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David Shayne (far left) handed in his thesis an hour before the deadline. Joining him in his jump for joy are Juliana Rodriguez and Trevor Levin.

Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Whew, that’s done!

Harvard Staff Writer

With senior theses turned in, students can celebrate a major academic achievement

For many, writing a senior thesis is the ultimate academic challenge of College life. About half of Harvard students undertake this weighty endeavor, which is required only for honors students at most Schools. On deadline day, their original research, writing, and tortured all-nighters are sometimes rewarded with interdepartmental parties featuring cake and champagne.

More tributes follow the March filings — at least for a lucky few — in early May with the announcement of the Hoopes Prize , which recognizes outstanding undergraduate research. A few days later, the Harvard  John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) holds its annual Design & Project Fair , where dean’s awards are bestowed for outstanding engineering projects.

Lyra Wanzer ’19, who built an electroadhesive treaded microrobot, was one of this year’s four winners. She was delighted. “I put so much work and time in this,” said Wanzer, a Vermont native who fell in love with robotics in high school. “So many hours for a whole year.”

Students in the engineering bachelor’s program at SEAS are required to work on a capstone project, similar to a thesis, which aims to solve a real-world problem. Wanzer built a 6-centimeter-long microrobot with treads like a military tank. It can stick to conductive surfaces and could be used for search and rescue operations or inspecting pipes, engines, and other places where the human hand can’t reach.

Across the University, the thesis is a rite of passage that students approach with mixed feelings. There is dread about the amount of work involved — each thesis must be between 10,000 and 20,000 words, 60 to 100 pages, and involve original research — but also a deep feeling of accomplishment once it’s finally done.

Such was the case for David Shayne ’19, who is concentrating in social studies with a secondary in visual and environmental studies. Shayne handed in his thesis on the history of the American economic crises one hour before the deadline. He was tired after sleeping little in the previous 48 hours, but mostly overwhelmed by pride and joy.

“I’m exhausted and stunned that the thesis exists and that I produced so many pages [about 100],” he said, looking a bit disheveled on the March 13 deadline. “I did my thesis by the sheer tyranny of will. It’s a weird and wonderful feeling.”

Nicole Dejong Newendorp, assistant director of Undergraduate Studies, holds some of the many theses handed in on “Thesis Day.” Lyra Wanzer ‘19 built an electroadhesive treaded robot for her capstone project.

Rose Lincoln (left) and Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographers

In most Schools a thesis is optional, but it is a requirement for students on the honors track. About half of all students across the College pursue honors within their concentrations; the numbers vary according to Schools and departments. Lauren Bimmler, undergraduate program administrator in the English Department, said 34 out of 48 seniors there are on the honors track.

A lower percentage of SEAS students write senior theses. This year, 42 out of 140 computer science concentrators wrote one, as did 30 out of 100 students concentrating in applied mathematics.

For Hyo-Won Jeon, who is concentrating in social studies, working on her thesis meant sacrifice. When she handed it in, she felt relieved.

“Every day was truly a test,” said Jeon, who spent the night before the deadline at the library working on her paper on intercountry adoptees who don’t have U.S. citizenship. “The hardest part was not being able to spend time with my friends because I was working.”

Students don’t undertake the challenge alone. The University offers tutorials, seminars, and workshops on how to choose a topic, do research, and write the thesis, and assigns advisers who guide students through the whole process. They may also apply for grants for research and travel.

For seniors in the S.B. engineering program, SEAS requires the two-semester capstone course “Engineering Design Projects” (ES 100). This year’s projects showed a wide array of interests, from a 3D-printable implant to replace part of the ear’s canal wall to a wearable device that provides early detection of infection in pediatric patients to a portable gadget that measures atmospheric mercury levels.

Seniors concentrating in applied mathematics also demonstrated a broad array of interests, said Sarah Iams, assistant director of undergraduate studies in applied mathematics.

“It’s a cool, wide range of topics, from sports theses to economic questions to decoding Inca quipus ,” said Iams.

In the English Department, students can write critical or creative theses. Bimmler said creative theses, such as collections of poems or short stories, novellas, and screenplays, are on the rise. Two years ago, Obasi Shaw ’17 turned in “ Liminal Minds ,” the first rap album ever submitted at the English Department.

This year, there were 13 creative theses and next year officials anticipate 23, said Bimmler.

For many students the best part of tackling a thesis is that they can choose any topic, depending on their interests or fields of study. Among this year’s Hoopes Prize winners are works on female judges and crime in India, American country music in Italy, Nazis in America, gang violence in El Salvador, and the spread of the invasive strawberry guava in Madagascar’s rainforests.

Schools have different deadlines for students to turn in their theses. In the Social Studies Department, it’s always the Wednesday before spring break to allow students enjoy the recess without any thesis-related concerns. At SEAS, it’s the last Friday of March.

On deadline day, some Schools hold small parties with champagne, cake, and hors d’oeuvres to cheer on students as they arrive with the product of their labor. It’s a well-deserved celebration, said Anya Bernstein Bassett, senior lecturer and director of studies in social studies.

“They take on an independent project and go through the ups and downs because there are always challenges,” said Bassett. “Your interview subjects won’t talk to you, you go to a field site and it’s not what you expected, and they have to manage through that. It says so much about who they are and how committed they are.”

Juliana Rodrigues ’19, who’s concentrating in social studies, shared the sentiment.

“It’s a capstone for your educational experience at Harvard,” she said. “It’s a way to reflect back on everything you’ve learned in your time here and bring that all together that speaks to who you are and what you value.”

Anna Antongiorgi ’19 is concentrating in English with a secondary in Theater, Dance & Media. Her creative thesis was both an intellectual and emotional enterprise. She wrote a collection of 120 poems inspired by her love of writing and dancing.

In many ways, the paper didn’t feel like homework, said Antongiorgi, who began dancing at age 5 and started writing poems in high school. At times, it was cathartic, at times overwhelming, but mostly it was enjoyable. The process has led her to ponder new possibilities.

“I’m still writing,” said Antongiorgi. “It felt like it was just the beginning. I don’t feel finished.”

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Lee Honors College

Honors Thesis and Thesis Celebration

The honors thesis is the hallmark of the Lee Honors College. All students complete a significant project of undergraduate research or creative scholarship and are published in the ScholarWorks online repository . Our collection of honors theses extends back to the 1960s and comes from every academic discipline at Western Michigan University. Prior to submitting the final honors thesis for publication, students must defend their thesis before the committee of faculty they have selected to mentor their project. The Lee Honors College hosts many of these thesis defenses during Thesis Celebration Week late in each fall and spring semester. All honors students, WMU faculty and staff, and members of the public are strongly encouraged to attend these thesis defenses and help our outstanding students celebrate this huge accomplishment! 

Resources for honors students:

HNRS 4990 Registration Form

ScholarWorks Repository

Thesis Checklist

Thesis Declaration Form

Thesis Defense Certificate Request Form (Request for the "thesis packet")

Thesis Handbook

Other resources

Medallion Scholarship Program

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How to write a masters dissertation or thesis: top tips.

It is completely normal to find the idea of writing a masters thesis or dissertation slightly daunting, even for students who have written one before at undergraduate level. Though, don’t feel put off by the idea. You’ll have plenty of time to complete it, and plenty of support from your supervisor and peers.

One of the main challenges that students face is putting their ideas and findings into words. Writing is a skill in itself, but with the right advice, you’ll find it much easier to get into the flow of writing your masters thesis or dissertation.

We’ve put together a step-by-step guide on how to write a dissertation or thesis for your masters degree, with top tips to consider at each stage in the process.

1. Understand your dissertation or thesis topic

There are slight differences between theses and dissertations , although both require a high standard of writing skill and knowledge in your topic. They are also formatted very similarly.

