elt masters dissertations winners

• MA Graduate Garry Hobbs wins The Master's Dissertation Award

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IOE alumnus’s MA dissertation awarded a major prize in language testing

22 March 2019

UCL Institute of Education (IOE) alumnus Chi Lai Heskey Tsang (MA Applied Linguistics) has won the 2018 Caroline Clapham IELTS Master's Award for his dissertation.

The award is given to an English Language dissertation that “makes the most significant contribution to the field of language testing”.

His dissertation, entitled ‘Examining Washback on Learning from a Sociocultural Perspective: The Case of a Graded Approach to English Language Testing in Hong Kong’, was supervised by Dr Talia Isaacs (UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics). The dissertation was also commended for the 2018 ELT Masters Dissertation Award for its potential impact on English language teaching.

Heskey presented his dissertation and received a winner’s cheque at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) in Atlanta, United States.

Dr Isaacs said: “This is an outstanding, carefully constructed, ambitiously conducted dissertation that approaches washback on learning from a sociocultural perspective.

“This is the first empirical study, to my knowledge, that examines washback effects in Hong Kong’s HKDSE-English, a high-stakes test that helps determine test-takers’ career prospects and educational futures. The dissertation moves beyond existing small-scale washback studies to examine intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions by combining qualitative elements with advanced statistical modelling.

“The study argues for the adoption of a fairer, more scientific way to inform test-takers’ decision-making that takes into account their individual differences and seeks to empower test takers’ voices. Congratulations to Chi Lai Heskey Tsang”.

• MA Applied Linguistics
• UCL Centre for Applied Linguistics
• Department of Culture, Communication and Media

Photo credit: Dr Gad Lim

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British Council ELT (English Language Teaching) Master's Dissertation Awards 2021

• Jordan, E. (External reviewer)
• International Education Institute
• University of St Andrews

Activity : Examination types › External reviewing

Description

• English language
• English for Academic Purposes
• Higher Education
• language teaching

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https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/elt-masters-dissertations/elt-masters-dissertations-winners/2020-2021-winners

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Programme structure: TESOL

The TESOL programme can be studied full-time or part-time. To graduate with a Master's degree, you will need to study a number of compulsory and option courses and complete a dissertation.

Masters degrees at the University of Edinburgh comprise 180 credits. The first 120 credits make up a Postgraduate Diploma and assuming an average mark of 50% or more is achieved, students can progress to the final 60 credits of the programme which is known as the dissertation component. Successful completion of the 180 credits leads to the award of MSc .   

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in theory and practice surrounding language teaching and learning and are led by insights from our own research and publications.

Teaching mainly consists of lectures, which include interactive input sessions, followed by workshops, consisting of smaller discussion groups, where you will benefit from being the centre of the activity and receiving individual attention.  

Compulsory courses:

• Language and the Learner  (20 credits)
• Second Language Teaching Curriculum  (20 credits)
• TESOL Methodology  (20 credits)
• Sources of Knowledge: Understanding and analysing research literature  (10 credits)
• Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions and Praxis  (10 credits)

Option courses may include:

• Bilingual Education (20 credits)
• Critical literacies and critical pedagogies in L1 and L2 contexts  (20 credits)
• Evaluation and Design of TESOL Materials  (20 credits)
• Intercultural Language Learner Identity (EDUA11428)
• Investigating Individual Learner Differences  (20 credits)
• Language Awareness for Second Language Teachers  (20 credits)
• Language Testing  (20 credits)
• Online Language Learning  (20 credits)
• Second Language Teacher Education  (20 credits)
• Teaching Languages to Young Learners  (20 credits)
• Teaching Text Across Borders  (20 credits)
• Text, Discourse and Language Teaching  (20 credits)

Please note that courses and course content may change each year.

Should you wish to study part-time, please contact the Programme Director to discuss structure and courses.

