is publicly accessible and can either be searched or browsed by community. 

These are only our top three. A full list can be found on the Theses page of our website  but, as always, if you have any questions please  contact us .

Feature image from Pixabay .

Karen Stokes

Written By: Karen Stokes

A Business Librarian since 2009, Karen leads support for the Cranfield MBA courses, both full-time and Executive.

Categories & Tags:

Leave a comment on this post:

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You might also like…

Changes to FitchConnect…

Karen Stokes 2024-05-09T14:13:00+01:00 14/05/2024 | Tags: barrington , bmi , country information , dmda , FitchConnect , gme , knl , macroeconomics , market research , SOMLibrary , web-mirc-economics , web-mirc-industry |

Those of you who have been using FitchConnect may have noticed that things are changing. The BMI content we subscribe to being migrated to its own platform. In the meantime, when you login to Fitch, ...

Love in the first degree – Management MSc students plan to get married!

Tammie Argent-Peters 2024-05-13T17:53:41+01:00 13/05/2024 | Tags: management msc , school of management , Student stories |

After meeting at Cranfield whilst studying Management MSc, Isabel and Vatsal share their fond memories of Cranfield and what the future holds. Tell us about yourself Isabel: My name is Isabel Hamm and I'm originally ...

Our Cardiff study tour – an incredible experience that goes beyond academic learning

Tammie Argent-Peters 2024-05-13T17:39:22+01:00 13/05/2024 | Tags: cranfield school of management , MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management , student study tours |

My name is Hyelni David Malgwi, originally from Nigeria. I am currently pursuing a master’s in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I recently had the fantastic opportunity to participate in a study tour to Cardiff, ...

Air Transport Management MSc student Quentin Lacoste on studying at Cranfield and his exciting new job role

Antonia Molloy 2024-05-14T10:33:50+01:00 13/05/2024 | Tags: air transport , air transport industry , air transport management MSc aviation |

Quentin Lacoste is studying for an MSc in Air Transport Management (ATM). Here, he talks about his journey to Cranfield, his experience on the course, and his exciting new job offer. ...

Advancing Uncrewed Aerial Systems: My Journey at Cranfield University

Alice Kirkaldy 2024-05-13T17:33:03+01:00 13/05/2024 | Tags: Autonomous systems , cranseds , drone technology , group design project , UAS , uav , UIAS |

Cranfield University has offered me countless opportunities in the short time I have been here, and I am committed to making the most of them.  As an expert in drones and ...

How we’re helping the UK take back control of time

Kath Middleditch 2024-05-10T16:34:38+01:00 10/05/2024 | Tags: communications , cyber , electronics , engineering , networks , signal processing , smartphones , time |

Our lives run on the supply of an invisible utility: accurate time. Starting with the morning alarm on our smartphone, it’s the basis of the everyday information we rely on for travel schedules, journey ...

Sign up for more information about studying master’s and research degrees at Cranfield

Privacy overview.

• Cranfield University

Taught degrees

• Why study for an MSc at Cranfield?
• Application guide
• Find a course
• Search bursaries
• Fees and funding
• Make a payment

Research degrees

• Why study for a research degree at Cranfield?
• Research opportunities

Apprenticeships

• Apprenticeship programmes
• Apprentices
• MKU Apprenticeships

Professional development

• Professional and technical development
• Level 7 Apprenticeships
• Open Executive Programmes
• Find a programme

Studying at Cranfield

International students.

• Life at Cranfield
• Life at Shrivenham
• Careers and Employability Service
• IT services
• View our prospectus

Choose Cranfield

• Why work with Cranfield
• Who we work with
• Entrepreneurship
• Corporate Sustainability Consultancy
• Networking opportunities
• Access our facilities
• Business facilities and support services

Develop your people

• Short courses and executive development
• Customised programmes
• Recruit our students

Develop your technology and products

• Access funding
• Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
• Work with our students
• License our technology
• Business incubation
• Cranfield spin-out and start-up companies

Our research publications and data

• Case studies
• Research projects

Why research at Cranfield?

