Ultimate Guide on “How to Write a Dissertation

Most dissertation paper begins with a question. Consider all the topics and theories that interest you and think about how you can dig deep into that particular subject matter to know more. Now once you have the question in mind, it is time for you to search for the answers of the same. You should start by reading the academic research done before, the trade literature, the information published in the press, and of course the internet. Do remember that your dissertation paper will get only one shot at success and dissertation writing is not an easy job. So get all the help you need. Be it dissertation consulting or asking a dissertation advisor, check out all your options while you proceed.

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Use the links below to jump to specific sections:

• What is a Dissertation Paper?
• What is a Literature Review?
• Dissertation Methodology
• What to put in the “Findings” section?
• How to prepare the analysis chapter of your dissertation?
• How to write a dissertation conclusion?
• What is a Bibliography?

The more you need about the dissertation topic, the more you will come to know. This preliminary knowledge about the subject will help you identify a legit research purpose for your dissertation or dissertation paper. Only once you have identified the purpose of the research of your dissertation paper, you can actually start writing the proposal. Your entire research proposal writing will be centered on the purpose of the research and how you consider achieving it. The research proposal for your dissertation will include the purpose of the study, the significance of the research to be done, a brief review of literature on the topic and the theoretical framework of the proposed dissertation, the research questions and any hypothesis you propose, the way in which you intend to collect all the data and analyze them and finally the bibliography of the previous researches cited in the brief literature review.

These are normally the elements of good dissertation proposal writing. It is important you consult a good thesis advisor and take help from any dissertation consulting services because your research proposal needs to be crisp and accurate and should address a researchable problem rather than a vague topic. This kind of guidance provided by the dissertation writing services allows you to understand the manner in which you should approach your dissertation paper and the extent to which you should actually explore it in order to find a valid research proposal.

What’s the Purpose of Your Dissertation Paper?

You might be doing your Master’s or you are writing your Doctoral thesis paper, no matter what topic you are aiming to research, the stated purpose of the thesis paper will define the theme and essence of your dissertation writing. It will provide the necessary structure and direction for the research. The defined purpose of the dissertation paper will help you define the research goals and the research goals will consequently help you define the basic research questions. These research questions will help you determine the research methodology. So while writing your dissertation paper or your thesis paper, you must make sure that the research purposes are defined accurately and actually provided you with the baseline to evaluate answerable research questions.

It is advised not to define the purpose in a vague and ambiguous manner as it will eventually hamper the future flow of the research and will make it more challenging for you to meet the research objectives. Whatever, you mention in your research proposal needs to be accurately followed and you cannot just deviate from the predefined research objectives, mid-way through the dissertation writing. 

The same purpose you state in the research proposal needs to be re-stated in the first chapter of your dissertation. Now, along with the purpose it is important that you also explain the significance of the study. The significance of a research paper is addressed by the manner in which it will contribute to the overall theoretical knowledge of the subject matter, along with its scope of practical application in the field. For instance, if you are doing a dissertation on consumer behavior in a specific market, the significance of your study will be evaluated by the extent to which your study contributes to the already existing theoretical framework of consumer behavior and also at the same time how the companies can benefit, from the results obtained from the study, while designing their marketing strategies for different target consumers.

Ph.D. students also need to explain how their thesis paper can make an original contribution to the body of knowledge in their respective disciplines. It is essential that the research proposal along with the first chapter of the dissertation paper is thoroughly developed as without a well-defined purpose of the research and strong theoretical grounding the dissertation paper is fundamentally flawed.

Here is a very interesting video describing the basic steps and approach to writing a university-level dissertation paper. Like this, you can find and avail of many other thesis writers online who can guide you to write an excellent dissertation paper.

Does your Literature Review Cover Everything the Dissertation needs?

A literature review is that specific section, where you tend to lose a bit of track and eventually end up writing more irrelevant content in your dissertation paper. A literature review is not about the size or the number of previous works you ought to cite. Ideally, you shouldn’t constrain yourself by pre-defining the number of words or the number of pages your literature review should cover. Though it is essential that the review of literature covers a substantial part of your dissertation writing there are no hard-and-fast rules as to the number of pages it must cover. The quality of the review should be the priority and not the quantity you put in. The literature review should complement the theme and purpose of the thesis paper, mentioned earlier in the research proposal and the introductory chapter of your dissertation paper. It should not break the rhythm of your writing but rather make the readers more engaged thereby getting a clear view of the theoretical framework you aim to define through your study.

It is important here to understand that your research must define an absolutely new knowledge framework and for that reason, it is essential that you critically evaluate the previous research on the topic. In a way, the literature review section should justify the uniqueness of the purpose of the study. There are certain things you need to make sure of while conducting a thorough review of the literature.

1. The previous research should have followed similar research objectives to yours.
2. The research methodology, mentioned in the literature, might not exactly match what you have in mind, but nevertheless, the basic aim and purpose of the study should match.
3. You should specifically mention and analyze the findings obtained from each of the literature, you evaluate.
4. You must always, without fail, add a concluding paragraph in your literature review section. In this paragraph you need to specify the results and achievements of all the previous research, hence, thereby justifying what value your research might bring forward to the existing knowledge framework.

For instance, if you are conducting a study on the consumer behavior in the unorganized restaurant market of New York, a study covering the consumer behavior of the fast food market of China will be a good literature to review as it will essentially help you to understand the parameters on which the research can be conducted.

The aim of the literature review is not only to prove a point about the fact that your research objectives are unique but same time also helps you to add to your knowledge about the approach you must take and the tools and instruments you must adopt in order to conduct the research, successfully.

Here is a nice video to help you understand how you should approach and write the literature review section of your dissertation paper.

Is your Methodology section, clearly understood?