Course descriptions (2024-25)

This course gave me an opportunity to think critically and engage with concepts that were valuable to other courses. [The course organiser's] detailed responses to final course assessment was very helpful; I will be able to employ the recommendations to improve performance in future assessments. Sources of Knowledge: Understanding and analysing research literature - nominated for Outstanding Course in the EUSA Teaching Awards 2021

You will need to read extensively in preparation for lectures and workshops as well as course assignments, requiring you to demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate concepts and literature, and apply theory to practice. Other forms of assessment include presentations, lesson plans and reflective diaries.

Dissertation

On satisfactory completion of programme courses, you will produce an independently researched 12,000-word dissertation. You may choose any TESOL-related topic that is of interest to you and of relevance to your teaching context.

E xamples of previous dissertation topics include:

• Adapting an Egyptian primary school EFL (English as a Foreign Language) coursebook by adding authentic texts and communicative exercises.
• How to apply intercultural pragmatics in Business English speaking classes in a Polish private school.
• Investigating grammatical and structural errors in argumentative writing of 2 nd year Chinese English major students.
• Learner corpora in contrast: The use of delexicalized verbs by learners at different proficiency levels.
• Students’ reaction to feedback in an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher training course.

You will be well-supported in the dissertation process. Each student is assigned to a staff member who supervises their study. Dissertation supervision occurs in groups and one-to-one tutorials. One of the benefits of our large department is the wide range of staff skills to draw upon, so supervisors are more likely to be specialists in your area of research.

We also offer five programme tutorial lectures in the Spring semester to help students navigate through each step of the dissertation, as well as a year-long Dissertation Support Strand lecture series, focusing on Research Design. 

Each year the programme team submits one outstanding dissertation to the British Council for the ELT Masters Dissertation Award. Previous students who have entered the national competition include one winner (Thomas Jameson) and three finalists (Natalia Blackman, James Scholl, Richard Wilson).

Masters programmes can be demanding and new cultural and learning contexts may also challenge students who come from a variety of cultural and educational backgrounds. To address students’ academic and social needs, we have a number of systems in place.

In your first weeks, you will be allocated a Student Advisor, who will help to guide you should academic or pastoral questions or challenges arise.

Weekly or bi-weekly programme tutorial sessions take place to support you academically and help with a variety of programme issues.

We offer additional lectures and workshops related to specific learning needs such as critical reading, understanding assessment, intercultural communication, and other topics.

Our staff are very involved in the professional development of our students and are regularly nominated by students for EUSA (Edinburgh University Students’ Association) awards.   

Combine theory and practice

Being a member of our academic community provides you with the opportunity to take part in visits to schools in Scotland where you can access real classrooms and gain insights into teaching and learning in a new educational environment.

Research activity in Language Education and TESOL is taking a new and exciting turn. The old ETAL seminar series is currently being revised to take these changes into account - watch this space for updates.

Students are also encouraged to join university groups and associations, like the Edinburgh University Language Education Society, as well as international academic communities, such as the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL).

Edinburgh University Language and Education Society

International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

British Association for Applied Linguistics

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Home > College, Department, or Program > CALE > English > TESL Theses

Teaching English as a Second Language Masters Thesis Collection

Theses/dissertations from 2020 2020.

Teaching in hagwons in South Korea: a novice English teacher’s autoethnography , Brittany Courser

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

“Racism doesn’t exist anymore, so why are we talking about this?”: An action research proposal of culturally responsive teaching for critical literacy in democratic education , Natalie Marie Giles

Stylistic imitation as an English-teaching technique : pre-service teachers’ responses to training and practice , Min Yi Liang

Telling stories and contextualizing lived experiences in the Cuban heritage language and culture: an autoethnography about transculturation , Tatiana Senechal

“This is the oppressor’s language, yet I need it to talk to you”: a critical examination of translanguaging in Russian speakers at the university level , Nora Vralsted

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Multimodal Approaches to Literacy and Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University Level , Ghader Alahmadi

Educating Saudi Women through Communicative Language Teaching: A Bi-literacy Narrative and An Autoethnography of a Saudi English Teacher , Eiman Alamri

