dissertation of studies

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Guide to writing your thesis/dissertation, definition of dissertation and thesis.

The dissertation or thesis is a scholarly treatise that substantiates a specific point of view as a result of original research that is conducted by students during their graduate study. At Cornell, the thesis is a requirement for the receipt of the M.A. and M.S. degrees and some professional master’s degrees. The dissertation is a requirement of the Ph.D. degree.

Formatting Requirement and Standards

The Graduate School sets the minimum format for your thesis or dissertation, while you, your special committee, and your advisor/chair decide upon the content and length. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other mechanical issues are your sole responsibility. Generally, the thesis and dissertation should conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field. The Graduate School does not monitor the thesis or dissertation for mechanics, content, or style.

“Papers Option” Dissertation or Thesis

A “papers option” is available only to students in certain fields, which are listed on the Fields Permitting the Use of Papers Option page , or by approved petition. If you choose the papers option, your dissertation or thesis is organized as a series of relatively independent chapters or papers that you have submitted or will be submitting to journals in the field. You must be the only author or the first author of the papers to be used in the dissertation. The papers-option dissertation or thesis must meet all format and submission requirements, and a singular referencing convention must be used throughout.

ProQuest Electronic Submissions

The dissertation and thesis become permanent records of your original research, and in the case of doctoral research, the Graduate School requires publication of the dissertation and abstract in its original form. All Cornell master’s theses and doctoral dissertations require an electronic submission through ProQuest, which fills orders for paper or digital copies of the thesis and dissertation and makes a digital version available online via their subscription database, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses . For master’s theses, only the abstract is available. ProQuest provides worldwide distribution of your work from the master copy. You retain control over your dissertation and are free to grant publishing rights as you see fit. The formatting requirements contained in this guide meet all ProQuest specifications.

Copies of Dissertation and Thesis

Copies of Ph.D. dissertations and master’s theses are also uploaded in PDF format to the Cornell Library Repository, eCommons . A print copy of each master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation is submitted to Cornell University Library by ProQuest.

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Dissertation

How to Write a Dissertation | A Guide to Structure & Content

A dissertation or thesis is a long piece of academic writing based on original research, submitted as part of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree.

The structure of a dissertation depends on your field, but it is usually divided into at least four or five chapters (including an introduction and conclusion chapter).

The most common dissertation structure in the sciences and social sciences includes:

An introduction to your topic
A literature review that surveys relevant sources
An explanation of your methodology
An overview of the results of your research
A discussion of the results and their implications
A conclusion that shows what your research has contributed

Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an argument by analysing primary and secondary sources . Instead of the standard structure outlined here, you might organise your chapters around different themes or case studies.

Other important elements of the dissertation include the title page , abstract , and reference list . If in doubt about how your dissertation should be structured, always check your department’s guidelines and consult with your supervisor.

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Acknowledgements, table of contents, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review / theoretical framework, methodology, reference list.

The very first page of your document contains your dissertation’s title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. Sometimes it also includes your student number, your supervisor’s name, and the university’s logo. Many programs have strict requirements for formatting the dissertation title page .

The title page is often used as cover when printing and binding your dissertation .

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The acknowledgements section is usually optional, and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation. This might include your supervisors, participants in your research, and friends or family who supported you.

The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150-300 words long. You should write it at the very end, when you’ve completed the rest of the dissertation. In the abstract, make sure to:

State the main topic and aims of your research
Describe the methods you used
Summarise the main results
State your conclusions

Although the abstract is very short, it’s the first part (and sometimes the only part) of your dissertation that people will read, so it’s important that you get it right. If you’re struggling to write a strong abstract, read our guide on how to write an abstract .

In the table of contents, list all of your chapters and subheadings and their page numbers. The dissertation contents page gives the reader an overview of your structure and helps easily navigate the document.

All parts of your dissertation should be included in the table of contents, including the appendices. You can generate a table of contents automatically in Word.

If you have used a lot of tables and figures in your dissertation, you should itemise them in a numbered list . You can automatically generate this list using the Insert Caption feature in Word.

If you have used a lot of abbreviations in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetised list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.

If you have used a lot of highly specialised terms that will not be familiar to your reader, it might be a good idea to include a glossary . List the terms alphabetically and explain each term with a brief description or definition.

In the introduction, you set up your dissertation’s topic, purpose, and relevance, and tell the reader what to expect in the rest of the dissertation. The introduction should:

Establish your research topic , giving necessary background information to contextualise your work
Narrow down the focus and define the scope of the research
Discuss the state of existing research on the topic, showing your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate
Clearly state your objectives and research questions , and indicate how you will answer them
Give an overview of your dissertation’s structure

Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant to your research. By the end, the reader should understand the what , why and how of your research. Not sure how? Read our guide on how to write a dissertation introduction .

Before you start on your research, you should have conducted a literature review to gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic. This means:

Collecting sources (e.g. books and journal articles) and selecting the most relevant ones
Critically evaluating and analysing each source
Drawing connections between them (e.g. themes, patterns, conflicts, gaps) to make an overall point

In the dissertation literature review chapter or section, you shouldn’t just summarise existing studies, but develop a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear basis or justification for your own research. For example, it might aim to show how your research:

Addresses a gap in the literature
Takes a new theoretical or methodological approach to the topic
Proposes a solution to an unresolved problem
Advances a theoretical debate
Builds on and strengthens existing knowledge with new data

The literature review often becomes the basis for a theoretical framework , in which you define and analyse the key theories, concepts and models that frame your research. In this section you can answer descriptive research questions about the relationship between concepts or variables.

The methodology chapter or section describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its validity. You should generally include:

The overall approach and type of research (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, experimental, ethnographic)
Your methods of collecting data (e.g. interviews, surveys, archives)
Details of where, when, and with whom the research took place
Your methods of analysing data (e.g. statistical analysis, discourse analysis)
Tools and materials you used (e.g. computer programs, lab equipment)
A discussion of any obstacles you faced in conducting the research and how you overcame them
An evaluation or justification of your methods

Your aim in the methodology is to accurately report what you did, as well as convincing the reader that this was the best approach to answering your research questions or objectives.

Next, you report the results of your research . You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses, or topics. Only report results that are relevant to your objectives and research questions. In some disciplines, the results section is strictly separated from the discussion, while in others the two are combined.

For example, for qualitative methods like in-depth interviews, the presentation of the data will often be woven together with discussion and analysis, while in quantitative and experimental research, the results should be presented separately before you discuss their meaning. If you’re unsure, consult with your supervisor and look at sample dissertations to find out the best structure for your research.

In the results section it can often be helpful to include tables, graphs and charts. Think carefully about how best to present your data, and don’t include tables or figures that just repeat what you have written – they should provide extra information or usefully visualise the results in a way that adds value to your text.

Full versions of your data (such as interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix .

The discussion is where you explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research questions. Here you should interpret the results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters. If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. It’s a good idea to consider alternative interpretations of your data and discuss any limitations that might have influenced the results.

The discussion should reference other scholarly work to show how your results fit with existing knowledge. You can also make recommendations for future research or practical action.

The dissertation conclusion should concisely answer the main research question, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your central argument. Wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you did and how you did it. The conclusion often also includes recommendations for research or practice.

In this section, it’s important to show how your findings contribute to knowledge in the field and why your research matters. What have you added to what was already known?

You must include full details of all sources that you have cited in a reference list (sometimes also called a works cited list or bibliography). It’s important to follow a consistent reference style . Each style has strict and specific requirements for how to format your sources in the reference list.

The most common styles used in UK universities are Harvard referencing and Vancouver referencing . Your department will often specify which referencing style you should use – for example, psychology students tend to use APA style , humanities students often use MHRA , and law students always use OSCOLA . M ake sure to check the requirements, and ask your supervisor if you’re unsure.

To save time creating the reference list and make sure your citations are correctly and consistently formatted, you can use our free APA Citation Generator .

Your dissertation itself should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents you have used that do not fit into the main body of your dissertation (such as interview transcripts, survey questions or tables with full figures) can be added as appendices .

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How to write an undergraduate university dissertation

Writing a dissertation is a daunting task, but these tips will help you prepare for all the common challenges students face before deadline day.

Grace McCabe

Writing a dissertation is one of the most challenging aspects of university. However, it is the chance for students to demonstrate what they have learned during their degree and to explore a topic in depth.

In this article, we look at 10 top tips for writing a successful dissertation and break down how to write each section of a dissertation in detail.

10 tips for writing an undergraduate dissertation

1. Select an engaging topic Choose a subject that aligns with your interests and allows you to showcase the skills and knowledge you have acquired through your degree.

2. Research your supervisor Undergraduate students will often be assigned a supervisor based on their research specialisms. Do some research on your supervisor and make sure that they align with your dissertation goals.

3. Understand the dissertation structure Familiarise yourself with the structure (introduction, review of existing research, methodology, findings, results and conclusion). This will vary based on your subject.

4. Write a schedule As soon as you have finalised your topic and looked over the deadline, create a rough plan of how much work you have to do and create mini-deadlines along the way to make sure don’t find yourself having to write your entire dissertation in the final few weeks.

5. Determine requirements Ensure that you know which format your dissertation should be presented in. Check the word count and the referencing style.

6. Organise references from the beginning Maintain an alphabetically arranged reference list or bibliography in the designated style as you do your reading. This will make it a lot easier to finalise your references at the end.

7. Create a detailed plan Once you have done your initial research and have an idea of the shape your dissertation will take, write a detailed essay plan outlining your research questions, SMART objectives and dissertation structure.

8. Keep a dissertation journal Track your progress, record your research and your reading, and document challenges. This will be helpful as you discuss your work with your supervisor and organise your notes.

9. Schedule regular check-ins with your supervisor Make sure you stay in touch with your supervisor throughout the process, scheduling regular meetings and keeping good notes so you can update them on your progress.

10. Employ effective proofreading techniques Ask friends and family to help you proofread your work or use different fonts to help make the text look different. This will help you check for missing sections, grammatical mistakes and typos.

What is a dissertation?

A dissertation is a long piece of academic writing or a research project that you have to write as part of your undergraduate university degree.

It’s usually a long essay in which you explore your chosen topic, present your ideas and show that you understand and can apply what you’ve learned during your studies. Informally, the terms “dissertation” and “thesis” are often used interchangeably.

How do I select a dissertation topic?

First, choose a topic that you find interesting. You will be working on your dissertation for several months, so finding a research topic that you are passionate about and that demonstrates your strength in your subject is best. You want your topic to show all the skills you have developed during your degree. It would be a bonus if you can link your work to your chosen career path, but it’s not necessary.

Second, begin by exploring relevant literature in your field, including academic journals, books and articles. This will help you identify gaps in existing knowledge and areas that may need further exploration. You may not be able to think of a truly original piece of research, but it’s always good to know what has already been written about your chosen topic.

Consider the practical aspects of your chosen topic, ensuring that it is possible within the time frame and available resources. Assess the availability of data, research materials and the overall practicality of conducting the research.

When picking a dissertation topic, you also want to try to choose something that adds new ideas or perspectives to what’s already known in your field. As you narrow your focus, remember that a more targeted approach usually leads to a dissertation that’s easier to manage and has a bigger impact. Be ready to change your plans based on feedback and new information you discover during your research.

How to work with your dissertation supervisor?

Your supervisor is there to provide guidance on your chosen topic, direct your research efforts, and offer assistance and suggestions when you have queries. It’s crucial to establish a comfortable and open line of communication with them throughout the process. Their knowledge can greatly benefit your work. Keep them informed about your progress, seek their advice, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.

1. Keep them updated Regularly tell your supervisor how your work is going and if you’re having any problems. You can do this through emails, meetings or progress reports.

2. Plan meetings Schedule regular meetings with your supervisor. These can be in person or online. These are your time to discuss your progress and ask for help.

3. Share your writing Give your supervisor parts of your writing or an outline. This helps them see what you’re thinking so they can advise you on how to develop it.

5. Ask specific questions When you need help, ask specific questions instead of general ones. This makes it easier for your supervisor to help you.

6. Listen to feedback Be open to what your supervisor says. If they suggest changes, try to make them. It makes your dissertation better and shows you can work together.

7. Talk about problems If something is hard or you’re worried, talk to your supervisor about it. They can give you advice or tell you where to find help.

8. Take charge Be responsible for your work. Let your supervisor know if your plans change, and don’t wait if you need help urgently.

Remember, talking openly with your supervisor helps you both understand each other better, improves your dissertation and ensures that you get the support you need.

How to write a successful research piece at university How to choose a topic for your dissertation Tips for writing a convincing thesis

How do I plan my dissertation?

It’s important to start with a detailed plan that will serve as your road map throughout the entire process of writing your dissertation. As Jumana Labib, a master’s student at the University of Manchester studying digital media, culture and society, suggests: “Pace yourself – definitely don’t leave the entire thing for the last few days or weeks.”

Decide what your research question or questions will be for your chosen topic.

Break that down into smaller SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) objectives.

Speak to your supervisor about any overlooked areas.

Create a breakdown of chapters using the structure listed below (for example, a methodology chapter).

Define objectives, key points and evidence for each chapter.

Define your research approach (qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods).

Outline your research methods and analysis techniques.

Develop a timeline with regular moments for review and feedback.

Allocate time for revision, editing and breaks.

Consider any ethical considerations related to your research.

Stay organised and add to your references and bibliography throughout the process.

Remain flexible to possible reviews or changes as you go along.

A well thought-out plan not only makes the writing process more manageable but also increases the likelihood of producing a high-quality piece of research.

How to structure a dissertation?

The structure can depend on your field of study, but this is a rough outline for science and social science dissertations:

Introduce your topic.

Complete a source or literature review.

Describe your research methodology (including the methods for gathering and filtering information, analysis techniques, materials, tools or resources used, limitations of your method, and any considerations of reliability).

Summarise your findings.

Discuss the results and what they mean.

Conclude your point and explain how your work contributes to your field.

On the other hand, humanities and arts dissertations often take the form of an extended essay. This involves constructing an argument or exploring a particular theory or analysis through the analysis of primary and secondary sources. Your essay will be structured through chapters arranged around themes or case studies.

All dissertations include a title page, an abstract and a reference list. Some may also need a table of contents at the beginning. Always check with your university department for its dissertation guidelines, and check with your supervisor as you begin to plan your structure to ensure that you have the right layout.

How long is an undergraduate dissertation?

The length of an undergraduate dissertation can vary depending on the specific guidelines provided by your university and your subject department. However, in many cases, undergraduate dissertations are typically about 8,000 to 12,000 words in length.

“Eat away at it; try to write for at least 30 minutes every day, even if it feels relatively unproductive to you in the moment,” Jumana advises.

How do I add references to my dissertation?

References are the section of your dissertation where you acknowledge the sources you have quoted or referred to in your writing. It’s a way of supporting your ideas, evidencing what research you have used and avoiding plagiarism (claiming someone else’s work as your own), and giving credit to the original authors.

Referencing typically includes in-text citations and a reference list or bibliography with full source details. Different referencing styles exist, such as Harvard, APA and MLA, each favoured in specific fields. Your university will tell you the preferred style.

Using tools and guides provided by universities can make the referencing process more manageable, but be sure they are approved by your university before using any.

How do I write a bibliography or list my references for my dissertation?

The requirement of a bibliography depends on the style of referencing you need to use. Styles such as OSCOLA or Chicago may not require a separate bibliography. In these styles, full source information is often incorporated into footnotes throughout the piece, doing away with the need for a separate bibliography section.

Typically, reference lists or bibliographies are organised alphabetically based on the author’s last name. They usually include essential details about each source, providing a quick overview for readers who want more information. Some styles ask that you include references that you didn’t use in your final piece as they were still a part of the overall research.

It is important to maintain this list as soon as you start your research. As you complete your research, you can add more sources to your bibliography to ensure that you have a comprehensive list throughout the dissertation process.

How to proofread an undergraduate dissertation?

Throughout your dissertation writing, attention to detail will be your greatest asset. The best way to avoid making mistakes is to continuously proofread and edit your work.

