Dissertation Writing in Practice: Turning Ideas into Text

5. Structuring and Signposting

Having considered the individual parts of the dissertation in earlier chapters, we can now look at putting the parts together. We indicated in Chapter 1 that there are different ways of doing this as there are different types of dissertation structure. In this chapter we first look at the different types of dissertation that are commonly found and then we discuss signposting, which is an important means of helping readers through your text. STRUCTURING THE DISSERTATION The structure of your dissertation will depend on the purpose and type of study you conduct, but it is likely to fall into one of the four basic types of dissertation described below. Factors which will affect the overall organisation and structure include: • whether you are reporting on a single study or multiple studies; • whether your research is experimental or topic-based; • whether your dissertation is based on papers you have already published. Table 5.1, illustrating Type 1 and Type 2 dissertations, shows ways in which dissertations based on a single study are usually structured. The same basic structures may be used for reporting on multiple studies as illustrated in Table 5.2. Structuring and Signposting 128 DISSERTATION WRITING IN PRACTICE Table 5.1 Single study dissertations Type 1: Single study Type 2: Single study Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Materials and method(s) Chapter 2 Literature Review Chapter 3 Results Chapter 3 Materials and method(s) Chapter 4 Discussion Chapter 4 Results Chapter 5 Conclusion(s) Chapter 5 Discussion Chapter 6 Conclusion(s) } Table 5.2 Multiple study dissertations Type 1: Multiple studies Type 2: Multiple studies Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Study 1 Chapter 2 Background to study Introduction and Literature Review Method(s) Results Discussion and conclusion(s) Chapter 3 Study 2 Chapter 3 Study 1 Introduction Introduction Method(s) Method(s) Results Results Discussion and conclusion(s) Discussion and conclusion(s) Chapter 4 Study 3 Chapter 4 Study 2 Introduction Introduction Method(s) Method(s) Results Results Discussion and conclusion(s) Discussion and conclusion(s) Chapter 5 Discussion Chapter 5 Study 3 Introduction Method(s) Results Discussion and conclusion(s) Chapter 6 Conclusion(s) Chapter 6 Discussion Chapter 7 Conclusion(s) Notice the brackets joining Chapters 4 and 5 of the Type 1 dissertation, indicating that these chapters are sometimes combined into a single chapter. 129 STRUCTURING AND SIGNPOSTING Although there is no prescribed number of studies for a dissertation to be considered complete, most frequently the number varies between two and four. In such multiple study dissertations, it is necessary to draw links between the different studies and that is the function of the introduction and of the discussion chapter (refer to Table 5.3), which you may combine with your conclusion as in a Type 1 single study dissertation. Type 1 and Type 2 structures are common for experimental studies in the sciences and social sciences. In other types of research, especially in the humanities, Type 3 structure, based around topics, is frequent. Table 5.3 illustrates such an organisational framework and provides an example from a PhD dissertation in philosophy. Each chapter here considers separate, though related, topics, but the threads from each are drawn together in a final concluding chapter. Table 5.3 Topic-based organisation Type 3: Topic-based Example (Philosophy) Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Topic 1 Chapter 2 Language, Thought Introduction and Action in Western Analysis/discussion Philosophy of topic/text etc. Chapter 3 Topic 2 Chapter 3 Names, Reality and Action Introduction Analysis/discussion of topic/text etc. Chapter 4 Topic 3 Chapter 4 Mohist Semantic Theory Introduction Analysis/discussion of topic/text etc. ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ Chapter 5 Knowledge and Cognition ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ Chapter 6 Persuasion ˝ ˝ ˝ ˝ Chapter 7 Theory of Action Chapter X Conclusion(s) Chapter 8 Conclusion 130 DISSERTATION WRITING IN PRACTICE The final type of dissertation (Type 4) based on published research articles is becoming increasingly common in some countries. Each article/ chapter needs to stand on its own and will therefore have its own introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion and conclusion. However, as noted in Chapter 1, the collected papers need an introductory chapter identifying the initial gap in research that links them together. Moreover, the findings need to be consolidated in an overall discussion, and a concluding chapter drawn from all the papers. Table 5.4 Compilation of research articles Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Background to the study...