The value of journaling on multimodal materials: a literacy narrative and autoethnography of an experienced Saudi high school English teacher , Ibrahim Alamri

Strategic Contemplation as One Saudi Mother’s Way Of Reflecting on Her Children’s Learning Only English in the United States: An Autoethnography and Multiple Case Study of Multilingual Writers at the College Level , Razan Alansari

“If you wanted me to speak your language then you should have stayed in your country”: a critical ethnography of linguistic identity and resiliency in the life of an Afghan refugee , Logan M. Amstadter

Comparing literate and oral cultures with a view to improving understanding of students from oral traditions: an autoethnographic approach , Carol Lee Anderson

Practical recommendations for composition instructors based on a review of the literature surrounding ESL and identity , Patrick Cornwall

One size does not fit all: exploring online-language-learning challenges and benefits for advanced English Language Learners , Renee Kenney

Understanding the potential effects of trauma on refugees’ language learning processes , Charis E. Ketcham

Let's enjoy teaching life: an autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher's two years of teaching English in a private girls' secondary school in Japan , Danielle Nozaka

Developing an ESP curriculum on tourism and agribusiness for a rural school in Nicaragua: a retrospective diary , Stan Pichinevskiy

A Literacy Narrative of a Female Saudi English Teacher and A Qualitative Case Study: 12 Multilingual Writers Identify Challenges and Benefits of Daily Writing in a College Composition Class , Ghassoon Rezzig

Proposed: Technical Communicators Collaborating with Educators to Develop a Better EFL Curriculum for Ecuadorian Universities , Daniel Jack Williamson

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

BELL HOOKS’ “ENACTMENT OF NON-DOMINATION” IN THE “PRACTICE OF SPEAKING IN A LOVING AND CARING MANNER”: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF A SAUDI “WIDOW’S SON” , Braik Aldoshan

WHEN SPIRITUALITY AND PEDAGOGY COLLIDE: ACKNOWLEDGING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND VALUES IN THE ESL CLASSROOM , Carli T. Cumpston

HERITAGE LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE: A MEXICAN AMERICAN MOTHER’S SUCCESS WITH RAISING BILINGUAL CHILDREN , Maria E. Estrada-Loehne

TEACHING THE BIOGRAPHY OF PEARL S. BUCK: DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE READING STRATEGIES FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS , Nichole S. La Torre

An Autoethnography of a Novice ESL Teacher: Plato’s Cave and English Language Teaching in Japan , Kevin Lemberger

INQUIRY-BASED PHILOSOPHICAL DIALOGUE FOR ESL COLLEGE COMPOSITION AND FOR CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS , Aiko Nagabuchi

A TRIPLE CASE STUDY OF TWO SAUDI AND ONE ITALIAN LANGUAGE LEARNERS' SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF TARGET LANGUAGE (TL) SPEAKING PROFICIENCY , Jena M. Robinson

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

"I am from Epifania and Tomas": an autoethnography and bi-literacy narrative of a Mexican American orchard workers' daughter , Brenda Lorena Aguilar

Technology use in young English language learners: a survey of Saudi parents studying in the United States , Hamza Aljunaidalsayed

Bilingualism of Arab children in the U.S.: a survey of parents and teachers , Omnia Alofii

College-level ELLs in two English composition courses: the transition from ESL to the mainstream , Andrew J. Copley

Increasing multimedia literacy in composition for multilingual writers: a case study of art analysis , Sony Nicole De Paula

Multilingual writers' unintentional plagiarism: action research in college composition , Jacqueline D. Gullon

Games for vocabulary enrichment: teaching multilingual writers at the college level , Jennifer Hawkins

Identifying as author: exploring the pedagogical basis for assisting diverse students to discover their identities through creatively defined literacy narratives , Amber D. Pullen

Saltine box full of dreams: one Mexican immigrant woman's journey to academic success , Adriana C. Sanchez

