You’ve always had the feeling that your academic path has been difficult. You were willing to put in the time and effort that the problems demanded. However, you had no idea how difficult it would be until you reached the last stage: the layout and substance of dissertation chapters.
Well, if you’re a Ph.D. student and you’re about to start your dissertation then you must be juggling all these questions,
- Which style should you go with?
- How long should each chapter be in a dissertation?
- Which chapter should you start with?
- What if you discover you’ve overlooked a key issue and need to rewrite the entire paper?
- How do you plan your time so that you may complete this assignment without compromising your comfort?
No need to worry! In this guide, all the answers are being discussed which will surely you in excelling your Ph.D. dissertation.
How Many Chapters Are in a PhD Dissertation?
The dissertation is a major piece of academic work that requires a great deal of time and effort. It is a document that summarizes your research, describes the methods you used, and presents your findings. The main goal when writing a dissertation is to provide sufficient evidence to support your thesis statement while also offering new ideas or insights into the topic at hand (Blair, 2016). The length of your chapters depends on how much information you want to present and how well it’s organized according to your professor’s guidelines and requirements
The average length for a Ph.D. dissertation is around 100 pages, but this number can vary depending on the topic and the level at which you are studying. For example, if you are doing a Ph.D. in Science, it will be longer than one done in Humanities as Science topics tend to be more complex and hence require more space to discuss them fully. The same applies to Master’s Dissertations as well!
PhD Dissertation Structure
In general, most Ph.D. dissertations have about five chapters; excluding the abstract, conclusion, and bibliography section. However, some can have fewer or more depending on their topic and how much information they need to cover. But the structure of the Ph.D. dissertation remains the same which is discussed below,
1. Dissertation Abstract
The abstract is the first paragraph of your dissertation. It is the section to which the audience will devote the most attention. Don’t take this as an introduction, though. It’s distinct. It’s designed to be a wrap-up of the full study process, including findings and debate. It condenses a dissertation into a single, comprehensible paragraph of up to 150 words.
2. Chapter: 01- Introduction
The focus of your dissertation must be stated in the introduction. It should describe why you selected this particular topic and how you intend to address it via your study. More importantly, it must demonstrate how your activities are relevant to academic and scientific communities. Many Ph.D. applicants struggle with this initial stage. They believe they don’t know how to write a dissertation since they can’t get past the introduction. In such cases, they take help from an online PhD dissertation writing service to assist them in writing the best introduction
3. Chapter: 02- Literature Review
Students usually underestimate the impact of their dissertation’s literature review. They start with this chapter and skip through it, believing that they should move on to the “more critical” portions of the work.
The literature review isn’t only a collection of references. This is referred to as a bibliographical, and it is a distinct part of the conclusion of the text. Each reference should include a summary of roughly 100 words in the literature review. You must demonstrate how it relates to your study.
4. Chapter: 03- Methodology
This is the area that students are most perplexed about. They have no idea how to compose a dissertation chapter that isn’t grounded on study and imagination. This one should go through the process’s precise steps. You’ll describe the strategies you’ll employ and how they’ll assist you to reach your objective. The formal, scientific tone is frequently an issue. Although the process adheres to factual descriptions, it should still be interesting to read.
5. Chapter: 04- Result
There’s no denying that the Results section of the dissertation is the most crucial. All of your research and experimentation paid off. You performed a set of instructions that you specified in the previous chapters. You must now describe what you have discovered.
Statistics, figures, graphs, and verifiable facts are included in this section. It is sometimes the most difficult portion of the dissertation to complete. That is why, no matter how intricate the intricacies are, you must make it “Interesting”.
Many Ph.D. candidates often require only the Results from online services. They’ve conducted the research and have the results. They simply don’t know how to deliver things in the most comprehensible manner. In such instances, students turn to dissertation writing services for assistance.
6. Chapter: 05- Discussion
This is the most essential chapter in the dissertation. The Results section contains facts and figures. But, given the context of the dilemma you presented in the opening, what do they mean? How does this information assist you in resolving that issue? It’s no surprise that the Discussion chapter of a Ph.D. dissertation is one of the most difficult for students to write.
7. Conclusion
Once you’ve completed all of your dissertation sections, you’re ready to move on to the last one: the conclusion. It should be a condensed version of all you’ve stated. It will repeat the premise, discuss the methodology, go through the results quickly, and explain how they assist you in solving an issue.
Don’t write the same things that you’ve written in the abstract. These are two distinct portions of the dissertation. You should just create a unified issue to a logical conclusion in the conclusion and recommend further research.
8. Bibliography
After a dissertation, the bibliography is a list of all the sources utilized and recommended for additional study by the author. The section must include enough information about the origin to allow it to independently verify it. The structure of the section is determined by the dissertation style. There are a variety of standards, like Harvard, MLA, and APA.
9. Proofread
Last but not least you should revise and proofread your dissertation before submitting it since this way it will help you in identifying any errors and will also assist you in avoiding plagiarism. You can also hire an online proofreading service to perform it for you because you’re so invested in your paper that you won’t be able to identify all of its shortcomings from the perspective of a reader. They’ll point out the flaws and discuss them with you. Also, the paper’s logical flow, language, and style will be improved.
Some Key Points to Remember When Writing a Dissertation
When you are writing a dissertation, it is very important to remember that you are writing for your audience. The main purpose of your thesis report is to get the knowledge and understanding of your topic from the readers. There are some key points that you need to keep in mind,
- You need to be careful about how you write the topic title. It should be able to grab the attention of the reader and make them want to read more about it.
- You need to ensure that you have an introduction section and an executive summary section. This will help you in giving a brief idea about what your topic is all about.
- It is also important that you have a detailed body section that has all the relevant content regarding your topic. You can also include any additional information such as graphs, charts, or any other visual aid that helps in making things more clearly for the reader.
- You should make sure that you include references whenever possible so that people who want to check out more on your topic can do so easily.
Final Thought
The dissertation is a very important part of a degree program and hence, it is essential that students effectively present their work so that they can do justice to their assignments. Still, if you’re confused or are struggling with any chapter you can always seek assistance from dissertation chapter help where experts assist in writing any chapter of your dissertation. From abstract to the conclusion they provide excellent service in each part.
References
BAW.2020. How to Structure Your Dissertation – From Start till Success?. Online Available at: <https://bestassignmentwriter.co.uk/blog/how-to-structure-your-dissertation-from-start-till-success/> (Accessed: 14 June 2022).
Blair, L., 2016. Writing a graduate thesis or dissertation. In Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation. Brill.
