masters dissertation template uk

Dissertations & projects: Formatting

• Research questions
• The process of reviewing
• Project management
• Literature-based projects

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You are not being examined on your ability to use Microsoft Word. The Skills Team have therefore provided you with a template that already has most of the formatting work done for you. This has been approved centrally by the university.

This page has links to the template, guidance document and videos to support you with using the official University of Hull MS Word templates for creating undergraduate dissertations or independent projects or taught masters dissertations. This is not a mandatory template, but using it will streamline the formatting of such a long document.

University templates

The University has created templates which can help take the stress out of formatting your dissertation or final year project.

Students studying any subject other than those listed below can use the general template provided:

Download the undergraduate final year project or dissertation template here

Download the taught masters dissertation template here

Modified versions

In some disciplines, the undergraduate template has been modified and is available via your dissertation or independent project module's Canvas site. Currently this is the case for the following subject areas:

• Biomedical Sciences

Guidance document

Templates guidance document

It includes information on:

• Working with template files
• Working with text (styles, table of contents)
• Working with images and tables (captions)
• Adding landscape pages

Whilst this says it is for undergraduate dissertations, it is also relevant to the taught masters template.

Video support

We have created a set of videos to support you with using the template. These can be accessed below.

The videos below cover the following (click or tap to jump to video):

• Downloading the template and filling in the title page.
• Using styles and updating the table of contents.
• Labelling your figures and tables.
• Using the cross-referencing tool to refer to figures and tables.
• Adding a landscape page to your document.

​​​​​​​ Please note that there is a separate playlist for using the History template: Using the UoH undergraduate dissertation template for History .

Video 1: Downloading the UG dissertation or independent project template and filling in front matter

Note that if you have downloaded the template already from the link above, you can skip to 1 min 30 sec.

Video 2: Using styles and updating the table of contents

Video 3: Labelling your figures and tables

Video 4: Using the cross-referencing tool to refer to figures and tables

This is an optional feature - if you don't have many tables or figures you may wish to do this manually.

Video 5: Adding a landscape page to your document

Not everyone will need this feature but it is useful for large tables or some figures.

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• Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Published on 8 June 2022 by Tegan George .

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical early steps in your writing process . It helps you to lay out and organise your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation, such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

In the final product, you can also provide a chapter outline for your readers. This is a short paragraph at the end of your introduction to inform readers about the organisational structure of your thesis or dissertation . This chapter outline is also known as a reading guide or summary outline.

Table of contents

How to outline your thesis or dissertation, dissertation and thesis outline templates, chapter outline example, sample sentences for your chapter outline, sample verbs for variation in your chapter outline, frequently asked questions about outlines.

While there are some inter-institutional differences, many outlines proceed in a fairly similar fashion.

• Working Title
• ‘Elevator pitch’ of your work (often written last).
• Introduce your area of study, sharing details about your research question, problem statement , and hypotheses . Situate your research within an existing paradigm or conceptual or theoretical framework .
• Subdivide as you see fit into main topics and sub-topics.
• Describe your research methods (e.g., your scope, population , and data collection ).
• Present your research findings and share about your data analysis methods.
• Answer the research question in a concise way.
• Interpret your findings, discuss potential limitations of your own research and speculate about future implications or related opportunities.

To help you get started, we’ve created a full thesis or dissertation template in Word or Google Docs format. It’s easy adapt it to your own requirements.

 Download Word template    Download Google Docs template

It can be easy to fall into a pattern of overusing the same words or sentence constructions, which can make your work monotonous and repetitive for your readers. Consider utilising some of the alternative constructions presented below.

Example 1: Passive construction

The passive voice is a common choice for outlines and overviews because the context makes it clear who is carrying out the action (e.g., you are conducting the research ). However, overuse of the passive voice can make your text vague and imprecise.

Example 2: IS-AV construction

You can also present your information using the ‘IS-AV’ (inanimate subject with an active verb) construction.

A chapter is an inanimate object, so it is not capable of taking an action itself (e.g., presenting or discussing). However, the meaning of the sentence is still easily understandable, so the IS-AV construction can be a good way to add variety to your text.

Example 3: The I construction

Another option is to use the ‘I’ construction, which is often recommended by style manuals (e.g., APA Style and Chicago style ). However, depending on your field of study, this construction is not always considered professional or academic. Ask your supervisor if you’re not sure.

Example 4: Mix-and-match

To truly make the most of these options, consider mixing and matching the passive voice , IS-AV construction , and ‘I’ construction .This can help the flow of your argument and improve the readability of your text.

As you draft the chapter outline, you may also find yourself frequently repeating the same words, such as ‘discuss’, ‘present’, ‘prove’, or ‘show’. Consider branching out to add richness and nuance to your writing. Here are some examples of synonyms you can use.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organise your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

All level 1 and 2 headings should be included in your table of contents . That means the titles of your chapters and the main sections within them.

The contents should also include all appendices and the lists of tables and figures, if applicable, as well as your reference list .

Do not include the acknowledgements or abstract   in the table of contents.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. (2022, June 08). Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved 27 July 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/outline-thesis-dissertation/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Other students also liked, dissertation table of contents in word | instructions & examples, how to write a dissertation proposal | a step-by-step guide, thesis & dissertation acknowledgements | tips & examples.

Theses: Templates

• Finding theses @ Soton
• Deposit - Faculty Office
• Deposit - PGR Manager & Pure
• Thesis Data Deposit
• Restricting Access
• Info. for Faculty Admin
• Info. for Supervisors
• Using your own publications in your thesis
• Data Plan for your PhD
• PhD DMP supervisors guide

Useful Links

Library Research Services  home page

Guidance from Quality Handbook :

• Producing your thesis
• Submitting your thesis
• Permission to Deposit Thesis Form
• Permission to Deposit Thesis - Guidance
• Declaration of authorship form
• Submission of a Research Paper PhD Thesis: Guidance
• Intention to submit research thesis form

There are also examples of the thesis title and abstract pages in submission and completion section of the Quality Handbook . 

Data Management Plan for your PhD

Data Management Plans for Doctoral Students (Blackboard Course)

Data Management Plan guidance

For open access and institutional repository enquiries [email protected]

For research data management queries please email [email protected]

Need further help? Use our L ibrary Research Skills support service   

Thesis Templates

The University provides templates in Word and LateX which meet the requirements set out in the Regulations.  

Training : iSolutions also offer sessions on using Word to work with text, graphics and page layout in your thesis and turning your thesis into a PDF/A. The full course schedule and booking links can be found in the PGR Development Hub

Word or LaTeX?

LaTeX is extensively used by engineers and scientists because it handles maths and equations brilliantly, and by linguists because it can cope with multiple (and obscure) languages.  The University now offers Professional Accounts via Overleaf. Sign up for an account via the University of Southampton portal .

Word is the most widely used word processing software in the university. Unless you will be including lots of special character sets or equations, we would recommend using Word.

Whole thesis template

Use this to produce the whole thesis in one long Word document. It contains all of the required sections from title page to bibliography, with refreshable Tables of Contents, Table of Figures and Table of Tables.

• Word template help
• Always  use in conjunction with the Quality Handbook Producing your thesis guidance

Separate Chapter, Front Matter & End Matter templates for Word & Mac

If you don’t wish use the whole document template then use these to create each chapter of the thesis and the front matter. It comes ready made with usable styles that meet the University’s thesis Guidance requirements

• Chapter template for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)
• Front matter template for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)
• End Matter for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)

Copyright Statement coversheet

All e-theses require the University thesis copyright statement  is included in front of the main title page in the final e-version submitted.  The wording of the statement should not be altered in any way. 

The Word template (PC or Mac) above has the statement included but earlier versions did not. Should the statement be missing from your file it should be:

• added before creating the final pdf version 
• located in front of the main title page using the document below 
• should not be included in the numbering of the thesis.

LaTeX templates currently do not include instruction on how to add the statement so it will need it to be added individually as a single double-sided page. Alternatively, add the pdf version into your final pdf file using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

The statement is not required in the print copies submitted for examination or as a final copy.

• Thesis Copyright Statement Thesis copyright statement cover sheet
• Thesis Copyright Statement PDF version of the thesis copyright statement to be included in every thesis

The following guides outline how this can be done in Word documents. 

• Adding copyright statement in Word (PC) Guide to adding the statement in Word on a PC
• Adding copyright statement in Word (Mac) Guide to adding the statement in Word on a Mac

Visual guides are also available on YouTube:

Using UoS Thesis Templates

iSolutions have created a training guide to introduce the Word template for theses and show you how to use a range of useful Word features to make creating and working with your thesis easier. These also direct you to relevant LinkedIn Learning.com videos on the use of features in Word.

• Thesis guidance 

iSolutions also offer sessions on using Word to work with text, graphics and page layout in your thesis. The full course schedule and booking links can be found in the PGR Development Hub

LaTeX Templates

Support for the use of LaTeX can be found on the Overleaf website . LaTeX is  also supported by a wide online community - see LaTeX Project .