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Teaching the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder: fostering a media literacy approach for multilingual writers , Kelly G. Hansen

Implementing a modified intercultural competency curriculum in an integrated English 101 classroom , Kathryn C. Hedberg

"Don't wake me, my desk is far too comfortable": an autoethnography of a novice ESL teacher's first year of teaching in Japan , Delaney Holland

ESL ABE, VESL, and bell hooks' Democratic education: a case study of four experienced ESL instructors , Michael E. Johnson

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Using Media to Teach Grammar in Context and UNESCO Values: A Case Study of Two English Teachers and Students from Saudi Arabia , Sultan Albalawi

A Double Case Study of Latino College Presidents: What Younger Generations Can Learn From Them , Sara Aymerich Leiva

WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK IN THE L2 WRITING CLASSROOM , Daniel Ducken

Academic Reading and Writing at the College Level: Action Research in a Classroom of a homogeneous Group of Male Students from Saudi Arabia , Margaret Mount

Reflections on Teaching and Host Mothering Chinese Secondary Students: A Novice ESL Teacher’s Diary Study and Autoethnography , Diane Thames

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Peer editing in composition for multilingual writers at the college level , Benjamin J. Bertrand

Educating Ana: a retrospective diary study of pre-literate refugee students , Renee Black

Social pressure to speak English and the effect of English language learning for ESL composition students in higher education , Trevor Duston

Poetry in translation to teach ESL composition at the college level , Peter M. Lacey

Using media to teach a biography of Lincoln and Douglass: a case study of teaching ESL listening & viewing in college composition , Pui Hong Leung

Learning how to learn: teaching preliterate and nonliterate learners of English , Jennifer L. Semb

Non-cognitive factors in second language acquisition and language variety: a single case study of a Saudi male English for academic purposes student in the United States , Nicholas Stephens

Teaching English in the Philippines: a diary study of a novice ESL teacher , Jeffrey Lee Svoboda

ARABIC RHETORIC: MAIN IDEA, DEVELOPMENT, PARALLELISM, AND WORD REPETITION , Melissa Van De Wege

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Video games and interactive technology in the ESL classroom , Melody Anderson

English as a second language learners and spelling performance in university multilingual writers , Nada Yousef Asiri

The communal diary, "... " (Naljeogi), transformative education, and writing through migrations: a Korean novice ESL teacher's diary and autoethnography , S. (Sangho) Lee

The benefits of intercultural interactions: a position paper on the effects of study abroad and intercultural competence on pre-service and active teachers of ESL , Bergen Lorraine McCurdy

The development and analysis of the Global Citizen Award as a component of Asia University America Program at Eastern Washington University , Matthew Ged Miner

The benefits of art analysis in English 101: multilingual and American writers respond to artwork of their choice , Jennifer M. Ochs

A novice ESL teacher's experience of language learning in France: an autoethnographic study of anomie and the "Vulnerable Self" , Christopher Ryan

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• ELT Master's Dissertations Award winners

2022 - 2023 winners

The Master's Dissertation Awards promote achievements of students on UK Master's programmes for work with the best potential for impact on ELT. Find out which dissertations won or received special commendations this year.

2022-2023 Awards

All dissertations are available to read in pdf format below.

Winning Dissertation

Mellidy Campbell-Lochrie ,   University of St Andrews A socio-political and cultural driven analysis of the representations of protected characteristics in UK-produced ELT textbooks, through the lens of the Equality Act (2010)

Special Commendations

Jack Duncan , Canterbury Christ Church University Motivation and out-of-class language learning

Phuoc Ha Thien Nguyen , Nottingham Trent University Investigating the content validity of the IELTS listening test through the use of lexical bundles

Mathilde Smith , University of Strathclyde Exploring and mitigating foreign language anxiety amongst adult migrants (refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants) in an ESOL/EFL class in Scotland

Commendations

Arthur Brown Jr , University of Bath Exploring Turkish EFL teachers’ lesson planning strategies for building ELF awareness

Kate Armstrong , University of Birmingham An Investigation into the types and functions of teacher gestures during the opening phase of ESL Lessons

Beatrice Segura Harvey , University of Brighton Teacher competencies post Covid-19: What constitutes an effective online teacher?