At first, writing a masters thesis can feel like running a 100m race – the course feels very quick and like there is not as much time for thinking! However, you’ll usually have a summer semester dedicated to completing your dissertation – giving plenty of time and space to write a strong academic piece.

By comparison, writing a PhD thesis can feel like running a marathon, working on the same topic for 3-4 years can be laborious. But in many ways, the approach to both of these tasks is quite similar.

Before writing your masters dissertation, get to know your research topic inside out. Not only will understanding your topic help you conduct better research, it will also help you write better dissertation content.

Also consider the main purpose of your dissertation. You are writing to put forward a theory or unique research angle – so make your purpose clear in your writing.

Top writing tip: when researching your topic, look out for specific terms and writing patterns used by other academics. It is likely that there will be a lot of jargon and important themes across research papers in your chosen dissertation topic. 

2. Structure your dissertation or thesis

Writing a thesis is a unique experience and there is no general consensus on what the best way to structure it is. 

As a postgraduate student , you’ll probably decide what kind of structure suits your research project best after consultation with your supervisor. You’ll also have a chance to look at previous masters students’ theses in your university library.

To some extent, all postgraduate dissertations are unique. Though they almost always consist of chapters. The number of chapters you cover will vary depending on the research. 

A masters dissertation or thesis organised into chapters would typically look like this: 

Write down your structure and use these as headings that you’ll write for later on.

Top writing tip : ease each chapter together with a paragraph that links the end of a chapter to the start of a new chapter. For example, you could say something along the lines of “in the next section, these findings are evaluated in more detail”. This makes it easier for the reader to understand each chapter and helps your writing flow better.

3. Write up your literature review

One of the best places to start when writing your masters dissertation is with the literature review. This involves researching and evaluating existing academic literature in order to identify any gaps for your own research.

Many students prefer to write the literature review chapter first, as this is where several of the underpinning theories and concepts exist. This section helps set the stage for the rest of your dissertation, and will help inform the writing of your other dissertation chapters.

What to include in your literature review

The literature review chapter is more than just a summary of existing research, it is an evaluation of how this research has informed your own unique research.

Demonstrate how the different pieces of research fit together. Are there overlapping theories? Are there disagreements between researchers?

Highlight the gap in the research. This is key, as a dissertation is mostly about developing your own unique research. Is there an unexplored avenue of research? Has existing research failed to disprove a particular theory?

Back up your methodology. Demonstrate why your methodology is appropriate by discussing where it has been used successfully in other research.

4. Write up your research

For instance, a more theoretical-based research topic might encompass more writing from a philosophical perspective. Qualitative data might require a lot more evaluation and discussion than quantitative research. 

Methodology chapter

The methodology chapter is all about how you carried out your research and which specific techniques you used to gather data. You should write about broader methodological approaches (e.g. qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods), and then go into more detail about your chosen data collection strategy. 

Data collection strategies include things like interviews, questionnaires, surveys, content analyses, discourse analyses and many more.

Data analysis and findings chapters

The data analysis or findings chapter should cover what you actually discovered during your research project. It should be detailed, specific and objective (don’t worry, you’ll have time for evaluation later on in your dissertation)

Write up your findings in a way that is easy to understand. For example, if you have a lot of numerical data, this could be easier to digest in tables.

This will make it easier for you to dive into some deeper analysis in later chapters. Remember, the reader will refer back to your data analysis section to cross-reference your later evaluations against your actual findings – so presenting your data in a simple manner is beneficial.

Think about how you can segment your data into categories. For instance, it can be useful to segment interview transcripts by interviewee. 

Top writing tip : write up notes on how you might phrase a certain part of the research. This will help bring the best out of your writing. There is nothing worse than when you think of the perfect way to phrase something and then you completely forget it.

5. Discuss and evaluate

Once you’ve presented your findings, it’s time to evaluate and discuss them.

It might feel difficult to differentiate between your findings and discussion sections, because you are essentially talking about the same data. The easiest way to remember the difference is that your findings simply present the data, whereas your discussion tells the story of this data.

Your evaluation breaks the story down, explaining the key findings, what went well and what didn’t go so well.

In your discussion chapter, you’ll have chance to expand on the results from your findings section. For example, explain what certain numbers mean and draw relationships between different pieces of data.

Top writing tip: don’t be afraid to point out the shortcomings of your research. You will receive higher marks for writing objectively. For example, if you didn’t receive as many interview responses as expected, evaluate how this has impacted your research and findings. Don’t let your ego get in the way!

6. Write your introduction

Your introduction sets the scene for the rest of your masters dissertation. You might be wondering why writing an introduction isn't at the start of our step-by-step list, and that’s because many students write this chapter last.

Here’s what your introduction chapter should cover:

Problem statement

Research question

Significance of your research

This tells the reader what you’ll be researching as well as its importance. You’ll have a good idea of what to include here from your original dissertation proposal , though it’s fairly common for research to change once it gets started.

Writing or at least revisiting this section last can be really helpful, since you’ll have a more well-rounded view of what your research actually covers once it has been completed and written up.

Masters dissertation writing tips

When to start writing your thesis or dissertation.

When you should start writing your masters thesis or dissertation depends on the scope of the research project and the duration of your course. In some cases, your research project may be relatively short and you may not be able to write much of your thesis before completing the project. 

But regardless of the nature of your research project and of the scope of your course, you should start writing your thesis or at least some of its sections as early as possible, and there are a number of good reasons for this:

Academic writing is about practice, not talent. The first steps of writing your dissertation will help you get into the swing of your project. Write early to help you prepare in good time.

Write things as you do them. This is a good way to keep your dissertation full of fresh ideas and ensure that you don’t forget valuable information.

The first draft is never perfect. Give yourself time to edit and improve your dissertation. It’s likely that you’ll need to make at least one or two more drafts before your final submission.

Writing early on will help you stay motivated when writing all subsequent drafts.

Thinking and writing are very connected. As you write, new ideas and concepts will come to mind. So writing early on is a great way to generate new ideas.

How to improve your writing skills

The best way of improving your dissertation or thesis writing skills is to:

 Finish the first draft of your masters thesis as early as possible and send it to your supervisor for revision. Your supervisor will correct your draft and point out any writing errors. This process will be repeated a few times which will help you recognise and correct writing mistakes yourself as time progresses.

If you are not a native English speaker, it may be useful to ask your English friends to read a part of your thesis and warn you about any recurring writing mistakes. Read our section on English language support for more advice. 

Most universities have writing centres that offer writing courses and other kinds of support for postgraduate students. Attending these courses may help you improve your writing and meet other postgraduate students with whom you will be able to discuss what constitutes a well-written thesis.

Read academic articles and search for writing resources on the internet. This will help you adopt an academic writing style, which will eventually become effortless with practice.

Keep track of your bibliography 

The easiest way to keep the track of all the articles you have read for your research is to create a database where you can summarise each article/chapter into a few most important bullet points to help you remember their content. 

Another useful tool for doing this effectively is to learn how to use specific reference management software (RMS) such as EndNote. RMS is relatively simple to use and saves a lot of time when it comes to organising your bibliography. This may come in very handy, especially if your reference section is suspiciously missing two hours before you need to submit your dissertation! 

Avoid accidental plagiarism

Plagiarism may cost you your postgraduate degree and it is important that you consciously avoid it when writing your thesis or dissertation. 

Occasionally, postgraduate students commit plagiarism unintentionally. This can happen when sections are copy and pasted from journal articles they are citing instead of simply rephrasing them. Whenever you are presenting information from another academic source, make sure you reference the source and avoid writing the statement exactly as it is written in the original paper.

What kind of format should your thesis have?