• Sustainability at Cranfield
• Theme Research Strategies
• Hydrogen Gateway
• Research Excellence Framework
• Access our world class facilities
• Current research projects
• Cranfield Doctoral Network
• Applying for a research degree
• Entry requirements

Engage with us

• Industry collaboration
• Find an expert
• Research and Innovation Office
• Open research
• Fellowships
• Energy and Sustainability
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Transport Systems
• Defence and Security
• Environment and Agrifood
• Cranfield School of Management
• Centres and institutes
• Academic disciplines

Virtual Experience

International activity and reach.

• Partnerships
• Cranfield in India
• European Partnership Programme
• Global impact
• Information for your region
• Visas and immigration
• Life on campus
• Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes
• About Cranfield University
• Our structure
• Rankings and awards
• Building on our heritage
• Community and public engagement
• Facts and figures
• History and heritage

Governance and policies

• University management
• Council and Senate
• Corporate responsibility
• Environmental credentials
• Research integrity
• Staff and students
• Work at Cranfield
• School of Management

Research proposal writing guide for prospective students 

What is a research proposal.

A doctoral research proposal outlines the research that a candidate wishes to carry out as part of a programme of supervised doctoral research. Writing your research proposal is your opportunity to tell us about the research you would like to do and gives you the opportunity to articulate your research ideas, demonstrate your critical thinking skills and capacity to undertake a research project, along with your academic writing skills. Many of Cranfield’s doctoral programmes will require you to produce a research proposal as part of the application process. Your research proposal will help us to establish your motivations for carrying out a doctorate and determine whether your proposed research is interesting, significant, necessary and feasible. It also helps us to ensure that we have the supervisory expertise to support your proposed research.

Your research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. It sets out the key issues or questions that your research intends to address, including:

• A summary of your proposed research;
• The key research questions that your research will answer;
• The current state of knowledge in the area you wish to research and how your research contributes to this;
• The originality of your proposed research.

Where do I start?

Select an area of research or a problem that you are passionate about, it will be your focus for at least three years and possibly beyond – so it needs to be interesting to you!

Once you have identified an area of potential study, undertake a literature review of current research in that area. This will help you to evaluate the current state of the literature in that field and allow you to consider how you might create new knowledge which contributes to this literature. Is there a problem which is yet to be addressed or a perspective that has not been taken previously? Or can you identify a 'gap' in the knowledge pool, something that has not been discovered or researched in a particular way before, which you could try to address with your proposed research? Doctoral research needs to create new knowledge and make a contribution but it also needs to be interesting, relevant and important. Just because an area has not been researched before does not make it an appropriate doctoral project!

What do I need to include in my research proposal?

Your research proposal should be approximately 2,000 words, or 4 to 5 pages, and should contain the following:

• Title: A working title for your research proposal, which gives a clear indication of your proposed research project.
• Abstract: A summary of approximately 100 words, where you outline the problem that you want to examine, explain why it is interesting, important and relevant and how you might go about studying it. You should include the central question or issue that your research will be based on.
• Background and rationale: This will form the body of your research proposal. In this section you should confirm the problem your research will address, summarise what the current state of the art is in this area and identify the key conversations and players. Present the results of your literature review and articulate how your research might contribute to this knowledge and extend this literature.
• Research questions/research aims and objectives/research hypothesis: Outline what your provisional research questions might be. There are different ways to structure this; they may take the form of questions, aims and objectives or research hypothesis/es.
• Research methods: In this section you should present your initial thoughts about how you might answer your research question and what methods you propose to use. Your approach should be systematic and structured as your results need to be robust and repeatable. This is the part of your proposal where you can demonstrate your understanding of what research is and what a research project entails.
• Plan of work: This is an outline of the various stages for developing and implementing your research project, together with a timeline. This could be in a Gantt chart that is tailored to your specific project.
• Significance and contribution of the research: Your initial thoughts on what the potential significance of your research is. What will the contribution of your research be to knowledge, literature, theory and/or methodology and what might be the impact of your research on policy, practice or scientific understanding?
• Bibliography/references: The references to the key articles and texts that you have used in preparing your research proposal.

Where can I find more help?

You are not alone. Academics at Cranfield will be happy to help you. Using our ' Find an Expert ' locator you will be able to find an academic at Cranfield who is most aligned with your area of research and get in touch with them. 

Get in touch

Take a tour around our campus, view 360s, videos and images along with our interactive map

Navigation Menu

Search code, repositories, users, issues, pull requests..., provide feedback.