Novemelia Purba , University of Bristol An exploratory study of students’ second language willingness to communicate (L2 WTC) in a summer programme: Teachers’ and students’ perceptions

Monika Rozmiarek , Coventry University Elementary ESOL materials for Polish parents of nursery children

Thuy Dieu Nguyen , University of East Anglia Exploring the perceptions of EFL student teachers on their learning experience during the teaching practicum: A comparative study

Kittipong Phormphithak , University of Glasgow Foreign language classroom anxiety among Thai postgraduate students in UK universities

Thi Hai Yen Phan , University of Huddersfield Student satisfaction with English Medium Instruction courses in Vietnam

Duncan Ogilvie , University of Leeds Variation in the communicative orientation of English for Academic Purposes lessons in synchronous online and face-to-face classrooms

Samira Niazi , University of Liverpool Teachers' views, challenges, and strategies toward pupils’ bilingualism and translanguaging

Louise Sandiford , Manchester Metropolitan University Challenging labels within TESOL - Seeing our students differently

Ahmed Othman El Mekkawi , NILE (University of Chichester) An investigation into the design and piloting of an online self-access course focusing on English language materials evaluation and adaptation for in-service English language teachers at Al-Azhar University in Egypt

Matthew Gunton , University of Nottingham Going against the grain: An autoethnography of a one-teacher private English language teaching institution in Taiwan

Chiho Takeda , University of Reading A comparison of Aptis trained raters and Japanese teachers’ holistic scores and judgments of Japanese students’ Aptis writing performance

Felicity Bell , University of Stirling Interpretative phenomenological analysis of learners’ responses to Emergency Remote Teaching during Covid-19 confinement

Pasha Blanda , University College London Application of the construct of coherence to diagnostic Ttesting in English Medium Instruction in higher education

Nguyen Thi Hong Ha , University of Warwick An exploratory study on reflective practice of L2 teacher-learners' experiences in an MA TESOL program

Mitchell Culhane , York St John University ‘In Japanese I can’t be my true self, in English I can be free’: L2 identity construction and English-language learning motivation of the transnational queer communities in 新宿二丁目 (Shinjuku Ni-chōme),Tokyo, Japan

Tuong Thanh Ho , University of York Cultures representation in the reading and CLIL sections of four Vietnamese ELT textbooks

