dissertation root of the word

• Home »
• Advice »

What is the Difference Between a Dissertation and a Thesis?

Find your perfect postgrad program search our database of 30,000 courses.

And to make it even more confusing, some institutions or departments will even use the terms differently!

But what are we all really talking about when we refer to a dissertation or a thesis? And does the term you use actually impact on what you actually end up writing?

This article covers the main differences between a dissertation and thesis, and how the terms may differ depending on the course, university and location.

What is a dissertation?

A dissertation is a piece of academic writing centred around original research. In their dissertations, students review existing research but also build on this with unique hypotheses and approaches.

A dissertation can be used to disprove a previous theory or take existing theories and research in a new direction. It is a large research project that is usually completed at the end of the academic year.

Usually, a dissertation starts with a dissertation proposal , which is approved by a study supervisor. The student then completes the research and writes up the methodology , findings, evaluations and conclusions from the research.

Dissertations can be undertaken by both undergraduate and postgraduate students. At undergraduate level the word count is around 5,000 to 8,000 and at postgraduate level it is usually 10,000 to 15,000.

What is a thesis?

A thesis is an academic paper covering an in-depth review of existing research in a particular discipline. It will involve an academic argument, although it doesn’t usually require original research from the student. The existing research is used to support and evaluate the proposed argument.

A thesis is not usually required at undergraduate level and is more common at postgraduate level.

This large piece of written-up research is usually completed at the end of a masters degree. Some masters courses require a thesis to graduate.

Differences between a dissertation vs thesis

The main purpose of a writing a dissertation is to add new findings to the existing literature in that field with original research. Whereas theses tend to evaluate existing findings, as their purpose is to demonstrate knowledge and skills within the course’s subject matter.

In terms of how long it takes to complete a thesis or dissertation project, a thesis is typically shorter than a dissertation since there are fewer original research aspects involved. This means that it will probably take less time. However, this can differ depending on the university and the course.

Dissertations sometimes require an oral presentation, known as a viva , where findings are showcased to academics who ask questions about the research. Theses usually do not require this.

The root of the words 

The word ‘dissertation’ originates from the Latin word ‘dissertare’, meaning to continue to discuss and the Latin word ‘disserere’ which means to examine and discuss .

The word ‘thesis’ originally comes from the Greek word ‘tithenai’, which means to place or position. This later evolved into the Latin ‘thesis’, which had two meanings: an abstract question and to put something forward .

Similarities between a dissertation vs thesis

Although there are some key differences between a dissertation and a thesis, there are also similarities.

• Both are generally long pieces of academic writing, much longer than a typical essay.
• Both explore a topic in depth, whether you are conducting totally unique research or structuring an argument based on existing research.
• Both are considered a final project and usually required to graduate from a degree, masters or PhD. Students can graduate without a thesis or dissertation if they choose to complete a postgraduate diploma or postgraduate certificate instead.
• Excellent academic writing skills are highly important for both types of research project.

Is a dissertation harder than a thesis?

Though, the difficulty of a thesis or dissertation depends on your personal skill set. For instance, students that learn better by developing their own research ideas may find a dissertation easier than a thesis.

Difficulty can also depend on the level of the course. For instance, a thesis completed at doctorate level is likely to require more advanced knowledge than a thesis at undergraduate level.

The difficulty of either type of research project can also vary depending on the subject matter and the resources available to you.

Both dissertations and theses can be challenging, but don’t be put off by the thought of having to produce a larger body of work. Your supervisor will be there to support you.

Definitions depend on where you are

The terms ‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ are sometimes used interchangeably, and the meanings can differ depending on the country and university.

There are plenty of differences between the variant forms of English, such as British English and American English. Around the world, different English-speaking countries use the words ‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ differently. 

Generally, nations with British-based academic systems of university education use dissertation to refer to the body of work at the end of an undergraduate or masters level degree . British-based institutions generally use thesis to refer to the body of work produced at the end of a PhD . 

In countries and institutions that are based on the American system of education, the words tend to be used in reverse. However, institutions and even different departments in the same university can use the words differently. 

If you're in doubt, then stick with the way the university and department you're currently attending use the terms. 

Definitions can depend on the subject

In the UK, the terms ‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ are generally applied equally across institutions and subjects. 