We read every piece of feedback, and take your input very seriously.

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly.

To see all available qualifiers, see our documentation .

• Notifications

Research support

Introduction.

• Open Research
• Research methods
• Measuring your scholarly impact
• Why is predatory publishing a problem?
• How can you spot it?
• A case at Cranfield
• Other evidence of predatory behaviour
• What should I do if I am approached?
• Further help and resources
• Guidance on preprints
• Keeping up to date
• Legal essentials for research
• Research support Lunch+Learn webinars

Here at Cranfield we support the philosophy of Open Research and acknowledge its role in building a thriving research culture.  What is Open Research?  

Please ensure you are aware of your responsibilities as a Cranfield researcher. Our library research support service is here to help you do this:

Cranfield’s Institutional Rights Retention Policy Cranfield’s Open Research Policy Cranfield’s other research-related policies  

Share your research now!

Log on to the CRIS

Help whenever you need it

We can support you in every stage of the research lifecycle, from providing the resources and training you need, to helping you manage your data, getting published, and increasing the visibility of your research. 

Here are some of our guides to key areas:

Publishing your work open access

Open access   UKRI Open Access Policy Rights retention Cranfield publisher deals   Predatory publishing

Managing your research

Research data management   ORCID accounts CRIS support guides

Questions? Please contact your Library Research Support Team: [email protected]

• Next: Open Research >>
• Last Updated: Mar 21, 2024 2:37 PM
• URL: https://library.cranfield.ac.uk/research

What’s Included: The Dissertation Template

If you’re preparing to write your dissertation, thesis or research project, our free dissertation template is the perfect starting point. In the template, we cover every section step by step, with clear, straightforward explanations and examples .

The template’s structure is based on the tried and trusted best-practice format for formal academic research projects such as dissertations and theses. The template structure reflects the overall research process, ensuring your dissertation or thesis will have a smooth, logical flow from chapter to chapter.

The dissertation template covers the following core sections:

• The title page/cover page
• Abstract (sometimes also called the executive summary)
• Table of contents
• List of figures /list of tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction  (also available: in-depth introduction template )
• Chapter 2: Literature review  (also available: in-depth LR template )
• Chapter 3: Methodology (also available: in-depth methodology template )
• Chapter 4: Research findings /results (also available: results template )
• Chapter 5: Discussion /analysis of findings (also available: discussion template )
• Chapter 6: Conclusion (also available: in-depth conclusion template )
• Reference list

Each section is explained in plain, straightforward language , followed by an overview of the key elements that you need to cover within each section. We’ve also included practical examples to help you understand exactly what’s required in each section.

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

FAQs: Dissertation Template

What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).

The dissertation template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

What types of dissertations/theses can this template be used for?

The template follows the standard best-practice structure for formal academic research projects such as dissertations or theses, so it is suitable for the vast majority of degrees, particularly those within the sciences.

Some universities may have some additional requirements, but these are typically minor, with the core structure remaining the same. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalise your structure.

Will this work for a research paper?

A research paper follows a similar format, but there are a few differences. You can find our research paper template here .

Is this template for an undergrad, Masters or PhD-level thesis?

This template can be used for a dissertation, thesis or research project at any level of study. It may be slight overkill for an undergraduate-level study, but it certainly won’t be missing anything.

How long should my dissertation/thesis be?

This depends entirely on your university’s specific requirements, so it’s best to check with them. As a general ballpark, Masters-level projects are usually 15,000 – 20,000 words in length, while Doctoral-level projects are often in excess of 60,000 words.

What about the research proposal?

If you’re still working on your research proposal, we’ve got a template for that here .

We’ve also got loads of proposal-related guides and videos over on the Grad Coach blog .

How do I write a literature review?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack how to write a literature review from scratch. You can check out the literature review section of the blog here.

How do I create a research methodology?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack research methodology, both qualitative and quantitative. You can check out the methodology section of the blog here.

Can I share this dissertation template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template. If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, all we ask is that you reference this page as your source.

Can Grad Coach help me with my dissertation/thesis?

Within the template, you’ll find plain-language explanations of each section, which should give you a fair amount of guidance. However, you’re also welcome to consider our dissertation and thesis coaching services .