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

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MA TESOL dissertations

• * Examining a Male Teacher's Attention in a Mixed-sex EFL Japanese High School Classroom Based on the Sinclair-Coulthard Model : Mohammad Umar Farooq
• * A Review of the Lexical Content and Its Treatment in Ministry-Approved Level-One EFL Textbooks Usend in Japanese Public Lower-Secondary Schools : Michael Bowles
• Order from Chaos: Using Tasks in an EFL Classroom :   Mike Reda
• * Discourse Approach to Turn-taking from the Perspective of Tone Choice Between Speakers :   Fuyuko Kato
• * Focusing on Lexis in English Classrooms in Japan: Analyses of Textbook Exercises and Proposals for Consciousness-raising Activities : Michiko Kasuya
• Bridging the cross-cultural gap with personal construct repertory grids : Gregory Stuart Hadley 
• Fossilization: A chronic condition or is consciousness-raising the cure?   Paul Butler-Tanaka
• Evaluation of the foreign language high school language programme in South Korea : Yvette Murdoch (Appendices)
• Team teaching: Who should really be in charge?  A look at reverse versus traditional team teaching : Alan Macedo
• * Validation of the test of English conversation proficiency : Timothy Paul Moritoshi
• The application of exchange theory to internet relay chat : Jeffrey Mark Hatter
• * The TOEIC test and communicative competence: Do test score gains correlate with increased competence? A preliminary study : Cynthia R. Cunningham
• * A system for analyzing conversation textbooks : Takashi Miura (Abridged version, rewritten as an article for JALT journal)
• Developing an approach to the management of innovation through in-service teacher training : Christoph Suter 
• * Above and below the clause: a microlinguistic investigation into the context of a television interview :  Andrew Atkins
• A study of English intonation in high school textbooks in Japan : Koichi Kumaki
• * The treatment of key vocabulary learning strategies in current ELT coursebooks : James M. Ranalli
• * What is meant by communicativeness in EFL teaching? : Sean Banville
• * A contrastive analysis of argumentative discourse in English and German : Melanie Girdlestone
• * ENGLISH AND KOREAN SPEAKERS’ CATEGORIZATION OF SPATIAL ACTIONS: A TEST OF THE WHORF HYPOTHESIS David Doms
• *The influence of situation on languages of co-operation: how movie language coding influences audience co-operation in Japan: Theron Muller (note - this has now been published online in the Thesis section of the Asian EFL Journal, with a new Foreword.)
• * A comparison of the effects of two approaches towards pronunciation instruction involving two groups of beginning learners of English as a foreign language : Nilton Varela Hitotuzi
• Evaluating the use of L1 in the English language classroom :  Richard Miles
• Using Learner Education to Increase Students' Expectancy of, and Motivation to Learn English H. Douglas Sewell
• * To What Degree are my Courses Relevant to my Students? A Case-study Using the Principles of Exploratory Practice Jane Rose
• * An Evaluation of Vocabulary Teaching in an Intensive Study Programme Phillip Bennett
• Learner Attitudes Toward Learner-Centered Education and English as a Foreign Language in the Korean University Classroom Zoltan Paul Jambor 
• * Electronic Dictionaries, Printed Dictionaries and No Dictionaries: the Effects on Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension Michael H. Flynn
• * How is a 'Good Teacher' defined in a Communicative, Learner-Centered ELT Classroom? Sandee Thompson
• * Implementing Global Village at the Kyoto British Council School   Varela Wynnpaul
• * Opening a Heavy Door: A Sociocultural Case Study of a Learner's L2 in a One-to-one Learning Environment , Michael Iwane-Salovaara
• * Models for EFL theory and methodology derived from an SIR based pilot study on Japanese cognitive development , Robert Murphy
• * Comparing Perception of Oral Fluency to Objective Measures in the EFL Classroom , D Ashley Stockdale
• * Integrating a Vocabulary Learning Strategies Program into a First-year Medical English Course , Philip Shigeo Brown
• * The Involvement Load Hypothesis Applied to High School Learners in Japan: Measuring the Effects of 'Evaluation' , Matthew Walsh
• * Controlling for Polysemy in Word Association Tests: a Study Exploring the Mental Lexicon of Japanese EFL Learners , Dax Thomas
• * Collocation and textual cohesion: A comparative corpus study between a genre of Written Sports Reports and a large reference corpus , Brett Laybutt
• * From the Classroom to the Bar-room: Expressions of Disagreement by Japanese Speakers of English , Andrew J Lawson
• * Changing Association: the Effect of Direct Vocabulary Instruction on the Word associations of Japanese College Students , Christopher Patrick Wharton
• * A Study of Cognitive strategy Use by Successful and Unsuccessful Learners in Switzerland  Deborah Grossmann
• * How far do ELT coursebooks realise key principles of Communicative Language teaching (CLT) and enable effective teaching-learning? Jonathan Crewe
• Is Humor a Useful Tool to Motivate and Help Young Korean Learners to Remember? Terrence O'Donnell Faulkner 
• Lexical Development and Word Association: Can Japanese L2 language development b e observed through the results of word association tests? Timmy LeRoy Edwards
• * Exploring Film as EFL Coursebook Supplements and Motivational Stimulus: a German Second ary School Study Isabella Seeger
• Investigating the F-move in teacher talk: a South Korean study on teachers' beliefs and classro om practices Sarah Lindsay Jones
• Incidental Learnin g of Vocabulary Through Subtitled Authentic Videos   Paul Raine
• An Analys is of the Subjective Needs of Japanese High School Learners Alex Small
• * The Effects of TOEIC Edu cation in South Korean Universities Stephan Thomson
• The Use of Blogs and Teacher Electronic Response to Enhance the Revision Stage of EFL Stude nts' Writing Processes Elsa Fernanda Gonzalez
• * A Sem iotic Analysis of the Iconic Representation of Women in the Middle Eastern Med ia Sarah Ahmed Adham
• * The Utilization and Efficacy of the Use of Recasts in a Children's English Language Classro om Mario Passalacqua
• The Impact of Media in Education: The Influence of Media in English Language Teachers' Identity and its Implications for Language Education in Japa n Staci-Anne Ali
• *  Analysing Korean Popular Music for Global Audiences: A Social Semiotic Approach Jonas Robertson
• *  Using CLT with Large Classes in University-Level EFL Teaching : A Case Study  Marija Stojkovic
• * Experimenting with NeuroELT Maxims in a Japanese Tertiary CLIL Context   Takashi Uemura
• * Native English Speaking Teachers at Hagwons in South Korea: An Investigation into Their Expectations, Motivations, Beliefs and Realities Michael Craig Alpaugh
• Action Research: Supportive Teacher Talk and Interactional Strategies in an Elementary School EFL Teaching Context in Japan Daniel G.C. Hougham
• *  Student Retention in the Context of Language Schools Paulo Pita
• Reality in the Eye of the Beholder: Representation, Relationship and Composition Patterns on the Coversof Korean Language Textbooks   Anthony Kaschor
• *  A Female Rohingya Refugee's Journey of Integration into Australian Society  Dalia Alkhyari