This section of your dissertation paper must describe and also justify the data-gathering method for your thesis. Do remember that you have already mentioned the objectives and purpose of your research and for that reason, the methodology section of your research must be aligned with the pre-defined objectives of the research.

You should ideally begin by describing the method you choose while providing justification for the same. For instance, if you choose primary data collection as a method of acquiring information, you need to provide justification and proper reasoning for considering it as an option. Your justification is critical as it not only strengthens your argument, for the choice you made but also at the same time it helps you deduce whether or not any other data collection methodology could be used. It is important that you cite the previous literature while writing the justification of your choice and narrate how the same data collection technique helped the previous researchers and hence will also essentially help your dissertation to achieve the goals.

In the same section, you also need to detail every step of the data gathering and analysis method. Many students tend to underestimate the importance of this section of the research but it is essential that you mention every single point so that your thesis advisor gets a clear view of the proceedings. Though it is true that this section varies depending upon the nature of the methodology used by the researcher but there are a few sub-sections that this particular section must follow:

• Description of the Research Design: Your entire research design (the one you have mentioned briefly in your research proposal) must be explained in vivid detail.
• Describe the Population: Your methodology section must clearly mention the population you will target for fetching the required information for your research. Your choice should be well justified explaining why you tend to choose the population and how the feedback obtained from them will help you achieve the research objectives. This section must also address the sampling technique you tend to use along with a justification of the same. In ideal cases, the sampling strategy should align with the research objectives. However, some students are tempted to use “convenient sampling” as a basic strategy but it is wrong. Even when you are using convenient sampling as your strategy, you must make sure to justify it strongly and this justification should explain why it is ideal for the research to have such a sampling strategy in place.
• Develop Instruments: This section also will need you to develop and explain the instruments. For instance, if you are designing a questionnaire for your research, you need to explain and justify each question in the mix thereby explaining how each of them (the questions) will help you achieve the research goals. You should remember that at the time of writing the methodology section, you haven’t actually acquired any sort of data, but nonetheless, you need to explain how you will gather the data, categorize and code them for further analysis.
• Data Analysis Method: Whether you intend to conduct a statistical analysis or a qualitative assessment of themes and categories, you need to mention and justify the method. This sub-section of the dissertation paper must align with all the previous sub-sections and also at the same time must provide a clear narrative of how the data analysis method helps in achieving the pre-mentioned research goals.

Here is a very informative video regarding the manner in which the Methodology section should be addressed and how you should go about it:

What to put in the “Findings” section?

You should remember that if you tend to separate your “Findings” section from the “Discussion and Analysis”, the former will only showcase the results of your data analysis. Hence, this chapter will not discuss the previous literature and/or the implications of your data analysis. Rather this section will focus on mentioning the results of your data analysis and whether or not the before-stated hypothesis is met. In the case of theoretical studies, this section will list down the findings obtained through the data collection methodology, direct quotes from interviews, and paraphrasing feedback obtained from questionnaires among other such retrieved information.

How to Discuss and Analyze the Data?

Before starting this section, you must realize that you have already mentioned the results of your analysis, in the previous section, so there is practically no point stating them again. The purpose of this section is not to re-state the findings but to analyze and discuss what the findings mean in relation to the theoretical body of the knowledge. On many occasions, the students fail to understand what exactly to write in this section but this is perhaps the most critical section in the context of the entire research since it is where all your literature reviews, data collection, and data analysis converge to the single point to prove whether or not the research goals are being met.

You should ideally begin by discussing your results in relation to the theoretical framework as discussed in the literature review section of your dissertation paper. In the case of qualitative research, you can also introduce new literature, supporting your arguments. This section also should mention how and why these findings are relevant to the practitioners and professionals working in the industry. Research is considered to be incomplete in absence of practical implications of the results.

Now if you are a Doctoral student pursuing your Ph.D., then in this section you must also mention the pedagogical implications of the study. You clarify and recommend how your findings will help in the overall educational environment in the field of your research.

This chapter makes way for the “limitations of the study”. Though mostly termed in a negative manner, the limitations of a study evaluate the scope of future research on the same theoretical framework. It essentially provides the opportunity for enrichment, as far as the research is concerned.

How to Conclude?

Thesis advisors always recommend that the previously mentioned research objectives (mentioned in the dissertation research proposal) are re-mentioned while writing the conclusion section of the dissertation paper. While re-stating the objectives you should discuss how each of the objectives is met through your dissertation research and how you conclude the dissertation paper backed by your research findings and analysis.

Is a Bibliography important?

Sometimes in the maze of everything related to a long dissertation paper, you tend to mess up with the bibliography section thereby losing valuable marks. The dissertation writing services have professional thesis writers who have long experiences in detailed dissertation bibliography writing and thesis annotation and these professionals in the form of dissertation writers and dissertation advisors can help you add that extra spark to your dissertation paper.

Sometimes when you are writing a dissertation paper you ought to feel lonely and frustrated as at times you won’t get time and scope to do the research. For that reason, it is important that you choose a dissertation writing help online who can guide you as a personal coach throughout the tenure of your college dissertation. HelpWithAssignment.com is a well-known dissertation writing service provider having dissertation writers with rich academic backgrounds. Why take risk of getting a lower grade when you can avail the best dissertation consulting online? Dissertation writing is always a tricky proposition as it not only carries a lot of weight as per as your college grades are concerned but also at the same time it covers a lot of time in your academic calendar. For that reason, it is important that you stay focused on the dissertation paper and get all the help required for your dissertation writing and thesis writing services.

Few useful resources for writing your dissertation

1. Top 5 Tips For Writing A Master Dissertation
2. How to Get Dissertation Help Via the Internet
3. Rules for writing a Dissertation
4. Guidelines for writing methodology for a dissertation proposal
5. Guidelines for writing a good dissertation proposal