Breakdown! The sum of a dissertation's
parts
Author: Kathy Bell
Published on: June 21, 1999
When you were writing term papers, all you had to
deal with were Intro's, bodies and conclusions, with
a dandy list of references thrown in at the end. A
formal presentation might have required a title page,
too, but this isn't always necessary. Theses and dissertations
have structures all their own, and your faculty or
institution may have specific requirements as to what
you have to include and in what order.
The following are the most commonly required sub-sections
in a thesis or dissertation:
1. title page 2. approval page(s) 3. table of contents
4. list of tables, illustrations and/or figures; in
some cases a glossary or list defining special terms
or symbols is needed 5. abstract 6. chapters 7. appendices
8. references
Sometimes a dedication page ("I'd like to thank.
. .") is included before the chapters begin.
Your committee will know the specifics of what is
required for each part, and other students will be
able to offer advice, too. Read others' theses to
see what seems to be most acceptable in terms of format
and style.
The "chapters" heading is usually further
broken down into specific types of chapters. A common
one is the literature review, in which you discuss
all other research related to your own study, and
establish its need and credibility. This chapter alone
can take months to create, and in some cases you may
not be able to proceed with your research until this
chapter is approved.
Other "chapters" include methodology (how
you conducted your research), results, and discussion.
Each of these will come under close scrutiny by your
committee members. In some institutions it is possible
to work on these sections as part of required course
work. For example, a term paper for a course could
develop itself into a chapter. This will save you
time and energy, and also give an outsider (the course
instructor) a chance to give you valuable feedback.
This need for feedback is crucial at all writing
stages of your thesis. Try to present your research
material as often as you can via coursework, informal
"brown bag" research discussions within
your department, and at scholarly conferences. The
advice and criticism you receive will, in the end,
produce a stronger and more easily defensible thesis.
Your department may also have picky rules about the
format of your writing on the paper. Margin sizes,
fonts, and quality of paper will affect the look of
the final, bound version of your thesis, so check
what is required before you waste money on printing
costs.
The following sites will familiarise you with the
terminology of the thesis/dissertation, so that you
know what your supervisor is talking about when you
sit down to discuss the various sub-sections.
http://gopher.udel.edu/provost/thesismanual/htmlformat/chap3.htm#sections
An excellent and detailed source of information regarding
the breakdown of your thesis or dissertation into
its parts. Also gives hints as to organise your chapters,
and offers some samples to look at.
http://w3.lhl.uab.edu/graduate/thesguid.htm#parts
Another graduate school's list of formatting rules.
Your school's may differ slightly, but this will give
you an idea of what's commonly expected.
http://www.nau.edu/~gradcol/current/td/tdformat.htm
This site gives you an idea of how picky the formatting
rules can be.
http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/grad/students/thesis/format-2.htm
Informative formatting tips, especially about tables,
graphs and illustrations.
© Kathy Bell 1999
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