Proofreading is a great way to catch any missing sections, grammatical errors or typos. There are many tips to help you proofread:

Ask someone to read your piece and highlight any mistakes they find.

Change the font so you notice any mistakes.

Format your piece as you go, headings and sections will make it easier to spot any problems.

Separate editing and proofreading. Editing is your chance to rewrite sections, add more detail or change any points. Proofreading should be where you get into the final touches, really polish what you have and make sure it’s ready to be submitted.

Stick to your citation style and make sure every resource listed in your dissertation is cited in the reference list or bibliography.

How to write a conclusion for my dissertation?

Writing a dissertation conclusion is your chance to leave the reader impressed by your work.

Start by summarising your findings, highlighting your key points and the outcome of your research. Refer back to the original research question or hypotheses to provide context to your conclusion.

You can then delve into whether you achieved the goals you set at the beginning and reflect on whether your research addressed the topic as expected. Make sure you link your findings to existing literature or sources you have included throughout your work and how your own research could contribute to your field.

Be honest about any limitations or issues you faced during your research and consider any questions that went unanswered that you would consider in the future. Make sure that your conclusion is clear and concise, and sum up the overall impact and importance of your work.

Remember, keep the tone confident and authoritative, avoiding the introduction of new information. This should simply be a summary of everything you have already said throughout the dissertation.

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How to Structure a Dissertation – A Step by Step Guide

Published by Owen Ingram at August 11th, 2021 , Revised On September 20, 2023

A dissertation – sometimes called a thesis – is a long piece of information backed up by extensive research. This one, huge piece of research is what matters the most when students – undergraduates and postgraduates – are in their final year of study.

On the other hand, some institutions, especially in the case of undergraduate students, may or may not require students to write a dissertation. Courses are offered instead. This generally depends on the requirements of that particular institution.

If you are unsure about how to structure your dissertation or thesis, this article will offer you some guidelines to work out what the most important segments of a dissertation paper are and how you should organise them. Why is structure so important in research, anyway?

One way to answer that, as Abbie Hoffman aptly put it, is because: “Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information.”

Also Read: How to write a dissertation – step by step guide .

How to Structure a Dissertation or Thesis

It should be noted that the exact structure of your dissertation will depend on several factors, such as:

Your research approach (qualitative/quantitative)
The nature of your research design (exploratory/descriptive etc.)
The requirements set for forth by your academic institution.
The discipline or field your study belongs to. For instance, if you are a humanities student, you will need to develop your dissertation on the same pattern as any long essay .

This will include developing an overall argument to support the thesis statement and organizing chapters around theories or questions. The dissertation will be structured such that it starts with an introduction , develops on the main idea in its main body paragraphs and is then summarised in conclusion .

However, if you are basing your dissertation on primary or empirical research, you will be required to include each of the below components. In most cases of dissertation writing, each of these elements will have to be written as a separate chapter.

But depending on the word count you are provided with and academic subject, you may choose to combine some of these elements.

For example, sciences and engineering students often present results and discussions together in one chapter rather than two different chapters.

If you have any doubts about structuring your dissertation or thesis, it would be a good idea to consult with your academic supervisor and check your department’s requirements.

Parts of a Dissertation or Thesis

Your dissertation will start with a t itle page that will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic, degree program (the paper is to be submitted for), and research supervisor. In other words, a title page is the opening page containing all the names and title related to your research.

The name of your university, logo, student ID and submission date can also be presented on the title page. Many academic programs have stringent rules for formatting the dissertation title page.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgments section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God, and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

However, the acknowledgments section is usually optional.

Tip: Many students wrongly assume that they need to thank everyone…even those who had little to no contributions towards the dissertation. This is not the case. You only need to thank those who were directly involved in the research process, such as your participants/volunteers, supervisor(s) etc.

Perhaps the smallest yet important part of a thesis, an abstract contains 5 parts:

A brief introduction of your research topic.
The significance of your research.
A line or two about the methodology that was used.
The results and what they mean (briefly); their interpretation(s).
And lastly, a conclusive comment regarding the results’ interpretation(s) as conclusion .

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Tip: Make sure to highlight key points to help readers figure out the scope and findings of your research study without having to read the entire dissertation. The abstract is your first chance to impress your readers. So, make sure to get it right. Here are detailed guidelines on how to write abstract for dissertation .

Table of contents is the section of a dissertation that guides each section of the dissertation paper’s contents. Depending on the level of detail in a table of contents, the most useful headings are listed to provide the reader the page number on which said information may be found at.

Table of contents can be inserted automatically as well as manually using the Microsoft Word Table of Contents feature.

List of Figures and Tables

If your dissertation paper uses several illustrations, tables and figures, you might want to present them in a numbered list in a separate section . Again, this list of tables and figures can be auto-created and auto inserted using the Microsoft Word built-in feature.

List of Abbreviations

Dissertations that include several abbreviations can also have an independent and separate alphabetised list of abbreviations so readers can easily figure out their meanings.

If you think you have used terms and phrases in your dissertation that readers might not be familiar with, you can create a glossary that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

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Introduction

Introduction chapter briefly introduces the purpose and relevance of your research topic.

Here, you will be expected to list the aim and key objectives of your research so your readers can easily understand what the following chapters of the dissertation will cover. A good dissertation introduction section incorporates the following information:

It provides background information to give context to your research.
It clearly specifies the research problem you wish to address with your research. When creating research questions , it is important to make sure your research’s focus and scope are neither too broad nor too narrow.
it demonstrates how your research is relevant and how it would contribute to the existing knowledge.
It provides an overview of the structure of your dissertation. The last section of an introduction contains an outline of the following chapters. It could start off with something like: “In the following chapter, past literature has been reviewed and critiqued. The proceeding section lays down major research findings…”
Theoretical framework – under a separate sub-heading – is also provided within the introductory chapter. Theoretical framework deals with the basic, underlying theory or theories that the research revolves around.

All the information presented under this section should be relevant, clear, and engaging. The readers should be able to figure out the what, why, when, and how of your study once they have read the introduction. Here are comprehensive guidelines on how to structure the introduction to the dissertation .

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Literature Review

The literature review chapter presents previous research performed on the topic and improves your understanding of the existing literature on your chosen topic. This is usually organised to complement your primary research work completed at a later stage.

Make sure that your chosen academic sources are authentic and up-to-date. The literature review chapter must be comprehensive and address the aims and objectives as defined in the introduction chapter. Here is what your literature research chapter should aim to achieve:

Data collection from authentic and relevant academic sources such as books, journal articles and research papers.
Analytical assessment of the information collected from those sources; this would involve a critiquing the reviewed researches that is, what their strengths/weaknesses are, why the research method they employed is better than others, importance of their findings, etc.
Identifying key research gaps, conflicts, patterns, and theories to get your point across to the reader effectively.

While your literature review should summarise previous literature, it is equally important to make sure that you develop a comprehensible argument or structure to justify your research topic. It would help if you considered keeping the following questions in mind when writing the literature review:

How does your research work fill a certain gap in exiting literature?
Did you adopt/adapt a new research approach to investigate the topic?
Does your research solve an unresolved problem?
Is your research dealing with some groundbreaking topic or theory that others might have overlooked?
Is your research taking forward an existing theoretical discussion?
Does your research strengthen and build on current knowledge within your area of study? This is otherwise known as ‘adding to the existing body of knowledge’ in academic circles.

Tip: You might want to establish relationships between variables/concepts to provide descriptive answers to some or all of your research questions. For instance, in case of quantitative research, you might hypothesise that variable A is positively co-related to variable B that is, one increases and so does the other one.

Research Methodology

The methods and techniques ( secondary and/or primar y) employed to collect research data are discussed in detail in the Methodology chapter. The most commonly used primary data collection methods are:

questionnaires
focus groups
observations

Essentially, the methodology chapter allows the researcher to explain how he/she achieved the findings, why they are reliable and how they helped him/her test the research hypotheses or address the research problem.

You might want to consider the following when writing methodology for the dissertation:

Type of research and approach your work is based on. Some of the most widely used types of research include experimental, quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Data collection techniques that were employed such as questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, observations etc.
Details of how, when, where, and what of the research that was conducted.
Data analysis strategies employed (for instance, regression analysis).
Software and tools used for data analysis (Excel, STATA, SPSS, lab equipment, etc.).
Research limitations to highlight any hurdles you had to overcome when carrying our research. Limitations might or might not be mentioned within research methodology. Some institutions’ guidelines dictate they be mentioned under a separate section alongside recommendations.
Justification of your selection of research approach and research methodology.

Here is a comprehensive article on how to structure a dissertation methodology .

Research Findings

In this section, you present your research findings. The dissertation findings chapter is built around the research questions, as outlined in the introduction chapter. Report findings that are directly relevant to your research questions.

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the Appendices .

As indicated above, you can either develop a standalone chapter to present your findings or combine them with the discussion chapter. This choice depends on the type of research involved and the academic subject, as well as what your institution’s academic guidelines dictate.

For example, it is common to have both findings and discussion grouped under the same section, particularly if the dissertation is based on qualitative research data.

On the other hand, dissertations that use quantitative or experimental data should present findings and analysis/discussion in two separate chapters. Here are some sample dissertations to help you figure out the best structure for your own project.

Sample Dissertation

Tip: Try to present as many charts, graphs, illustrations and tables in the findings chapter to improve your data presentation. Provide their qualitative interpretations alongside, too. Refrain from explaining the information that is already evident from figures and tables.

The findings are followed by the Discussion chapter , which is considered the heart of any dissertation paper. The discussion section is an opportunity for you to tie the knots together to address the research questions and present arguments, models and key themes.

This chapter can make or break your research.

The discussion chapter does not require any new data or information because it is more about the interpretation(s) of the data you have already collected and presented. Here are some questions for you to think over when writing the discussion chapter:

Did your work answer all the research questions or tested the hypothesis?
Did you come up with some unexpected results for which you have to provide an additional explanation or justification?
Are there any limitations that could have influenced your research findings?

Here is an article on how to structure a dissertation discussion .

Conclusions corresponding to each research objective are provided in the Conclusion section . This is usually done by revisiting the research questions to finally close the dissertation. Some institutions may specifically ask for recommendations to evaluate your critical thinking.

By the end, the readers should have a clear apprehension of your fundamental case with a focus on what methods of research were employed and what you achieved from this research.

Quick Question: Does the conclusion chapter reflect on the contributions your research work will make to existing knowledge?

Answer: Yes, the conclusion chapter of the research paper typically includes a reflection on the research’s contributions to existing knowledge. In the “conclusion chapter”, you have to summarise the key findings and discuss how they add value to the existing literature on the current topic.

Reference list

All academic sources that you collected information from should be cited in-text and also presented in a reference list (or a bibliography in case you include references that you read for the research but didn’t end up citing in the text), so the readers can easily locate the source of information when/if needed.

At most UK universities, Harvard referencing is the recommended style of referencing. It has strict and specific requirements on how to format a reference resource. Other common styles of referencing include MLA, APA, Footnotes, etc.

Each chapter of the dissertation should have relevant information. Any information that is not directly relevant to your research topic but your readers might be interested in (interview transcripts etc.) should be moved under the Appendices section .

Things like questionnaires, survey items or readings that were used in the study’s experiment are mostly included under appendices.

An Outline of Dissertation/Thesis Structure

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FAQs About Structure a Dissertation

What does the title page of a dissertation contain.

The title page will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic , degree program (the paper is to be submitted for) and research supervisor’s name(s). The name of your university, logo, student number and submission date can also be presented on the title page.

What is the purpose of adding acknowledgement?

The acknowledgements section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

Can I omit the glossary from the dissertation?

Yes, but only if you think that your paper does not contain any terms or phrases that the reader might not understand. If you think you have used them in the paper, you must create a glossary that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

What is the purpose of appendices in a dissertation?

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the Appendices, such as questionnaire that was used in the study.

Which referencing style should I use in my dissertation?

You can use any of the referencing styles such as APA, MLA, and Harvard, according to the recommendation of your university; however, almost all UK institutions prefer Harvard referencing style .

What is the difference between references and bibliography?

References contain all the works that you read up and used and therefore, cited within the text of your thesis. However, in case you read on some works and resources that you didn’t end up citing in-text, they will be referenced in what is called a bibliography.

Additional readings might also be present alongside each bibliography entry for readers.

Dissertation – Format, Example and Template

Table of Contents

Dissertation

Definition:

Dissertation is a lengthy and detailed academic document that presents the results of original research on a specific topic or question. It is usually required as a final project for a doctoral degree or a master’s degree.

Dissertation Meaning in Research

In Research , a dissertation refers to a substantial research project that students undertake in order to obtain an advanced degree such as a Ph.D. or a Master’s degree.

Dissertation typically involves the exploration of a particular research question or topic in-depth, and it requires students to conduct original research, analyze data, and present their findings in a scholarly manner. It is often the culmination of years of study and represents a significant contribution to the academic field.

Types of Dissertation

Types of Dissertation are as follows:

Empirical Dissertation

An empirical dissertation is a research study that uses primary data collected through surveys, experiments, or observations. It typically follows a quantitative research approach and uses statistical methods to analyze the data.

Non-Empirical Dissertation

A non-empirical dissertation is based on secondary sources, such as books, articles, and online resources. It typically follows a qualitative research approach and uses methods such as content analysis or discourse analysis.

Narrative Dissertation

A narrative dissertation is a personal account of the researcher’s experience or journey. It typically follows a qualitative research approach and uses methods such as interviews, focus groups, or ethnography.

Systematic Literature Review

A systematic literature review is a comprehensive analysis of existing research on a specific topic. It typically follows a qualitative research approach and uses methods such as meta-analysis or thematic analysis.

Case Study Dissertation

A case study dissertation is an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, or organization. It typically follows a qualitative research approach and uses methods such as interviews, observations, or document analysis.

Mixed-Methods Dissertation

A mixed-methods dissertation combines both quantitative and qualitative research approaches to gather and analyze data. It typically uses methods such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups, as well as statistical analysis.

How to Write a Dissertation

Here are some general steps to help guide you through the process of writing a dissertation:

Choose a topic : Select a topic that you are passionate about and that is relevant to your field of study. It should be specific enough to allow for in-depth research but broad enough to be interesting and engaging.
Conduct research : Conduct thorough research on your chosen topic, utilizing a variety of sources, including books, academic journals, and online databases. Take detailed notes and organize your information in a way that makes sense to you.
Create an outline : Develop an outline that will serve as a roadmap for your dissertation. The outline should include the introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.
Write the introduction: The introduction should provide a brief overview of your topic, the research questions, and the significance of the study. It should also include a clear thesis statement that states your main argument.
Write the literature review: The literature review should provide a comprehensive analysis of existing research on your topic. It should identify gaps in the research and explain how your study will fill those gaps.
Write the methodology: The methodology section should explain the research methods you used to collect and analyze data. It should also include a discussion of any limitations or weaknesses in your approach.
Write the results: The results section should present the findings of your research in a clear and organized manner. Use charts, graphs, and tables to help illustrate your data.
Write the discussion: The discussion section should interpret your results and explain their significance. It should also address any limitations of the study and suggest areas for future research.
Write the conclusion: The conclusion should summarize your main findings and restate your thesis statement. It should also provide recommendations for future research.
Edit and revise: Once you have completed a draft of your dissertation, review it carefully to ensure that it is well-organized, clear, and free of errors. Make any necessary revisions and edits before submitting it to your advisor for review.

Dissertation Format

The format of a dissertation may vary depending on the institution and field of study, but generally, it follows a similar structure:

Title Page: This includes the title of the dissertation, the author’s name, and the date of submission.
Abstract : A brief summary of the dissertation’s purpose, methods, and findings.
Table of Contents: A list of the main sections and subsections of the dissertation, along with their page numbers.
Introduction : A statement of the problem or research question, a brief overview of the literature, and an explanation of the significance of the study.
Literature Review : A comprehensive review of the literature relevant to the research question or problem.
Methodology : A description of the methods used to conduct the research, including data collection and analysis procedures.
Results : A presentation of the findings of the research, including tables, charts, and graphs.
Discussion : A discussion of the implications of the findings, their significance in the context of the literature, and limitations of the study.
Conclusion : A summary of the main points of the study and their implications for future research.
References : A list of all sources cited in the dissertation.
Appendices : Additional materials that support the research, such as data tables, charts, or transcripts.

