sample of a dissertation

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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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Dissertation Examples To Inspire You

Are you looking for inspiration to start working on your dissertation, just need to go through the structure of an already written dissertation to match with your own, or want to check out our quality of work before placing an order with us? Our experts have got you covered.

We have produced hundreds of dissertation examples for you in various subjects and study levels. Find the ones closest to your area of study to see how well our academics can work on your tasks. You can also review and download them in PDF format for ease. View our expert dissertation examples now.

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High-quality biology dissertation examples.

In our biology dissertation examples, you will find impeccably written dissertations on areas such as evolution, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics, ecology, botany, biotechnology, and more. With these samples, you can get an idea of what we can deliver for any biology-related field. Check out our biology dissertation samples now.

Biology Dissertation

Molecular biology and physiology of isolated chloroplasts from the algae vaucheria....

Academic Level: Master

Quality: 1st / 72%

Seed dormancy and germination in the summer annual Galeopsis speciosa...

Academic Level: Undergraduate

Quality: 1st / 76%

Links Between Mental Health and Employment Outcomes among Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder...

Quality: 1st / 68%

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Biomedical Science Dissertation

Effects of chronic stress on working memory are sex-specific and age-dependent....

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Business Administration Dissertation

The role of attitude inside and outside today’s organizations....

Quality: 1st / 67%

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Business Dissertation

Quality: 1st / 78%

Quality: 1st / 65%

Determinants of patent innovation of Central and Eastern Europe knowledge intensive firms: the roles of R&D...

Quality: 1st / 64%

Analyzing Consumer Role Influencing the Shift from Click-and-Order Stores to Brick-and-Mortar Stores...

Quality: 1st / 61%

The Impact of Gender on Purchase Decision and Buying Behaviour of Thai Consumers...

Academic Level: PHD

Quality: 1st / 73%

Why Manchester United Football Club Has Been One Of The Most Successful Sports Clubs In The World?...

Quality: 1st / 59%

Investigating the Impact of Employee Engagement on Organisational Performance During the Covid-19 Crisis....

Cognitive process of entrepreneurs in the examination of opportunity evaluation.....

Quality: 1st / 71%

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Business Management Dissertation

Human resource development in palestinian higher education, with special reference to evaluation..., the synergy between entrepreneurship and technological innovation and its role in organisational development..., the leadership styles of successful project managers – investigating the successful project delivery....

Quality: 1st / 79%

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Computer Science Dissertation

Automatic generation of control flow hijacking exploits for software vulnerabilities..., enabling smart healthcare applications through visible light communication networks....

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Automated generation of architectural feedback from software performance analysis results...

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A Bachelor Thesis in Computer Science: Developing Personality for a Wizard-Controlled Agent...

Quality: 1st / 74%

Investigating the Impact of Big Data on Automobile Industry Operations...

Outstanding examples of construction dissertation.

ResearchProspect provides valuable knowledge through research on real-time construction projects. Other areas that our experts have worked with include environmental engineering, transportation engineering, municipal engineering, water resources, and coastal engineering.

Construction Dissertation

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Gain insights from successful criminology dissertation examples to start your research in fields such as bio-criminology, criminalistics, penology, and sociology. View professionally written samples related to criminology to get inspiration to start working on your research.

Criminology Dissertation

Criminalization, social exclusion, and punishment: the united states prosecution of migrants....

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THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF REDUCED STREET LIGHTING ON CRIME: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY...

Family mass murder: an exploratory study of the role of arson..., best-quality design & merchandising dissertations.

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Design and Merchandising Dissertation

Fashion and sustainability: increasing knowledge about slow fashion..., early childhood education examples.

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Early Childhood Education Dissertation

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Economics Dissertation

Financial development, institutions and poverty reduction....

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Essays on International Trade and Economic Growth...

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Money Supply-Inflation Relationship in Postcommunist Russia...

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Education Dissertation

A critical exploration of the role of pedagogical documentation in a multimodal grade r classroom...., educating the reflective professional in teacher education: professional learning in teaching and in other professions...., impact of reasonable accommodations on disabled student–veteran higher educational achievement..., english teaching and the influence of gender..., top-rated engineering dissertations.

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Quality: 1st / 77%

Creative Methods for Sustainability Driven Innovation...

Event management.

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Event Management Dissertation

Motivation to attend to a cultural event and the role of social network on attendees' satisfaction..., a study on event management case: tomatkarnevalen..., dissertation samples for environmental management students.