How to make sure your thesis is an archival PDF/A

Your final University e-thesis must submitted in an accessible and archival format so that it will be readible in years to come, currently this format is PDF/A-3 .

• Mac users If you are using Word for Mac then start by using the Save As PDF facility. This produces a really good baseline file to continue working on in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. If for any reason you are not happy with the output as this process, then try converting the file by using Adobe Acrobat Pro's own 'Create a PDF from'. If you are still not happy with the result then contact serviceline to discuss other options.
• PC users For PC users the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC facility will produce the best output. You'll find the steps below under the heading  Create the PDF for PC  below.
• LaTeX to PDF/A-3 If you are using Overleaf, the automatic pdf conversion will be create a PDF/A file. Overleaf have created instructions on how to make sure your LaTeX PDF conforms to the archival standards . Please note we would prefer that you chose a-3b (propritising display) or a-3u (prioritising searchability) rather than a-1b. You may find the following paper helpful: Moore, R. (2014). PDF/A-3u as an Archival Format for Accessible Mathematics . In: Watt, S.M., Davenport, J.H., Sexton, A.P., Sojka, P., Urban, J. (eds) Intelligent Computer Mathematics. CICM 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8543. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08434-3_14 , also available as an ArXiv pre-print .

Checking you PDF/A accessibility: You can check how well your PDF meets the PDF/A accessibility standards using the Abode Acrobat Pro preflight checker and the accessibility checker .

How to download Abode Acrobat Pro: Details of how to access or download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can be found at iSolutions' How to install Adobe Acrobat DC Advice page .

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• Study and research support
• Academic skills

Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

• Undergraduate examples
• Taught Masters examples

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Writing your dissertation - structure and sections

Posted in: dissertations

In this post, we look at the structural elements of a typical dissertation. Your department may wish you to include additional sections but the following covers all core elements you will need to work on when designing and developing your final assignment.

The table below illustrates a classic dissertation layout with approximate lengths for each section.

Hopkins, D. and Reid, T., 2018.  The Academic Skills Handbook: Your Guid e to Success in Writing, Thinking and Communicating at University . Sage.

Your title should be clear, succinct and tell the reader exactly what your dissertation is about. If it is too vague or confusing, then it is likely your dissertation will be too vague and confusing. It is important therefore to spend time on this to ensure you get it right, and be ready to adapt to fit any changes of direction in your research or focus.

In the following examples, across a variety of subjects, you can see how the students have clearly identified the focus of their dissertation, and in some cases target a problem that they will address:

An econometric analysis of the demand for road transport within the united Kingdom from  1965 to 2000

To what extent does payment card fraud affect UK bank profitability and bank stakeholders?  Does this justify fraud prevention?

A meta-analysis of implant materials for intervertebral disc replacement and regeneration.

The role of ethnic institutions in social development; the case of Mombasa, Kenya.

Why haven’t biomass crops been adopted more widely as a source of renewable energy in the United Kingdom?

Mapping the criminal mind: Profiling and its limitation.

The Relative Effectiveness of Interferon Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C

Under what conditions did the European Union exhibit leadership in international climate change negotiations from 1992-1997, 1997-2005 and 2005-Copenhagen respectively?

The first thing your reader will read (after the title) is your abstract. However, you need to write this last. Your abstract is a summary of the whole project, and will include aims and objectives, methods, results and conclusions. You cannot write this until you have completed your write-up.

Introduction

Your introduction should include the same elements found in most academic essay or report assignments, with the possible inclusion of research questions. The aim of the introduction is to set the scene, contextualise your research, introduce your focus topic and research questions, and tell the reader what you will be covering.  It should move from the general  and work towards the specific. You should include the following:

• Attention-grabbing statement (a controversy, a topical issue, a contentious view, a recent problem etc)
• Background and context
• Introduce the topic, key theories, concepts, terms of reference, practices, (advocates and critic)
• Introduce the problem and focus of your research
• Set out your research question(s) (this could be set out in a separate section)
• Your approach to answering your research questions.

Literature review

Your literature review is the section of your report where you show what is already known about the area under investigation and demonstrate the need for your particular study. This is a significant section in your dissertation (30%) and you should allow plenty of time to carry out a thorough exploration of your focus topic and use it to help you identify a specific problem and formulate your research questions.

You should approach the literature review with the critical analysis dial turned up to full volume. This is not simply a description, list, or summary  of everything you have read. Instead, it is a synthesis of your reading, and should include analysis and evaluation of readings, evidence, studies and data, cases, real world applications and views/opinions expressed.  Your supervisor is looking for this detailed critical approach in your literature review, where you unpack sources, identify strengths and weaknesses and find gaps in the research.

In other words, your literature review is your opportunity to show the reader why your paper is important and your research is significant, as it addresses the gap or on-going issue you have uncovered.

You need to tell the reader what was done. This means describing the research methods and explaining your choice. This will include information on the following:

• Are your methods qualitative or quantitative... or both? And if so, why?
• Who (if any) are the participants?
• Are you analysing any documents, systems, organisations? If so what are they and why are you analysing them?
• What did you do first, second, etc?
• What ethical considerations are there?

It is a common style convention to write what was done rather than what you did, and write it so that someone else would be able to replicate your study.

Here you describe what you have found out. You need to identify the most significant patterns in your data, and use tables and figures to support your description. Your tables and figures are a visual representation of your findings, but remember to describe what they show in your writing. There should be no critical analysis in this part (unless you have combined results and discussion sections).

Here you show the significance of your results or findings. You critically analyse what they mean, and what the implications may be. Talk about any limitations to your study, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your own research, and make suggestions for further studies to build on your findings. In this section, your supervisor will expect you to dig deep into your findings and critically evaluate what they mean in relation to previous studies, theories, views and opinions.

This is a summary of your project, reminding the reader of the background to your study, your objectives, and showing how you met them. Do not include any new information that you have not discussed before.

This is the list of all the sources you have cited in your dissertation. Ensure you are consistent and follow the conventions for the particular referencing system you are using. (Note: you shouldn't include books you've read but do not appear in your dissertation).

Include any extra information that your reader may like to read. It should not be essential for your reader to read them in order to understand your dissertation. Your appendices should be labelled (e.g. Appendix A, Appendix B, etc). Examples of material for the appendices include detailed data tables (summarised in your results section), the complete version of a document you have used an extract from, etc.

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Format your thesis

When submitting thesis work for assessment, there are several sets of requirements that must be met.

All submissions must meet the specifications listed within the ‘ Nature of the thesis ’ section in the Policy on Research Degrees . These include the requirement to present your thesis for examination, and for deposit after examination.

In addition, your work must also meet the different University requirements set out below - those listed for ' all theses ' and any style specific requirements. Where relevant, you may also need to meet additional subject or programme-specific requirements - these will be set out in your departmental Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) handbook.

[email protected] +44 (0)1904 325962 Student Hub, Information Centre Basement, Market Square

Related links

Requirements for:

• Monograph (traditional) theses
• Journal-style theses
• Hardcopy versions

Types of thesis

There are two main types of thesis.

• A monograph or traditional thesis : a unified, single author document comprising a number of chapters with an introduction and conclusion.
• A journal-style thesis : a document that incorporates one or more chapters that are in a format suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed title alongside a supporting commentary.

Most postgraduate researchers (PGRs) will likely submit a monograph thesis, however journal-style theses are becoming increasingly common in certain disciplines. If you are interested in submitting a journal-style thesis you should check that your school/department/centre permits this and read the University guidance .

Practice-based PGR programmes

If you are doing a practice-based programme, you may be required (or permitted) to submit an alternative assessment format instead of, or in addition to, a thesis (eg a portfolio of work).

Guidance for postgraduate programmes by practice

Requirements for all theses

All thesis types must adhere to the following requirements:

You must abide by the Policy on Transparency of Authorship in PGR Programmes, including generative AI, proofreading and translation .

Further guidance on the use, and potential misuse, of generative AI is available. 

To meet electronic thesis (e-thesis) guidelines, your main thesis text must be submitted as a PDF document.

If your thesis will include any other file formats in addition to PDF (eg audio files, data spreadsheets), you should refer to our e-thesis file format guidance .

Once deposited, your e-thesis will be publicly available via the White Rose eTheses Online (WREO) unless you have arranged an embargo.

Printing and e-theses

While theses are submitted and deposited electronically, they need to be presented in such a way that they can be easily read in electronic form and printed without issue (eg if this is required by the examiners or by your funder). For more information on preparing a printable copy of your thesis, see our hardcopy thesis guidance .

Your e-thesis needs to be an accessible document , meaning that it should be easy for anyone to read or reformat, and can be accessed by people using assistive technology (such as screen readers).

There are some simple steps you will need to take to ensure that your e-thesis meets accessibility standards.

• Use the headings function within your chosen software package to produce a structured document.
• Add alternative text to images/videos/graphs/tables etc.
• Always use the number/bullet point function within your software package when creating a list.
• Use meaningful hyperlinks.
• Use tables sparingly and format them with a header row and, where appropriate, a header column.