Read your university’s guidelines before you actually start writing your thesis so you don’t have to waste time changing the format further down the line. However in general, most universities will require you to use 1.5-2 line spacing, font size 12 for text, and to print your thesis on A4 paper. These formatting guidelines may not necessarily result in the most aesthetically appealing thesis, however beauty is not always practical, and a nice looking thesis can be a more tiring reading experience for your postgrad examiner .

When should I submit my thesis?

The length of time it takes to complete your MSc or MA thesis will vary from student to student. This is because people work at different speeds, projects vary in difficulty, and some projects encounter more problems than others. 

Obviously, you should submit your MSc thesis or MA thesis when it is finished! Every university will say in its regulations that it is the student who must decide when it is ready to submit. 

However, your supervisor will advise you whether your work is ready and you should take their advice on this. If your supervisor says that your work is not ready, then it is probably unwise to submit it. Usually your supervisor will read your final thesis or dissertation draft and will let you know what’s required before submitting your final draft.

Set yourself a target for completion. This will help you stay on track and avoid falling behind. You may also only have funding for the year, so it is important to ensure you submit your dissertation before the deadline – and also ensure you don’t miss out on your graduation ceremony ! 

To set your target date, work backwards from the final completion and submission date, and aim to have your final draft completed at least three months before that final date.

Don’t leave your submission until the last minute – submit your work in good time before the final deadline. Consider what else you’ll have going on around that time. Are you moving back home? Do you have a holiday? Do you have other plans?

If you need to have finished by the end of June to be able to go to a graduation ceremony in July, then you should leave a suitable amount of time for this. You can build this into your dissertation project planning at the start of your research.

It is important to remember that handing in your thesis or dissertation is not the end of your masters program . There will be a period of time of one to three months between the time you submit and your final day. Some courses may even require a viva to discuss your research project, though this is more common at PhD level . 

If you have passed, you will need to make arrangements for the thesis to be properly bound and resubmitted, which will take a week or two. You may also have minor corrections to make to the work, which could take up to a month or so. This means that you need to allow a period of at least three months between submitting your thesis and the time when your program will be completely finished. Of course, it is also possible you may be asked after the viva to do more work on your thesis and resubmit it before the examiners will agree to award the degree – so there may be an even longer time period before you have finished.

How do I submit the MA or MSc dissertation?

Most universities will have a clear procedure for submitting a masters dissertation. Some universities require your ‘intention to submit’. This notifies them that you are ready to submit and allows the university to appoint an external examiner.

This normally has to be completed at least three months before the date on which you think you will be ready to submit.

When your MA or MSc dissertation is ready, you will have to print several copies and have them bound. The number of copies varies between universities, but the university usually requires three – one for each of the examiners and one for your supervisor.

However, you will need one more copy – for yourself! These copies must be softbound, not hardbound. The theses you see on the library shelves will be bound in an impressive hardback cover, but you can only get your work bound like this once you have passed. 

You should submit your dissertation or thesis for examination in soft paper or card covers, and your university will give you detailed guidance on how it should be bound. They will also recommend places where you can get the work done.

The next stage is to hand in your work, in the way and to the place that is indicated in your university’s regulations. All you can do then is sit and wait for the examination – but submitting your thesis is often a time of great relief and celebration!

Some universities only require a digital submission, where you upload your dissertation as a file through their online submission system.

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How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• 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

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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GRAD STUDENT CELEBRATION WEEK: Paint Your Thesis/Dissertation

Navigating Thesis and Dissertation Challenges: Advice from Experts

I like to think that crafting a thesis or dissertation is akin to setting sail on an academic odyssey, navigating uncharted waters filled with challenges. Fortunately, in this expedition at UArizona, we have seasoned academic advisors like Drs. Leslie Dupont, Shelley Hawthorne Smith, and Andrea Hernandez Holm. They, serve as wise navigators, offering insights that help you chart a course through the complexities of project data management, writing dilemmas, time constraints, and the climactic defense.

Meet the three experts interviewed for this article.

Dr. Andrea Hernandez Holm

The Director of the Writing Skills Improvement Program (WSIP) at the University of Arizona, Dr. Holm has two decades of expertise as a writing specialist. With a focus on academic and professional writing, she coordinates projects like the Graduate Writing Institute and is an adjunct professor in the Mexican American Studies Department, holding a PhD in the field. She is also a published researcher, essayist, and poet, who contributes to the literary landscape.

Dr. Shelley Hawthorne Smith

Dr. Hawthorne Smith is an Assistant Professor of Practice and Associate Director of the Graduate Writing Lab where she passionately supports graduate students' writing development. Creator of Fellowship Application Development Programs, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Rhetoric from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Leslie Dupont

Dr. Dupont is a writing coach who helps College of Nursing students, staff, and faculty improve their scholarly and professional writing skills. With a PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English, she has been teaching writing since 1989, both at UA and online with Johns Hopkins University. Her passion lies in collaborative coaching and mentoring.

The Writer’s Blueprint: Strategies from Thesis and Dissertation Writing Mentors

According to Dr. Holm, one of the most important aspects of thesis or dissertation writing is mentorship. Though there are plenty of online resources that can help, students also need personalized guidance. Mentors can address student writers’ individual experiences, changes in academia, and the evolution of disciplines.

One area that Dr. Holm notes is often addressed last when it should be in the forefront is one's identity as a writer. In graduate school, the personal perspective often gets relegated to the bottom of the priority list. It's important to consider how you're feeling, assess your confidence level, and actively nurture your identity as a writer. 

Dr. Holm suggests the following self-reflections:

• Celebrate what you have accomplished so far. Most students forget that writing their thesis/dissertation means that they have completed or are about to complete their coursework, which is in itself a great accomplishment. Recognizing that gives you more confidence to tackle the next task and helps you find your voice as an academic writer. 
• Use the lessons you have learned while writing for courses or as a teaching assistant. What has worked for you so far and what hasn’t?  
• Change your mindset. Do not view this piece of writing as a final hurdle but an opportunity to express your work in writing to a captive audience (your committee) and to the wider community. This is an opportunity to have your voice heard, your work expressed and shared.

On a similar note, Dr. Hawthorne Smith says that having a strong sense of purpose for your projects is important for success. While some students start with a clear understanding of this in their graduate studies, most develop it over time, often by the end of their dissertation. The challenge is understanding the significance of their work, which may not be clear at the beginning as ideas take time to develop. Students who develop their ideas later may not have the same initial motivation as those who start earlier. Therefore, it's essential to cultivate a deep understanding of the 'what' and 'why' behind your academic endeavors. However, if you do not know this at the start of your project, it is okay. Dr. Hawthorne Smith stresses that coming into the program with all the necessary understanding and motivation is rare. In fact, in her 12 years of working closely with writers, she has only met 3 such students. Don’t doubt yourself; you will in due course find your strong motivations and a richer understanding of the importance of your work that will propel you forward.

Data Management and Writing

• Dr. Hawthorne Smith maintains that you do not have to finish data collection before starting the writing process. You can write as you go. Even writing twice a week in 30-minute sessions will help you develop your ideas and make progress in the writing phase. 
• Dr. Dupont advises students to store data so they always have access to it. Even if you do not micro-organize it into specific subfolders, at least have a “project data” folder instead of simply keeping everything in your downloads. In addition, keep backups of your data on hard drives, flash drives, or a secure cloud storage platform, so you can access the work from any device. A good resource for information about secure storage of sensitive data is the  Institutional Review Board .
• If you consult the internet while working on your writing, you can end up with too many open tabs. To avoid losing the links, create bookmark subfolders for your project, name it accordingly, and add to the subfolder all relevant papers and webpages you have open.
• The  University of Arizona Libraries website has helpful information about both project and data management.

Unlocking the Writing Process

If you are in graduate school and have no idea how to navigate academic writing, you are not alone. After speaking to these three writing mentors, I understood that most graduate students need guidance as they start communicating their findings to the academic community. 

