The length of a dissertation varies between study level and country, but is generally around 10,000-12,000 words at undergraduate level, 15,000-25,000 words at master’s level and up to 50,000 words or more at PhD level.
For some advanced degrees (particularly PhDs) you may need to attend an oral examination, which is known as a viva in some countries (short for viva voce, which is Latin for ‘live voice’). The viva will usually start with you giving a short presentation of your work to two or three professors, which is then followed by a questioning/answering period which could last up to two hours.
Finally, it pretty much goes without saying, but it’s definitely not advisable to pay someone to write your dissertation for you or otherwise cheat in any way. It’s not worth the risk, and the dissertation is meant to be your chance to let your skills shine through.
A dissertation or thesis is a long piece of academic writing based on original research. It is usually submitted as part of a PhD or master’s, and sometimes as part of a bachelor’s degree. Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you’ve ever done, and it can be intimidating to know where to start. This article helps you work out exactly what you should include and where to include it. You can also download our full dissertation template in .docx or Google Docs format. The template includes a ready-made table of contents with notes on what to include in each chapter. You can adapt it to your own requirements.
Not all dissertations are structured exactly the same – the form your research takes will depend on your location, discipline, topic and approach. For example, 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.
If you have used a lot of abbreviations in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.If you have used a lot of highly specialized terms that will not be familiar to your reader, it might be a good idea to include a glossary. List the terms alphabetically and explain each term with a brief description or definition.
In the introduction, you set up your dissertation’s topic, purpose, and relevance, and tell the reader what to expect in the rest of the dissertation.
Establish your research topic, giving necessary background information to contextualize your work
Narrow down the focus and define the scope of the research
Before you start on your research, you should have conducted a literature review to gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic.
The methodology chapter or section describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its validity.Your aim in the methodology is to accurately report what you did, as well as convincing the reader that this was the best approach to answering your research questions or objectives.
Next, you report the results of your research. You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses, or themes.In some disciplines, the results section is strictly separated from the discussion, while in others the two are combined. For example, in qualitative methods like ethnography, the presentation of the data will often be woven together with discussion and analysis.
The discussion is where you explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research questions. Here you should interpret the results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters.
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. The discussion should refer back to relevant sources to show how your results fit with existing knowledge.
The dissertation conclusion should concisely answer the main research question, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your central argument and emphasizing what your research has contributed.In some academic conventions, the conclusion refers to a short section that comes before the discussion: first you directly state your overall conclusions, then you discuss and interpret their meaning.