For further details, please see the section on legibility below, as well as guidance on making your e-thesis accessible .

The title page of every volume should only include the following information in the order listed, and on separate lines:

• the full title of the thesis and any subtitle
• the total number of volumes, if more than one, and the number of the particular volume
• the full name of the author, followed, if desired, by any qualifications and distinctions
• the qualification for which the thesis is being deposited (for example PhD or MA by Research)
• the name of the University
• the name of the School, Department or Centre in which the research was conducted. You must refer to the list of approved names on the submit your thesis web page
• the month and year the thesis was first submitted for examination.

If there is a cover page included in advance of, and in addition, to the title page, this may be a single colour with clearly visible text in a contrasting colour. The cover should have the same information as the title page, as listed above.

The abstract should follow the title page. It should provide a synopsis of the thesis, stating the nature and scope of work undertaken and the contribution made to knowledge in the subject area. It should appear on its own on a single page and should not exceed 300 words in length. The abstract of the thesis may, after the award of the degree, be published by the University in any manner approved by the Senate, and for this purpose, the copyright of the abstract shall be deemed to be vested in the University.

In this section you must confirm that your thesis meets the requirements of the 'Nature of the Thesis' section Policy on Research Degrees , and in particular that it:

• is your own original work (or if work has been done in collaboration with others, full disclosure of the names of your colleagues and the contribution they have made)
• has not been previously submitted for any degree or other qualification at this University or elsewhere (unless an internal resubmission).

You must also state whether any material in the thesis has been presented for publication (including if under review) with full references. The minimum required is as follows:

I declare that this thesis is a presentation of original work and I am the sole author. This work has not previously been presented for a degree or other qualification at this University or elsewhere. All sources are acknowledged as references. For further guidance on the inclusion of published material and authorship, see the University requirements on journal-style theses .

The text and, wherever possible, all the material of the thesis (including illustrations), should be based on A4 page size (297mm x 210mm).

Typographic design

Text and its setting (font, size, line spacing, margins) must be chosen to ensure legibility.

Text, in general, should be black, sans serif and should not be embellished (ie no general use of coloured text or fancy fonts, no section separators, etc).

For ease of reading, the size of character used in the main text should be no less than 11pt.

Text should normally be set with even or proportionate spacing between words. Word division at the ends of lines should be avoided, if possible.

It is recommended that 1.5 line spacing or equivalent is used, although lines that contain mathematical formulae, diacritical marks or strings of capital letters may need additional space.

It should be clear when a new paragraph is starting and where matter in the text is being quoted.

A bibliographical reference must be given for every work, published or unpublished, cited in your thesis.

Citations should be in a consistent and approved format as specified by your school, department or centre. References should be collated in a reference list or a combined reference list/bibliography. 

Please refer to referencing guidance issued by your school, department or centre and the University's guidelines for further information.

After the deposit of your examined thesis in WREO, and before you leave the University, you should ensure that your research data is retained and deposited in a suitable data repository or, more rarely, disposed of securely. Research data that supports the findings in your thesis should normally be retained, unless there are legal, ethical, funder or contractual requirements that would prohibit its retention.

For guidance see Sharing, preserving and depositing your data or contact the Library's Research Support Team for further information or advice.

Download a copy of these requirements (you will need to be logged into your University of York Google account) :

Format your thesis (Google doc)

Additional guidance

Postgraduate programmes by practice, hardcopy theses.

• Subject Guides

Academic writing: a practical guide

Dissertations.

• Academic writing
• The writing process
• Academic writing style
• Structure & cohesion
• Criticality in academic writing
• Working with evidence
• Referencing
• Assessment & feedback
• Reflective writing
• Examination writing
• Academic posters
• Feedback on Structure and Organisation
• Feedback on Argument, Analysis, and Critical Thinking
• Feedback on Writing Style and Clarity
• Feedback on Referencing and Research
• Feedback on Presentation and Proofreading

Dissertations are a part of many degree programmes, completed in the final year of undergraduate studies or the final months of a taught masters-level degree. 

Introduction to dissertations

What is a dissertation.

A dissertation is usually a long-term project to produce a long-form piece of writing; think of it a little like an extended, structured assignment. In some subjects (typically the sciences), it might be called a project instead.

Work on an undergraduate dissertation is often spread out over the final year. For a masters dissertation, you'll start thinking about it early in your course and work on it throughout the year.

You might carry out your own original research, or base your dissertation on existing research literature or data sources - there are many possibilities.

What's different about a dissertation?

The main thing that sets a dissertation apart from your previous work is that it's an almost entirely independent project. You'll have some support from a supervisor, but you will spend a lot more time working on your own.

You'll also be working on your own topic that's different to your coursemate; you'll all produce a dissertation, but on different topics and, potentially, in very different ways.

Dissertations are also longer than a regular assignment, both in word count and the time that they take to complete. You'll usually have  most of an academic year to work on one, and be required to produce thousands of words; that might seem like a lot, but both time and word count will disappear very quickly once you get started! 

Find out more:

Key dissertation tools

Digital tools.

There are lots of tools, software and apps that can help you get through the dissertation process. Before you start, make sure you collect the key tools ready to:

• use your time efficiently
• organise yourself and your materials
• manage your writing
• be less stressed

Here's an overview of some useful tools:

Digital tools for your dissertation [Google Slides]

Setting up your document

Formatting and how you set up your document is also very important for a long piece of work like a dissertation, research project or thesis. Find tips and advice on our text processing guide:

University of York past Undergraduate and Masters dissertations

If you are a University of York student, you can access a selection of digitised undergraduate dissertations for certain subjects:

• History  
• History of Art  
• Social Policy and Social Work  

The Library also has digitised Masters dissertations for the following subjects:

• Archaeology
• Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies  
• Centre for Medieval Studies  
• Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies  
• Centre for Women's Studies  
• English and Related Literature
• Health Sciences
• History of Art
• Hull York Medical School
• Language and Linguistic Science
• School for Business and Society
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Dissertation top tips

Many dissertations are structured into four key sections:

• introduction & literature review

There are many different types of dissertation, which don't all use this structure, so make sure you check your dissertation guidance. However, elements of these sections are common in all dissertation types.

Dissertations that are an extended literature review do not involve data collection, thus do not have a methods or result section. Instead they have chapters that explore concepts/theories and result in a conclusion section. Check your dissertation module handbook and all information given to see what your dissertation involves. 

Introduction & literature review

The Introduction and Literature Review give the context for your dissertation:

• What topic did you investigate?
• What do we already know about this topic?
• What are your research questions and hypotheses?

Sometimes these are two separate sections, and sometimes the Literature Review is integrated into the Introduction. Check your guidelines to find out what you need to do.

Literature Review Top Tips [YouTube]  |  Literature Review Top Tips transcript [Google Doc]

The Method section tells the reader what you did  and why.

• Include enough detail so that someone else could replicate your study.
• Visual elements can help present your method clearly. For example, summarise participant demographic data in a table or visualise the procedure in a diagram. 
• Show critical analysis by justifying your choices. For example, why is your test/questionnaire/equipment appropriate for this study?
• If your study requires ethical approval, include these details in this section.

Methodology Top Tips [YouTube]  |  Methodology Top Tips transcript [Google Doc]

More resources to help you plan and write the methodology:

The Results tells us what you found out . 

It's an objective presentation of your research findings. Don’t explain the results in detail here - you’ll do that in the discussion section.

Results Top Tips [YouTube]  |  Results Top Tips transcript [Google Doc]

The Discussion is where you explain and interpret your results - what do your findings mean?

This section involves a lot of critical analysis. You're not just presenting your findings, but putting them together with findings from other research to build your argument about what the findings mean.

Discussion Top Tips [YouTube]  |  Discussion Top Tips transcript [Google Doc]

Conclusions are a part of many dissertations and/or research projects. Check your module information to see if you are required to write one. Some dissertations/projects have concluding remarks in their discussion section. See the slides below for more information on writing conclusions in dissertations.

Conclusions in dissertations [Google Slides]

The abstract is a short summary of the whole dissertation that goes at the start of the document. It gives an overview of your research and helps readers decide if it’s relevant to their needs.

Even though it appears at the start of the document, write the abstract last. It summarises the whole dissertation, so you need to finish the main body before you can summarise it in the abstract.

Usually the abstract follows a very similar structure to the dissertation, with one or two sentences each to show the aims, methods, key results and conclusions drawn. Some subjects use headings within the abstract. Even if you don’t use these in your final abstract, headings can help you to plan a clear structure.

Abstract Top Tips [YouTube]  |  Abstract Top Tips transcript [Google Doc]

Watch all of our Dissertation Top Tips videos in one handy playlist:

Research reports, that are often found in science subjects, follow the same structure, so the tips in this tutorial also apply to dissertations:

Other support for dissertation writing

Online resources.

The general writing pages of this site offer guidance that can be applied to all types of writing, including dissertations. Also check your department guidance and VLE sites for tailored resources.

Other useful resources for dissertation writing:

Appointments and workshops 

There is a lot of support available in departments for dissertation production, which includes your dissertation supervisor, academic supervisor and, when appropriate, staff teaching in the research methods modules.