Here are some tips that can help you improve your writing or gain the confidence to keep going. 

1. Overcoming the Dreaded Writer's Block

• Take breaks strategically, especially after significant milestones. Seek support from peers, tutors, or colleagues. Remember, community and support systems are your lifelines.
• Gamify your writing process, set achievable goals, and reward yourself. Create a dynamic outline, experiment with different environments, and if you have an alternative way of processing information or dealing with some neurodivergence, utilize resources like the  Disability Resource Center .

2. Crafting the Manuscript: A Symphony of Words and Ideas

• Understand your audience and the scholarly conversation you're joining. Break down the writing process into manageable steps. Leverage the support of writing tutors and groups at the  Graduate Writing Lab .
• Make a mess during drafting. The first draft is for yourself, so don't aim for perfection. Start with organizing ideas, address content issues, and focus on sentence-level details later.

3. Harnessing Tools for Enhanced Writing

• Tools like  Grammarly and  Chatgpt can be beneficial for non-native speakers. Use them for pattern recognition and flow improvement. AI tools are tools, not substitutes; use them ethically and professionally.
• Read aloud for flow and pattern identification. Use AI tools for brainstorming, proofreading, and organizing ideas.

4. Thriving Amidst Challenges

• Overcome shame and imposter syndrome by seeking support. Remember, challenges are part of the journey, and many share similar struggles.
• Celebrate achievements along the way. Perceive writing as an opportunity for growth and knowledge dissemination. Prepare diligently by understanding department expectations and utilizing campus resources.

5. Charting the Course to Dissertation Defense

• Collaborate with graduate writing tutors, set goals, and seek feedback. The dissertation defense is a performance; prepare like an actor rehearsing a play. Embrace nerves as a sign of readiness.
• Know your department's expectations, communicate with advisors, and leverage campus writing resources. Feedback is not criticism; it's a tool for growth. Navigating writing challenges is a shared experience; avoid internalizing external opinions and seek support from writing specialists.

Time as a Precious Resource

Time management is paramount for success in graduate school. Here is valuable advice from our interviewees on optimizing your time for effective and efficient thesis or dissertation writing.

• Creating Structures for Consistent Progress

Establishing writing structures and systems is laying tracks for a smooth academic journey. As suggested by seasoned writers, consider forming or joining  writing groups . These forums provide not only accountability but also a sense of camaraderie, fostering a conducive environment for consistent progress.

• Embracing Flexibility and Acknowledging Trade-Offs

Flexibility is the ally of productivity. Recognize that sacrifices and trade-offs are often integral to academic pursuits. While commitment to your research is non-negotiable, understanding the art of balance is crucial. Whether it's compromising on leisure time or adjusting your schedule, being flexible is a key to success.

• The Power of Accountability through Writing Partnerships

Embark on your writing odyssey with a companion. Join a writing group or find a writing partner who shares your academic aspirations. This not only adds an element of accountability but also provides a support system during the inevitable peaks and valleys of your writing journey.

• Carving Out Dedicated Writing Time

Time, even in small increments, is a formidable ally in the writing process. Set aside dedicated periods for writing, making it a non-negotiable part of your routine. Daily commitment, even if brief, accumulates into significant progress over time. Remember, consistency is the linchpin of success.

• Leveraging University Resources for Writing Improvement

The University of Arizona has a treasure trove of resources. Explore writing improvement programs and coaching services tailored for graduate students. These tools not only enhance your writing skills but also offer personalized guidance, aligning your academic pursuits with the highest standards.

Here is where you can start:

• Graduate Writing Tutors - Free consultations by appointment with trained and certified graduate writing tutors. Our tutors offer helpful feedback on any kind of writing at any stage in the writing process. Work with them to set writing goals and create strategic plans. The Graduate Writing Tutors service is a collaboration between the  THINK TANK Writing Center and the Graduate Center’s  Graduate Writing Lab .
• Writing Skills Improvement Program Tutoring and Consultations -  A free service for UA undergraduate and graduate students. Meet with a WSIP tutor to receive focused feedback on a shorter sample of writing. Sessions are 15-30 minutes, depending on availability. No appointment is necessary.
• College of Nursing Writing Coaching - Dr. Dupont works directly with Nursing students, staff, and faculty on strengthening their scholarly and professional writing.
• Task Prioritization and Safeguarding Writing Time

The academic landscape is teeming with tasks and commitments. Prioritize your responsibilities and zealously guard designated writing time against encroachments. Establishing clear boundaries ensures that your scholarly endeavors receive the attention they deserve.

Cultivate a Positive Attitude

When you get to the thesis or dissertation phase, it is important to remember that in addition to the anticipated challenges, there will likely be some unforeseen ones. However, no challenge should stop you from achieving your goal. This section consists of advice from Drs. Dupont, Hawthorne Smith, and Holm on the support you can get across campus, cultivating a positive mindset, and dealing with some ‘perceived’ writing problems.

Instead of isolating yourself while you marinade in thoughts of self doubt, acknowledge the potential for loneliness and combat it with intention. Tap into available resources and community support. Whether you turn to a mentor, fellow graduate students, or campus groups, writing can be easier when shared. Join the Graduate Center’s  Graduate Writing Groups and  Writing efficiency sessions . Even seasoned writers like Dr. Hawthorne Smith and Dr. Dupont meet up and write together in a cafe or online. 

A Strategic Approach to Preparing for the Thesis or Dissertation Defense

As you near the pinnacle of your academic journey—the defense—it's crucial to be prepared and confident. Dr. Hawthorne Smith offers suggestions for a successful defense that is also a celebration of your scholarly achievement.

• Attend Dissertation Defenses

Familiarize yourself with dissertation defenses before your own moment in the spotlight. Attending peers’ defenses not only educates you about the process but also provides a firsthand look at the expectations and dynamics of a successful defense. Learn from others' experiences and envision yourself in a similar position.

• Communicate with Advisors and Committee Members

View your advisors and committee members as allies. Foster open communication with them to demystify the defense process. Seek their guidance on what to expect, understand the nuances of the evaluation criteria, and discuss any specific areas they may emphasize. By learning their expectations, you set the stage for a more collaborative and informed defense.

• Tap into the Wisdom of Recent Graduates

Knowledge is power, especially when it comes from those who have prior experience. Connect with recent graduates who have successfully defended their dissertations. They can offer you practical advice, share common pitfalls to avoid, and provide a nuanced perspective on the entire experience. Learn from their triumphs and challenges to better navigate your own defense.

Tune into our  Graduate Student’s Guide Podcast where you can listen to the conversations I had with these three writing experts. Their recommendations about embracing your identity as a writer, effective data management, unlocking the writing process, time mastery, and defense preparation serve as a compass for graduate students.

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The Dissertation Writing Retreat is offered by the Graduate School and the Willis Writing Center to provide structured writing time and resources for graduate students who are completing dissertation writing.

The retreat leader will offer writing tips, resources, one-on-one consultations, peer feedback, and focused writing time.

June 10-14, 2024 8:30am-1:30pm Sanford Hall 209

Open to post-candidacy doctoral students.

Registration is available to the first 20 students to register.

To register you must submit a letter of support from your major professor or dissertation chair on letterhead indicating you are in good standing and eligible for the retreat by confirming date of candidacy/proposal acceptance.

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May 15, 2024

Tips and Resources for a Successful Summer of Dissertation Writing

By Yana Zlochistaya

Summer can be a strange time for graduate students. Gone are the seminars and workshops, the student clubs, and the working group, that structured the semester and provided us with a sense of community. Instead, we’re faced with a three-month expanse of time that can feel equal parts liberating and intimidating. This double-edged freedom is only exacerbated for those of us in the writing stage of our dissertation, when isolation and a lack of discipline can have a particularly big impact. For those hoping not to enter another summer with lofty plans, only to blink and find ourselves in August disappointed with our progress, we’ve compiled some tips and resources that can help.