Dissertation Outline

Dissertation Outline is as follows:

Title Page:

Title of dissertation
Author name
Institutional affiliation
Date of submission
Brief summary of the dissertation’s research problem, objectives, methods, findings, and implications
Usually around 250-300 words

Table of Contents:

List of chapters and sections in the dissertation, with page numbers for each

I. Introduction

Background and context of the research
Research problem and objectives
Significance of the research

II. Literature Review

Overview of existing literature on the research topic
Identification of gaps in the literature
Theoretical framework and concepts

III. Methodology

Research design and methods used
Data collection and analysis techniques
Ethical considerations

IV. Results

Presentation and analysis of data collected
Findings and outcomes of the research
Interpretation of the results

V. Discussion

Discussion of the results in relation to the research problem and objectives
Evaluation of the research outcomes and implications
Suggestions for future research

VI. Conclusion

Summary of the research findings and outcomes
Implications for the research topic and field
Limitations and recommendations for future research

VII. References

List of sources cited in the dissertation

VIII. Appendices

Additional materials that support the research, such as tables, figures, or questionnaires.

Example of Dissertation

Here is an example Dissertation for students:

Title : Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Academic Achievement and Well-being among College Students

This dissertation aims to investigate the impact of mindfulness meditation on the academic achievement and well-being of college students. Mindfulness meditation has gained popularity as a technique for reducing stress and enhancing mental health, but its effects on academic performance have not been extensively studied. Using a randomized controlled trial design, the study will compare the academic performance and well-being of college students who practice mindfulness meditation with those who do not. The study will also examine the moderating role of personality traits and demographic factors on the effects of mindfulness meditation.

Chapter Outline:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background and rationale for the study
Research questions and objectives
Significance of the study
Overview of the dissertation structure

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Definition and conceptualization of mindfulness meditation
Theoretical framework of mindfulness meditation
Empirical research on mindfulness meditation and academic achievement
Empirical research on mindfulness meditation and well-being
The role of personality and demographic factors in the effects of mindfulness meditation

Chapter 3: Methodology

Research design and hypothesis
Participants and sampling method
Intervention and procedure
Measures and instruments
Data analysis method

Chapter 4: Results

Descriptive statistics and data screening
Analysis of main effects
Analysis of moderating effects
Post-hoc analyses and sensitivity tests

Chapter 5: Discussion

Summary of findings
Implications for theory and practice
Limitations and directions for future research
Conclusion and contribution to the literature

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Recap of the research questions and objectives
Summary of the key findings
Contribution to the literature and practice
Implications for policy and practice
Final thoughts and recommendations.

References :

List of all the sources cited in the dissertation

Appendices :

Additional materials such as the survey questionnaire, interview guide, and consent forms.

Note : This is just an example and the structure of a dissertation may vary depending on the specific requirements and guidelines provided by the institution or the supervisor.

How Long is a Dissertation

The length of a dissertation can vary depending on the field of study, the level of degree being pursued, and the specific requirements of the institution. Generally, a dissertation for a doctoral degree can range from 80,000 to 100,000 words, while a dissertation for a master’s degree may be shorter, typically ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 words. However, it is important to note that these are general guidelines and the actual length of a dissertation can vary widely depending on the specific requirements of the program and the research topic being studied. It is always best to consult with your academic advisor or the guidelines provided by your institution for more specific information on dissertation length.

Applications of Dissertation

Here are some applications of a dissertation:

Advancing the Field: Dissertations often include new research or a new perspective on existing research, which can help to advance the field. The results of a dissertation can be used by other researchers to build upon or challenge existing knowledge, leading to further advancements in the field.
Career Advancement: Completing a dissertation demonstrates a high level of expertise in a particular field, which can lead to career advancement opportunities. For example, having a PhD can open doors to higher-paying jobs in academia, research institutions, or the private sector.
Publishing Opportunities: Dissertations can be published as books or journal articles, which can help to increase the visibility and credibility of the author’s research.
Personal Growth: The process of writing a dissertation involves a significant amount of research, analysis, and critical thinking. This can help students to develop important skills, such as time management, problem-solving, and communication, which can be valuable in both their personal and professional lives.
Policy Implications: The findings of a dissertation can have policy implications, particularly in fields such as public health, education, and social sciences. Policymakers can use the research to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for the population.

When to Write a Dissertation

Here are some situations where writing a dissertation may be necessary:

Pursuing a Doctoral Degree: Writing a dissertation is usually a requirement for earning a doctoral degree, so if you are interested in pursuing a doctorate, you will likely need to write a dissertation.
Conducting Original Research : Dissertations require students to conduct original research on a specific topic. If you are interested in conducting original research on a topic, writing a dissertation may be the best way to do so.
Advancing Your Career: Some professions, such as academia and research, may require individuals to have a doctoral degree. Writing a dissertation can help you advance your career by demonstrating your expertise in a particular area.
Contributing to Knowledge: Dissertations are often based on original research that can contribute to the knowledge base of a field. If you are passionate about advancing knowledge in a particular area, writing a dissertation can help you achieve that goal.
Meeting Academic Requirements : If you are a graduate student, writing a dissertation may be a requirement for completing your program. Be sure to check with your academic advisor to determine if this is the case for you.

Purpose of Dissertation

some common purposes of a dissertation include:

To contribute to the knowledge in a particular field : A dissertation is often the culmination of years of research and study, and it should make a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge in a particular field.
To demonstrate mastery of a subject: A dissertation requires extensive research, analysis, and writing, and completing one demonstrates a student’s mastery of their subject area.
To develop critical thinking and research skills : A dissertation requires students to think critically about their research question, analyze data, and draw conclusions based on evidence. These skills are valuable not only in academia but also in many professional fields.
To demonstrate academic integrity: A dissertation must be conducted and written in accordance with rigorous academic standards, including ethical considerations such as obtaining informed consent, protecting the privacy of participants, and avoiding plagiarism.
To prepare for an academic career: Completing a dissertation is often a requirement for obtaining a PhD and pursuing a career in academia. It can demonstrate to potential employers that the student has the necessary skills and experience to conduct original research and make meaningful contributions to their field.
To develop writing and communication skills: A dissertation requires a significant amount of writing and communication skills to convey complex ideas and research findings in a clear and concise manner. This skill set can be valuable in various professional fields.
To demonstrate independence and initiative: A dissertation requires students to work independently and take initiative in developing their research question, designing their study, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. This demonstrates to potential employers or academic institutions that the student is capable of independent research and taking initiative in their work.
To contribute to policy or practice: Some dissertations may have a practical application, such as informing policy decisions or improving practices in a particular field. These dissertations can have a significant impact on society, and their findings may be used to improve the lives of individuals or communities.
To pursue personal interests: Some students may choose to pursue a dissertation topic that aligns with their personal interests or passions, providing them with the opportunity to delve deeper into a topic that they find personally meaningful.

Advantage of Dissertation

Some advantages of writing a dissertation include:

Developing research and analytical skills: The process of writing a dissertation involves conducting extensive research, analyzing data, and presenting findings in a clear and coherent manner. This process can help students develop important research and analytical skills that can be useful in their future careers.
Demonstrating expertise in a subject: Writing a dissertation allows students to demonstrate their expertise in a particular subject area. It can help establish their credibility as a knowledgeable and competent professional in their field.
Contributing to the academic community: A well-written dissertation can contribute new knowledge to the academic community and potentially inform future research in the field.
Improving writing and communication skills : Writing a dissertation requires students to write and present their research in a clear and concise manner. This can help improve their writing and communication skills, which are essential for success in many professions.
Increasing job opportunities: Completing a dissertation can increase job opportunities in certain fields, particularly in academia and research-based positions.

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The Top 3 Types of Dissertation Research Explained

adult-student-completing-dissertation-research

Preparing for your doctoral dissertation takes serious perseverance. You’ve endured years of studies and professional development to get to this point. After sleepless nights and labor-intensive research, you’re ready to present the culmination of all of your hard work. Even with a strong base knowledge, it can be difficult — even daunting — to decide how you will begin writing.

By taking a wide-lens view of the dissertation research process , you can best assess the work you have ahead of you and any gaps in your current research strategy. Subsequently, you’ll begin to develop a timeline so you can work efficiently and cross that finish line with your degree in hand.

What Is a Dissertation?

A dissertation is a published piece of research on a novel topic in your chosen field. Students complete a dissertation as part of a doctoral or PhD program. For most students, a dissertation is the first substantive piece of academic research they will write.

Because a dissertation becomes a published piece of academic literature that other academics may cite, students must defend it in front of a board of experts consisting of peers in their field, including professors, their advisor, and other industry experts.

For many students, a dissertation is the first piece of research in a long career full of research. As such, it’s important to choose a topic that’s interesting and engaging.

Types of Dissertation Research

Dissertations can take on many forms, based on research and methods of presentation in front of a committee board of academics and experts in the field. Here, we’ll focus on the three main types of dissertation research to get you one step closer to earning your doctoral degree.

1. Qualitative

The first type of dissertation is known as a qualitative dissertation . A qualitative dissertation mirrors the qualitative research that a doctoral candidate would conduct throughout their studies. This type of research relies on non-numbers-based data collected through things like interviews, focus groups and participant observation.

The decision to model your dissertation research according to the qualitative method will depend largely on the data itself that you are collecting. For example, dissertation research in the field of education or psychology may lend itself to a qualitative approach, depending on the essence of research. Within a qualitative dissertation research model, a candidate may pursue one or more of the following:

Case study research
Autoethnographies
Narrative research
Grounded theory

Although individual approaches may vary, qualitative dissertations usually include certain foundational characteristics. For example, the type of research conducted to develop a qualitative dissertation often follows an emergent design, meaning that the content and research strategy changes over time. Candidates also rely on research paradigms to further strategize how best to collect and relay their findings. These include critical theory, constructivism and interpretivism, to name a few.

Because qualitative researchers integrate non-numerical data, their methods of collection often include unstructured interview, focus groups and participant observations. Of course, researchers still need rubrics from which to assess the quality of their findings, even though they won’t be numbers-based. To do so, they subject the data collected to the following criteria: dependability, transferability and validity.

When it comes time to present their findings, doctoral candidates who produce qualitative dissertation research have several options. Some choose to include case studies, personal findings, narratives, observations and abstracts. Their presentation focuses on theoretical insights based on relevant data points.

2. Quantitative

Quantitative dissertation research, on the other hand, focuses on the numbers. Candidates employ quantitative research methods to aggregate data that can be easily categorized and analyzed. In addition to traditional statistical analysis, quantitative research also hones specific research strategy based on the type of research questions. Quantitative candidates may also employ theory-driven research, replication-based studies and data-driven dissertations.

When conducting research, some candidates who rely on quantitative measures focus their work on testing existing theories, while others create an original approach. To refine their approach, quantitative researchers focus on positivist or post-positivist research paradigms. Quantitative research designs focus on descriptive, experimental or relationship-based designs, to name a few.

To collect the data itself, researchers focus on questionnaires and surveys, structured interviews and observations, data sets and laboratory-based methods. Then, once it’s time to assess the quality of the data, quantitative researchers measure their results against a set of criteria, including: reliability, internal/external validity and construct validity. Quantitative researchers have options when presenting their findings. Candidates convey their results using graphs, data, tables and analytical statements.

If you find yourself at a fork in the road deciding between an online and in-person degree program, this infographic can help you visualize each path.

3. Mixed-Method

Many PhD candidates also use a hybrid model in which they employ both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. Mixed dissertation research models are fairly new and gaining traction. For a variety of reasons, a mixed-method approach offers candidates both versatility and credibility. It’s a more comprehensive strategy that allows for a wider capture of data with a wide range of presentation optimization.

In the most common cases, candidates will first use quantitative methods to collect and categorize their data. Then, they’ll rely on qualitative methods to analyze that data and draw meaningful conclusions to relay to their committee panel.

With a mixed-method approach, although you’re able to collect and analyze a more broad range of data, you run the risk of widening the scope of your dissertation research so much that you’re not able to reach succinct, sustainable conclusions. This is where it becomes critical to outline your research goals and strategy early on in the dissertation process so that the techniques you use to capture data have been thoroughly examined.

How to Choose a Type of Dissertation Research That’s Right for You

After this overview of application and function, you may still be wondering how to go about choosing a dissertation type that’s right for you and your research proposition. In doing so, you’ll have a couple of things to consider:

What are your personal motivations?
What are your academic goals?

It’s important to discern exactly what you hope to get out of your doctoral program . Of course, the presentation of your dissertation is, formally speaking, the pinnacle of your research. However, doctoral candidates must also consider:

Which contributions they will make to the field
Who they hope to collaborate with throughout their studies
What they hope to take away from the experience personally, professionally and academically

Personal Considerations

To discern which type of dissertation research to choose, you have to take a closer look at your learning style, work ethic and even your personality.

Quantitative research tends to be sequential and patterned-oriented. Steps move in a logical order, so it becomes clear what the next step should be at all times. For most candidates, this makes it easier to devise a timeline and stay on track. It also keeps you from getting overwhelmed by the magnitude of research involved. You’ll be able to assess your progress and make simple adjustments to stay on target.

On the other hand, maybe you know that your research will involve many interviews and focus groups. You anticipate that you’ll have to coordinate participants’ schedules, and this will require some flexibility. Instead of creating a rigid schedule from the get-go, allowing your research to flow in a non-linear fashion may actually help you accomplish tasks more efficiently, albeit out of order. This also allows you the personal versatility of rerouting research strategy as you collect new data that leads you down other paths.

After examining the research you need to conduct, consider more broadly: What type of student and researcher are you? In other words, What motivates you to do your best work?

You’ll need to make sure that your methodology is conducive to the data you’re collecting, and you also need to make sure that it aligns with your work ethic so you set yourself up for success. If jumping from one task to another will cause you extra stress, but planning ahead puts you at ease, a quantitative research method may be best, assuming the type of research allows for this.

Professional Considerations

The skills you master while working on your dissertation will serve you well beyond the day you earn your degree. Take into account the skills you’d like to develop for your academic and professional future. In addition to the hard skills you will develop in your area of expertise, you’ll also develop soft skills that are transferable to nearly any professional or academic setting. Perhaps you want to hone your ability to strategize a timeline, gather data efficiently or draw clear conclusions about the significance of your data collection.

If you have considerable experience with quantitative analysis, but lack an extensive qualitative research portfolio, now may be your opportunity to explore — as long as you’re willing to put in the legwork to refine your skills or work closely with your mentor to develop a strategy together.

Academic Considerations

For many doctoral candidates who hope to pursue a professional career in the world of academia, writing your dissertation is a practice in developing general research strategies that can be applied to any academic project.

Candidates who are unsure which dissertation type best suits their research should consider whether they will take a philosophical or theoretical approach or come up with a thesis that addresses a specific problem or idea. Narrowing down this approach can sometimes happen even before the research begins. Other times, candidates begin to refine their methods once the data begins to tell a more concrete story.

Next Step: Structuring Your Dissertation Research Schedule

Once you’ve chosen which type of dissertation research you’ll pursue, you’ve already crossed the first hurdle. The next hurdle becomes when and where to fit dedicated research time and visits with your mentor into your schedule. The busyness of day-to-day life shouldn’t prevent you from making your academic dream a reality. In fact, search for programs that assist, not impede, your path to higher levels of academic success.

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What is a thesis | A Complete Guide with Examples

A thesis is a comprehensive academic paper based on your original research that presents new findings, arguments, and ideas of your study. It’s typically submitted at the end of your master’s degree or as a capstone of your bachelor’s degree.

However, writing a thesis can be laborious, especially for beginners. From the initial challenge of pinpointing a compelling research topic to organizing and presenting findings, the process is filled with potential pitfalls.

Therefore, to help you, this guide talks about what is a thesis. Additionally, it offers revelations and methodologies to transform it from an overwhelming task to a manageable and rewarding academic milestone.

What is a thesis?