However, in the US the meanings can differ between different subject areas. The term ‘thesis’ can be used to describe a piece of original research in US academia, whereas original research is usually referred to as a dissertation in the UK. 

If you’re studying in the US , you may complete a thesis at masters level in another subject area that involves wide-ranging reading and understanding rather than original research and still call it a thesis.

With so much interchangeability between the two terms, it’s understandable that there is often confusion in the debate between a dissertation vs thesis, as there is no clear answer. 

Always read specific course details to understand exactly what’s involved in the research project that you are required to produce.

Examples from US and UK universities

Georgetown University in the US refers to a dissertation and a thesis as both adding to your 'field of knowledge' . The University of Edinburgh recommends that you refer to your individual course handbook for guides to dissertations, so each department will have their own guidelines to using the word dissertation and thesis. At University College London they refer to a thesis as the piece of work at the end of an EngD, MPhil, MD(Res) or PhD, which are all research degrees. 

In conclusion

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter which word you use as both refer to a serious and lengthy piece of work where you can show what you have researched and understood as part of your postgraduate studies.

As long as you are referring to the piece of work that you are compiling in the same way as those in your department then you will avoid confusion.

It is important to check whether the research piece involves original research or expects you to build upon existing research.

Writing a dissertation or a thesis requires a substantial amount of planning and work and you don't want to let yourself down at the last hurdle with poor presentation of your work, so always keep an eye on your course or department guidelines.

Related articles

Top Tips On Writing Your Postgraduate Dissertation Or Thesis

How To Write A Thesis

Writing A Dissertation Proposal

Top Thesis Writing Tools

Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries

Exclusive bursaries Open day alerts Funding advice Application tips Latest PG news

Sign up now!

Take 2 minutes to sign up to PGS student services and reap the benefits…

• The chance to apply for one of our 5 PGS Bursaries worth £2,000 each
• Fantastic scholarship updates
• Latest PG news sent directly to you.

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Origin of the thesis-degree procedure

It just came to my mind, currently if one wants to obtain an academic degree one must to do a thesis. This is a widely accepted method to prove the knowledge of certain academic level, sort to say. But my questions are, where this method was originated? Which historical or social circumstances originated it? Is there any philosophical background?

• academic-history

• This might also be of interest in HSM . –  vonbrand Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 17:08

2 Answers 2

(note: I have no references for the below, nor am I qualified in the topic)

First of all, the premise of your question isn't quite accurate: certainly in the UK it's very common for undergraduate degrees to have no thesis requirement. But putting that aside:

I think there are parallels with other mediaeval professions, which required proof of skill in order to become a member of a guild (the professional organisation). To be a 'master' of the guild one had to produce a 'masterpiece' (the origin of that word); this has obvious parallels with the idea of a thesis proving that an individual should be admitted to a degree (remember that historically a degree is more like a rank than an award, honour or qualification).

The MA at Oxford and Cambridge is still awarded automatically to those with a BA seven years after the start of the degree, which I believe matches the time someone in a professional guild would take to become a master.

Note also that the modern doctorate is a much more recent invention than the MA.

• You're right, question was not bounded correctly. In Mexico there's algo degrees without thesis requirement, but at least to obtain a PhD in sciences I think it's a must (I guess this applies also to other branches of knowledge). –  user2820579 Commented May 10, 2014 at 22:04
• 1 Hey, I just got my Oxbridge MA, I worked very hard for it!! :-) –  dr.blochwave Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 13:33

A bit if history. The history of thesis is intertwined with the history of universities in the 12th and 13th century.. The early history of universities is not clear but with time systems develop on how information/knowledge is taught and discussed. The end (so far) result is what we have today. The written thesis is based on the fact that ideas need to be made more permanent than oral traditions. the advent of printing made wider distribution of copies possible. The first degrees were the baccaulerate and magister artium which corresponded to doctor in certain disciplines.

The thesis was originally what the word describes a thought or thinking that needed defending, which goes backs to Aristotle and Plato. As soon as writing was possible, the idea was to put the ideas down in writing and hence a written thesis was born. One has to remember that teaching early on did not necessarily occur as lectures, it could be mentioning and learned discussions. At the same time knowledge was not as structured and defined as now.

early on the teacher actually wrote the thesis and t was the students job to defend it. So the focus was less on developing knowledge but to defend a thesis with arguments and logic. During the renaissance the thesis in a form we can recognise was developed. These texts were called dissertatio (lat. development, presentation) where as the defence was named disputatio (lat. c. learned argument). From these relatively common beginnings different "cultures" developed which now are reflected in differences between countries in how a thesis is defined and defended.