According to Graduate Writing Center Director Sabrina Soracco, the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for writing success is to clarify your goals. She recommends starting this process by looking at departmental requirements for a completed dissertation. Consider when you would like to file and work backwards from that point, determining what you have to get done in order to hit that target. Next, check in with your dissertation committee members to set up an accountability structure. Would they prefer an end-of-summer update to the whole committee? A monthly check-in with your chair or one of your readers? Setting up explicit expectations that work for you and your committee can cut through the aimlessness that comes with a major writing project.

For those early on in their dissertation-writing process, a committee meeting is also a valuable opportunity to set parameters. “One of the problems with the excitement for the discipline that happens post-quals is that it results in too many ideas,” says Director Soracco. Your committee members should give you input on productive research directions so that you can begin to hone in on your project. It is also important to remember that your dissertation does not have to be the end-all-and-be-all of your academic research. Ideas that do not fit into its scope can end up becoming conference papers or even book chapters.

Once you have a clear goal that you have discussed with your committee, the hard part begins: you have to actually write. The Graduate Writing Center offers several resources to make that process easier:

• The Graduate Writing Community. This is a totally remote, two-month program that is based on a model of “gentle accountability.” When you sign up, you are added to a bCourses site moderated by a Graduate Writing Consultant. At the beginning of the week, everyone sets their goals in a discussion post, and by the end of the week, everyone checks in with progress updates. During the week, the writing consultants offer nine hours of remote synchronous writing sessions. As a writing community member, you can attend whichever sessions work best for your schedule. All that’s required is that you show up, set a goal for that hour, and work towards that goal for the length of two 25-minute Pomodoro sessions . This year’s summer writing community will begin in June. Keep your eye on your email for the registration link!
• Writing Consultations : As a graduate student, you can sign up for an individual meeting with a Graduate Writing Consultant. They can give you feedback on your work, help you figure out the structure of a chapter, or just talk through how to get started on a writing project. 
• Independent Writing Groups: If you would prefer to write with specific friends or colleagues, you can contact Graduate Writing Center Director Sabrina Soracco at [email protected] so that she can help you set up your own writing group. The structure and length of these groups can differ; often, members will send each other one to five pages of writing weekly and meet the next day for two hours to provide feedback and get advice. Sometimes, groups will meet up not only to share writing, but to work in a common space before coming together to debrief. Regardless of what the groups look like, the important thing is to create a guilt-free space. Some weeks, you might submit an outline; other weeks, it might be the roughest of rough drafts; sometimes, you might come to a session without having submitted anything. As long as we continue to make progress (and show up even when we don’t), we’re doing what we need to. As Director Soracco puts it, “it often takes slogging through a lot of stuff to get to that great epiphany.”

Yana Zlochistaya is a fifth-year graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature and a Professional Development Liaison with the Graduate Division. She previously served as a co-director for Beyond Academia.

Celebrations

By way of a birthday greeting to the Thesis Whisperer , I thought I’d write a piece about celebrations.

At this, I can almost imagine harassed postgraduates snarling: “Celebrations?  I’ll give her celebrations!  The only celebration there’s gonna be around here is the day I get my PhD , and that’s a good way off!”

Relax, gentle reader!  For a couple of minutes, I’d like you to stop and think about those very celebrations.   Make a cup of tea (not coffee), play some music, and allow yourself to dream …

The six months before I graduated with my PhD were fraught, to say the very least.  At the risk of sounding self-pitying, I must state quite factually that I was working full time, apart from taking the last three of my four weeks’ writing-up sabbatical.

Moreover, my husband had two knee-replacement operations during that time, so I was also support-worker, housekeeper, and family taxi to three adolescent sons.  Dreaming was a welcome escape from the reality of my daily existence!

I’m very goal-oriented.  I could almost go so far as to say that I wouldn’t get very far if I didn’t have goals to aim for, and in that final six months, I scored quite a few. And each goal represented a celebration.   May I suggest just a few celebration-worthy targets for you?

Identify some Mini Goals

Assuming you’ve mapped out an overall plan for your thesis, make sure you set deadlines for completing each chapter.  Write a timetable and put it somewhere prominent.  You could also keep track of your word-count , if that is a motivator for you.  But whatever you do, make sure you celebrate the completion of each chapter – whether the first completion, the next meeting with your supervisor, or the revised completion.

Plan to celebrate with family and/or friends at each milestone .  Mind you, make sure your celebration is appropriate. ( I charged into work with a fruitcake one day – only to discover that I was the only person who liked the stuff …!)

Editing is work too

Once you’ve got the chapters written, you’ll doubtless be spending quite a bit of time on proof-reading, formatting, checking footnotes and so on.  Believe me, completing any of these stages is worth a celebration in itself.

Making it real

Getting the thesis bound is worth a coffee with friends, at the very least – as is handing in your thesis at the Uni for examination.   Now you should go and buy a bottle of wine/ Prosecco/ beer/ sparkling fruit-juice/ or anything else that helps you feel triumphant!  However low-key your earlier celebrations may have been, this is a big one.

Surviving the Viva

Most of us leave feeling relieved that it’s over, perhaps a little downcast at the extent of the revisions, or just – strangely – deflated after all the build-up to this most important event.  The day after the viva can feel like a major anti-climax.  You’re so nearly there, but you daren’t yet let yourself celebrate.  Okay, then – have a quiet, private celebration, but do mark the occasion.  It’s been a big day.

(Editors Note: most Australian students will not have a viva or presentation to examiners. However many universities, including RMIT, have a mandatory completion seminar where you must present the work done and answer questions. This is as good an excuse as any to have a celebration 🙂

The graduation itself!

Finally, finally, you’ve got graduation to look forward to.  And now you’ll really be able to let your hair down .  So, in the time between the viva and graduation itself, you need to plan your party.

After all your hard work, this is your reward, so make it memorable!  Even if you’re on a tight budget, I would urge you to make sure you mark this important milestone appropriately .  You’ve worked for it, you’ve earned it, and the memories will last forever.

I didn’t start planning until my revisions had been accepted , but I had been dreaming of a party for some months beforehand, so pulling together a guest-list was easy.  Finding a venue – not quite so easy, but I was more than happy with the Italian restaurant that I eventually picked.

We had a fabulous night , and it was gratifying to see that our sons were enjoying themselves just as much.  I felt it was really important to let kids and my ‘significant other’ feel part of the celebrations – after all, they had lived through my PhD struggles, too!  But the experience can’t have damaged them too much – the eldest is already dreaming of doing doctoral studies himself … despite only just having taken his last ever school exam! So, let me see – in another six or so years, will I be helping plan another special event …?  I can hardly wait!

How do you plan to celebrate when you finish? We’d love to hear about your plans – or memories!

Related Posts

Parenting through a PhD (without going completely insane)

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The Thesis Whisperer is written by Professor Inger Mewburn, director of researcher development at The Australian National University . New posts on the first Wednesday of the month. Subscribe by email below. Visit the About page to find out more about me, my podcasts and books. I'm on most social media platforms as @thesiswhisperer. The best places to talk to me are LinkedIn , Mastodon and Threads.

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Harvard University Theses, Dissertations, and Prize Papers

The Harvard University Archives ’ collection of theses, dissertations, and prize papers document the wide range of academic research undertaken by Harvard students over the course of the University’s history.

Beyond their value as pieces of original research, these collections document the history of American higher education, chronicling both the growth of Harvard as a major research institution as well as the development of numerous academic fields. They are also an important source of biographical information, offering insight into the academic careers of the authors.