A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic.

Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research, which not only fortifies your propositions but also confers credibility to your entire study.

Furthermore, there's another phenomenon you might often confuse with the thesis: the ' working thesis .' However, they aren't similar and shouldn't be used interchangeably.

A working thesis, often referred to as a preliminary or tentative thesis, is an initial version of your thesis statement. It serves as a draft or a starting point that guides your research in its early stages.

As you research more and gather more evidence, your initial thesis (aka working thesis) might change. It's like a starting point that can be adjusted as you learn more. It's normal for your main topic to change a few times before you finalize it.

While a thesis identifies and provides an overarching argument, the key to clearly communicating the central point of that argument lies in writing a strong thesis statement.

What is a thesis statement?

A strong thesis statement (aka thesis sentence) is a concise summary of the main argument or claim of the paper. It serves as a critical anchor in any academic work, succinctly encapsulating the primary argument or main idea of the entire paper.

Typically found within the introductory section, a strong thesis statement acts as a roadmap of your thesis, directing readers through your arguments and findings. By delineating the core focus of your investigation, it offers readers an immediate understanding of the context and the gravity of your study.

Furthermore, an effectively crafted thesis statement can set forth the boundaries of your research, helping readers anticipate the specific areas of inquiry you are addressing.

Different types of thesis statements

A good thesis statement is clear, specific, and arguable. Therefore, it is necessary for you to choose the right type of thesis statement for your academic papers.

Thesis statements can be classified based on their purpose and structure. Here are the primary types of thesis statements:

Argumentative (or Persuasive) thesis statement

Purpose : To convince the reader of a particular stance or point of view by presenting evidence and formulating a compelling argument.

Example : Reducing plastic use in daily life is essential for environmental health.

Analytical thesis statement

Purpose : To break down an idea or issue into its components and evaluate it.

Example : By examining the long-term effects, social implications, and economic impact of climate change, it becomes evident that immediate global action is necessary.

Expository (or Descriptive) thesis statement

Purpose : To explain a topic or subject to the reader.

Example : The Great Depression, spanning the 1930s, was a severe worldwide economic downturn triggered by a stock market crash, bank failures, and reduced consumer spending.

Cause and effect thesis statement

Purpose : To demonstrate a cause and its resulting effect.

Example : Overuse of smartphones can lead to impaired sleep patterns, reduced face-to-face social interactions, and increased levels of anxiety.

Compare and contrast thesis statement

Purpose : To highlight similarities and differences between two subjects.

Example : "While both novels '1984' and 'Brave New World' delve into dystopian futures, they differ in their portrayal of individual freedom, societal control, and the role of technology."

When you write a thesis statement , it's important to ensure clarity and precision, so the reader immediately understands the central focus of your work.

What is the difference between a thesis and a thesis statement?

While both terms are frequently used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings.

A thesis refers to the entire research document, encompassing all its chapters and sections. In contrast, a thesis statement is a brief assertion that encapsulates the central argument of the research.

Here’s an in-depth differentiation table of a thesis and a thesis statement.

Now, to craft a compelling thesis, it's crucial to adhere to a specific structure. Let’s break down these essential components that make up a thesis structure

15 components of a thesis structure

Navigating a thesis can be daunting. However, understanding its structure can make the process more manageable.

Here are the key components or different sections of a thesis structure:

Your thesis begins with the title page. It's not just a formality but the gateway to your research.

Here, you'll prominently display the necessary information about you (the author) and your institutional details.

Title of your thesis
Your full name
Your department
Your institution and degree program
Your submission date
Your Supervisor's name (in some cases)
Your Department or faculty (in some cases)
Your University's logo (in some cases)
Your Student ID (in some cases)

In a concise manner, you'll have to summarize the critical aspects of your research in typically no more than 200-300 words.

This includes the problem statement, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. For many, the abstract will determine if they delve deeper into your work, so ensure it's clear and compelling.

Acknowledgments

Research is rarely a solitary endeavor. In the acknowledgments section, you have the chance to express gratitude to those who've supported your journey.

This might include advisors, peers, institutions, or even personal sources of inspiration and support. It's a personal touch, reflecting the humanity behind the academic rigor.

A roadmap for your readers, the table of contents lists the chapters, sections, and subsections of your thesis.

By providing page numbers, you allow readers to navigate your work easily, jumping to sections that pique their interest.

List of figures and tables

Research often involves data, and presenting this data visually can enhance understanding. This section provides an organized listing of all figures and tables in your thesis.

It's a visual index, ensuring that readers can quickly locate and reference your graphical data.

Introduction

Here's where you introduce your research topic, articulate the research question or objective, and outline the significance of your study.

Present the research topic : Clearly articulate the central theme or subject of your research.
Background information : Ground your research topic, providing any necessary context or background information your readers might need to understand the significance of your study.
Define the scope : Clearly delineate the boundaries of your research, indicating what will and won't be covered.
Literature review : Introduce any relevant existing research on your topic, situating your work within the broader academic conversation and highlighting where your research fits in.
State the research Question(s) or objective(s) : Clearly articulate the primary questions or objectives your research aims to address.
Outline the study's structure : Give a brief overview of how the subsequent sections of your work will unfold, guiding your readers through the journey ahead.

The introduction should captivate your readers, making them eager to delve deeper into your research journey.

Literature review section

Your study correlates with existing research. Therefore, in the literature review section, you'll engage in a dialogue with existing knowledge, highlighting relevant studies, theories, and findings.

It's here that you identify gaps in the current knowledge, positioning your research as a bridge to new insights.

To streamline this process, consider leveraging AI tools. For example, the SciSpace literature review tool enables you to efficiently explore and delve into research papers, simplifying your literature review journey.

Methodology

In the research methodology section, you’ll detail the tools, techniques, and processes you employed to gather and analyze data. This section will inform the readers about how you approached your research questions and ensures the reproducibility of your study.

Here's a breakdown of what it should encompass:

Research Design : Describe the overall structure and approach of your research. Are you conducting a qualitative study with in-depth interviews? Or is it a quantitative study using statistical analysis? Perhaps it's a mixed-methods approach?
Data Collection : Detail the methods you used to gather data. This could include surveys, experiments, observations, interviews, archival research, etc. Mention where you sourced your data, the duration of data collection, and any tools or instruments used.
Sampling : If applicable, explain how you selected participants or data sources for your study. Discuss the size of your sample and the rationale behind choosing it.
Data Analysis : Describe the techniques and tools you used to process and analyze the data. This could range from statistical tests in quantitative research to thematic analysis in qualitative research.
Validity and Reliability : Address the steps you took to ensure the validity and reliability of your findings to ensure that your results are both accurate and consistent.
Ethical Considerations : Highlight any ethical issues related to your research and the measures you took to address them, including — informed consent, confidentiality, and data storage and protection measures.

Moreover, different research questions necessitate different types of methodologies. For instance:

Experimental methodology : Often used in sciences, this involves a controlled experiment to discern causality.
Qualitative methodology : Employed when exploring patterns or phenomena without numerical data. Methods can include interviews, focus groups, or content analysis.
Quantitative methodology : Concerned with measurable data and often involves statistical analysis. Surveys and structured observations are common tools here.
Mixed methods : As the name implies, this combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

The Methodology section isn’t just about detailing the methods but also justifying why they were chosen. The appropriateness of the methods in addressing your research question can significantly impact the credibility of your findings.

Results (or Findings)

This section presents the outcomes of your research. It's crucial to note that the nature of your results may vary; they could be quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of both.

Quantitative results often present statistical data, showcasing measurable outcomes, and they benefit from tables, graphs, and figures to depict these data points.

Qualitative results , on the other hand, might delve into patterns, themes, or narratives derived from non-numerical data, such as interviews or observations.

Regardless of the nature of your results, clarity is essential. This section is purely about presenting the data without offering interpretations — that comes later in the discussion.

In the discussion section, the raw data transforms into valuable insights.

Start by revisiting your research question and contrast it with the findings. How do your results expand, constrict, or challenge current academic conversations?

Dive into the intricacies of the data, guiding the reader through its implications. Detail potential limitations transparently, signaling your awareness of the research's boundaries. This is where your academic voice should be resonant and confident.

Practical implications (Recommendation) section

Based on the insights derived from your research, this section provides actionable suggestions or proposed solutions.

Whether aimed at industry professionals or the general public, recommendations translate your academic findings into potential real-world actions. They help readers understand the practical implications of your work and how it can be applied to effect change or improvement in a given field.

When crafting recommendations, it's essential to ensure they're feasible and rooted in the evidence provided by your research. They shouldn't merely be aspirational but should offer a clear path forward, grounded in your findings.

The conclusion provides closure to your research narrative.

It's not merely a recap but a synthesis of your main findings and their broader implications. Reconnect with the research questions or hypotheses posited at the beginning, offering clear answers based on your findings.

Reflect on the broader contributions of your study, considering its impact on the academic community and potential real-world applications.

Lastly, the conclusion should leave your readers with a clear understanding of the value and impact of your study.

References (or Bibliography)

Every theory you've expounded upon, every data point you've cited, and every methodological precedent you've followed finds its acknowledgment here.

In references, it's crucial to ensure meticulous consistency in formatting, mirroring the specific guidelines of the chosen citation style .

Proper referencing helps to avoid plagiarism , gives credit to original ideas, and allows readers to explore topics of interest. Moreover, it situates your work within the continuum of academic knowledge.

To properly cite the sources used in the study, you can rely on online citation generator tools to generate accurate citations!

Here’s more on how you can cite your sources.

Often, the depth of research produces a wealth of material that, while crucial, can make the core content of the thesis cumbersome. The appendix is where you mention extra information that supports your research but isn't central to the main text.

Whether it's raw datasets, detailed procedural methodologies, extended case studies, or any other ancillary material, the appendices ensure that these elements are archived for reference without breaking the main narrative's flow.

For thorough researchers and readers keen on meticulous details, the appendices provide a treasure trove of insights.

Glossary (optional)

In academics, specialized terminologies, and jargon are inevitable. However, not every reader is versed in every term.

The glossary, while optional, is a critical tool for accessibility. It's a bridge ensuring that even readers from outside the discipline can access, understand, and appreciate your work.

By defining complex terms and providing context, you're inviting a wider audience to engage with your research, enhancing its reach and impact.

Remember, while these components provide a structured framework, the essence of your thesis lies in the originality of your ideas, the rigor of your research, and the clarity of your presentation.

As you craft each section, keep your readers in mind, ensuring that your passion and dedication shine through every page.

Thesis examples

To further elucidate the concept of a thesis, here are illustrative examples from various fields:

Example 1 (History): Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the ‘Noble Savage’ on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807 by Suchait Kahlon.

Example 2 (Climate Dynamics): Influence of external forcings on abrupt millennial-scale climate changes: a statistical modelling study by Takahito Mitsui · Michel Crucifix

Checklist for your thesis evaluation

Evaluating your thesis ensures that your research meets the standards of academia. Here's an elaborate checklist to guide you through this critical process.

Content and structure

Is the thesis statement clear, concise, and debatable?
Does the introduction provide sufficient background and context?
Is the literature review comprehensive, relevant, and well-organized?
Does the methodology section clearly describe and justify the research methods?
Are the results/findings presented clearly and logically?
Does the discussion interpret the results in light of the research question and existing literature?
Is the conclusion summarizing the research and suggesting future directions or implications?

Clarity and coherence

Is the writing clear and free of jargon?
Are ideas and sections logically connected and flowing?
Is there a clear narrative or argument throughout the thesis?

Research quality

Is the research question significant and relevant?
Are the research methods appropriate for the question?
Is the sample size (if applicable) adequate?
Are the data analysis techniques appropriate and correctly applied?
Are potential biases or limitations addressed?

Originality and significance

Does the thesis contribute new knowledge or insights to the field?
Is the research grounded in existing literature while offering fresh perspectives?

Formatting and presentation

Is the thesis formatted according to institutional guidelines?
Are figures, tables, and charts clear, labeled, and referenced in the text?
Is the bibliography or reference list complete and consistently formatted?
Are appendices relevant and appropriately referenced in the main text?

Grammar and language

Is the thesis free of grammatical and spelling errors?
Is the language professional, consistent, and appropriate for an academic audience?
Are quotations and paraphrased material correctly cited?

Feedback and revision

Have you sought feedback from peers, advisors, or experts in the field?
Have you addressed the feedback and made the necessary revisions?

Overall assessment

Does the thesis as a whole feel cohesive and comprehensive?
Would the thesis be understandable and valuable to someone in your field?

Ensure to use this checklist to leave no ground for doubt or missed information in your thesis.

After writing your thesis, the next step is to discuss and defend your findings verbally in front of a knowledgeable panel. You’ve to be well prepared as your professors may grade your presentation abilities.

Preparing your thesis defense

A thesis defense, also known as "defending the thesis," is the culmination of a scholar's research journey. It's the final frontier, where you’ll present their findings and face scrutiny from a panel of experts.

Typically, the defense involves a public presentation where you’ll have to outline your study, followed by a question-and-answer session with a committee of experts. This committee assesses the validity, originality, and significance of the research.

The defense serves as a rite of passage for scholars. It's an opportunity to showcase expertise, address criticisms, and refine arguments. A successful defense not only validates the research but also establishes your authority as a researcher in your field.

Here’s how you can effectively prepare for your thesis defense .

Now, having touched upon the process of defending a thesis, it's worth noting that scholarly work can take various forms, depending on academic and regional practices.

One such form, often paralleled with the thesis, is the 'dissertation.' But what differentiates the two?

Dissertation vs. Thesis

Often used interchangeably in casual discourse, they refer to distinct research projects undertaken at different levels of higher education.

To the uninitiated, understanding their meaning might be elusive. So, let's demystify these terms and delve into their core differences.

Here's a table differentiating between the two.

Wrapping up

From understanding the foundational concept of a thesis to navigating its various components, differentiating it from a dissertation, and recognizing the importance of proper citation — this guide covers it all.

As scholars and readers, understanding these nuances not only aids in academic pursuits but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the relentless quest for knowledge that drives academia.

It’s important to remember that every thesis is a testament to curiosity, dedication, and the indomitable spirit of discovery.

Good luck with your thesis writing!

Frequently Asked Questions

A thesis typically ranges between 40-80 pages, but its length can vary based on the research topic, institution guidelines, and level of study.

A PhD thesis usually spans 200-300 pages, though this can vary based on the discipline, complexity of the research, and institutional requirements.

To identify a thesis topic, consider current trends in your field, gaps in existing literature, personal interests, and discussions with advisors or mentors. Additionally, reviewing related journals and conference proceedings can provide insights into potential areas of exploration.

The conceptual framework is often situated in the literature review or theoretical framework section of a thesis. It helps set the stage by providing the context, defining key concepts, and explaining the relationships between variables.

A thesis statement should be concise, clear, and specific. It should state the main argument or point of your research. Start by pinpointing the central question or issue your research addresses, then condense that into a single statement, ensuring it reflects the essence of your paper.

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GMS J Med Educ
v.39(2); 2022

Language: English | German

Medical dissertation basics: analysis of a course of study for medical students

Basics zur medizinischen dissertation: analyse eines kursangebots für promovierende in der medizin, sophia griegel.

1 University of Ulm, Medical Faculty, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ulm, Germany

Michael Kühl

Achim schneider.

2 University of Ulm, Medical Faculty, Office of the Dean of Studies, Ulm, Germany

Susanne J. Kühl

Background:.

Although the majority of medical students in Germany pursue a doctorate, only a portion of them receive a standardized scientific training, which is reflected in the quality issues seen in medical doctoral theses. The course Medical Dissertation Basics was conceptualized and scientifically monitored in order to support medical doctoral students on the one hand and to improve the quality of their scientific work on the other.

Methodology:

The course consists of three modules. Module I, which is an introductory module, covers time and writing management and addresses how to approach literature and the principles of scientific work as well as the chapters required in a dissertation and the dissertation presentation and defense. In the practical module II, doctoral students write sections of their dissertation chapters and receive feedback via peer and expert reviews. Module III includes training on dissertation presentations and their defense. For objective analysis purposes, a multiple-choice test was administered before and after module I. Medical students from semesters 2 to 6 served as a control group. Questionnaires were used to subjectively analyze the training and support functions of modules I-III.

