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.

A great way of getting the data you need for your dissertation research question is by interviewing people. You can approach interviewing in a number of ways; the methods you choose depend on what you’re trying to find out. The kinds of methods you can choose include: Life history Paired Formal In-depth Narrative Racial or cultural groups However, the most common interview methods used for undergraduate dissertations are one-to-one, semi-structured or structured methods and I’m focusing on these methods in the following sections.

Many different ways exist to argue in a dissertation and what you choose to do depends on your research question, your field, and the available literature, amongst other things. However, some elements are to be expected in all fields regardless of the research question or the literature, and these include logic, coherence, careful use of evidence and clarity.

Having to write a dissertation proposal depends upon the university or institution that you’re attending. Even if a dissertation proposal isn’t a requirement, however, it’s a very useful exercise (and is certainly going to impress your supervisor, especially if it’s not part of your assessment). On some courses the research proposal is assessed and forms part of your final dissertation submission.

There are many different was to construct your arguments and present a logical dissertation. Degree programmes, fields of study, courses, modules and tutors vary with their attitudes to the use of the personal pronoun (I) in academic work. In some types of research, identifying yourself as a researcher and using ‘I’ is often absolutely essential, as your personal perspective is central to your argument.

After thinking through your philosophical standpoint and the kinds of data you’re going to need for your dissertation, you should have a clear understanding of what your research question involves. Your research question defines your project and marks the boundaries of your work, driving your data collection and data analysis and giving your data a clear purpose.

Nothing seems worse than having that cursor flashing at you in the top left-hand corner of a blank screen – it almost seems as if the cursor’s mocking you! Anyone who’s ever written anything substantial (like an essay for example) knows only too well the difficulty of getting that first paragraph down on the page and then being completely stuck.

Social science studies (including your dissertation), are about individuals, communities and societies. Even though you’re not carrying out a case study, questionnaire or interview when doing your research for your dissertation, you’re bound to be looking at an issue that involves people – and before starting off you need to sort out any ethical matters connected with your research.

Whether your data is quantitative or qualitative you need to present your data in a way that can be easily understood by the examiner. While you’re initially surveying your collection of data, it may not be immediately obvious how best to lay out your data so that your reader can make sense of your ideas. Always use a method for displaying your data that’s appropriate to your sample size.