Spanning from the ‘theses and quaestiones’ of the 17th and 18th centuries to the current yearly output of student research, they include both the first Harvard Ph.D. dissertation (by William Byerly, Ph.D . 1873) and the dissertation of the first woman to earn a doctorate from Harvard ( Lorna Myrtle Hodgkinson , Ed.D. 1922).

Other highlights include:

• The collection of Mathematical theses, 1782-1839
• The 1895 Ph.D. dissertation of W.E.B. Du Bois, The suppression of the African slave trade in the United States, 1638-1871
• Ph.D. dissertations of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (Ph.D. 1925) and physicist John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (Ph.D. 1922)
• Undergraduate honors theses of novelist John Updike (A.B. 1954), filmmaker Terrence Malick (A.B. 1966),  and U.S. poet laureate Tracy Smith (A.B. 1994)
• Undergraduate prize papers and dissertations of philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson (A.B. 1821), George Santayana (Ph.D. 1889), and W.V. Quine (Ph.D. 1932)
• Undergraduate honors theses of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (A.B. 1940) and Chief Justice John Roberts (A.B. 1976)

What does a prize-winning thesis look like?

If you're a Harvard undergraduate writing your own thesis, it can be helpful to review recent prize-winning theses. The Harvard University Archives has made available for digital lending all of the Thomas Hoopes Prize winners from the 2019-2021 academic years.

Accessing These Materials

How to access materials at the Harvard University Archives

How to find and request dissertations, in person or virtually

How to find and request undergraduate honors theses

How to find and request Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize papers

How to find and request Bowdoin Prize papers

• email: Email
• Phone number 617-495-2461

Related Collections

Harvard faculty personal and professional archives, harvard student life collections: arts, sports, politics and social life, access materials at the harvard university archives.

• Bodleian Libraries
• Oxford LibGuides
• Education: research guide
• Theses/dissertations

Education: research guide: Theses/dissertations

• Journals and Conference Proceedings
• Systematic literature searching
• Academic writing
• Video guide to literature searching
• More help for researchers
• Top tips & advice
• Tools & software

Theses outside Oxford

Searchable abstracts of theses & dissertations from around the world are available via   ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global  - many are available for full text download.

The  EThoS  service from the British Library contains information about UK doctoral theses and there is increasing availability of full-text downloads, which are available once a library or individual has paid for digitisation.

Oxford University theses are not available in full online format via EThos but some are available in ORA  (the Oxford Research Archive) - these will show in your SOLO search results, you do not need to search ORA separately.

Copyright and dissertations & theses

When consulting an Oxford thesis or dissertation recognise that the copyright of the thesis rests with the author and that no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior consent of the author.

A thesis or dissertation is an unpublished work therefore no copyright exceptions apply which let you copy. However, for the MSc dissertations held in the Education Library, the authors have agreed to permit limited copying of their thesis by individuals (no more than 5% or one chapter) for personal research use. 

Obtaining copies of or from Oxford dissertations & theses

Dphil theses.

Copying from an Oxford thesis, even of a single page, may require the author's written permission. For more information about the copyright of Oxford theses and how to obtain copies of or from an Oxford thesis please follow the links or  ask us .

MSc dissertations

Limited copying is possible (no more than 5% or one chapter) for personal research use. No quotation or information derived from an MSc dissertation may be published without the written consent of the author of the dissertation. The Higher Degrees office may be able to help you wish to contact an author, but usually you can find possible contact details via an internet search.

Theses & dissertations

To find theses and dissertations in oxford.

On SOLO - just add the word thesis  to your searches. For instance, if you search for oxford thesis education  and then use the Resource Type filter to choose Theses (Oxford) , you will get a large selection of theses & dissertations on educational topics. The results will include both Masters dissertations and Doctoral theses and come from various departments including the Department of Education.

If you add "department of education*"  then the search will bring back theses & dissertations produced in the Department of Education prior to 2020. The asterisk at the end of 'education*' ensures the results will include older theses dissertations from when the Department was called Educational Studies. NB. More recent dissertations are not tagged with information about the Department

You could try adding particular research methods, but be aware that most older dissertations have not been catalogued with any information about research methods used. 

A growing number of Oxford theses & dissertations are available online. These will be included in the results of your SOLO searches once the thesis or dissertation has been deposited into ORA . You can also search ORA directly using course codes, e.g. ALSLA, CIE2021 etc.

• Theses submitted recently may take a while to be processed and to appear on SOLO - you may need to check back periodically to see new additions.

MSc Dissertations in the Education Library

On the open shelves in the Education Library you will find older printed copies of MSc Education, ALSLA and ALLT dissertations. Some years we were able to indicate which dissertations which received distinctions by marking these with a red dot on the spine. Please note that very few dissertations are available from 2020 as the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic meant the requirement for students to submit a hard copy was waived (and only a few students chose to submit online copies to the library). Since 2021 dissertations are primarily submitted online with optional donation of a hard copy to the library shelves. Submission is voluntary so the library does not have every dissertation submitted each year.

MSc dissertations are shelved on the far wall of the Front Reading Room. These are for consultation in the library only and cannot be borrowed.

MSc dissertations are grouped first by course, e.g. ALSLA, Higher Education, and within each course are arranged alphabetically by author’s surname.

To search for MSc dissertations on SOLO type:   "department  of education*"  thesis M.Sc.  using the  Oxford Collections  search filter. Most of the results will be our dissertations.

You could also include author surnames or keywords in your search.

A list of the titles, authors and supervisors of the more recent Department of Education MSc Education and ALSLA dissertations is available from this page. A printed list is also available within the library.

Older MSc dissertations are stored offsite in the Collections Storage Facility. They can be requested to the Education Library (or any other Bodleian Library) and consulted there (not borrowed). 

MSc dissertations from other courses

MSc Learning & Teaching (MLT), MSc Teacher Education (MTed), MSc Educational Assessment (MEA) and MSc Medical Education (MedEd)  students are asked to submit an online copy of their dissertation. Exemplar dissertations are chosen to be made available online via  ORA  - simply type the course code, e.g.  MLT

Lists of recent theses & dissertations

• List of departmental DPhil theses Updated Dec 2023
• Departmental MSc Education & ALSLA dissertations in print A list of which dissertations from our full time courses are available in the library. Updated Dec 2021
• MSc dissertations on ORA A list of MSc Education, ALSLA and ALLT dissertations available online. Updated May 2024.
• List of recommended MSc dissertations and DPhil theses Recommended by supervisors across the Departent of Education. Updated Oct 2021

Please note that very few dissertations are available from 2020.

DPhil Theses

DPhil theses are stored offsite in the Collections Storage Facility. They can be requested to the Weston Library and consulted there (not borrowed).

To search for departmental DPhil theses on SOLO  type:  "department  of education*" thesis D Phil  using the  Oxford Collections  search filter.

Note that it is important to include a space between the 'D' and the 'Phil'. You could also include author surnames or keywords in your search.

In recent years DPhil candidates have been required to deposit an online copy of their thesis with ORA. These can be found via SOLO . Occasionally a thesis may be embargoed so that the full text is not available for a few years.

A list of the titles, authors and supervisors of the more recent Department of Education DPhil theses is available from this page. A printed list is also available within the library.

Supervisors in the Department have also made a short list of ‘recommended theses’ that students can draw on for inspiration about layout, format and more substantive issues. The list includes some DPhil and MSc theses with the reason for recommendation, e.g. substantive, methodological, well written etc.

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Meet the Outstanding Staff Award Recipients of 2024

• by Molly Bechtel
• May 21, 2024

Each year, the College of Engineering recognizes and honors staff members who demonstrate consistent above-and-beyond job performance and commitment to the college's mission and vision.  

Four staff members were selected for exceptional service, innovative approaches, community engagement, and commitment to the college's community core values and diversity, equity and inclusion.  