High participation rates and the fact that the modules were taught numerous times show that doctoral students accept the courses. The objective analysis of module I showed a highly significant knowledge acquisition of the course group (N=55) in contrast to the control group (N=34). The doctoral students rated the course modules I-III with grades between 1.0 and 1.25 (grade A+/A; N=20-65 SD=0-0.44), felt well supported and estimated their learning success as high.

Conclusion:

The study indicates knowledge acquisition in module I and a high doctoral student satisfaction with all modules. For an objective analysis of modules II-III, a comparison of completed doctoral theses (course participants vs. non-participants) would be appropriate but would only make sense in a few years. Based on the results of our study, we recommend that other faculties implement similar courses.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund:.

Obwohl die Mehrheit der Medizinstudierenden in Deutschland promoviert, erfährt nur eine Minderheit eine standardisierte wissenschaftliche Ausbildung, was sich an Qualitätsmängeln medizinischer Promotionsarbeiten äußert. Um Promovierenden der Medizin einerseits eine Unterstützung zu geben und andererseits die Qualität ihrer wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten zu verbessern, wurde das Kursangebot Basics zur medizinischen Dissertation konzeptioniert und wissenschaftlich begleitet.

Das Kursangebot besteht aus drei Modulen. Modul I als Grundlagenkurs behandelt neben dem Zeit- und Schreibmanagement, dem Umgang mit Literatur und den Grundsätzen des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens auch die Kapitelinhalte einer Dissertationsschrift sowie die Präsentation und Verteidigung. Im praktischen Modul II verfassen Promovierende Auszüge von Dissertationskapiteln und erhalten über Peer- und Experten-Begutachtungen Feedback. Modul III umfasst das Training von Promotionsvorträgen und deren Verteidigung. Zur objektiven Analyse wurde ein Multiple Choice Test vor und nach Modul I durchgeführt. Medizinstudierende aus Fachsemester 2 bis 6 dienten als Kontrollgruppe. Anhand von Fragebögen wurden alle Kursmodule I-III hinsichtlich ihrer Ausbildungs- und Unterstützungsfunktion subjektiv analysiert.

Ergebnisse:

Hohe Teilnahmezahlen und die vielfache Durchführung der Kursmodule zeigen, dass Promovierende die Kurse akzeptieren. Die objektive Analyse von Modul I ergab einen hoch signifikanten Wissenserwerb der Kursgruppe (N=55) im Gegensatz zur Kontrollgruppe (N=34). Die Promovierenden bewerteten die Kursmodule I-III mit Schulnoten zwischen 1,0 und 1,25 (N=20-65 SD=0-0,44), fühlten sich gut unterstützt und schätzten ihren Lernerfolg als hoch ein.

Schlussfolgerung:

Die Studie zeigt eine hohe Promovierenden-Zufriedenheit mit allen Modulen und einen Wissenserwerb durch das Modul I. Zur objektiven Analyse von Modul II-III bietet sich ein Vergleich der fertiggestellten Promotionsarbeiten (Kurs Teilnehmende vs. Nicht-Teilnehmende) an, welcher erst in ein paar Jahren sinnvoll ist. Durch die Ergebnisse unserer Studie empfehlen wir anderen Fakultäten die Implementierung ähnlicher Angebote.

1. Introduction

1.1. the problem.

Between 54 to 70 percent of all medical students successfully complete their doctorates while about one-third of them do not [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ]. On the one hand, this indicates a very high willingness to do a doctorate, but on the other, that the doctoral students are often unsuccessful [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. What is special about the study of medicine is that the doctorate can be started while the medical degree is being pursued. This promises an initial motivation since it saves time, but it often leads to a double burden [ 5 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ]. Another issue is an insufficient basic scientific education as well as a lack of supervision of doctoral candidates [ 9 ]. The quality of medical doctorates is also being criticized at the scientific and socio-political level. Thus, negative catch phrases such as title research and after-work research reflect the bad reputation of medical doctorates [ 8 ].

While there is a high demand for good scientific education by doctoral students and a high demand for quality from the scientific and societal side, there is often a lack of course offerings in this regard. In recent years, the global standards of medical education of the WFME (World Federation for Medical Education), the Medizinstudium 2020 (medical studies 2020) master plan and the Wissenschaftsrat (German council of science and humanities) have called for a strengthening of the scientific education. Individual German medical faculties have responded to this and implemented scientific course concepts [ 4 ], [ 8 ], [ 10 ], [ 11 ], [ 12 ], [ 13 ], [ 14 ], [ 15 ], [ 16 ] as well as quality assurance measures, which were documented in a study of the University Alliance for Young Scientists [ 17 ]. While subjective student evaluations are available, objective analyses of such doctoral courses are still lacking [ 16 ].

1.2. Initial situation at the medical faculty of the university of Ulm

The official curriculum of the medical faculty of the university of Ulm includes scientific content from the subjects of biometry and epidemiology (semester 7). In addition to evidence-based medicine, various types of research including the planning, methodology and implementation as well as the application of statistical tests are covered. Scientific content is also taught in other events that are included in a longitudinal mosaic curriculum (wise@ulm).

In addition, the University of Ulm offers electives for doctoral students: The experimental medicine course of study introduced in 2005, for example, is a doctoral program for medical students that requires an experimental dissertation. Each year, approximately 35 students are selected with the help of an application and selection process. The support provided consists of professional and scientific supervision, various scientific events, the completion of elective courses and ten months of financial support [ 18 ].

The course Fit für die diss MED (Fit for the medical dissertation), offered by the communication and information center, is a voluntary course made available to medical students at the university of Ulm. The course, which includes a total of eight hours and is mainly theoretical, covers successful publishing, the scientific framework and the use of computer programs. The content of the medical dissertation chapters is only marginally discussed.

There is no course offered for doctoral medical students that deals intensively with good scientific practice and the chapter content required for a doctoral thesis. Practical support during the writing process and in preparation for the presentation and defense of a dissertation has been limited as well. Thus, the course “medical dissertation basics: how to write scientific texts and present a doctoral thesis” with a total of three modules (MED I-III) was implemented in 2018, has been taught numerous times since then and has been monitored scientifically.

This raises the following questions:

Is the Basics MED course with its three modules I-III accepted by students obtaining a doctorate in medicine?
Can the participation in MED I (module I) result in an acquisition of knowledge by students obtaining a doctorate in medicine?
How do students obtaining a doctorate in medicine rate the support provided and the scientific content learned during the three modules MED I-III?

2.1. Course concept

The course offering “Medical dissertation basics: How to write scientific texts and present a doctoral thesis” (MED I-III) was developed and introduced in 2018. Module I covers scientific fundamentals and teaches the content required for a medical doctoral thesis. Module II teaches students how to write high-quality text. Module III trains students on how to present and defend a doctoral thesis. The sequence of the modules (I → II → III) is based on the chronology of the medical doctoral process and permits students to apply the theoretical content learned (module I) to their own doctorate with the help of practical assignments (module II-III). The course content is based on the official guidelines of the medical faculty of the university of Ulm, observations gathered during the supervision of medical doctoral theses and courses that are already being offered at other universities [ 9 ], [ 11 ], [ 15 ], [ 16 ].

2.1.1. Participation information

The course is offered to doctoral students of human and dental medicine. In some cases, students from other degree programs may participate as well.

Students may take modules I and III as needed. Module I is a prerequisite for module II. The online courses are offered on the Ulm Moodle platform. Modules I and III are offered 3-5 times a year depending on demand while module II is offered throughout the year.

2.1.2. MED I (module I)

Module I is offered to students shortly before or at the beginning of the doctorate program as a one-week online course (nine hours in total). In order to structure the content, eight teaching phases (15 min to 2 hours each) have been defined as either independent study phases or classroom phases (online meetings).

In the (independent study) phase 1, students are introduced to scientific practice as well as time and writing management with the help of instructional videos, PDF files and worksheets. In the (classroom) phase 2, the instructor lectures on good scientific practice, the development of a comprehensible manuscript and its introduction. The remaining phases cover the legal framework, the scientific question or hypothesis, literature research and management (optional) and the remaining chapters of a dissertation as well as the presentation and defense of a dissertation (see figure 1 (Fig. 1) , part A).

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A. Course organization (phases 1-8), content and materials of MED I, mandatory participation in pre-tests and post-tests (objective analysis), voluntary participation in evaluations (subjective analysis). B. Course organization, sequence and content (assignments with text length) of MED II, voluntary participation in evaluations. C. Course organization, sequence and content of MED III, voluntary participation in evaluations. Abbreviation: MED: Medical Experimental Dissertation Basics.

2.1.3. MED II (module II)

The online module II is designed for doctoral students who have already taken MED I and have started writing their dissertation. Students may participate individually or as a group of two. The assignments require students to write three to four sections of their own dissertation (see figure 1 (Fig. 1) , part B): Excerpt from the laboratory book (writing assignment 1), the materials and methods section (written assignment 2), excerpt of the introduction or discussion (written assignment 3) and excerpt of the results section (written assignment 4). These sections are first subjected to a peer review (feedback from another student) and then to an expert review (from the instructor). For both reviews, a semi-standardized feedback form is used, which was developed by two experts and reviewed by the academic staff members of our working group. If necessary, the doctoral students must submit a revised draft of a given section upon having received their feedback.

2.1.4. MED III (module III)

Module III trains students to present and defend their dissertations. In an individual preparation phase, students prepare a 7-minute presentation of their dissertation and are required to use a brief guideline. The students make their presentations in front of a small group (three to six doctoral students) during a first (online) class. Each presentation is followed by an approximately 30-minute feedback portion (feedback offered by the small group and the instructor) using a customized, semi-standardized feedback form, which was developed in the same manner as the feedback form used in module II. In a revision phase, the presentations are revised and presented again during a second (online) class. Students are provided with further feedback and collect and discuss potential questions such as those that an examination committee might present in order to practice the defense portion of the dissertation (see figure 1 (Fig. 1) , part C).

2.2. Study design for the analysis of the course offered (modules I-III)

The MED course study was divided into an objective analysis of the first module and subjective analyses of all modules (I-III).

For the objective analysis of the first module, a multiple choice (MC) knowledge test was developed and used as part of the courses offered from June to October 2020. Since module I was offered three times during this period, there were three test cycles. The test subjects consisted of the participants of module I (course group) and a control group. The selection of the individuals in the control group was subject to the following conditions: They had to be students of human medicine from the semesters 2-6 who had not yet started their doctoral thesis.

The subjective analysis of module I was based on the voluntary student evaluations from June 2020 to July 2021 (N=65). The subjective analyses of module II (N=20) and module III (N=20) were based on the evaluations from 2018 to 2021.

2.2.1. Objective analysis of the knowledge acquisition (module I)

To assess the knowledge acquired due to a participation in MED I (module I), 19 multiple choice questions were developed. In a second step, the test design was reviewed by two experts. Volunteers from our work group (N=7) performed a pretest in a third step [ 19 ], [ 20 ] and provided feedback about unclear or misleading wording and completion time.

The final test, consisting of eleven A positive type questions (choose one correct answer out of five possible answers) and eight K Prim type questions (choose multiple correct answers out of five possible answers), was administered via the Ulm learning platform Moodle. The knowledge test was administered three days before (pre-test) and three days after (post-test) the course (completion time: max. 20 minutes). Although the same questions were used for the pre-test and post-test, the order of the questions and answers was changed. Participants in the control group were asked to not research the content related to the questions over the course of the study.

With regard to eight K Prim type questions, the number of correct answer options varied (from 2 to 5). If an answer option was correctly selected, one point was awarded so that a maximum of 5 points could be achieved for each K Prim question. Points were deducted for incorrectly selected distractors. The point deduction principle was applied equally to all questions (type A positive and K Prim ). Consequently, a total score of minus 30 to plus 32 points was possible.

2.2.2. Subjective analysis through student evaluations (modules I-III).

For the subjective analysis, semi-standardized questionnaires were developed for all modules. In addition to the socio-demographic data of the participants, data on general and content-related course aspects was collected (e.g., the organization, structure and subjectively perceived learning success; see figure 2 (Fig. 2) , figure 3 (Fig. 3) and figure 4 (Fig. 4) ), which were assessed with a Likert-type response scale (1=do not agree at all to 6=agree completely). Participants were able to enter praise, criticism or suggestions for improvement in a free text field. The overall module was also evaluated by using a school grade (1=very good, 6=insufficient).

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A. General questions about the course. B. Students' assessment of the individually perceived learning success; Likert scale: from 1= "strongly disagree" to 6= "strongly agree". N=65.

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A. General questions about the course. B. Students‘ assessment of the individually perceived learning success; Likert scale: from 1= “strongly disagree” to 6= “strongly agree”. N=20.

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2.3. Data analysis and statistics

All analyses were performed using the SPSS Statistics Version 26 software from the International Business Machines Corporation. For the knowledge test, the total scores of all three test cycles were calculated. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test did not show a normal distribution of the data, so the nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test for connected samples was used for analysis purposes. An alpha level of 5% was applied. Free-text comments were categorized and quantified according to praise, criticism or suggestion for improvement, following Schneider et al., 2019 [ 21 ].

2.4. Ethics

The ethics committee of the University of Ulm did not consider an ethics vote necessary. The participation in the questionnaires and tests was voluntary, anonymous and free of charge. The participants' consent to data processing and data transfer was obtained.

3.1. Participation figures

A total of 171 doctoral students participated in MED I (which was offered six times between July 2020 and November 2021), 21 students participated in MED II (since 2018) and 25 students participated in MED III (which was offered nine times since 2018). The number of participants in the course-related studies was somewhat lower (see figure 1 (Fig. 1) and table 1 (Tab. 1) ).

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3.2. Objective analysis of MED I

3.2.1. sociodemographic data of the course and control groups.

The socio-demographic data of the course group was obtained from the evaluation forms (section 2.2.2) and data of the control group was based on verbal information provided by the participants.

Of the module I participants, 89% studied human medicine (N=65, see table 1 (Tab. 1) ) compared to 100% of control group subjects (N=34). The majority of course participants were female (71%); in the control group, male subjects dominated with 62%. The course participants were on average in semester 7.67 (SD=1.66) while the subjects of the control group were in semester 4.76 (SD=1.35).

3.2.2. Results from the knowledge test

To test for knowledge acquisition in MED I, the results from the pre-test and post-test were compared (see figure 5 (Fig. 5) ). The result of the control group remained unchanged with a median of 10.5 points (Q1=5.75 Q3=13) in the pre-test and post-test. Only the dispersion decreased slightly in the post-test. In contrast, the course group showed a significant knowledge acquisition with a median of 13 points in the pre-test (Q1=11 Q3=17.5) and 22 points in the post-test (Q1=19.5 Q3=25) (p<0.001).

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3.3. Subjective analyses of MED I-III

3.3.1. sociodemographic data.

The sociodemographic data of the participants (see table 1 (Tab. 1) ) shows that the age and semester of study increased from module I to III. Dental and human medical students who had not yet started or had already started their experimental/clinical/retrospective/teaching research participated in Module I. Module groups II and III included human medicine students who were primarily doing experimental work. A large proportion of doctoral students from the experimental medicine student track participated in all modules [ 18 ].

3.3.2. Subjective evaluation results

MED I was rated on average with the school grade 1.21 (N=58 SD=0.41), MED II with 1.28 (N=18 SD=0.46) and MED III with the grade 1.0 (N=20 SD=0.00). Additional questions tried to determine how students obtaining a doctorate in medicine assess the support and their learning success in the courses.

3.3.3. Evaluation results for module I

The communication of the general course information (MW=5.80, SD=0.44), the organization and overall structure, and the teaching by the instructor were rated particularly positively. The presentation of data and the literature research (MW=4.74, SD=1.02) scored somewhat worse. The teaching of scientific content such as literature management (MW=5.35, SD=1.16) and the teaching of the chapter content required for a dissertation, led to a subjectively perceived high learning success (see figure 2). Similar results were reflected by the praise expressed in the free text questions in which the course content, the commitment of the instructors and the teaching videos were positively emphasized (see table 2 (Tab. 2) ).