Much more details can probably be added to this but the core is covered. There is no necessary connection between a degree and a thesis. Certainly not at a bachelor's leverl and it is also possible at a master's level. Differences also exist between disciplines.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged thesis education academic-history ..

• Featured on Meta
• We spent a sprint addressing your requests — here’s how it went
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Hot Network Questions

• Grip & Electric Truck Equation
• Cliffhanger ending?
• How to Bend a Material Line Procedurally?
• Seeing edges where there are no edges
• Increase the size of column name cells in a table
• I want to leave my current job during probation but I don't want to tell the next interviewer I am currently working
• Geometry Nodes: Delete Overlapping Vertices
• Why does `p` not put all yanked lines when copying across files?
• Are US enlisted personnel (as opposed to officers) required, or allowed, to disobey unlawful orders?
• Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
• Evil God Challenge: What if an evil god is just trolling humanity and that explains why there's good in the world?
• Did Tolkien give his son explicit permission to publish all that unfinished material?
• Inconsistent result for NUMA node memory usage in SQL Server
• Are all Starship/Super Heavy "cylinders" 4mm thick?
• PCIe implementation
• When do you know things are actually going poorly in graduate school?
• Airtight beaks?
• What electrical connection for a ceiling mounted fan forced industrial heater?
• Why danach instead of darüber?
• Hourly pay rate calculation between Recruiting and Payroll Systems
• Why should I meet my advisor even if I have nothing to report?
• Why is a game's minor update on Steam (e.g., New World) ~15 GB to download?
• As an advisor, how can I help students with time management and procrastination?
• Questions about mail-in ballot

• Trending words:

A Word or Two

Etymology Entomology

IS A SANDWICH A TACO

Essay Guide

Our comprehensive guide to the stages of the essay development process. Back to Student Resources

Display Menu

• Writing essays
• Essay writing
• Being a writer
• Thinking critically, thinking clearly
• Speaking vs. Writing
• Why are you writing?
• How much is that degree in the window?
• Academic writing
• Academic writing: key features
• Personal or impersonal?
• What tutors want – 1
• What tutors want – 2
• Be prepared to be flexible
• Understanding what they want – again
• Basic definitions
• Different varieties of essay, different kinds of writing
• Look, it’s my favourite word!
• Close encounters of the word kind
• Starting to answer the question: brainstorming
• Starting to answer the question: after the storm
• Other ways of getting started
• How not to read
• You, the reader
• Choosing your reading
• How to read: SQ3R
• How to read: other techniques
• Reading around the subject
• Taking notes
• What planning and structure mean and why you need them
• Introductions: what they do
• Main bodies: what they do
• Conclusions: what they do
• Paragraphs and links
• Process, process, process
• The first draft
• The second draft
• Editing – 1: getting your essay into shape
• Editing – 2: what’s on top & what lies beneath
• Are you looking for an argument?
• Simple definitions
• More definitions
• Different types of argument
• Sources & plagiarism
• Direct quotation, paraphrasing & referencing
• MLA, APA, Harvard or MHRA?
• Using the web
• Setting out and using quotations
• Recognising differences
• Humanities essays
• Scientific writing
• Social & behavioural science writing
• Beyond the essay
• Business-style reports
• Presentations
• What is a literature review?
• Why write a literature review?
• Key points to remember
• The structure of a literature review
• How to do a literature search
• Introduction

What is a dissertation? How is it different from an essay?

• Getting it down on paper
• Drafting and rewriting
• Planning your dissertation
• Planning for length
• Planning for content
• Abstracts, tone, unity of style
• General comments

There are some obvious differences: an essay is relatively short – usually 1500 to 2500 words – and you are told clearly what to do by someone else. For example: Describe and evaluate major theories of globalisation.

A dissertation is a subject you chose for yourself. The first usage of the word in the English language in 1651 also gives a useful starting definition: “an extended written treatment of a subject”.

Another useful clue is found in the Latin origin of the word – dissertation comes from a Latin word ‘dissertare’ = ‘to debate’.