Outstanding staff awards will be presented at the College of Engineering Awards Celebration on June 3.  

Mary McCormack, Dean's Office   

McCormack serves as associate director of development. She cultivates relationships with alumni and donors to raise millions in philanthropic funding to support College of Engineering students and research.  

"[McCormack] performs these activities with the utmost professionalism, attention to detail, and enthusiasm and is a pleasure to work with," said the nomination, which also described McCormack's commitment to champion women in engineering.  

When faced with challenges, McCormack exudes positivity and a can-do attitude. She looks for win-win-win scenarios that keep donors engaged while following strict IRS and campus protocols. During her four years in the college, McCormack has raised more than $4.2 million, including the largest gift from an individual to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.  

Christal Wintersmith, Biomedical Engineering   

As the graduate student services advisor for the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group, Wintersmith organizes and facilitates several critical aspects of the program, including annual initiatives such as new student recruitment, orientation, open house, research symposium and retreats.  

"The students joke that [Wintersmith] is 'all-knowing,' but honestly, no one knows better than [she does]," said the nominator. "[Wintersmith] is a tremendous resource for our program, but more importantly, [she is] a person that our students can rely on and who will go above and beyond for them in times of need."   

Wintersmith is a founding member of the biomedical engineering department's Health, Equity and Wellness Committee and exemplifies empathy, integrity and reliability with steadfast student support. Among her proactive approaches to increasing efficiency and effectiveness is the creation of an electronic reporting process that provides a pathway for graduate students to give feedback and report concerns.  

Beyond BME, Wintersmith has contributed to university-level advising as a member of the Advising for Equity Administrative Advisory Committee, the GradSphere Stakeholder Advisory Group and the Graduate Studies Advisory Committee.  

Emma Wong, Civil and Environmental Engineering   

In her work as an academic advising assistant in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wong continuously seeks new ways to better serve students and is described as "a true team player," "always willing to help," and "wonderfully thoughtful," by her nominators.   

With a commitment to improving the student experience and their access to information, Wong collects feedback and has leveraged insights to launch new webpages, a newsletter and unique events, such as a new social to increase connection among fifth-year undergraduate students.  

Wong's exceptional service to the department is matched by her support of the larger college and campus community. She led a donation drive for The Pantry, facilitates First-Year Aggie Connections, and serves as the Undergraduate Advising Staff Networking Group co-chair.   

Inna Revzin, Biomedical Engineering   

Described as a "trusted mentor, colleague, friend and pillar of the College of Engineering community," Revzin is being recognized for her work as an academic personnel analyst in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.  

Revzin provided exceptional service in all areas, from assisting colleagues with technical questions to stepping in when another was out on vacation to several months in a leadership role while filling in for a colleague on extended leave. She is committed to ensuring colleagues have the tools to work efficiently and effectively while honoring a healthy work-life balance.  

Known for her patient and respectful nature, Revzin actively participated in academic personnel meetings, AUSS-C meetings and key question-and-answer sessions as a representative of the department and college. Revzin is a vocal presence on the academic personnel Slack channel, offering guidance and one-on-one training sessions for new hires and sharing resources freely for the benefit of an inclusive and collaborative working environment.  

Primary Category

Secondary categories.

"Crowned in Word": Ritual, Social Consensus, and Diversity in Late Antique Homilies on Martyrs

Add to collection, downloadable content.

• Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religious Studies
• This dissertation reevaluates the social and ritual dynamics of the late antique Christian cult of martyrs through the lens of homilies—liturgical orations—preached by clergy on the feast days of martyrs from the fourth to early seventh centuries across the Mediterranean in Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Coptic. It explores these homilies as ritualized speech in which preachers, listeners, and, from the ancient perspective, the martyrs themselves participated—a rich source of evidence for reconstructing social and ritual dynamics across the lay-clerical spectrum. In particular, these homilies on martyrs help overcome two paramount issues in the study of the late antique cult of martyrs: an overwhelming fixation on the cult of martyrs as a site of binary intra-Christian social tension and a predominant western-centrism. By taking a comparative approach to these homilies deriving from four different languages across the Mediterranean and thinking with more recent theories of social practice and power dynamics, this study provides new insights that significantly reorient our perspective on the late antique cult of martyrs. I argue that clerical preachers frequently discoursed about cooperative piety between themselves and laity in venerating the martyrs in order to construct a sense of community across social ranks within increasingly hierarchical church structures. Such strategies of communal identity are also observed in the physical church spaces in which late antique homilies on martyrs were delivered. This approach also reveals greater regional diversity in martyr veneration than has been recognized. Late antique Christians deployed different types of ritualized speech on martyrs and venerated their relics through different ritual gestures across the Mediterranean depending on socio-cultural context and preachers’ intellectual commitments. With this work, I aim to reorient our perspective on the late antique cult of martyrs by creating a more sophisticated approach to the social power dynamics at play on martyrial feast days, and by producing a more geographically inclusive view of early Christian martyr veneration and its significant ritual diversity.
• Ancient history
• Christianity
• Religious history
• Classical studies
• Cult of Martyrs
• Late Antiquity
• https://doi.org/10.17615/crzp-ms24
• Dissertation
• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Ehrman, Bart D.
• Mendez, Hugo
• Plese, Zlatko
• Brakke, David
• Shepardson, Tina
• Doctor of Philosophy
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School

This work has no parents.

Select type of work

Master's papers.

Deposit your masters paper, project or other capstone work. Theses will be sent to the CDR automatically via ProQuest and do not need to be deposited.

Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters

Deposit a peer-reviewed article or book chapter. If you would like to deposit a poster, presentation, conference paper or white paper, use the “Scholarly Works” deposit form.

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Deposit your senior honors thesis.

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Deposit a complete issue of a scholarly journal, newsletter or book. If you would like to deposit an article or book chapter, use the “Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters” deposit option.

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Deposit your 3D objects, audio, images or video.

Poster, Presentation, Protocol or Paper

Deposit scholarly works such as posters, presentations, research protocols, conference papers or white papers. If you would like to deposit a peer-reviewed article or book chapter, use the “Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters” deposit option.

UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this community https://hdl.handle.net/2152/4

This collection contains University of Texas at Austin electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The collection includes ETDs primarily from 2001 to the present. Some pre-2001 theses and dissertations have been digitized and added to this collection, but those are uncommon. The library catalog is the most comprehensive list of UT Austin theses and dissertations.

Since 2010, the Office of Graduate Studies at UT Austin has required all theses and dissertations to be made publicly available in Texas ScholarWorks; however, authors are able to request an embargo of up to seven years. Embargoed ETDs will not show up in this collection. Most of the ETDs in this collection are freely accessible to all users, but some pre-2010 works require a current UT EID at point of use. Please see the FAQs for more information. If you have a question about the availability of a specific ETD, please contact [email protected].

Some items in this collection may contain offensive images or text. The University of Texas Libraries is committed to maintaining an accurate and authentic scholarly and historic record. An authentic record is essential for understanding our past and informing the present. In order to preserve the authenticity of the historical record we will not honor requests to redact content, correct errors, or otherwise remove content, except in cases where there are legal concerns (e.g. potential copyright infringement, inclusion of HIPAA/FERPA protected information or Social Security Numbers) or evidence of a clear and imminent threat to personal safety or well-being.

This policy is in keeping with the  American Library Association code of ethics  to resist efforts to censor library resources, and the  Society of American Archivists code of ethics  that states "archivists may not willfully alter, manipulate, or destroy data or records to conceal facts or distort evidence." Please see UT Libraries'  Statement on Harmful Language and Content  for more information.

Authors of these ETDs have retained their copyright while granting the University of Texas Libraries the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute their works.