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3.3.4. Evaluation results for module II

General aspects such as the basic structure, the assignments and the feedback by the instructor (MW=5.80, SD=0.41) were rated good to very good. The peer feedback by fellow students was rated somewhat lower (MW=3.91, SD=1.38). The participants indicated that their writing process had improved (MW=5.55, SD=0.89). Students rated the drafting of the materials and methods section, the introduction or discussion and the results section as particularly instructive and the lab journal entry as (somewhat) instructive (MW=4.60, SD=1.19) (see figure 3 (Fig. 3) ). Two students commented on being able to do without the lab book excerpt while others suggested the option of submitting more dissertation sections. The positive comments made up 60% of all comments and included references to the speedy correction and individual feedback provided by the instructor (see table 2 (Tab. 2) ).

3.3.5. Evaluation results for module III

MED III, which pertains to the presentation and defense of a dissertation, was characterized by very high student satisfaction. Organizational and structural aspects, the ability to present two times, the analyses and feedback by the instructor were rated very good (MW=6.00, SD=0.00). All students would take the course again (MW=6.00, SD=0.00). Participants rated the learning success pertaining to the general presentation, content and structure of a lecture and the use of media for visualization purposes very highly (see figure 4 (Fig. 4) ). In the free texts, the commitment of the instructors in the course design was rated positively. The participants felt that the module provided structure as well as new perspectives and well prepared them for the presentation and defense of their dissertation. Some participants would have liked more basic information on how to give a good presentation (see table 2 (Tab. 2) ).

4. Discussion

Our study shows that

all modules of the Basics MED course are accepted by students obtaining a doctorate in medicine.
participation in MED I (module I) leads to a knowledge acquisition by the students obtaining a doctorate in medicine.
students obtaining a doctorate in medicine highly rate the support and learning success of scientific content provided in the course modules MED I-III.

4.1. Basics MED courses accepted by doctoral students in medicine

At the time the course was implemented, other doctoral programs had already been established at the University of Ulm [ 18 ]. Therefore, despite a high demand for doctoral programs throughout Germany, we were interested in whether the course would be accepted [ 9 ], [ 13 ]. We were able to confirm this based on the number of times the course has been conducted (several times a year) and high participation numbers. The participation figures for Modules II and III were somewhat lower. Possible reasons are that modules II-III become relevant in the later couese of the dissertation (possibly not until later) and the additional time required. For module II, students had to have first completed module I, and continuous texts had to be drafted. In contrast to a scientific term paper (doctoral program at the Charité Berlin), these continuous texts are only excerpts of the student's dissertation, which relativizes the additional effort [ 15 ].

4.2. Participation in MED I (Module I) results in knowledge acquisition

To test the degree to which students learned from module I, an MC test was designed and administered before and after the course (pre-test and post-test). It showed a significant knowledge acquisition by the course group compared to the control group. The purpose of the control group was to test for factors that might influence the test results, such as a practice effect due to the test being administered twice [ 22 ], and jeopardize their validity. We used identical questions in the pre-test and the post-test and only changed the order, which, according to Golda et al., has no significant influence on the level of difficulty [ 23 ].

Due to insignificant differences in the test scores of the control group, a practice effect can be largely ruled out, indicating an objective knowledge acquisition of the course group.

4.3. Doctoral students rate the support and learning success highly

Our subjective analyses show that students considered the basics MED modules I-III as helpful for their doctoral studies. The participants rated the learning gain relating to scientific content high. The learning gain relating to literature research (and management) was insignificantly lower. One reason could be the complexity of the topic, which is difficult to grasp in a 9-hour course. The ability to manage literature is often acquired over a longer period of time, such as the entire doctoral period [ 13 ]. In the evaluation of MED II, the feedback by the instructor was rated more helpful than the peer feedback provided by fellow students (see figure 3 (Fig. 3) ). Examples from the literature show that students can generally benefit from a feedback culture (including peer feedback) [ 24 ], [ 25 ]. Doctoral students are at the beginning of their academic career and have yet to develop a critical eye for academic texts. This process is positively supported by the involvement in peer feedback.

Individual participants rated the relevance of the laboratory book excerpt as low. The Wissenschaftsrat and the instructors believe that this portion of the module is very relevant for ensuring scientific standards [ 12 ].

Overall, however, the results at the subjective level are consistent with calls (by the Wissenschaftsrat, WFME, etc.) for more intensive support and scientific training [ 11 ], [ 12 ]. Studies evaluating other doctoral programs have resulted in similar conclusions [ 15 ], [ 16 ].

4.4. Limitations

The limiting factor of the knowledge test relating to module I is that only MC questions were used. Unlike open-ended question formats, it is possible that MC questions are answered correctly not due to sound knowledge but rather because students recognize key words [26]. On the other hand, this type of question is commonly used in exams and allows for a standardized and quantitative evaluation [ 26 ].

In addition, the course group included students who were on the perennial experimental medicine study track. It is possible, albeit unlikely, that the doctoral program may influence the test results, but this cannot be ruled out. Other limitations include differences in the test groups: The majority of the course participants had already started their doctorate while the control group had not (yet) started. Since many doctoral students of the Medical Faculty had already taken MED I, the number of doctoral students suitable for the control group was limited. Furthermore, there was a lack of data (e.g., e-mail addresses) for a targeted search for subjects. Therefore, we chose medical students from semesters 2-6 who were younger on average and were not yet pursuing their doctorate and with whom we had had contact in other courses. We received more feedback from male subjects, resulting in a different gender distribution between course and control subjects. In addition, the control group did not include any participants from the Experimental Medicine study track. This is due to the fact that almost all of the 35 participants who had just received funding during the study period took part in MED I because the Experimental Medicine study track accepts the MED modules as electives [18].

Another approach to determine whether the knowledge increase was due to the course would be to test content that was not covered in the course. However, additional questions would have led to an increase in processing time, which might have decreased the willingness to participate in the study.

In addition to uncertain objectivity and validity, another limitation of voluntary evaluations is that they are conducted online [ 27 ]. Online evaluations can be perceived as more anonymous than face-to-face surveys [ 28 ]. Without a tangible expectation from the instructors present, the response rate may have been lower. Advantages of more anonymous (online) surveys, however, are more honest expressions, especially of criticism, which are valuable for the further development of a course [ 28 ], [ 29 ].

5. Summary and outlook

Our study allows for both an objective and subjective analysis of a course designed to support students obtaining a doctorate in medicine. The MED I-III modules were accepted and evaluated very positively. MED I objectively increased the participants’ knowledge. For an objective analysis of MED II, a grade comparison of the completed dissertation would be conceivable (participants compared to non-participants). Analogously, the success of the presentation and defense of the dissertations could be compared for an objective analysis of MED III. It will take a few years, however, to conduct such case-control studies since there is often a time lag of several years between participation in the course and the completion of the doctorate [ 5 ].

Based on our results to date, we recommend that other universities develop similar courses.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

How To Write The Results/Findings Chapter

For quantitative studies (dissertations & theses).

By: Derek Jansen (MBA). Expert Reviewed By: Kerryn Warren (PhD) | July 2021

So, you’ve completed your quantitative data analysis and it’s time to report on your findings. But where do you start? In this post, we’ll walk you through the results chapter (also called the findings or analysis chapter), step by step, so that you can craft this section of your dissertation or thesis with confidence. If you’re looking for information regarding the results chapter for qualitative studies, you can find that here .

The results & analysis section in a dissertation

Overview: Quantitative Results Chapter

What exactly the results/findings/analysis chapter is
What you need to include in your results chapter
How to structure your results chapter
A few tips and tricks for writing top-notch chapter

What exactly is the results chapter?

The results chapter (also referred to as the findings or analysis chapter) is one of the most important chapters of your dissertation or thesis because it shows the reader what you’ve found in terms of the quantitative data you’ve collected. It presents the data using a clear text narrative, supported by tables, graphs and charts. In doing so, it also highlights any potential issues (such as outliers or unusual findings) you’ve come across.

But how’s that different from the discussion chapter?

Well, in the results chapter, you only present your statistical findings. Only the numbers, so to speak – no more, no less. Contrasted to this, in the discussion chapter , you interpret your findings and link them to prior research (i.e. your literature review), as well as your research objectives and research questions . In other words, the results chapter presents and describes the data, while the discussion chapter interprets the data.

Let’s look at an example.

In your results chapter, you may have a plot that shows how respondents to a survey responded: the numbers of respondents per category, for instance. You may also state whether this supports a hypothesis by using a p-value from a statistical test. But it is only in the discussion chapter where you will say why this is relevant or how it compares with the literature or the broader picture. So, in your results chapter, make sure that you don’t present anything other than the hard facts – this is not the place for subjectivity.

It’s worth mentioning that some universities prefer you to combine the results and discussion chapters. Even so, it is good practice to separate the results and discussion elements within the chapter, as this ensures your findings are fully described. Typically, though, the results and discussion chapters are split up in quantitative studies. If you’re unsure, chat with your research supervisor or chair to find out what their preference is.

The results and discussion chapter are typically split

What should you include in the results chapter?

Following your analysis, it’s likely you’ll have far more data than are necessary to include in your chapter. In all likelihood, you’ll have a mountain of SPSS or R output data, and it’s your job to decide what’s most relevant. You’ll need to cut through the noise and focus on the data that matters.

This doesn’t mean that those analyses were a waste of time – on the contrary, those analyses ensure that you have a good understanding of your dataset and how to interpret it. However, that doesn’t mean your reader or examiner needs to see the 165 histograms you created! Relevance is key.

How do I decide what’s relevant?

At this point, it can be difficult to strike a balance between what is and isn’t important. But the most important thing is to ensure your results reflect and align with the purpose of your study . So, you need to revisit your research aims, objectives and research questions and use these as a litmus test for relevance. Make sure that you refer back to these constantly when writing up your chapter so that you stay on track.

There must be alignment between your research aims objectives and questions

As a general guide, your results chapter will typically include the following:

Some demographic data about your sample
Reliability tests (if you used measurement scales)
Descriptive statistics
Inferential statistics (if your research objectives and questions require these)
Hypothesis tests (again, if your research objectives and questions require these)

We’ll discuss each of these points in more detail in the next section.

Importantly, your results chapter needs to lay the foundation for your discussion chapter . This means that, in your results chapter, you need to include all the data that you will use as the basis for your interpretation in the discussion chapter.

For example, if you plan to highlight the strong relationship between Variable X and Variable Y in your discussion chapter, you need to present the respective analysis in your results chapter – perhaps a correlation or regression analysis.

Need a helping hand?

How do I write the results chapter?

There are multiple steps involved in writing up the results chapter for your quantitative research. The exact number of steps applicable to you will vary from study to study and will depend on the nature of the research aims, objectives and research questions . However, we’ll outline the generic steps below.

Step 1 – Revisit your research questions

The first step in writing your results chapter is to revisit your research objectives and research questions . These will be (or at least, should be!) the driving force behind your results and discussion chapters, so you need to review them and then ask yourself which statistical analyses and tests (from your mountain of data) would specifically help you address these . For each research objective and research question, list the specific piece (or pieces) of analysis that address it.

At this stage, it’s also useful to think about the key points that you want to raise in your discussion chapter and note these down so that you have a clear reminder of which data points and analyses you want to highlight in the results chapter. Again, list your points and then list the specific piece of analysis that addresses each point.

Next, you should draw up a rough outline of how you plan to structure your chapter . Which analyses and statistical tests will you present and in what order? We’ll discuss the “standard structure” in more detail later, but it’s worth mentioning now that it’s always useful to draw up a rough outline before you start writing (this advice applies to any chapter).

Step 2 – Craft an overview introduction

As with all chapters in your dissertation or thesis, you should start your quantitative results chapter by providing a brief overview of what you’ll do in the chapter and why . For example, you’d explain that you will start by presenting demographic data to understand the representativeness of the sample, before moving onto X, Y and Z.

This section shouldn’t be lengthy – a paragraph or two maximum. Also, it’s a good idea to weave the research questions into this section so that there’s a golden thread that runs through the document.

Step 3 – Present the sample demographic data

The first set of data that you’ll present is an overview of the sample demographics – in other words, the demographics of your respondents.

For example:

What age range are they?
How is gender distributed?
How is ethnicity distributed?
What areas do the participants live in?

The purpose of this is to assess how representative the sample is of the broader population. This is important for the sake of the generalisability of the results. If your sample is not representative of the population, you will not be able to generalise your findings. This is not necessarily the end of the world, but it is a limitation you’ll need to acknowledge.

Of course, to make this representativeness assessment, you’ll need to have a clear view of the demographics of the population. So, make sure that you design your survey to capture the correct demographic information that you will compare your sample to.

But what if I’m not interested in generalisability?

Well, even if your purpose is not necessarily to extrapolate your findings to the broader population, understanding your sample will allow you to interpret your findings appropriately, considering who responded. In other words, it will help you contextualise your findings . For example, if 80% of your sample was aged over 65, this may be a significant contextual factor to consider when interpreting the data. Therefore, it’s important to understand and present the demographic data.

Step 4 – Review composite measures and the data “shape”.

Before you undertake any statistical analysis, you’ll need to do some checks to ensure that your data are suitable for the analysis methods and techniques you plan to use. If you try to analyse data that doesn’t meet the assumptions of a specific statistical technique, your results will be largely meaningless. Therefore, you may need to show that the methods and techniques you’ll use are “allowed”.

Most commonly, there are two areas you need to pay attention to:

#1: Composite measures

The first is when you have multiple scale-based measures that combine to capture one construct – this is called a composite measure . For example, you may have four Likert scale-based measures that (should) all measure the same thing, but in different ways. In other words, in a survey, these four scales should all receive similar ratings. This is called “ internal consistency ”.

Internal consistency is not guaranteed though (especially if you developed the measures yourself), so you need to assess the reliability of each composite measure using a test. Typically, Cronbach’s Alpha is a common test used to assess internal consistency – i.e., to show that the items you’re combining are more or less saying the same thing. A high alpha score means that your measure is internally consistent. A low alpha score means you may need to consider scrapping one or more of the measures.

#2: Data shape

The second matter that you should address early on in your results chapter is data shape. In other words, you need to assess whether the data in your set are symmetrical (i.e. normally distributed) or not, as this will directly impact what type of analyses you can use. For many common inferential tests such as T-tests or ANOVAs (we’ll discuss these a bit later), your data needs to be normally distributed. If it’s not, you’ll need to adjust your strategy and use alternative tests.

To assess the shape of the data, you’ll usually assess a variety of descriptive statistics (such as the mean, median and skewness), which is what we’ll look at next.

Step 5 – Present the descriptive statistics

Now that you’ve laid the foundation by discussing the representativeness of your sample, as well as the reliability of your measures and the shape of your data, you can get started with the actual statistical analysis. The first step is to present the descriptive statistics for your variables.

For scaled data, this usually includes statistics such as:

The mean – this is simply the mathematical average of a range of numbers.
The median – this is the midpoint in a range of numbers when the numbers are arranged in order.
The mode – this is the most commonly repeated number in the data set.
Standard deviation – this metric indicates how dispersed a range of numbers is. In other words, how close all the numbers are to the mean (the average).
Skewness – this indicates how symmetrical a range of numbers is. In other words, do they tend to cluster into a smooth bell curve shape in the middle of the graph (this is called a normal or parametric distribution), or do they lean to the left or right (this is called a non-normal or non-parametric distribution).
Kurtosis – this metric indicates whether the data are heavily or lightly-tailed, relative to the normal distribution. In other words, how peaked or flat the distribution is.

A large table that indicates all the above for multiple variables can be a very effective way to present your data economically. You can also use colour coding to help make the data more easily digestible.

For categorical data, where you show the percentage of people who chose or fit into a category, for instance, you can either just plain describe the percentages or numbers of people who responded to something or use graphs and charts (such as bar graphs and pie charts) to present your data in this section of the chapter.