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Environmental Management Dissertation

Sustainable and ethical fashion: study about the retail practices in the dutch fashion industry....

Quality: 1st / 63%

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Fashion Dissertation

The dark side of fast fashion – in search of consumers’ rationale behind the continued consumption of fast fashion..., user-generated content and brand engagement in the fashion industry....

Finance dissertations often involve investments and financial markets. In our finance dissertation examples, you can find economic policies, investment strategies, risk management techniques, financial models, fintech and traditional financial institutions. View these samples now.

Finance Dissertation

The impact of board characteristics on firm’s financial performance: evidence from the netherlands...., determinants of the returns on equity of largest portuguese public limited companies..., risk taking in financial markets: a behavioral perspective..., a study of financial risk management in the south korean financial market using var methodology..., impact of the global financial crisis 2008-2009 on the uk construction industry....

Quality: 1st / 69%

Creative Fine Art Dissertation Examples

Fine art dissertation explores the different artistic mediums and practices. From evolution of art movements and role of the artist in society to using technology for arts and its relationship with fields like literature and philosophy. Check out our fine art dissertation examples now.

Fine Arts Dissertation

Techno-humanity paintings: art as social commentary in the digital age...., synthesis..., the formation, circulation and exhibition of teaching collections for art and design education..., ritual and digital craftsmanship: imprudent practices ..., dissertations in graphic design.

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Graphic Design Dissertation

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Health Care Dissertation

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Cross-cultural human resource management - the role it plays in the success of different organisations..., international events management dissertation examples, international events management dissertation, international relations dissertations.

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International Relations Dissertation

How can just war theory help us assess a notion of legitimacy applied to the actions of non-state actors in conflict situations..., the influence of national interests on the eu´s common foreign and security policy..., quality dissertations in the area of law studies.

Use our law dissertation examples as the starting point for your research journey. They will help you with your topic selection, methodology, analysis, formatting, or just act as the reference point when you plan to hire us to write your dissertation, from family law and civil law to corporate law and criminal law.

Law Dissertation

Exploring perceptions of cultural difference in irb family sponsorship decisions..., a critical analysis of the perceptions of, and responses to, female child sex offenders..., transnational groups and tax avoidance: is the relevant law in the u.k., usa and in the eu in need of reform..., a critical evaluation of a force majeure clause in english contract law..., should countries implement a constitutional court for fundamental rights breaches..., free marketing dissertation examples for review.

Want to read research on the latest digital marketing trends or marketing campaigns? Review marketing dissertation examples to improve your research and impress your dissertation committee. These samples are also a testament to the quality of the work we provide and will help you trust us with your project.

Marketing Dissertation

The concept of sensory marketing..., study of the effectiveness of online marketing on integrated marketing communication..., a marketing enigma: consumer brand engagement with health and fitness brands..., an investigation into the effect of social media marketing and content marketing on consumer perception..., dissertations to review for graduate students in mba.

MBA dissertations help you apply your business knowledge to a real-world problem. Our professionally curated showcase research related to topics relevant to MBA like strategic management, leadership, finance, marketing, and more. We hope that the samples will help you formulate good research questions and present your findings in a compelling way.

MBA Dissertation

A study of the evolving needs of hiring managers in the business-to-business technology..., management information systems: a strategic tool for business..., media & design.

The media arts and design dissertations can be complicated for students, and it is better to let experts help you with them. To check out the quality of our work, browse through our media design dissertation examples in areas such as graphic design, communication methods, digital media, gaming, VFX, and much more.

Media Design Dissertation

The character of empty spaces - implementing character of things into graphic design..., newspaper coverage of refugees from mainland china between 1937 and 1941 in hong kong: a content analysis..., dissertation samples in nursing area.

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Nursing Dissertation

Mental health burden and attitudes and intention to seek mental health services in saudi women living...., a grounded theory of patient flow management within the emergency department...., a dissertation on sustainability competence: directions for nursing..., the experiences and needs of individuals with a variant of uncertain significance (vus) on genetic tests..., where does partnership with parents begin a study to explore nursery home visits from different perspectives...., political science.

Study the different areas of politics, such as comparative politics, American politics, public law, international politics, international relations, political behaviour, political law, and political theory etc. View our politics dissertation examples to better develop your ability to critically analyse political arguments.

Political Science Dissertation

The arab spring uprisings in geopolitical context...., prestige, humiliation and international politics.....

Quality: 1st / 80%

The Violence of Nostalgia: Conspiracy Theorism, White Nationalism, and Restoring American Exceptionalism...