You can also access central writing and skills support:

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Formatting Your Thesis

Thesis layout and presentation, conversion to pdf, depositing associated multimedia files, creating an edited version of your thesis, presentation of the print thesis.

University guidelines on the layout and presentation of your thesis are available. It is recommended that you consult them if you are unsure of how to present your thesis. You should also check with your School if they have any specific requirements for thesis presentation.

For further help with preparing your thesis you are strongly encouraged to attend the course on ' Using Word to prepare your thesis ' run by IT Services. This course is primarily based on the University guidelines mentioned already.

The required format for deposit in the Theses Service is PDF. It is assumed that you will be using a standard piece of software to create the electronic version of your thesis, e.g. Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer or LaTeX. Before you deposit your thesis you need to convert it to PDF format. Ideally your thesis should consist of a single PDF file . However, it is acceptable to deposit a small number of individual files if you experience major difficulties in producing a single file for conversion to PDF. Before converting to PDF you need to ensure that you have incorporated any elements of the thesis created in programmes such as Excel, Access, PowerPoint etc. into the main body of the thesis. If using Microsoft Word to produce your thesis, you should do this by using the Insert>Object, Insert>Picture or Insert>File options rather than by copying and pasting. However, if there are e.g. multimedia elements that you are unable to incorporate into the main body of your thesis it may be possible to to upload these as a separate file. See Depositing associated multimedia file s for more information on what can be deposited. Details of how to deposit associated multimedia files can be found in Depositing your thesis .

For help and advice on preparing the electronic version of your thesis you will find it extremely useful to attend the course on ' Using Word to prepare your thesis' run by IT Services. The course will include information on how to convert your thesis to PDF. While you are strongly encouraged to attend this course, the documentation for the course can also be accessed here:

Main course notes [ PDF - campus only]

University thesis preparation guidelines [ PDF - campus only]

List of thesis styles [ PDF - campus only]

Template 1 - to be used when ready to combine chapters and create complete thesis [Word template file Thesis1_2010.dotx - campus only]

Template 2  - to be used to create all individual chapters [Word template file Thesis2_2010.dotx - campus only]

To access these files login with your GUID. If you still cannot open the files e-mail [email protected] .

If you have any questions about the use of these files, please contact Judith Harriman-Hunter ( [email protected] ext. 4858).

This documentation is for the use of University of Glasgow students only.

You should save the PDF version of your thesis using the following filename format:

year - name - degree.pdf e.g. 2007smithphd.pdf or 2008jonesmphil.pdf

If you need to deposit two files, one complete and one with 3rd party copyright material edited out you should give them different filenames using the following format:

Public version: year - name - degree.pdf (e.g. 2007smithphd.pdf)

Full (not for public view) version: year - name - degree internal.pdf (e.g. 2007smithphdinternal.pdf)

If you need to deposit additional multimedia files that cannot be incorporated into the main PDF file you should use the same file name with the addition of information about the type of media being deposited. e.g.

2007smithphd_audio.mpeg

If you are concerned that your PDF file is very large please contact [email protected] for advice on the options available. The online deposit system can cope with very large files being deposited, but from the point of view of people trying to access your thesis it is best if PDF files are kept to a reasonable size.

Instructions for conversion to PDF

To convert your thesis to PDF format using a CSCE PC or a PC running the Standard Staff Desktop you have various options. If you have access to a computer running Office 2010 you can use the Save as PDF option in Word. In addition, all PCs in the Library offer access to PDF Creator . To use PDF Creator:

• Open your thesis in Word or Writer
• Choose File - Print
• In the drop-down box opposite Printer name choose PDF Creator
• You will then be asked to supply various pieces of information including document title and author. You do not need to complete the subject and keywords fields
• Click on Options and then on the link to PDF under Formats
• Next click on the Security tab
• Click on Use security
• Ensure that the option to disallow copying text and images is selected
• Click on Save
• You will now be back at the original screen - click on Save
• Name your file according to the convention specified
• Choose where you want to save the file to.
• A box will appear asking for a password - click the Cancel button
• A box will then appear saying that the document is not protected - this is fine (it means that user of your thesis will not be asked for a username and password to read it). Click on Ok
• Your thesis will then be saved as a PDF file. Note that it may take several minutes to convert a large file. If you have problems converting to PDF because your file is very large it may be necessary to spilt it into chapters and to upload each separately.
• The PDF file will be automatically opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader so you can check it.

If you have created the electronic version of your thesis using LaTeX then you are probably already proficient in producing PDF output. The main routes are by (1) distilling postscript output, for example using PDF Creator described above, (2) using dvipdfm to convert the standard dvi output from LaTeX or (3) using pdfLaTeX to produce PDF output in a single step. Further information can be obtained from the UK List of TeX Frequently Asked Questions: "Making Acrobat PDF documents from (La)TeX".

If you have used a Mac to prepare your thesis you should be able to create a PDF version by choosing the option to Print to PDF.

If you have access to the full version of Adobe Acrobat you will also be able to use this to convert your thesis to PDF format. The full version of Adobe Acrobat is now available on the scanner PCs on Level 3 of the Library. If you are having difficulties using PDF Creator to produce a PDF version of your thesis it is recommended that you use the full version of Adobe Acrobat instead.

If you are off campus you can download a free copy of PDF Creator and install this on your own computer.

The main body of your thesis, including associated images, data, tables etc. must be deposited as a PDF document. However, if your thesis has associated multimedia e.g. sound file or video clips these can be uploaded separately. There are no restrictions on the type of multimedia files that can be uploaded, but no guarantee can be give that such files will continue to be accessible in the future. The relevant software for playing such files will not be provided by the Thesis Service. If you are providing the full text of your thesis on a CD-ROM/memory stick you must include on the disk a separate file that explains what the associated files, i.e. name of file, what type of file it is, what the file consists of, so that when your thesis is made publicly available Library staff know what the files are. If you do not include this we may not be able to upload the files. Note that you should only upload multimedia files where you own the copyright, or where you have cleared any necessary rights.

If you have been unable to secure all the necessary third party copyright permissions for your thesis you will not be able to make the full version available online. You will still be required to deposit this copy, and it will be held securely. However, you may wish to make an edited version publicly available. If this is the case you should save an additional copy of your thesis, remove the relevant material and insert a place holder at this point in the document, e.g.

Figure (Text/Chart/Diagram/image etc.) has been removed due to Copyright restrictions.

Remember that you need to deposit both the full and the edited version of your thesis, and that these should be given different Filenames.

• Good quality paper (range 70g/m2>100g/m2) of A4 size should be used. Margins should be not less than 15mm, and 40mm at binding edge.
• The thesis should be firmly sewn and securely attached to its boards to ensure sufficient rigidity to support the weight of the work when standing on a shelf. The boards should be of dark coloured cloth. The author's name and title of the thesis should appear on the front cover; and the author's name (including initials), the degree for which submitted and the year of submission should appear on the spine, lettered from top to bottom. The volume number (if any) should also be given on the spine.
• Illustrations of all kinds should normally be bound in with the thesis. Any material which cannot conveniently be bound should be packaged so that it can be kept with the thesis, and should be labelled in a similar way.

A list of local bookbinders is available.

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Dissertations & Theses

Explore tools and support to help you complete your dissertation or thesis.

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What is a dissertation or thesis?

A dissertation is an extended piece of academic writing on a question or problem related to particular subject. Usually done at the end of an undergraduate or master’s degree, this type of research project can take several months to complete.

A thesis is usually completed as part of a PhD. While similar in nature to a dissertation, a thesis is a longer project that tackles a question or problem in-depth and will take a number of years to write and research.

Whether you’re beginning a dissertation, or embarking on your PhD thesis, you’ll find it can be a different challenge to other assignments you’ve completed. These projects require you to bring together all the skills that you will have developed in your studies including: finding and evaluating literature, critical analysis, developing an argument, academic writing and referencing.

Your dissertation or thesis might also include things that you have not done before, for example developing a research question, analysing data or writing an abstract.

Process of writing a dissertation or thesis

Dissertations and theses are long and complicated projects. The processes you need to go through are likely to be iterative, non-linear and dynamic. However, it can be helpful to start by breaking the project down into the different stages, and approach each section of the planning, researching and writing process in turn. You then need to bring the stages together into a single piece of research.

A dissertation or thesis is an excellent opportunity for you to immerse yourself in your subject and a topic that you are passionate about. On the other hand, if you’re allocated a project, you’ll need to make the research your own and learn to understand why it’s worthwhile.

Your project proposal allows you to explore these initial research ideas, identify your aims, think around the context of your potential research and get ahead of any pitfalls by thinking about the feasibility and limitations involved.

Thinking about what you want to achieve with your research at this stage, will help inform how you approach your project.

Research Proposal Planning Tool

Literature review.

The nature of the research you do will likely depend on your subject area and research question. This may involve conducting interviews, gathering statistics, carrying out experiments or exploring texts and documents.