What does the word ‘debate’ imply? A discussion involving different points of view or sets of ideas. A dissertation will therefore not only examine a subject but will review different points of view about that subject.

Here’s another definition that underlines some more important characteristics of a dissertation: “a substantial paper that is typically based on original research and that gives evidence of the candidate’s mastery both of her own subject and of scholarly method.”

A dissertation will show that the writer knows her subject, the key facts and different points of view in it – but it also advances a point of view resulting from original research. Remember that ‘original’ does not mean ‘something that’s never been done before’ but rather ‘something that you do for yourself’.

A dissertation also “gives evidence of the candidate’s mastery […] of scholarly method”. This sounds terribly daunting but don’t be put off. The phrase is telling you that you will have to lift your game to write a successful dissertation. ‘Scholarly method’ means that you will be expected to do more and better reading and research than for a standard undergraduate essay. It means that your work will display accuracy and skill in its investigation and discussion of a subject. It means that your discussion will give evidence of critical analysis i.e. standing back from your subject and weighing up pros and cons. It means you will show that you understand that, for example, aspects of particular theories or viewpoints are open to question.

• Daily Crossword
• Word Puzzle
• Word Finder
• Word of the Day
• Synonym of the Day
• Word of the Year
• Language stories
• All featured
• Gender and sexuality
• All pop culture
• Writing hub
• Grammar essentials
• Commonly confused
• All writing tips
• Pop culture
• Writing tips

Advertisement

dissertation

[ dis-er- tey -sh uh n ]

• a written essay, treatise, or thesis, especially one written by a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
• any formal discourse in speech or writing.

/ ˌdɪsəˈteɪʃən /

• a written thesis, often based on original research, usually required for a higher degree
• a formal discourse

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˌdisserˈtational , adjective
• ˌdisserˈtationist , noun

Other Words From

• disser·tation·al adjective
• disser·tation·ist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of dissertation 1

Example Sentences

Thirteen years ago, while working on her PHD dissertation in Madagascar’s Masoala Peninsula, Borgerson encountered a problem.

At Harvard, he received a PhD in government and wrote his dissertation under Henry Kissinger, who became a lifelong friend.

I planned to go back to physics after a couple of years and then return to wrap up my dissertation.

My buba’s lived experience helped shape me into the girl who wrote her college dissertation on the gender pay gap, arguing for equal parental leave for dads and moms, almost 20 years before any major employer implemented any such thing.

My PhD dissertation was a highly theoretical model representing computer systems that were framed as a mathematical model, and if they were interconnected in such a way that these interconnected computers would communicate like cells in the body.

A terrific cultural studies dissertation awaits on how the fortunes of the Cheneys provide a mirror on a changing America.

Today, he visits online forums and bombards them with dissertation-length comments.

In her dissertation, McFate had asked whether ‘good anthropology’ might lead to ‘better killing.’

Heritage has distanced itself from Richwine and his dissertation.

No single dissertation will alter the status quo on its own.

I've never had time to write home about it, for I felt that it required a dissertation in itself to do it justice.

Dr. Pitcairn, published at Leyden his dissertation on the circulation of the blood through the veins.

Start not, reader, I am not going to trouble you with a poetical dissertation; no, no!

Dissertation sur les Assassins, Académie des Inscriptions, tom.

This dissertation, which is illustrated by several plates, will repay for the time spent in reading it.

Related Words

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of thesis

Did you know.

In high school, college, or graduate school, students often have to write a thesis on a topic in their major field of study. In many fields, a final thesis is the biggest challenge involved in getting a master's degree, and the same is true for students studying for a Ph.D. (a Ph.D. thesis is often called a dissertation ). But a thesis may also be an idea; so in the course of the paper the student may put forth several theses (notice the plural form) and attempt to prove them.

Examples of thesis in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thesis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

in sense 3, Middle English, lowering of the voice, from Late Latin & Greek; Late Latin, from Greek, downbeat, more important part of a foot, literally, act of laying down; in other senses, Latin, from Greek, literally, act of laying down, from tithenai to put, lay down — more at do

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a(1)

Dictionary Entries Near thesis

the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children

thesis novel

Cite this Entry

“Thesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thesis. Accessed 3 Jul. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of thesis, more from merriam-webster on thesis.

