Carrie Winstanley

Writing a dissertation shouldn’t mean panicking. If you plan ahead and know how to structure your work, you’ll achieve fantastic results. And guess what? You might even enjoy yourself; writing a dissertation can be a highly rewarding experience. Follow this guide to producing the best possible dissertation.Obeying the Dissertation Rules and RegulationsKeep yourself on the straight and narrow when writing your dissertation, not only because illegal practices can land you and your university or college in trouble, but also because you’re likely to get found out and marked down.

Many students doing a social science dissertation include empirical data (what you’ve found out) in their dissertation; some students analyse existing data; and a significant minority of students write theoretical papers, like an extended essay. You may have an idea of what you want to research and a sense of the viewpoint you’re coming from, but now you need more specific questions to answer.

A dissertation is just an important sounding name for a long essay – based on your own research. Writing a dissertation is an exciting, challenging, rewarding and often wonderful experience. At the same time it can be exhausting, time-consuming, frustrating and exasperating. The main parts of your dissertation Most dissertations follow the same basic structure and are made up of five parts: an abstract, introduction, methods and discussion, conclusions and references.

Keep yourself on the straight and narrow when writing your dissertation, not only because illegal practices can land you and your university or college in trouble, but also because you’re likely to get found out and marked down. You must keep your university regulations to hand as well as any course materials from your tutors about exact requirements.

It’s a good idea to have the contact details of the people in this list very handy when you’re writing your dissertation so you can call on them to help you out when necessary. Your tutor (or supervisor) Your course administration office people Any university or course support people The university library Any networks of fellow students or ‘academic’ friends who can help with work questions Your good mates with whom you can share reciprocal shoulder-crying, late night stressing and comfort sessions!

The quality and clarity of your writing has a significant impact on how your dissertation is marked. Make sure that it packs a punch, and reflects the hard work you’ve put into your project. Here are some top tips. Contact your support services if you know you struggle with writing. Explain the nature of the difficulty to your supervisor (also suggest what you can do to help yourself).

Different working patterns work for different people. You need to find the balance that’s right for you while writing your dissertation. It’s a good idea to make sure you are: Working in a study space that is well-laid out. Being honest with yourself and the people around you about how you are getting on. Working and referring to a clear plan for the overall project (with extra time included for anything unforeseen that may pop up).

Settling on a research question might take some time, and you may find that you refine it slightly as you begin researching. A workable question should: Link clearly to your field of study. Be possible to summarise in two sentences. Have been agreed with and signed off by your supervisor. Still pique your interest.

Before you make any decisions about the content of your dissertation, take a good look at your own strengths and weaknesses in the “art” of research. UK research councils have produced guidelines for postgraduate students to help them audit their research skills. The following checklist adapts some of the research councils’ ideas and adds others to make the guidelines relevant to undergraduate students doing dissertations.