Most dissertations and theses will, however, involve a literature review as part of the research process.

What is a literature review?

A literature review sets the scene for your work. It places your research in context, and shows how it relates to and builds upon the work of others. It’s also your chance to tell people why your work matters, why it’s relevant, and how it contributes original research to your field.

In your literature review, you’ll discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the information you’ve found, and describe why you think it’s important. You might also want to discuss gaps in the literature that your own research will attempt to fill.

Literature Searching and Reading

Compiling a literature review involves rigorous literature searching, critical reading of information and combining ideas and research from different sources. You’ll need to develop an effective search strategy to ensure you find all the key information relevant to your topic. 

New research is published every day, and your work is likely to take you down paths you hadn’t thought about initially so you’ll need to frequently return to and adapt your search, and then update your literature review as you go. As part of your search strategy, it's important that you consider how you'll keep your research up to date, and how you'll manage all the information you'll find.

There are different types of literature review too, so check with your supervisor to make sure you know what is expected. If you’ve been asked to take a systematic approach, our systematic review guide can help you understand the systematic process.

Search strategy planning tool

Build your search strategy with our Search Planner tool. **Online planner**

Finding Information

Discover tips and advice for starting your search, selecting information types and using advanced search techniques.

Systematic Review guide

Find out about the systematic process and types of systematic review.

Mapping the literature

Downloadable resource to help you get an overview of your literature review reading. **PDF Download**

Three domains of critical reading study guide

A downloadable resource to guide your literature review reading. **PDF download**

An audio-visual guide to in-depth critical reading, for literature reviews. **Guide with audio**

Discover ways to critically evaluate the information you find.

Explore methods for effectively managing your documents and references.

Discover simple ways to keep up to date with information in your field.

Structuring a literature review

Explore different methods on how to structure your literature review.

Dissertation Structure

As this will be one of the longest academic documents you'll create, it can be helpful to start thinking about the overall shape of your dissertation early on, considering how many chapters there will be and how they'll relate to each other. This will be a provisional guide at first but having an idea of the structure can give you a way forward, help you to stay focused, and help manage your word count.

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Learn how to prepare, write and structure a science report.

Where to go for support

You will be given a supervisor for your dissertation or thesis by your academic school or institute. Your supervisor is there to give you advice and guidance about all aspects of your research project.

There is also support and advice available to you at each stage of your project from the services below:

University Library

For advice on planning your search strategy, finding and evaluating information, and managing your references.

Academic Skills Team

For help with managing your project, academic writing strategies, critiquing and reviewing literature, and developing a clear authorial voice.

Support for undergraduates and postgraduates with SPSS and data analysis.

Recommended books and e-books

For further reading related to dissertations and projects, browse our specially curated list of resources.

What’s Included: The Dissertation Template

If you’re preparing to write your dissertation, thesis or research project, our free dissertation template is the perfect starting point. In the template, we cover every section step by step, with clear, straightforward explanations and examples .

The template’s structure is based on the tried and trusted best-practice format for formal academic research projects such as dissertations and theses. The template structure reflects the overall research process, ensuring your dissertation or thesis will have a smooth, logical flow from chapter to chapter.

The dissertation template covers the following core sections:

• The title page/cover page
• Abstract (sometimes also called the executive summary)
• Table of contents
• List of figures /list of tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction  (also available: in-depth introduction template )
• Chapter 2: Literature review  (also available: in-depth LR template )
• Chapter 3: Methodology (also available: in-depth methodology template )
• Chapter 4: Research findings /results (also available: results template )
• Chapter 5: Discussion /analysis of findings (also available: discussion template )
• Chapter 6: Conclusion (also available: in-depth conclusion template )
• Reference list

Each section is explained in plain, straightforward language , followed by an overview of the key elements that you need to cover within each section. We’ve also included practical examples to help you understand exactly what’s required in each section.

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

FAQs: Dissertation Template

What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).

The dissertation template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

What types of dissertations/theses can this template be used for?

The template follows the standard best-practice structure for formal academic research projects such as dissertations or theses, so it is suitable for the vast majority of degrees, particularly those within the sciences.

Some universities may have some additional requirements, but these are typically minor, with the core structure remaining the same. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalise your structure.

Will this work for a research paper?

A research paper follows a similar format, but there are a few differences. You can find our research paper template here .

Is this template for an undergrad, Masters or PhD-level thesis?

This template can be used for a dissertation, thesis or research project at any level of study. It may be slight overkill for an undergraduate-level study, but it certainly won’t be missing anything.

How long should my dissertation/thesis be?

This depends entirely on your university’s specific requirements, so it’s best to check with them. As a general ballpark, Masters-level projects are usually 15,000 – 20,000 words in length, while Doctoral-level projects are often in excess of 60,000 words.

What about the research proposal?

If you’re still working on your research proposal, we’ve got a template for that here .

We’ve also got loads of proposal-related guides and videos over on the Grad Coach blog .

How do I write a literature review?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack how to write a literature review from scratch. You can check out the literature review section of the blog here.

How do I create a research methodology?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack research methodology, both qualitative and quantitative. You can check out the methodology section of the blog here.

Can I share this dissertation template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template. If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, all we ask is that you reference this page as your source.

Can Grad Coach help me with my dissertation/thesis?

Within the template, you’ll find plain-language explanations of each section, which should give you a fair amount of guidance. However, you’re also welcome to consider our dissertation and thesis coaching services .

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OU theses and dissertations

Online theses.

Are available via Open Research Online .

Print theses

Search for OU theses in the Library Search . To see only print theses click 'In the Walton Hall library' and refine your results to resource type 'Thesis'.

OU staff and research students can  borrow a consultation copy of a thesis (if available). Please contact the Library helpdesk giving the author and title of the thesis.

UK theses and dissertations from EThOS

The Electronic Theses Online System (EThOS) offers free access to the full text of UK theses.

• EThOS offers a one stop online shop providing free access to UK theses
• EThOS digitizes theses on request into PDF format, this may require payment
• EThOS is managed by the British Library in partnership with a number of UK universities
• EThOS is open to all categories of library user

What does this mean to you as a library user?

When you need to access a PhD thesis from another UK based HE institution you should check EThOS to either download a thesis which has already been digitised or to request that a UK thesis be supplied to you.

• For all UK theses EThOS will be the first point of delivery. You can use the online ordering and tracking system direct from EThOS to manage your requests for UK PhD theses, including checking the status of your requests
• As readers you will deal directly with EThOS so will not need to fill in a document delivery request
• OU staff and research students will still be entitled to access non-UK based PhD theses by filling in a document delivery request
• In some cases where EThOS is unable to supply a UK thesis OU staff and research students will be able to access it by filling in a conventional document delivery request. The thesis will be supplied through direct loan
• The EThOS system is both faster and cheaper than the previous British Theses service which was based on microfilm
• The British Library no longer arranges interlibrary loans for UK PhD theses
• Interlibrary Loan procedures for other types of request from the British Library (articles and books for example) will remain the same

If you have any queries about using EThOS contact the Document Delivery Team ( [email protected] or the Library Helpdesk ).

Note 13/03/2024: The British Library is continuing to experience a major technology outage affecting its websites and other online systems, due to a Cyber attack. as a result access to ETHOS might not be possible until the issue is fixed. 

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English and Comparative Literary Studies

Sample dissertation proposal.

Below is an example of a successful MA dissertation proposal. Note particularly the robust referencing, and the way in which the author has already done preparatory work in the field so that clear areas of critical enquiry have already been formulated.

Modernist Poetics and the Acquisition of the Other Tongue

I will reconsider the role that multilingualism plays in modernist poetry, and particularly Ezra Pound’s, by moving away from a text-based model – in which the poem is understood primarily as translation, appropriation or montage of another language’s representative texts – and towards a more author-centric one, in which the poem documents the lived experience of knowing multiple languages, each of which transcends the finite set of words and texts that its author knows. I hope that my work will extend Robert Stark’s recent assertion that Pound acquired poetic style as if it were a foreign language, but by paying attention to the more literal encounters with foreign languages that make this simile possible. However, in contrast to Stark’s model of ‘apprenticeship’, Steven Yao has argued that modernism marked the point at which mastering the source language stopped being a prerequisite for a literary translator: thus, the different ways in which Pound translated or incorporated Chinese texts into English works over the course of his career, or used original ‘handy language’ in Italian alongside quotations, may represent different heuristic approaches to a code that still remained somehow impenetrable. ‘Barbarism and onomatopoeia’, rather than forming the comfortable pair of terms sometimes used by Stark, might define a driving tension in Pound’s verse practice, between seeing another language as pure sound and as the product of another culture incompletely understood.

Mutlu Konuk Blasing’s Lyric Poetry will be an important source: although she focuses almost exclusively on the role of the mother tongue, and uses it to justify lyric’s untranslatability, many of the phenomena which she associates with first language acquisition, such as the delay in recognising phonemes, are also relevant to second language acquisition. I also hope to move beyond Blasing’s cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches, to position Pound within a broader cultural history of language acquisition theory: texts to investigate may include the prose treatises by Dante that he admired, and contemporary reflections on language-learning by Leo Spitzer. I expect to offer a reading of Cantos LXXII and LXXIII (perhaps alongside T S Eliot’s early French poems) in light of this investigation, as possible oversights in Blasing’s argument.