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Unpacking the history of middle chinese *ɣu- in the yue dialects in guangdong: a dialect geographical analysis , perception and production of singular they in british english , cross-dialect variation in dinka tonal morphology , morphophonological interactions in shilluk: an investigation into the tone system and suffixation patterns in the gar dialect , vowel duration in the standard english of scotland , linguicide or linguistic suicide: a case study of indigenous minority languages in france , combining translation into the second language and second language learning : an integrated computational approach , post-critical period age of arrival and its relationship to ultimate attainment in a second language , hci for development: does sense of agency affect the adoption of a mobile health insurance service in tanzania , language policy and planning in xinjiang uygur autonomous region of china , comparable structural priming from comprehension and production: evidence against error-based learning of syntactic structure , developing educational games for teaching children with special educational needs , variation in the speech of university students from edinburgh: the cases of /x/ and // , a diachronic constructional investigation into the adverse avertive schema in chinese , onset consonants and the perceptions of tone and voicing in thai , simulating the interaction between mindreading and language in development and evolution , in task-oriented dyadic dialogue, how do non-native speakers of english align with each other in terms of lexical choices , native english speakers' music ability and their perception and production of l2 mandarin tones , a study of cmc language switching in china , the cognitive processes involved with hitting a fastball and why the baseball axiom "keeping your eye on the ball" is an exercise in futility .

How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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English /i-ɪ/ Perception and Production Tests

This set of tests is based on Saito (2013) and developed for Yaoyao Ruan's master's dissertation project: How does having a good ear and memory matter for successful second language phonological learning and teaching? An experimental study.

Teachers can use this set of tests to train or test EFL/ESL learners' abilities to preceive and produce the English tense vowel [i] and lax vowel [ɪ]. If used in research, it is recommended that the tests are performed in the order of spontaneous production, controlled production, and perception in order to prevent test takers from excessively focusing on form.

The instructions are in Chinese as Yaoyao's participants were native Mandarin learners of English.

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English /i-ɪ/ Controlled Production Test: Word Reading (Chinese)

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English /i-ɪ/ Perception Test: Two Alternative Forced Choice (Chinese)

English /i-ɪ/ spontaneous production test: picture description (chinese).

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