List of figures

A list of figures is included if you’ve used a lot of figures (e.g., graphs, images, illustrations) in your text. It lists the figures in the same numbered order as they appear in the text, and can be auto-generated in the same way as the table of contents.

For Example:

1. Conceptual framework diagram

2. Research design flowchart

3. Data collection process diagram

4. Sample characteristics graph

5. Statistical analysis results charts

6. Trend analysis graphs

7. Comparative bar charts or histograms

8. Scatter plots showing correlations

9. Geographic maps (if applicable)

10. Timeline of events (for historical studies)

11. Organizational structure diagrams

12. Process flow diagrams

13. Theoretical model illustrations

14. Photographic evidence (for relevant fields)

15. Experimental setup diagrams

For Example:

1. Demographic characteristics of participants

2. Descriptive statistics of key variables

3. Correlation matrix of study variables

4. Results of statistical tests (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA, regression analyses)

5. Summary of qualitative themes or codes

6. Comparison of different methodologies or approaches

7. Timeline of research activities

8. Budget breakdown (if relevant)

9. Summary of literature review findings

10. Operationalization of variables

11. Instrument reliability and validity data

12. Factor analysis results

13. Response rates for surveys or interviews

14. Comparison of pre-test and post-test results

15. Summary of hypotheses and outcomes

 

Glossary

A glossary is optional. Include one if you use a lot of specialist terms (other than abbreviations) that readers might not know. Present terms and their definitions in an alphabetized list or table, e.g.:

• Compound interest: Interest calculated on the initial amount as well as on the interest of previous periods of a loan.

• Variable costs: Costs that change according to the amount of goods provided.

Introduction

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

Establish your research topic:

• Introduce your broad topic in an engaging way.

• Provide relevant background information to contextualize your work.

Narrow down the focus:

• Go into more detail about the specific area you’ll be focusing on.

• Define the scope of the research.

Discuss existing research:

• Briefly discuss the current state of knowledge on your topic.

• Show your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate.

Research questions and objectives:

• State the questions you set out to answer in your dissertation.

• Describe your concrete objectives in conducting the research.

Overview:

• Give an overview of the structure of the rest of the dissertation.

• Use the present tense, e.g. “Chapter 4 discusses…”

A brief explanation about introduction

Onto the first official chapter of your dissertation or thesis – the introduction chapter.
It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document).

So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain language, big picture-level)?

• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?

• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).

• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will you cover and what won’t you cover?

• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?

• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter.
If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation.
Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Literature Review

In the literature review, you survey existing research on your topic, developing a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear basis or justification for your own approach.

Survey the literature:

• Describe how much research has been done into your topic, and what kinds.

• Synthesize key findings from relevant studies.

• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of previous research.

• Highlight any gaps or limitations in existing research.

Show how your research does one or more of the following:

• Addresses a gap in the literature.

• Takes a new theoretical or methodological approach to the topic.

• Proposes a solution to an unresolved problem.

• Builds on and strengthens existing knowledge with new data.

• Advances a theoretical debate.

Present the theoretical framework:

• Discuss the theory that informs your research.

• Define key terms and explain relevant concepts.

• Present any relevant models that help interpret your findings.

A brief explanation about literature review

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review.
In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications) to address the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?

• Is the literature lacking or well-established? Is it divided or in disagreement?

• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?

• How does your research contribute something original? What gap does it fill?

• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework (or theoretical framework) towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Methodology

The methodology chapter describes exactly how you collected and analyzed your data, allowing your reader to assess the validity of your findings.

Introduce your overall approach:

• Is your research qualitative or quantitative (or a combination of both)?

• What type of research design did you use (e.g. longitudinal, experimental, case study, ethnography…)?

• The specific terms you use to describe your approach should follow the conventions of your field.

Give the details:

• Where, when, and with whom the research took place (including your sampling methods if relevant).

• Your methods of collecting data (e.g. interviews, surveys, archives).

• Your methods of analyzing data (e.g. statistical analysis, discourse analysis).

• Tools and materials you used (e.g. computer programs, lab equipment).

Evaluate your methods:

• Discuss any noteworthy obstacles you faced in conducting the research and how you overcame them.

• Assess whether your approach was effective overall.

• If you used novel or unconventional methods, justify why this was the best approach to answering your research question.

A brief explanation about methodology

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, it’s time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter.

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

1. Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?

2. Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills. Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

Results

The results section is where you list the findings of your research. Report the results concisely and objectively, without interpreting their meaning.

In some types of qualitative research, the results and discussion sections may be combined.

Presenting quantitative results:

• Structure the results around your research questions or hypotheses.

• Report all results that are relevant to your questions, including any that didn’t fit with your expectations.

For each question or hypothesis:

• Summarize the relevant results, including descriptive statistics and the results of any statistical tests used.

• Briefly state how the result relates to the question or whether the hypothesis was supported.

• Don’t give subjective interpretations or speculation.

Tables and figures:

• Include tables and figures if they help the reader understand your results.

• Tables can be used to present exact values in a concise overview.

• Graphs and charts can be used to visualize patterns and relationships.

• Refer to all tables and figures in the text, and give them clear titles and labels.

Presenting qualitative results:

• Structure the results around research questions or key themes.

• Make general observations about what the data showed.

• Mention recurring points of agreement or disagreement, patterns and trends.

• Highlight individual responses that were particularly noteworthy.

• Support with direct quotations.

A brief explanation about results

The results chapter (sometimes this is called the findings or analysis chapter) is where things start getting exciting. Up to this point in your dissertation or thesis, you’ve just spoken about what others have done and what you will be doing – now it’s time to actually get doing and show what you found!

In the results chapter, your task is purely to present the results of your data collection and analysis – not to interpret them in relation to the literature or your research questions. The interpretation bit is covered in the next chapter (the discussion chapter).

For quantitative studies, you’ll usually start by presenting some basic statistics covering the demographic data – for example, statistics covering gender, age, ethnicity and similar breakdowns.
From there, you’ll present your descriptive statistics – for example, means (averages), medians, modes, standard deviations and so on. From there, you’ll move on to inferential statistics (if they’re needed), such as t-tests, correlations, regressions and so on.

For qualitative studies, the approach is a little bit different, and it can vary quite a bit depending on your analysis approach. With qualitative research, you may not have a specific hypothesis, and thus you’d want to report on topics or themes that popped up during your analysis.
Depending on your type of analysis, you would likely present a diagram explaining how you collapsed your codes into themes. Then, you would name and define the themes, supporting these themes with quotes from your participants.

The key thing to remember is that you should “show, not tell”. In other words, be sure to quote your sources verbatim to show what your research has found.
Whatever you do, remember that the results chapter is purely about presenting the results. You should not be interpreting them or linking them back to your research questions, aims and objectives just yet. Interpretation is what the next chapter is all about.

Discussion

The discussion chapter is where you delve into the meaning and relevance of your results. Give your own interpretations and cite relevant sources to put your results in context.

Interpret your results:

• What do the results tell us?

• Did they meet your expectations? If not, why might that be?

• Are there any alternative explanations for your findings?

Discuss the implications:

• Are the results consistent with previous studies?

• Do the results support or challenge an existing theory?

• Why do these results matter?

• Are there any practical implications?

Acknowledge the limitations:

• What can the results not tell us?

• Does the data have limited generalizability (e.g. due to your methods or sample size)?

• Are there any potentially relevant variables that you didn’t take into account?

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