Both Blasing’s and Stark’s monographs are bound up in questions of genre definition which deserve further consideration. I intend to develop the arguments of those critics, such as Simon Jarvis, who have questioned whether Blasing’s arguments define lyric poetry alone. How might language acquisition also be important for a definition of epic, especially in light of its traditional association with nation-building and Wai Chee Dimock’s recent vision of the genre as a carrier of foreign lexis? If, for Blasing, lyric ‘dramatises’ the struggle to enter a language-speaking community, is it more fully dramatised in a text such as Pound’s Elektra, where traumatic experience is manifested in a conflation of American vernacular and untranslated Greek?

Here, it may be fruitful to compare Pound’s choral dramas to Eliot’s: Murder in the Cathedral, for example, updates English vernacular drama, but by incorporating a ‘babbling’ chorus who imitate classical tragedy. While I expect the changes in Pound’s practice over the course of his career to provide the structure for my final project, I look forward to paying attention to points of comparison with other, less canonical modernists. These could include Hope Mirrlees’s use of montage to search for a ‘holophrase’ in Paris; Basil Bunting’s insistence on a regional vernacular, but against a backdrop of international cultural references; and the artificial languages of Futurist and Dada sound art, which work both to reject subjectivity and forge international communities.

Critical Bibliography

Arrowsmith, Richard Rupert, Modernism and the Museum: Asian, African and Pacific Art and the London Avant-Garde (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).

(ed.) Bates, Catherine, The Cambridge Companion to the Epic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) [essays by Freccero, Whittier-Ferguson and Merchant].

Blasing, Mutlu Konuk, Lyric Poetry: The Pleasure and the Pain of Words (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007).

Dimock, Wai Chee, Through Other Continents: American Literature Across Deep Time (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2006).

Ellis, Rod, Second Language Acquisition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Hart, Matthew, Nations of Nothing but Poetry: Modernism, Transnationalism and Synthetic Vernacular Writing (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).

Jarvis, Simon, ‘The melodics of long poems’, Textual Practice 24.4 (2010).

Kenner, Hugh, The Pound Era (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971).

Moody, A David, Ezra Pound: Poet, I: The Young Genius, 1885-1920 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

North, Michael, The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language and Twentieth-Century Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Patterson, Ian, ‘Time, Free Verse, and the Gods of Modernism’ in Tradition, Translation, Trauma: The Classic and the Modern, eds. Jan Parker and Timothy Mathews (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) [and other essays in this volume].

Scott, Clive, Literary Translation and the Rediscovery of Reading (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) [and earlier works by Scott].

Spitzer, Leo, ‘Learning Turkish’, tr. Tülay Atak, PMLA 126.3 (2011).

Stark, Robert, Ezra Pound’s Early Verse and Lyric Tradition: A Jongleur’s Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012).

• 301 Academic Skills Centre
• Study skills online

Dissertation planning

Information on how to plan and manage your dissertation project.

What is research?

A dissertation project is an opportunity to pursue your own ideas in an environment of relative intellectual freedom.

It also present a number of new challenges relating to the scale, scope and structure of a piece of work that is likely to be more substantial than any you have undertaken before.

These resources will help you to break the process down and explore ways to plan and structure your research and organise your written work.

A research-led university

Sheffield prides itself on being a  research-led university . Crucially, this means that teaching is informed by cutting-edge research in the academic field.

It also means that you are learning in an environment where you develop and use research skills as you progress. The most successful students tend to develop research skills early and use them consistently.

Research in higher education

Research sometimes just means finding out information about a topic. However, in the HE setting, specific understandings of 'research' carry a lot of weight.

The classic definition is that research leads to an original ' contribution to knowledge ' in a particular field of inquiry by defining an important question or problem and then answering or solving it in a systematic way.

You will build this contribution on the foundation of a robust structure of primary and secondary sources and evidence.

Differences across disciplines

Depending on the discipline you work in, there will be different ways of designing and articulating a research problem and different methods for answering these problems.

Not everything about research is 'original'. Sometimes the majority (or even all) of a research project will involve documenting or summarising information or ideas that are already available.

Not all research leads to answers. Sometimes research produces unusable results, or the inquiry leads to only more questions. Sometimes the originality of a research project is that it straddles more than one field of inquiry.

Some examples of approaches to research and what that contribution to knowledge might look like include:

• Explore an under-researched area
• Develop or test out a new methodology or technique
• Extend or develop a previous study
• Review the knowledge thus far in a specific field
• Makes connections between disciplines
• Replicate an existing study/approach in a different setting
• Apply a theoretical idea to a real world problem

This all adds up to the fact that research is a complicated topic that seems to mean a lot to academic experts but is very difficult to understand intimately when you are a novice.

As someone new to research, you will need to do some work to find out how research is conceived of and done in your discipline.

301 Recommends:

Our Dissertation Planning Essentials workshop will look at the initial stages and challenges of preparing for a large-scale dissertation project.

Our Dissertation Writing workshop will break down the process of writing a dissertation and explore approaches to voice and style to help develop a way of writing academically.

Our Creativity and Research interactive workshop looks at how to identify, develop and apply your creativity and innovation skills to the research process, whatever stage you're at. In our Creativity and Problem Solving interactive workshop you'll learn how to identify and develop your creativity and innovation skills, address problems and challenges, explore creative models and strategies, and look at how you can apply this to your academic work.

Our Part 1 workshop on Setting Research Priorities will help to break down the research process by identifying the key information that you need to have in place to develop your project. It will help you to prioritise key tasks and create a project workflow to set targets, track progress and reach key milestones. Part 2 will revisit that workflow to assess progress. It will encourage you to reflect on your project so far, identify opportunities for feedback and review your intermediate targets to ensure that you stay on track towards your deadline.

Explore this Illustrated Guide to a PhD  by Matt Might as a visualisation of research to help you identify how you can develop your research ideas.  

Our Video Dissemination workshop will give you an insight into the best practices for using video to disseminate research and communicate your ideas. It will look at styles, common communication techniques and the pedagogy of visual mediums, as well as top production tips for making your content engaging, informative and professional.

Research proposals

A research proposal often needs to encompass many things: it is part description, part analysis, part review, part guesswork, part advert, part CV.

Writing a research proposal that can achieve all these things is an important first step towards realising your project idea. Your research proposal will allow you to receive some early feedback on your ideas and will act as a guide as you plan and develop your project more fully.

But how can you explain what you hope to discover in the project before you’ve done the research?

There are a number of things that you can do to make sure that your research proposal is professional, realistic and relevant:

• Read around your topic of interest as much as possible. Getting a feel for what other kinds of research have been done will give you a much clearer idea of where your project might fit in. 
• Create a mind map of relevant topics to explore the links and connections between themes. Which branches of your mind map seem most promising as an area for enquiry?
• Be realistic. You may dream of making the next big breakthrough in the field, but this is probably unlikely! Set your self aims and objectives that are realistic within the timescales of your project. 
• Finally, make sure you follow your department guidelines and include everything that you need to in your proposal. 

301 Recommends: Research Project Design Template

Make a copy of this Research project design template (google doc) to capture the key information you need to complete your research proposal.

Research ethics

Whenever you undertake research, no matter what level you are working at, it is always important to consider the immediate and continued impact of your project.

All research should be designed to ensure that individuals involved in the project as subjects or participants are treated with respect and consideration. In practice, this means that:

• Participants have a right to full knowledge about the project and what its results will be used for.
• You should also be mindful of an individual's rights to privacy and confidentiality.
• You should consider the issue of data protection, how you will store project data safely and how long you will need to retain the data
• The physical, emotional and psychological well-being of participants and researchers should be prioritised in your research design.
• Environmental impacts of the research should be considered and mitigated where possible.
• Longer-term impacts, for example, if you are planning to publish findings from the project, should also be considered. 

It is perhaps easy to think that working directly with living participants raises the most pressing ethical questions.

However, you equally need to give very important consideration to the ethics of working in text-based subjects, especially when considering unpublished material (see also copyright).

Your department will have its own guidelines on the area of research ethics and you should certainly consult your tutor or supervisor as s/he will be able to give you detailed topic-specific guidance. More more guidance on ethics in research, visit Research Services Ethics and Integrity pages here . 

Project management

The key to completing a research project successfully is to invest time in planning and organising your project.

A student research project, whether a dissertation or a research placement, will usually involve tight timescales and deadlines. Given the wealth of tasks involved in a typical dissertation project, this can seriously limit the time available for actual data collection or research. 

Setting yourself clear and achievable aims and objectives will help to ensure that the project is manageable within the timeframe available.

As an early stage of the planning process, have a go at breaking your project down into its constituent parts: i.e. all of the tasks that you will need to complete between now and the deadline. How long will each of them take? For example:

Every project will have its own specific tasks, but breaking them down in this way will allow you to start planning ahead, adding milestones to your calendar and chipping away at the project task by task. 