When using figures, make sure that you label them simply and clearly , so that your reader can easily understand them. There’s nothing more frustrating than a graph that’s missing axis labels! Keep in mind that although you’ll be presenting charts and graphs, your text content needs to present a clear narrative that can stand on its own. In other words, don’t rely purely on your figures and tables to convey your key points: highlight the crucial trends and values in the text. Figures and tables should complement the writing, not carry it .

Depending on your research aims, objectives and research questions, you may stop your analysis at this point (i.e. descriptive statistics). However, if your study requires inferential statistics, then it’s time to deep dive into those .

Step 6 – Present the inferential statistics

Inferential statistics are used to make generalisations about a population , whereas descriptive statistics focus purely on the sample . Inferential statistical techniques, broadly speaking, can be broken down into two groups .

First, there are those that compare measurements between groups , such as t-tests (which measure differences between two groups) and ANOVAs (which measure differences between multiple groups). Second, there are techniques that assess the relationships between variables , such as correlation analysis and regression analysis. Within each of these, some tests can be used for normally distributed (parametric) data and some tests are designed specifically for use on non-parametric data.

There are a seemingly endless number of tests that you can use to crunch your data, so it’s easy to run down a rabbit hole and end up with piles of test data. Ultimately, the most important thing is to make sure that you adopt the tests and techniques that allow you to achieve your research objectives and answer your research questions .

In this section of the results chapter, you should try to make use of figures and visual components as effectively as possible. For example, if you present a correlation table, use colour coding to highlight the significance of the correlation values, or scatterplots to visually demonstrate what the trend is. The easier you make it for your reader to digest your findings, the more effectively you’ll be able to make your arguments in the next chapter.

make it easy for your reader to understand your quantitative results

Step 7 – Test your hypotheses

If your study requires it, the next stage is hypothesis testing. A hypothesis is a statement , often indicating a difference between groups or relationship between variables, that can be supported or rejected by a statistical test. However, not all studies will involve hypotheses (again, it depends on the research objectives), so don’t feel like you “must” present and test hypotheses just because you’re undertaking quantitative research.

The basic process for hypothesis testing is as follows:

Specify your null hypothesis (for example, “The chemical psilocybin has no effect on time perception).
Specify your alternative hypothesis (e.g., “The chemical psilocybin has an effect on time perception)
Set your significance level (this is usually 0.05)
Calculate your statistics and find your p-value (e.g., p=0.01)
Draw your conclusions (e.g., “The chemical psilocybin does have an effect on time perception”)

Finally, if the aim of your study is to develop and test a conceptual framework , this is the time to present it, following the testing of your hypotheses. While you don’t need to develop or discuss these findings further in the results chapter, indicating whether the tests (and their p-values) support or reject the hypotheses is crucial.

Step 8 – Provide a chapter summary

To wrap up your results chapter and transition to the discussion chapter, you should provide a brief summary of the key findings . “Brief” is the keyword here – much like the chapter introduction, this shouldn’t be lengthy – a paragraph or two maximum. Highlight the findings most relevant to your research objectives and research questions, and wrap it up.

Some final thoughts, tips and tricks

Now that you’ve got the essentials down, here are a few tips and tricks to make your quantitative results chapter shine:

When writing your results chapter, report your findings in the past tense . You’re talking about what you’ve found in your data, not what you are currently looking for or trying to find.
Structure your results chapter systematically and sequentially . If you had two experiments where findings from the one generated inputs into the other, report on them in order.
Make your own tables and graphs rather than copying and pasting them from statistical analysis programmes like SPSS. Check out the DataIsBeautiful reddit for some inspiration.
Once you’re done writing, review your work to make sure that you have provided enough information to answer your research questions , but also that you didn’t include superfluous information.

If you’ve got any questions about writing up the quantitative results chapter, please leave a comment below. If you’d like 1-on-1 assistance with your quantitative analysis and discussion, check out our hands-on coaching service , or book a free consultation with a friendly coach.

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project.

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How to write the results chapter in a qualitative thesis

Thank you. I will try my best to write my results.

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this was great explaination

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PhD/Doctorate

What is a dissertation?

October 31, 2019

A dissertation is a written document that summarizes research.

It is the final step of a PhD program, and the culmination of a studentâs doctoral studies.

âThe dissertation is a source of pride for doctoral students,â Dinah Manns, PhD, faculty chair at Capella University, says. âThe dissertation is often a compilation of academic and practical knowledge, and in many cases, it can be the studentâs first publication.â

Here, Manns explains the content and format of this important piece of scholarship.

From student to scholar

The major objective of any doctoral program is to assist a student in becoming an independent researcher, and a dissertation is a large part of that. âNot all doctoral programs require a dissertation, but all PhD programs do,â Manns notes. âDissertation work varies by program.â

Initial coursework helps narrow down the research topic and develop it into something that will add to the body of knowledge in the chosen field. Sometimes the research contributes something entirely new to the field, and other times it expands or deepens previous studies.

By the time the doctoral coursework is finished, the topic should be selected and ready for formal research. At this point the student develops a proposal, which encompasses the research plan and methodology as it pertains to the selected topic.

At Capella, once the proposal has been approved by the studentâs mentor, committee, and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the research and analysis begin. The dissertation is largely an independent project that essentially turns the student into a scholar; theyâll dive more deeply into research and writing then they have done before.

âCapella PhD candidates will be prepared for this step through their coursework and residency,â says Manns, noting that they will have learned how to approach this critical phase as part of their pre-dissertation learning.

Format of the dissertation

The dissertation is a much deeper exploration of a research topic than a traditional essay would be. Itâs in the form of a book, with at least five chapters (some universities require a sixth chapter in the form of a recap of the previous chapters). Manns outlines the chapters this way:

Overview. This is a brief look at the research question, containing a preview of the subsequent chapters.
Literature review. The literature review is an extensive critique and synthesis of the current literature in the field.
Methodology. This section contains details of the procedures and methods used to collect and analyze data.
Analysis. The PhD candidate details how the data analysis applies to the collected data.
Findings. This section provides interpretation of the data and comparison to existing literature, as well as future research possibilities.

The order of the chapters follows a logical progression in which PhD candidates build on their theories and explain research choices in detail before coming to the final chapter that gives weight to the value of the study itself.

Manns recommends that pre-dissertation students review completed dissertations in the field and research various types of methodology and design in the field as well. âThat will help give them a feel for the depth of research and discussion, and see how the chapters work together,â Manns explains. âAnd rememberâsomeday, it may be your dissertation being read!â

Capella University offers PhD and professional doctoral degrees in programs ranging from business to education and health to technology. Learn more about Capellaâs doctoral programs.

Can I transfer credits into a doctoral program?

January 8, 2020

What are the steps in writing a dissertation?

December 11, 2019

The difference between a dissertation and doctoral capstone

November 25, 2019

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Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies

The Council for European Studies (CES) invites eligible graduate students in the humanities to apply for the 2021-22 Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies. Each fellowship includes a $27,500 stipend, paid in six (6) bi-monthly installments over the course of the fellowship year, as well as assistance in securing reimbursements or waivers in eligible health insurance and candidacy fees.

Winners of the Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships will also be expected to participate in a number of activities organized by the Council for European Studies, which are designed to support early career development. These activities include: presenting at the International Conference of Europeanists , hosted by the Council for European Studies; publishing in and working as an editorial fellow for CES’ online journal, EuropeNow ; and participating in several digital and in-person career development seminars and/or workshops.

Deadline: Jan. 15, 2021

Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships are intended to facilitate the timely completion of the doctoral degree by late-stage graduate students in the humanities. Applicants must:

be ABD (year 5 and above) at the start of the fellowship year;
be a US citizen or green card holder;
have no more than one full year of dissertation work remaining at the start of the fellowship year as certified by his or her dissertation advisor;
be enrolled at a higher education institution in the US that is a member of the Council for European Studies Academic Consortium . Students whose universities are not currently members of the CES consortium may apply, but they are encouraged to apply early in the application season so that every effort may be made to enroll the institution in the CES member consortium and, thus, establish the student's eligibility by the application deadline.

The applicant must also have exhausted the dissertation completion funding normally provided by his or her academic department or university for the coming academic year (applicants who still have a potential to receive funding from their institution for the fellowship year are not eligible to apply). He or she must be working on a topic within or substantially overlapping European Studies.

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IOE alumni named winners of the 2024 BERA Master’s Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis awards

27 March 2024

Dr Emily Macleod (PhD) and Kate Fox (Education and International Development MA) have won the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Doctoral and Master’s Thesis prizes respectively.

Left: Emily Macleod. Right: Kate Fox. Image permission: Emily Macleod and Kate Fox.

The awards are given in recognition of academic excellence and research rigour within the field of educational research.

Emily Macleod won for her thesis, “The status and safety of teaching: A longitudinal study of why some young people in England become teachers, and why others do not.” She investigated young people’s motivations behind pursuing – or not pursuing – the profession amidst the context of national and international teacher shortages.

She completed her PhD at IOE’s Department of Education, Practice and Society in 2023, and was a co-host on IOE’s podcast series Research for the Real World . She continues on as an honorary postdoctoral fellow. She also worked on the ASPIRES research project studying young people's science and career aspirations, before which she was a secondary school teacher.

Kate Fox won for her MA dissertation entitled “Building bridges or barriers? A study of home, community, and school literacy practices in rural Tanzania.”

Her dissertation centres the experiences of parents from rural communities within the Tanzanian education system – and the diverse ways families and communities contribute to young children’s literacy learning.

Kate completed her Master’s degree at IOE in 2023. She is now a Research Officer with the IOE Research Development team, and a Research Assistant working on two multi-institutional projects: Climate-U and Equitable research cultures . Her career in education spans 20 years as a teacher, headteacher and teacher trainer in Tanzania and the UK.

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What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

Published on September 14, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on November 21, 2023.

A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master’s program or a capstone to a bachelor’s degree.

Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation , it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete. It relies on your ability to conduct research from start to finish: choosing a relevant topic , crafting a proposal , designing your research , collecting data , developing a robust analysis, drawing strong conclusions , and writing concisely .

Thesis template

You can also download our full thesis template in the format of your choice below. Our template includes a ready-made table of contents , as well as guidance for what each chapter should include. It’s easy to make it your own, and can help you get started.

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Thesis vs. thesis statement, how to structure a thesis, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your thesis, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about theses.

You may have heard the word thesis as a standalone term or as a component of academic writing called a thesis statement . Keep in mind that these are two very different things.

A thesis statement is a very common component of an essay, particularly in the humanities. It usually comprises 1 or 2 sentences in the introduction of your essay , and should clearly and concisely summarize the central points of your academic essay .
A thesis is a long-form piece of academic writing, often taking more than a full semester to complete. It is generally a degree requirement for Master’s programs, and is also sometimes required to complete a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts colleges.
In the US, a dissertation is generally written as a final step toward obtaining a PhD.
In other countries (particularly the UK), a dissertation is generally written at the bachelor’s or master’s level.

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The final structure of your thesis depends on a variety of components, such as:

Your discipline
Your theoretical approach

Humanities theses are often structured more like a longer-form essay . Just like in an essay, you build an argument to support a central thesis.

In both hard and social sciences, theses typically include an introduction , literature review , methodology section , results section , discussion section , and conclusion section . These are each presented in their own dedicated section or chapter. In some cases, you might want to add an appendix .

Thesis examples

We’ve compiled a short list of thesis examples to help you get started.

Example thesis #1: “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the ‘Noble Savage’ on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807” by Suchait Kahlon.
Example thesis #2: “’A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man’: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947″ by Julian Saint Reiman.

The very first page of your thesis contains all necessary identifying information, including:

Your full title
Your full name
Your department
Your institution and degree program
Your submission date.

Sometimes the title page also includes your student ID, the name of your supervisor, or the university’s logo. Check out your university’s guidelines if you’re not sure.

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An abstract is a short summary of your thesis. Usually a maximum of 300 words long, it’s should include brief descriptions of your research objectives , methods, results, and conclusions. Though it may seem short, it introduces your work to your audience, serving as a first impression of your thesis.

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework, but these are not the same thing. A theoretical framework defines and analyzes the concepts and theories that your research hinges on.

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Mathematical Physics

Title: study on a quantization condition and the solvability of schrödinger-type equations.

Abstract: In this thesis, we study a quantization condition in relation to the solvability of Schrödinger equations. This quantization condition is called the SWKB (supersymmetric Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) quantization condition and has been known in the context of supersymmetric quantum mechanics for decades. The main contents of this thesis are recapitulated as follows: the foundation and the application of the SWKB quantization condition. The first half of this thesis aims to understand the fundamental implications of this condition based on extensive case studies. It turns out that the exactness of the SWKB quantization condition indicates the exact solvability of a system via the classical orthogonal polynomials. The SWKB quantization condition provides quantizations of energy, which we call the direct problem of the SWKB. We formulate the inverse problem of the SWKB: the problem of determining the superpotential from a given energy spectrum. The formulation successfully reconstructs all conventional shape-invariant potentials from the given energy spectra. We further construct novel solvable potentials, which are classical-orthogonal-polynomially quasi-exactly solvable, by this formulation. We further demonstrate several explicit solutions of the Schrödinger equations with the classical-orthogonal-polynomially quasi-exactly solvable potentials, whose family is referred to as a harmonic oscillator with singularity functions in this thesis. In one case, the energy spectra become isospectral, with several additional eigenstates, to the ordinary harmonic oscillator for special choices of a parameter. By virtue of this, we formulate a systematic way of constructing infinitely many potentials that are strictly isospectral to the ordinary harmonic oscillator.

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Daniel Kahneman, Who Plumbed the Psychology of Economics, Dies at 90

He helped pioneer a branch of the field that exposed hard-wired mental biases in people’s economic behavior. The work led to a Nobel.

Daniel Kahneman, a balding man with glasses wearing a blue blazer and a tie. stands in front of a red brick building and smiles.s

By Robert D. Hershey Jr.

Daniel Kahneman, who never took an economics course but who pioneered a psychologically based branch of that field that led to a Nobel in economic science in 2002, died on Wednesday. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by his partner, Barbara Tversky. She declined to say where he died.

Professor Kahneman, who was long associated with Princeton University and lived in Manhattan, employed his training as a psychologist to advance what came to be called behavioral economics. The work, done largely in the 1970s, led to a rethinking of issues as far-flung as medical malpractice, international political negotiations and the evaluation of baseball talent, all of which he analyzed, mostly in collaboration with Amos Tversky , a Stanford cognitive psychologist who did groundbreaking work on human judgment and decision-making. (Ms. Tversky, also a professor of psychology at Stanford , had been married to Professor Tversky, who died in 1996. She and Professor Kahneman became partners several years ago.)

As opposed to traditional economics, which assumes that human beings generally act in fully rational ways and that any exceptions tend to disappear as the stakes are raised, the behavioral school is based on exposing hard-wired mental biases that can warp judgment, often with counterintuitive results.

“His central message could not be more important,” the Harvard psychologist and author Steven Pinker told The Guardian in 2014, “namely, that human reason left to its own devices is apt to engage in a number of fallacies and systematic errors, so if we want to make better decisions in our personal lives and as a society, we ought to be aware of these biases and seek workarounds. That’s a powerful and important discovery.”

Professor Kahneman delighted in pointing out and explaining what he called universal brain “kinks.” The most important of these, the behaviorists hold, is loss-aversion: Why, for example, does the loss of $100 hurt about twice as much as the gaining of $100 brings pleasure?

Among its myriad implications, loss-aversion theory suggests that it is foolish to check one’s stock portfolio frequently, since the predominance of pain experienced in the stock market will most likely lead to excessive and possibly self-defeating caution.

Loss-aversion also explains why golfers have been found to putt better when going for par on a given hole than for a stroke-gaining birdie. They try harder on a par putt because they dearly want to avoid a bogey, or a loss of a stroke.

Mild-mannered and self-effacing, Professor Kahneman not only welcomed debate on his ideas; he also enlisted the help of adversaries as well as colleagues to perfect them. When asked who should be considered the “father” of behavioral economics, Professor Kahneman pointed to the University of Chicago economist Richard H. Thaler , a younger scholar (by 11 years) whom he described in his Nobel autobiography as his second most important professional friend, after Professor Tversky.