Run forest run - a cross-national study on the effect of property rights and liberty on deforestation....

Engage with our philosophy dissertation examples to learn about the various branches including metaphysics ethics, epistemology, logic, Aristotle, and Kant etc. These will not only provide you with structure and clarity for your own dissertation, but will also help refine your critical thinking skills.

Philosophy Dissertation

The dialectical virtue of ideological reduction...., the case for teaching philosophy in schools...., theistic open futurism: a critical philosophical investigation..., project management dissertation examples.

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Project Management Dissertation

Challenges to adopting hybrid methodology: addressing organizational culture and change control..., impact of project planning on project success: moderating role of transformational leadership..., the most suitable project management methodology to be used in the it industry: comparison between traditional..., an evaluation of the impact of project production management and advanced analytics..., feeding and resource buffers in ccpm and the impact of their use in canadian home..., good quality psychology dissertation examples.

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Psychology Dissertation

Emotion profiles in dialectical behaviour therapy: early observations anticipate treatment outcome..., pathways from childhood sexual abuse to sexual risk behaviour in msm: a mixed methods study..., associations between parent stress, parent mobile technology use, and parenting behaviours on..., effects of thinking styles and gender on psychological well-being..., sociology samples.

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Sociology Dissertation

Moving beyond the gender binary: a critical analysis and review of contemporary scholarship..., environmental sociology: an analysis of trends..., new professionalism in the making – the case of the tourism sector..., sociology of water: power and politics..., sustainability.

Sustainability dissertations help you make a contribution to the field. The most common topics students often write about include renewable energy, resource management, deforestation, pollution, climate change, environmental policy, and social justice. Review our sustainability dissertation examples now.

Sustainability Dissertation

Fashion and sustainability: increasing knowledge about slow fashion through an educational..., creative methods for sustainability driven innovation..., supply chain management examples.

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Supply Chain Management Dissertation

Optimising global supply chain operations....

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Tourism Dissertation

Premium theology dissertations.

With theology dissertations, you can get a deep understanding of biblical theology, history, systematic or dogmatic theology, Christology, pneumatology, cosmology, anthropology, hamartiology, practical theology. So, view our theology dissertation examples now.

Theology Dissertation

“theism and ultimate explanation of the existence of god” against the countering..., trusted by over 1000,000 students.

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Dissertation Samples To Inspire Your Creativity

Are you new to writing dissertations and do not know where to start? ResearchProspect’s list of free dissertation examples is here not only to inspire you but also to showcase the quality of our work so you can get stress-free and leave your dissertations to our professionals.

Viewing samples of previously written dissertations allows you to properly structure your dissertation, and you can check how to implement the formatting style coherently.

Additionally, with the help of dissertation samples, you can grasp the approach towards common elements in every dissertation. Every dissertation sample mostly follows the same structure, with main sections - abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, and reference list.

Furthermore, checking out well-written examples of dissertations enables you to appreciate what makes a strong research project, and you can implement those elements in your own dissertation as well.

We have samples for everyone. If you need undergraduate dissertation examples or PhD dissertation examples in your field of study, just browse through our easy-to-use search bar.

Dissertation Examples For Different Academic Levels

You should know that dissertations vary on different academic levels. They have distinct requirements, like the number of words and references, and are also graded differently. Therefore, you should check for dissertation examples on your particular study level if you want to know exactly what to write.

ResearchProspect has thousands of dissertation samples prepared for you at different study levels. Moreover, if you still have issues, you can connect with our expert dissertation writers to work on your dissertation for you.

Undergraduate Dissertation Examples

It is not compulsory to write a dissertation at an undergraduate level. However, some fields, like social sciences, may require you to write one. They are generally 8000–15000 words long. If you are an undergraduate student looking for inspiration, you can view our subject-wise samples.

Masters Dissertation Samples

Need to write a masters dissertation but don't know where to start? ResearchProspect has dissertations that show the readers how research is done in the field. Our examples are enough to get you started with your own research.

PhD Dissertation Examples

PhD dissertations are the most complicated and are compulsory to get a doctorate degree. You have to include proper references and appendices. It is typically around 70000–100000 words. Don’t feel anxious, though. You can use our samples for inspiration, and if it is not enough, our experts will be happy to assist you with writing one.

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Real-World Samples From Actual Studies

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• How It Works

Dissertation Structure & Layout 101:

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

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

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

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

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

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

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

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

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

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

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

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36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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