301 Recommends: Trello

Trello is an online planning tool that allows you to create a project workflow. It is a simple and accessible tool that allows you to set yourself deadlines, colour code tasks and share your project plan with collaborators. View our example Dissertation Planning Trello board here and some guidance for students on using Trello (Linked In Learning) .

Working with your supervisor

Your supervisor will be your first point of contact for advice on your project and to help you to resolve issues arising. 

Remember, your supervisor will have a busy schedule and may be supervising several students at once. Although they will do their best to support you, they may not be able to get back to you right away and may be limited in their availability to meet you. 

There are a number of things that you can do to make the most out of the relationship. Some strategies to consider include:

• Share plans/ideas/work-in-progress with your supervisor early 
• Plan for meetings, sketch out an informal agenda 
• Write down your main questions before the meeting. Don’t leave without answers!
• Be receptive to feedback and criticism
• Take notes/record the meeting on a smartphone with your supervisor’s permission!)

301 recommends: Supervisor and supervisee relationships interactive digital workshop

This interactive resource will help you to develop a positive and productive working relationship with your supervisor. 

Top Tips and resources

• Read other dissertations from students in your department/discipline to get an idea of how similar projects are organised and presented. 
• Break your project down into its constituent parts and treat each chapter as an essay in its own right.
• Choose a topic that interests you and will sustain your interest, not just for a few days, but for a few months!
• Write up as you go along - writing can and should be part of all stages of the diissertation planning and developing process. 
• Keep good records – don’t throw anything out!
• If in doubt, talk to your supervisor.

Internal resources

• Library -  Research and Critical Thinking Resources
• Library –  Digital Skills for Dissertations : Information, resources and training on developing your dissertation projects, including finding and referencing sources, your literature review and creating and using images and infographics.
• ELTC -  Writing Advisory Service
• 301 -  Dissertation Essentials lecture recording
• 301 -  Dissertation Writing lecture recording

External resources

• The Theis Whisperer -  Writing Blog
• Gradhacker -  When it comes to dissertations, done is best

Related information

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Take advantage of our curated Level Up Your Skills packages and start working through resources for your upcoming level of study, or use study skills online to find specific topics you want to work on.

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Formatting your thesis for deposit

Use the following instructions to format your thesis.

• Please see the Policy for the Presentation of Research Theses for guidance on the layout and presentation requirements of your thesis for submission.
• The preferred deposit format for the LJMU E-Theses Collection is a single PDF. It should be an exact copy of the final printed, examined and approved version (i.e. the contents, pagination, chapter headings etc. are identical). This ensures consistency for description and citation.
• year-name-degree.pdf. For example: 2015brownphd.pdf or 2015brownmphil.pdf.
• For additional files, such as appendices or programme code, we recommend the following format: year-name-degree-file subject-matter.pdf. For example, 2015brownphdappendix.pdf.
• Full (not for public view) version: year-name-degree internal.pdf. For example, 2015brownphdinternal.pdf.
• Public version (third party copyright material removed): year-name-degree.pdf. For example, 201brownphd.pdf.
• If you have been awarded a PhD by Published Work, you should deposit a copy of the document as submitted for examination (full version), but you should also deposit a public version that should not include the full text of your publications. Instead, you should include an appendix containing a list of those published works and any links to DOIs or URLs to journals/publications containing them.
• One suggestion is to use a placeholder note where the text (or other content has been removed). For example:
• The [ insert description here eg image/diagram/map/text ] originally presented here cannot be made freely available via LJMU E-Theses Collection because of [ insert 'copyright' or other reason here ]. The [ image/diagram/map/text ] was sourced at [ insert details of where the item originated such as bibliographic reference, publication details, URL or other relevant details here ].
• Removing content and adding notes may disrupt the pagination of the electronic version. If necessary, you should consider using the 'page break' function to retain the original pagination of the final full version submitted for examination. Apart from removing restricted content and replacing it with a note, no other changes should be made to the text of the edited version – this should remain the same as the final passed version.
• If you need to deposit additional multimedia files that cannot be incorporated into the main PDF, you will need to email LJMU E-Theses Service for advice.
• If you require any technical assistance when creating your PDF for deposit, help is available in your local IT suite or Library.

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Dissertation Template - Yours to download for free!

Our expert dissertation writers have put together this free dissertation template example for you to use.

You can download this dissertation template in the .doc MS Word format here

There is a brief outline of what the Word template contains below

The purpose of this template is to provide you with an overview of the type of structure and form to be used when preparing your successful dissertation. It is based upon a general undergraduate research project, which combines the use of secondary and primary data and can vary between 10,000 to 20,000 words. The template is divided into three sections as follows:

• Section 1 - Structure of a typical dissertation template with accompanying notes on each section and chapter
• Section 2 - Other notes and advice
• Section 3 - An example table of contents

This dissertation template has in-depth notes on each chapter, the full layout of a typical dissertation and a full example table of contents. The basic structure is:

• Table of contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Research methodology
• Research findings
• Discussion and analysis of findings
• Conclusion and recommendations

The dissertation template doc then has some notes on presentation, spelling, grammar and writing style. The final section contains a useful example table of contents.

Related Content

In addition to the dissertation template above we also have a range of other study materials to help you with your own dissertation:

Assignments and Exams: Dissertations & Projects

• Presentations
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Dissertation toolkit

The  CLaSS Dissertation Toolkit  is an  interactive resource  to help anyone working on large assignments such as:

• Final Year Dissertations
• Final Year Projects or Extended Reports
• Masters Dissertations

You can dip into the toolkit for Ideas and Resources about many aspects of academic study, including Referencing, Critical Writing, Proofreading and more. There are videos, quizzes, checklists and much more.

Use Subject Guides to direct you to subject specific databases and other resources.

Look at Library Search for books and eBooks on dissertations and major projects, or see below for selected titles.

5 minute video tutorial

Whether you are carrying out original research of your own or evaluating existing research the section on research methods  should be useful for you.

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• Dissertation

What Is a Dissertation? | Guide, Examples, & Template

A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program.

Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you’ve ever completed. It requires solid research, writing, and analysis skills, and it can be intimidating to know where to begin.

Your department likely has guidelines related to how your dissertation should be structured. When in doubt, consult with your supervisor.

You can also download our full dissertation template in the format of your choice below. The template includes a ready-made table of contents with notes on what to include in each chapter, easily adaptable to your department’s requirements.

Download Word template Download Google Docs template

• In the US, a dissertation generally refers to the collection of research you conducted to obtain a PhD.
• In other countries (such as the UK), a dissertation often refers to the research you conduct to obtain your bachelor’s or master’s degree.

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Table of contents

Dissertation committee and prospectus process, how to write and structure a dissertation, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your dissertation, free checklist and lecture slides.

When you’ve finished your coursework, as well as any comprehensive exams or other requirements, you advance to “ABD” (All But Dissertation) status. This means you’ve completed everything except your dissertation.

Prior to starting to write, you must form your committee and write your prospectus or proposal . Your committee comprises your adviser and a few other faculty members. They can be from your own department, or, if your work is more interdisciplinary, from other departments. Your committee will guide you through the dissertation process, and ultimately decide whether you pass your dissertation defense and receive your PhD.

Your prospectus is a formal document presented to your committee, usually orally in a defense, outlining your research aims and objectives and showing why your topic is relevant . After passing your prospectus defense, you’re ready to start your research and writing.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

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See an example

The structure of your dissertation depends on a variety of factors, such as your discipline, topic, and approach. Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies.

However, hard science and social science dissertations typically include a review of existing works, a methodology section, an analysis of your original research, and a presentation of your results , presented in different chapters.

Dissertation examples

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

• Example dissertation #1: Heat, Wildfire and Energy Demand: An Examination of Residential Buildings and Community Equity (a dissertation by C. A. Antonopoulos about the impact of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings and occupant exposure risks).
• Example dissertation #2: Exploring Income Volatility and Financial Health Among Middle-Income Households (a dissertation by M. Addo about income volatility and declining economic security among middle-income households).
• Example dissertation #3: The Use of Mindfulness Meditation to Increase the Efficacy of Mirror Visual Feedback for Reducing Phantom Limb Pain in Amputees (a dissertation by N. S. Mills about the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on the relationship between mirror visual feedback and the pain level in amputees with phantom limb pain).

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

Read more about title pages

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

Read more about acknowledgements Read more about prefaces

The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150 to 300 words long. Though this may seem very short, it’s one of the most important parts of your dissertation, because it introduces your work to your audience.

Your abstract should:

• State your main topic and the aims of your research
• Describe your methods
• Summarize your main results
• State your conclusions

Read more about abstracts

The table of contents lists all of your chapters, along with corresponding subheadings and page numbers. This gives your reader an overview of your structure and helps them easily navigate your document.

Remember to include all main parts of your dissertation in your table of contents, even the appendices. It’s easy to generate a table automatically in Word if you used heading styles. Generally speaking, you only include level 2 and level 3 headings, not every subheading you included in your finished work.