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• UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations   30995

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The Eucharist as Symbol and Reality A Master's Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Master of Arts in Theological Studies School of Divinity

2018, The Eucharist as Symbol and Reality

This work outlines the theological interpretation that the nature of the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ ingested by the participants at the Lord's Table. It proposes that the keys to unlocking the mystery of the Eucharist are reexaminations of the Old Testament typology of the "Bread of the Presence, " and the New Testament patristic understanding of symbol and reality that point to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. These comprehensions serve renewal hermeneutics by advancing Eucharistic theology toward three goals: they provide insights that inform and facilitate our experience of Christ's Real Presence in the assembly of the Lord's Table, they call contemporary culture to satisfy their deep longing to experience the Presence of the Living God though Holy Communion, and they recall the hope that Jesus' prayer in John 17: 20-23 for unity of his one body may be realized.

Related Papers

The Ecumenical Review

Elizabeth Newman

Rostislav Tkachenko

The article is intended to provide an adequate analytical description of the theology of the Eucharist as it is formulated and understood within three Protestant theological traditions: the Lutheran, the Anglican and the Russian Baptist. The fundamental presupposition of this research is that the hospitality between various Protestant churches is impossible without ample theological comprehension of the key similarities as well as dissimilarities in their interpretations of classic Christian doctrines. This paper attempts to produce such an investigation in the instance of the doctrine of the Eucharist. Here the three confessional theologies of the Eucharist are examined each in its turn according to the ‘dogmatic’ approach, that is a study of the official doctrinal documents of the three denominations, and the ‘key theologians’ approach, that is an inquiry into opinions of several thinkers determinative to the respective traditions. After short review of Biblical roots and pre-Reformation historical developments in the theological interpretation of the Eucharist, the author dedicates next sections of the article specifically to the exploration of Lutheran, Anglican and Russian Baptist ways of looking at the Lord’s Supper. Then the key differences and fundamental commonalities of the three Eucharistic traditions are highlighted and concluding statements about the need for re-appreciation of different aspects of the Eucharistic theology are made.

Josefina Manabat

James M Arcadi

Forthcoming in Philosophy Compass The doctrine of the Eucharist has been one of the more fruitful locales of philosophical reflection within Christian theology. The central philosophical question has been, " what is the state of affairs such that it is apt to say of a piece of bread, 'This is the body of Christ'? " In this article, I offer a delineation of various families of answers to this question as they have been proffered in the history of the church. These families are distinguished by how they view the presence of the body of Christ as well as the continued presence of the bread and wine after consecration. I then provide a specific examination of some recent attempts to explicate these views. A number of the recent work has focused on the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but I also survey consubstantiation, transignification, and a recent revival of impanation as potential means for describing the metaphysical realities of the Eucharist.

Eucharistia

Clement Obiorah

The doctrine of the ‘Real presence’ holds that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true real substantial way. This is a common agreement for both Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and the Reformed sects, but as to the mode in which this occurs marks the differential. Jacob A. Clayton even attests to further divides amongst the Reform movements. Some theological terms, like Transubstantiation, consubstantiation and suprasubstantiation, represents the major lines of divide. At the end of the spectrum is Huldrych Zwingli’s denial of the Real presence, on the pretext of cannibalism. It is quite important to note in the flow of Church history, the role of theological discussions and creedal statements of history. They can be instructive today for countering modern day false teaching and for establishing a polemic against falsehood. Thus said, we shall articulate the Catholic teachings on the Eucharist on the real presence and its centrality to the Christian life of holiness.

David Efird , Joshua Cockayne , Daniel Molto

We present a new understanding of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist on the model of Stump’s account of God’s omnipresence and Green and Quan’s account of experiencing God in Scripture. On this understanding, Christ is derivatively, rather than fundamentally, located in the consecrated bread and wine, such that Christ is present to the believer through the consecrated bread and wine, thereby making available to the believer a second-person experience of Christ, where the consecrated bread and wine are the way in which she shares attention with him. The consecrated bread and wine are then, in a sense, icons of Christ.

Lester Zapata

Collectanea Theologica

Sławomir Zatwardnicki

Robert Sokolowski wrote that biblical words activate the presence of God. But can we speak of the “sacramentality of the word” analogous to the sacrament itself? This paper collects reflections on the “making present” of the word of God intra mysteriorum celebrationem. This issue is related to the theme of the relationship between past and present in the Eucharist, which was dealt with by Sokolowski. The article summarizes this philosopher’s views on the Eucharistic presence, in dialogue with which it then reflects on the presence of Christ in the word of God. From the “Passover-centricity” of the Holy Scriptures stems a kind of making present the anticipatory self-giving of God in the events to which the inspired texts testify. The liturgy of the word must lead to the climactic event of Passover and its sacramental making present. There can be no question of “two presences” of the Lord at Mass. The words of institution from the Last Supper have a role in the actualization of the Pa...

Journal of Analytic Theology

Daniel Molto

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North-West University: Theses and Dissertations

• Theses and dissertations completed at the NWU since 2004 are available electronically via  Boloka . Upon request from users , theses and dissertations before 2004 will be considered for digitization.
• The complete thesis (print) collection is available via the online  Library Catalogue .

South African Universities

• IRSpace - Search in SA repositories

This database provides information on approximately 150 000 South African current and completed research projects including theses and dissertations.

This is a very specialised search. Please ask your Campus Information Librarian for assistance.

• Ounongo Repository - Namibia Univ of Science & Technology
• SEALS Digital Commons The SEALS Digital Commons contains the digital collections of the academic institutions in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Members are: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; Rhodes University (including Cory, ILAM and SAIAB); University of Fort Hare; Walter Sisulu University

The Union Catalogue for Theses and Dissertations (UCTD) contains bibliographic records of theses and dissertations at masters and doctorate level submitted to universities in South Africa. Honorary doctorates are also included.

• University of Kwazulu-Natal: ResearchSpace A digital library of UKZN scholarly research.
• University of Cape Town
• University of Johannesburg
• University of Pretoria
• University of South Africa (UNISA)
• University of Stellenbosch
• University of the Free State
• University of the Witwatersrand

Important sources

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. UMI offers over 2 million titles for purchase in microfilm or paper formats.

• OpenDissertations OpenDissertations is an open-access database built to assist researchers in locating both historic and contemporary dissertations and theses

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Searching for Dissertations and Theses in UC Library Search

Most uc and uc san diego dissertations and theses (print and online) are cataloged and discoverable in uc library search , along with some dissertations at other institutions., how to search if you are not looking for a specific title or author:, accessing or requesting dissertations via uc library search - including ucsd and uc, for electronic/online theses and dissertations (etds) via uc library search.

When you retrieve a UC or UC San Diego dissertation or thesis record in UC Library Search, you will often see several access options: 

eScholarship - Available in eScholarship , the University of California open access repository. This copy can be read or downloaded by anyone, on or off campus and regardless of UCSD/UC affiliation, at no charge.

ProQuest. Restricted to UC IP addresses - Available in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses , and access is similar to that of any of our other online resources, where UC San Diego faculty, staff and students can access off campus using  VPN .

If there is only a print version in UC Library Search, or "No Online Access?" 

• If if is a print or otherwise nondigitized thesis/dissertation from UC San Diego, most of these are at the Annex and you can sign into your library account to request it be sent to campus. Some items may say "limited use."
• Search Google Scholar and/or Google for the dissertation to see if that university has made the dissertation available online through their own repository, even if it's not identified as "available online" in UC Library Search.
• You can also check ProQuest Dissertations & Theses to verify that it can be requested and that it's not embargoed. There is also the chance that it is freely available/open access in PQDT as well.

Embargoed Dissertations

Your best option here might be to contact the author directly, or their advisor, or check the appropriate database(s) to find related journal articles and other works by the author.

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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection & The Sciences and Engineering Collection (1637-Current) ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection & The Sciences and Engineering Collection (1637-Current)

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