“I’m the grandfather of behavioral economics,” Professor Kahneman allowed in a 2016 interview for this obituary, in a restaurant near his home in Lower Manhattan.

This new school of thought did not get its first major public airing until 1985, in a conference at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, a bastion of traditional economics.

Professor Kahneman’s public reputation rested heavily on his 2011 book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” which appeared on best-seller lists in science and business. One commentator, the essayist, mathematical statistician and former option trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the influential book on improbability “The Black Swan,” placed “Thinking” in the same league as Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” and Sigmund Freud’s “The Interpretation of Dreams.”

The author Jim Holt, writing in The New York Times Book Review , called “Thinking” “an astonishingly rich book: lucid, profound, full of intellectual surprises and self-help value.”

Shane Frederick, a professor at the Yale School of Management and a Kahneman protégé, said by email in 2016 that Professor Kahneman had “helped transform economics into a true behavioral science rather than a mere mathematical exercise in outlining the logical entailments of a set of often wildly untenable assumptions.”

An Accessible Writer

Professor Kahneman propagated his findings with an appealing writing style, using illustrative vignettes with which even lay readers could engage.

Professor Kahneman wrote, for example, that Professor Thaler had inspired him to study, as an experiment, the so-called mental accounting of someone who arrives at the theater and realizes that he has lost either his ticket or the cash equivalent. Professor Kahneman found that people who lost the cash would still buy a ticket by some means, while those who lost an already purchased ticket would more likely go home.

Professor Thaler won the 2017 Nobel in economic science — officially the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Professor Kahneman shared his 2002 Nobel with Vernon L. Smith of George Mason University in Virginia. “Had Tversky lived, he would certainly have shared the Nobel with Kahneman, his longtime collaborator and dear friend,” Professor Holt wrote in his 2011 Times review . Professor Tversky died in 1996 at 59.

Much of Professor Kahneman’s work is grounded in the notion — which he did not originate but organized and advanced — that the mind operates in two modes: fast and intuitive (mental activities that we’re more or less born with, called System One), or slow and analytical, a more complex mode involving experience and requiring effort (System Two).

Others have personified these mental modes as Econs (rational, analytical people) and Humans (emotional, impulsive and prone to exhibit unconscious mental biases and an unwise reliance on dubious rules of thumb). Professor Kahneman and Professor Tversky used the word “heuristics” to describe these rules of thumb. One is the “halo effect,” where in observing a positive attribute of another person one perceives other strengths that aren’t really there.

“Before Kahneman and Tversky, people who thought about social problems and human behavior tended to assume that we are mostly rational agents,” the Times columnist David Brooks wrote in 2011 . “They assumed that people have control over the most important parts of their own thinking. They assumed that people are basically sensible utility-maximizers, and that when they depart from reason it’s because some passion like fear or love has distorted their judgment.”

But Professors Kahneman and Tversky, he went on, “yielded a different vision of human nature.”

As Mr. Brooks described it: “We are players in a game we don’t understand. Most of our own thinking is below awareness.” He added: “Our biases frequently cause us to want the wrong things. Our perceptions and memories are slippery, especially about our own mental states. Our free will is bounded. We have much less control over ourselves than we thought.”

The work of Professor Kahneman and Professor Tversky, he concluded, “will be remembered hundreds of years from now.”

In the Shadow of Nazis

Daniel Kahneman was born on March 5, 1934, into a family of Lithuanian Jews who had emigrated to France to the early 1920s. After France fell to Nazi Germany in World War II, Daniel, like other Jews, was forced to wear a Star of David on the outside of his clothing. His father, the research chief in a chemical factory, was seized and interned at a way station before deportation to an extermination camp, but he was then released under mysterious circumstances. The family escaped to the Riviera and then to central France, where they lived in a converted chicken coop.

Daniel’s father died just before D-Day, in June 1944, and Daniel, by then an eighth-grader, and his sister, Ruth, wound up in British-controlled Palestine with their mother, Rachel. (Daniel had been born in Tel Aviv during an extended visit with relatives by his mother.)

He graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a major in psychology, completing his college studies in two years. In 1954, after the founding of the state of Israel, he was drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces as a second lieutenant.

After a year as a platoon leader, he was transferred to the psychology branch, where he was given occasional assignments to assess candidates for officer training.

The unit’s ability to predict performance, however, was so poor that he coined the term “illusion of validity,” meaning a cognitive bias in which one displays overconfidence in the accuracy of one’s judgments. Two decades later this “illusion” became one of the most frequently cited elements in psychology literature.

He married Irah Kahan in Israel, and they soon set off for the University of California, Berkeley, where he had been granted a fellowship. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology there. He returned to Israel to teach at Hebrew University from 1961 to 1977. The marriage ended in divorce. (Professor Kahneman held dual citizenships, in the United States and Israel.)

In 1978, Professor Kahneman married Anne Treisman, a noted British psychologist who shared his interest in the study of attention, which was the chief subject of his early work. The two of them ran a lab and wrote papers together. In 2013 she received the National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama. She died in 2018. He and Ms. Treisman had long been friends with the Tverskys.

In addition to Ms. Tversky, he is survived by a son and daughter from his first marriage, Michael Kahneman and Lenore Shoham; two stepdaughters from his second marriage, Jessica and Deborah Treisman; two stepsons from the same marriage, Daniel and Stephen Treisman; three grandchildren; and four step-granddaughters. He lived in Greenwich Village for many years.

It was in Jerusalem, while developing a training course for Air Force flight instructors, that Professor Kahneman had “the most satisfying Eureka experience of my career,” as he wrote in an autobiographical sketch for the Nobel committee.

He had started to preach the traditional view that to promote learning, praise is more effective than punishment. But a seasoned colleague insisted otherwise, telling him, as Professor Kahneman recalled:

“On many occasions I have praised flight cadets for clean execution of some aerobatic maneuver, and in general when they try it again, they do worse. On the other hand, I have often screamed at cadets for bad execution, and in general they do better the next time. So please don’t tell us that reinforcement works and punishment does not, because the opposite is the case.”

The colleague had insisted — and convinced Professor Kahneman — that statistically people may do very well in something in one instance or very poorly in another, but that in the end they tend to regress to the mean, or average.

“This was a joyous moment, in which I learned an important truth about the world,” Professor Kahneman wrote. “Because we tend to reward others when they do well and punish them when they do badly, and because there is regression to the mean, it is part of the human condition that we are statistically punished for rewarding others and rewarded for punishing them.”

His collaboration with Professor Tversky — their peak productive years were 1971 to 1981 — was exceptionally close, so much so that it inspired the author Michael Lewis to write a book about them, “The Undoing Project : A Friendship That Changed Our Minds” (2016).

“Amos and I shared the wonder of together owning a goose that could lay golden eggs — a joint mind that was better than our separate minds,” Professor Kahneman wrote in his Nobel autobiography. Later, in “Thinking,” he wrote, “The pleasure we found in working together made us exceptionally patient; it is much easier to strive for perfection when you are never bored.”

Mr. Lewis reported that the two men worked on a single typewriter, often amid uproarious laughter and shouts in Hebrew and English, and that they had sometimes flipped a coin to determine whose name would be listed first on a paper.

But they also feuded, particularly when Professor Kahneman thought he was being denied proper credit. One falling-out lasted years, ending finally with a reconciliation. Professor Kahneman was solicitous during his colleague’s final illness (he died of metastatic melanoma) and was his main eulogist at his funeral in 1996.

One product of their collaboration was a finding that overconfidence in conjunction with optimism is an extremely common bias, which leads people to think that wars are quickly winnable and that building projects will be completed on budget. But Professor Kahneman and Professor Tversky considered such bias necessary in the end for capitalism to function.

Professor Kahneman’s North American career included teaching posts at the University of British Columbia and Berkeley before he joined the Princeton University faculty in 1993.

His most recent book is “Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment” (2021), written with Cass Sunstein and Olivier Sibony. In The Times Book Review, Steven Brill called it a “tour de force of scholarship and clear writing.”

The book looks at how human judgment often varies wildly even among specialists, as reflected in judicial decisions, insurance premiums, medical diagnoses and corporate decisions, as well as in many other aspects of life.

And it distinguishes between predictable biases — a judge, for example, who consistently sentences Black defendants more harshly — and what the authors call “noise”: less explainable decisions resulting from what they define as “unwanted variability in judgments.” In one example, the authors report that doctors are more likely to order cancer screenings for patients they see early in the morning than late in the afternoon.

The book, like his others, was an outgrowth of Professor Kahneman’s lifelong quest to understand how the human mind works — what thought processes lead people to make the kinds of decisions and judgments they do as they navigate a complex world. And toward the end of his life he acknowledged that so much more was to be known.

In an interview with Kara Swisher on her Times podcast “Sway” in 2021, he said, “If I were starting my career now, I would be choosing between artificial intelligence and neuroscience, because those are now particularly exciting ways of looking at human nature.”

Robert D. Hershey Jr. , a longtime reporter who wrote about finance and economics for The Times, died in January. Alex Traub contributed reporting.

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What Is a Dissertation?
A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program. ... with chapters organized around different themes or case studies. However, hard science and social science dissertations typically include a review of existing works, ...
Dissertation Structure & Layout 101 (+ Examples)
Time to recap…. And there you have it - the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows: Title page. Acknowledgments page. Abstract (or executive summary) Table of contents, list of figures and tables.
What Is a Dissertation?
A dissertation is a large research project undertaken at the end of a degree. It involves in-depth consideration of a problem or question chosen by the student. It is usually the largest (and final) piece of written work produced during a degree. The length and structure of a dissertation vary widely depending on the level and field of study.
Dissertation & Thesis Outline
How to outline your thesis or dissertation. While there are some inter-institutional differences, many outlines proceed in a fairly similar fashion. Working Title; Abstract "Elevator pitch" of your work (often written last). Introduction. Introduce your area of study, sharing details about your research question, problem statement, and ...
How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal
When starting your thesis or dissertation process, one of the first requirements is a research proposal or a prospectus. It describes what or who you want to examine, delving into why, when, where, and how you will do so, stemming from your research question and a relevant topic. The proposal or prospectus stage is crucial for the development ...
Guide to Writing Your Thesis/Dissertation : Graduate School
The dissertation or thesis is a scholarly treatise that substantiates a specific point of view as a result of original research that is conducted by students during their graduate study. At Cornell, the thesis is a requirement for the receipt of the M.A. and M.S. degrees and some professional master's degrees.
How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis
Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal. Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter. Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review. Undertake your own research. Present and interpret your findings. Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications.
How to Write a Dissertation
The structure of a dissertation depends on your field, but it is usually divided into at least four or five chapters (including an introduction and conclusion chapter). The most common dissertation structure in the sciences and social sciences includes: An introduction to your topic. A literature review that surveys relevant sources.
How to write an undergraduate university dissertation
10 tips for writing an undergraduate dissertation. 1. Select an engaging topic. Choose a subject that aligns with your interests and allows you to showcase the skills and knowledge you have acquired through your degree. 2. Research your supervisor. Undergraduate students will often be assigned a supervisor based on their research specialisms.
How to Structure a Dissertation
A dissertation - sometimes called a thesis - is a long piece of information backed up by extensive research. This one, huge piece of research is what matters the most when students - undergraduates and postgraduates - are in their final year of study.
Dissertation
A case study dissertation is an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, or organization. It typically follows a qualitative research approach and uses methods such as interviews, observations, or document analysis. Mixed-Methods Dissertation. A mixed-methods dissertation combines both quantitative and qualitative research approaches ...
The Top 3 Types of Dissertation Research Explained
Here, we'll focus on the three main types of dissertation research to get you one step closer to earning your doctoral degree. 1. Qualitative. The first type of dissertation is known as a qualitative dissertation. A qualitative dissertation mirrors the qualitative research that a doctoral candidate would conduct throughout their studies.
PDF A Complete Dissertation
A Complete Dissertation 5 in the third person (active voice without the personal pronouns I and we). Generally, the first sentence of an abstract describes the entire study; subsequent sentences expand on that description. Frequent Errors Inclusion of irrelevant material (i.e., examples, information extraneous to the dis-
What is a Dissertation? Definition, Types & Tips
A dissertation lays out all the steps of a student's research, from background information on their topic of study to the conclusions they arrived at after completing the research. It displays the knowledge and research skills gained during the period of study so that evaluators can decide whether the student qualifies for the degree they are ...
What Are the Steps to the Dissertation Process?
The Dissertation Guidebook is one of the essential navigation tools Walden provides to its doctoral candidates. A vital portion of the document details the 15 required steps that take a dissertation from start to finish. Read along with Walden students to learn more about that process: Premise. The dissertation premise is a short document that ...
What is a thesis
A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic. Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research ...
Medical dissertation basics: analysis of a course of study for medical
Conclusion: The study indicates knowledge acquisition in module I and a high doctoral student satisfaction with all modules. For an objective analysis of modules II-III, a comparison of completed doctoral theses (course participants vs. non-participants) would be appropriate but would only make sense in a few years.
PDF Sample Dissertation Overview
dissertation they will be presented in the past tense and report on the actual rather than the anticipated study elements, such as the participants, data collection methods, and analyses. Chapter 4: Results In this chapter, a factual reporting of the study results is presented. Findings are generally organized around the research questions.
Dissertation Results/Findings Chapter (Quantitative)
The results chapter (also referred to as the findings or analysis chapter) is one of the most important chapters of your dissertation or thesis because it shows the reader what you've found in terms of the quantitative data you've collected. It presents the data using a clear text narrative, supported by tables, graphs and charts.
What is a dissertation?
A dissertation is a written document that summarizes research. It is the final step of a PhD program, and the culmination of a student's doctoral studies. "The dissertation is a source of pride for doctoral students," Dinah Manns, PhD, faculty chair at Capella University, says. "The dissertation is often a compilation of academic and ...
Dissertation Information
After the dissertation is accepted, the student and his or her dissertation advisor are required to prepare a manuscript for publication. Visit SC Williams Library for information on sample dissertation format & guidelines. Students must adhere to specifications found on the Library's website under Dissertation Submission (link is external) .
Ph.D. students shouldn't focus only on dissertation (opinion)
In the humanities and social sciences, many people believe that completing a Ph.D. involves spending years conducting research to write a dissertation that "extends the boundary of human knowledge.". But the real story is quite different from that. Although key, fulfilling your research project is the least important aspect of your Ph.D.
PDF Thesis/Doctoral/Doctoral Project (TDDP) Manual
Graduate Studies Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project SharePoint Site. As stated on Thesis/Dissertation/Doctoral Project Form 1, the Chair agrees to: a) Review student's degree plan and submit with Chair Agreement form. b) Meet with the student for individualized supervision for one hour each week or the equivalent
Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies
The Council for European Studies (CES) invites eligible graduate students in the humanities to apply for the 2021-22 Mellon-CES Dissertation Completion Fellowships in European Studies. Each fellowship includes a $27,500 stipend, paid in six (6) bi-monthly installments over the course of the fellowship year, as well as assistance in securing ...
IOE alumni named winners of the 2024 BERA Master's Dissertation ...
A study of home, community, and school literacy practices in rural Tanzania." Her dissertation centres the experiences of parents from rural communities within the Tanzanian education system - and the diverse ways families and communities contribute to young children's literacy learning. Kate completed her Master's degree at IOE in 2023.
What Is a Thesis?
A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master's program or a capstone to a bachelor's degree. Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation, it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete.
Title: Study on a Quantization Condition and the Solvability of
In this thesis, we study a quantization condition in relation to the solvability of Schrödinger equations. This quantization condition is called the SWKB (supersymmetric Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) quantization condition and has been known in the context of supersymmetric quantum mechanics for decades. The main contents of this thesis are recapitulated as follows: the foundation and the ...
Daniel Kahneman, Who Plumbed the Psychology of Economics, Dies at 90
Daniel Kahneman, who never took an economics course but who pioneered a psychologically based branch of that field that led to a Nobel in economic science in 2002, died on Wednesday. He was 90 ...

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About the author

Muhammad Hassan

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