Read more about tables of contents

While not usually mandatory, it’s nice to include a list of figures and tables to help guide your reader if you have used a lot of these in your dissertation. It’s easy to generate one of these in Word using the Insert Caption feature.

Read more about lists of figures and tables

Similarly, if you have used a lot of abbreviations (especially industry-specific ones) in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.

Read more about lists of abbreviations

In addition to the list of abbreviations, if you find yourself using a lot of highly specialized terms that you worry will not be familiar to your reader, consider including a glossary. Here, alphabetize the terms and include a brief description or definition.

Read more about glossaries

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

• Establish your research topic , giving the background information needed to contextualize your work
• Narrow down the focus and define the scope of your research
• Discuss the state of existing research on the topic, showing your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate
• Clearly state your research questions and objectives
• Outline the flow of the rest of your work

Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant. By the end, the reader should understand the what, why, and how of your research.

Read more about introductions

A formative part of your research is your literature review . This helps you gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic.

Literature reviews encompass:

• Finding relevant sources (e.g., books and journal articles)
• Assessing the credibility of your sources
• Critically analyzing and evaluating each source
• Drawing connections between them (e.g., themes, patterns, conflicts, or gaps) to strengthen your overall point

A literature review is not merely a summary of existing sources. Your literature review should have a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear justification for your own research. It may aim to:

• Address a gap in the literature or build on existing knowledge
• Take a new theoretical or methodological approach to your topic
• Propose a solution to an unresolved problem or advance one side of a theoretical debate

Read more about literature reviews

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework. Here, you define and analyze the key theories, concepts, and models that frame your research.

Read more about theoretical frameworks

Your methodology chapter describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to critically assess its credibility. Your methodology section should accurately report what you did, as well as convince your reader that this was the best way to answer your research question.

A methodology section should generally include:

• The overall research approach ( quantitative vs. qualitative ) and research methods (e.g., a longitudinal study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., interviews or a controlled experiment )
• Details of where, when, and with whom the research took place
• Any tools and materials you used (e.g., computer programs, lab equipment)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical analysis , discourse analysis )
• An evaluation or justification of your methods

Read more about methodology sections

Your results section should highlight what your methodology discovered. You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses , or themes, but avoid including any subjective or speculative interpretation here.

Your results section should:

• Concisely state each relevant result together with relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., mean , standard deviation ) and inferential statistics (e.g., test statistics , p values )
• Briefly state how the result relates to the question or whether the hypothesis was supported
• Report all results that are relevant to your research questions , including any that did not meet your expectations.

Additional data (including raw numbers, full questionnaires, or interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix. You can include tables and figures, but only if they help the reader better understand your results. Read more about results sections

Your discussion section is your opportunity to explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research question. Here, interpret your results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters. Refer back to relevant source material to show how your results fit within existing research in your field.

Some guiding questions include:

• What do your results mean?
• Why do your results matter?
• What limitations do the results have?

If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. It’s a good idea to consider alternative interpretations of your data.

Read more about discussion sections

Your dissertation’s conclusion should concisely answer your main research question, leaving your reader with a clear understanding of your central argument and emphasizing what your research has contributed to the field.

In some disciplines, the conclusion is just a short section preceding the discussion section, but in other contexts, it is the final chapter of your work. Here, you wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you found, with recommendations for future research and concluding remarks.

It’s important to leave the reader with a clear impression of why your research matters. What have you added to what was already known? Why is your research necessary for the future of your field?

Read more about conclusions

It is crucial to include a reference list or list of works cited with the full details of all the sources that you used, in order to avoid plagiarism. Be sure to choose one citation style and follow it consistently throughout your dissertation. Each style has strict and specific formatting requirements.

Common styles include MLA , Chicago , and APA , but which style you use is often set by your department or your field.

Create APA citations Create MLA citations

Your dissertation should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents such as interview transcripts or survey questions can be added as appendices, rather than adding them to the main body.

Read more about appendices

Making sure that all of your sections are in the right place is only the first step to a well-written dissertation. Don’t forget to leave plenty of time for editing and proofreading, as grammar mistakes and sloppy spelling errors can really negatively impact your work.

Dissertations can take up to five years to write, so you will definitely want to make sure that everything is perfect before submitting. You may want to consider using a professional dissertation editing service , AI proofreader or grammar checker to make sure your final project is perfect prior to submitting.

After your written dissertation is approved, your committee will schedule a defense. Similarly to defending your prospectus, dissertation defenses are oral presentations of your work. You’ll present your dissertation, and your committee will ask you questions. Many departments allow family members, friends, and other people who are interested to join as well.

After your defense, your committee will meet, and then inform you whether you have passed. Keep in mind that defenses are usually just a formality; most committees will have resolved any serious issues with your work with you far prior to your defense, giving you ample time to fix any problems.

As you write your dissertation, you can use this simple checklist to make sure you’ve included all the essentials.

Checklist: Dissertation

My title page includes all information required by my university.

I have included acknowledgements thanking those who helped me.

My abstract provides a concise summary of the dissertation, giving the reader a clear idea of my key results or arguments.

I have created a table of contents to help the reader navigate my dissertation. It includes all chapter titles, but excludes the title page, acknowledgements, and abstract.

My introduction leads into my topic in an engaging way and shows the relevance of my research.

My introduction clearly defines the focus of my research, stating my research questions and research objectives .

My introduction includes an overview of the dissertation’s structure (reading guide).

I have conducted a literature review in which I (1) critically engage with sources, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, (2) discuss patterns, themes, and debates in the literature, and (3) address a gap or show how my research contributes to existing research.

I have clearly outlined the theoretical framework of my research, explaining the theories and models that support my approach.

I have thoroughly described my methodology , explaining how I collected data and analyzed data.

I have concisely and objectively reported all relevant results .

I have (1) evaluated and interpreted the meaning of the results and (2) acknowledged any important limitations of the results in my discussion .

I have clearly stated the answer to my main research question in the conclusion .

I have clearly explained the implications of my conclusion, emphasizing what new insight my research has contributed.

I have provided relevant recommendations for further research or practice.

If relevant, I have included appendices with supplemental information.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

I have listed every source in a reference list at the end of my dissertation.

I have consistently followed the rules of my chosen citation style .

I have followed all formatting guidelines provided by my university.

Congratulations!

The end is in sight—your dissertation is nearly ready to submit! Make sure it's perfectly polished with the help of a Scribbr editor.

If you’re an educator, feel free to download and adapt these slides to teach your students about structuring a dissertation.

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Find Dissertations and Theses

Explore University of Salford dissertations and theses using Library Search. Access resources and tips for finding other academic works.

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Find University of Salford dissertations and theses

During the course of your studies, you may find that you need to search for dissertations or theses. Maybe you would like to see what other research has been undertaken in relation to your topic, or perhaps you would like to see what a dissertation or thesis looks like? There are many reasons why looking for this type of research can be useful.

You can use Library Search to help you find them and there are a number of different ways to search, depending on what you want to find.

You can access dissertations and theses by previous University of Salford students. Use the 'Advanced Search' option in Library Search to find these, and take a look at our University of Salford e-theses collection . This collection covers mostly PhD level research.

Digital dissertations - University of Salford

For help accessing our University of Salford dissertations and theses, watch this video:

Finding University of Salford dissertations and theses

Use databases to find other dissertations and theses.

There are a number of dissertation and theses databases you can use to find dissertations and theses from other academic institutions. You can access these through Library Search .

Some of the databases you can access include:

• EBSCO Open Dissertations
• EThOS – Electronic Theses Online System
• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

Find out more about the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database on our blog post: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

We also have a ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global LibGuide to help you find out more.

For help accessing the wide range of dissertation and theses databases, watch this video:

Helpful tips when looking for dissertations and theses

• Identify a couple of keywords to start with and use these when searching. Don't try to enter too many keywords all at once as it's often useful to see what else there is around your topic.  Also, entering too many keywords can make your search too specific and you may struggle to find what you need. Do not try searching using your whole dissertation topic title – this will not work!
• Can't find what you need? Many databases only contain PhD level manuscripts. Using 'Advanced Search' options within databases can sometimes allow you to specify other manuscript levels.
• Don't worry about topic area too much if you just want to see what a dissertation looks like and get a rough idea of layout and format.
• Ensure you are looking at the correct level of research for your study. There is a BIG difference between a Masters' dissertation and a PhD level thesis!
• Always check any guidelines you have been given by your school in regard to the layout, format and length of your own dissertation, so you know what to expect. If in doubt, speak with your supervisor.

Get help writing a dissertation

• Read our Dissertations and Theses guidance for help on writing and formatting a dissertation.
• Check out our Online resources for dissertation students Reading List – it contains links to really useful online dissertation resources and textbooks to help get you started.
• Contact your Academic Support Team for further help and advice.

Further recommended resources

The University of Leeds has a selection of dissertation examples with an indication of the mark awarded to the student. Additional support resources are located on their Final Chapter webpage.