Write a dissertation on the above subject matter:
Dissertation structure and requirements
Title page
The focus of your dissertation title page is—surprise!—your title. The title of your dissertation should succinctly explain the topic you’re discussing and directly relate to your research question or thesis statement. Anyone who reads the title should understand what you’re writing about.
As for formatting the title page, that depends on the school and style. Often, you’ll include the name of the university and your program, as well as the date. Check with your adviser for specific details.
Acknowledgment
This optional section gives you the chance to thank anyone who helped you write your dissertation, in the same vein as a dedication page or acceptance speech. If you choose to include this, try to keep it formal and as brief as possible.
Abstract
The abstract is a short summary of the dissertation that comes at the beginning of the paper. It outlines all the major points your paper discusses and often mentions the methodology briefly. Abstracts should be only one paragraph, about 300 to 500 words.
The term abstract is often used interchangeably with executive summary. While common usage suggests they’re the same, they’re technically different: An executive summary discusses the findings or conclusion of the research, whereas an abstract does not.
Table of contents
The table of contents lists all titles for chapters, headings, and subheadings, as well as their corresponding page numbers. Moreover, the table of contents also includes the supplementary sections—such as the bibliography, appendices, and optional sections like a glossary, list of abbreviations, or a list of figures and tables.
List of figures and tables
Data-heavy dissertations may include multiple visual aids, such as figures or tables. If your dissertation uses a lot of these visuals, you can include a full list of them with their page numbers at the beginning of the paper. Think of this like a table of contents for images and charts.
List of abbreviations
Similarly, if your dissertation includes a lot of abbreviations, you should include an alphabetized key at the beginning of the paper that explains what each stands for. This is especially important if your dissertation relies on abbreviations specific to a certain field that readers outside the field may not recognize.
Glossary
A glossary defines the complicated words used in your paper, kind of like a mini-dictionary. Like the list of abbreviations, the glossary comes in handy if you use a lot of jargon that won’t be understood by readers outside your field.
Introduction
The first of the “core chapters” and the de facto beginning of your paper, your introduction sets up your research topic and provides the necessary background context to understand it. Here, you plainly state your thesis statement or research question and give a glimpse of how your paper discusses it.
The introduction is typically structured with each chapter getting its own brief summary. It should hint at your methodology and outline your approach (without going into too much detail), as well as explain the current state of the topic’s research so the reader knows where your dissertation fits in.
How long should a dissertation introduction be? The unofficial rule is 10 percent of the entire paper, so if your dissertation is 20,000 words, your introduction should be about 2,000 words. Keep in mind this is a rough estimate, as your introduction could vary.
Literature review
During your research, you will have collected and examined the top primary and secondary sources relevant to your topic. As the name suggests, literature reviews are where you evaluate and comment on these sources, not only summarizing their findings but also pointing out flaws and drawing connections between them.
One of the key concepts in a literature review is the research gap, which refers to specific areas of a topic that have not yet been sufficiently researched. These “blind spots” make the best topics for dissertations, and your goal should be filling them in with new data or analysis. The literature review should fully explain the research gap and how your dissertation rectifies it.
Another important aspect of the literature review is defining your theoretical framework, the preexisting theories on which your own research relies. In other words, the theoretical framework is everything your reader needs to know about your topic that has already been proved or established.
Methodology
The methodology chapter describes how you conducted your research, so the reader can verify its credibility. Typically, you go into detail about how you collected your data, administered tests, and analyzed the data, as well as why you chose the methods you did. You also name any tools or equipment used in your research and state concrete information, such as where and when you conducted tests.
You can also mention any obstacles or setbacks here. If your topic has some biases, mention how your methods avoided those biases.
Results
The nucleus of your dissertation, the results chapter thoroughly explores your findings. This is where you present your data or original analysis, along with any visual aids, such as graphs or charts.
For empirical dissertations, structure the results section by individual data findings, analyzed in depth one by one. For nonempirical dissertations, structure this section by themes, patterns, or trends you’ve noticed in your research.
Don’t forget to relate your findings back to the central research question or thesis statement.
Discussion
The discussion chapter contextualizes the findings laid out in the previous chapter. What does the data mean for this topic? Did it fit into the theoretical framework? How does it change the way we think? These are the kinds of themes the discussion chapter expounds on.
Feel free to talk about any surprises or unexpected results you had. Transparency is encouraged as a way to establish credibility, so this is a good place to share your personal opinions on how the research went.
Conclusion
As with all research paper conclusions, dissertation conclusions tie everything together. This chapter, the last of the core chapters, should reevaluate your thesis statement or clearly answer your research question. Remember not to present any new data or evidence in the conclusion, but rather review and reiterate the findings you presented earlier.
Bibliography
The bibliography lists the full citations of all the sources used, along with their publishing information. In APA style, the bibliography is called a reference page, while in MLA it’s called a works cited page.
Bibliographies have a specific format, depending on the style you use. Be sure to check our citation guides for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles so you know which rules to follow.
Appendices
The appendices are different sections of nonessential materials that are still relevant to the topic. While the essential materials should go in the body of the paper, supplemental materials—such as maps, interview transcripts, or tangential explanations—should come at the end of this section. Each piece of content is known as an appendix, the singular form of appendices.