Nglish: Translation of thesis for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of thesis for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about thesis

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day, insuperable.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Plural and possessive names: a guide, commonly misspelled words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, how to use accents and diacritical marks, popular in wordplay, it's a scorcher words for the summer heat, flower etymologies for your spring garden, 12 star wars words, 'swash', 'praya', and 12 more beachy words, 8 words for lesser-known musical instruments, games & quizzes.

• 1.1 Etymology
• 1.2 Pronunciation
• 1.3.1 Derived terms
• 1.3.2 Related terms
• 1.3.3 Translations
• 1.4 References
• 1.5 Further reading
• 1.6 Anagrams
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 3.1 Etymology
• 3.2 Pronunciation
• 3.3.1 Declension
• 3.3.2 Descendants
• 3.4 References

From Late Middle English thesis ( “ lowering of the voice ” ) [1] and also borrowed directly from its etymon Latin thesis ( “ proposition, thesis; lowering of the voice ” ) , from Ancient Greek θέσῐς ( thésis , “ arrangement, placement, setting; conclusion, position, thesis; lowering of the voice ” ) , from τῐ́θημῐ ( títhēmi , “ to place, put, set; to put down in writing; to consider as, regard ” ) [2] [3] (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ( “ to do; to place, put ” ) ) + -σῐς ( -sis , suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result ) . The English word is a doublet of deed .

Sense 1.1 (“proposition or statement supported by arguments”) is adopted from antithesis . [2] Sense 1.4 (“initial stage of reasoning”) was first used by the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), and later applied to the dialectical method of his countryman, the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).

The plural form theses is borrowed from Latin thesēs , from Ancient Greek θέσεις ( théseis ) .

Pronunciation

• ( Received Pronunciation ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈθiːsɪs/ , ( archaic ) /ˈθɛsɪs/

• ( General American ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈθisɪs/
• Rhymes: -iːsɪs
• Hyphenation: the‧sis
• ( Received Pronunciation ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈθiːsiːz/
• ( General American ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈθisiz/
• Rhymes: -iːsiːz
• Hyphenation: the‧ses

thesis ( plural theses )

• ( rhetoric ) A proposition or statement supported by arguments .
• 1766 , [ Oliver Goldsmith ], “The Conclusion”, in The Vicar of Wakefield:   [ … ] , volume II, Salisbury, Wiltshire: [ … ] B. Collins, for F [ rancis ] Newbery ,   [ … ] , →OCLC ; reprinted London: Elliot Stock , 1885 , →OCLC , pages 218–219 : I told them of the grave, becoming, and ſublime deportment they ſhould aſſume upon this myſtical occaſion, and read them two homilies and a theſis of my own compoſing, in order to prepare them.
• ( mathematics , computer science ) A conjecture , especially one too vague to be formally stated or verified but useful as a working convention.
• ( logic ) An affirmation , or distinction from a supposition or hypothesis .
• ( philosophy ) In the dialectical method of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel : the initial stage of reasoning where a formal statement of a point is developed ; this is followed by antithesis and synthesis .
• ( music , prosody , originally ) The action of lowering the hand or bringing down the foot when indicating a rhythm ; hence, an accented part of a measure of music or verse indicated by this action; an ictus , a stress . Antonym: arsis
• ( music , prosody , with a reversal of meaning ) A depression of the voice when pronouncing a syllables of a word ; hence, the unstressed part of the metrical foot of a verse upon which such a depression falls , or an unaccented musical note .

Derived terms

• all but thesis
• bachelor's thesis
• Church-Turing thesis
• conflict thesis
• doctoral thesis
• graduate thesis
• Habakkuk thesis
• master's thesis
• Merton thesis
• private language thesis
• thesis defense
• thesis film
• thesis statement

Related terms

Translations.

• ^ “ thē̆sis, n. ”, in MED Online , Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan , 2007 .
• ^ “ thesis, n. ”, in Lexico , Dictionary.com ; Oxford University Press , 2019–2022 .

Further reading

• “ thesis ”, in The Century Dictionary   [ … ] , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co. , 1911 , →OCLC .
• “ thesis ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary , Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam , 1913 , →OCLC .
• Heists , Sethis , heists , shiest , shites , sithes , thises

From Latin thesis , from Ancient Greek θέσις ( thésis , “ a proposition, a statement, a thing laid down, thesis in rhetoric, thesis in prosody ” ) .

thesis   f ( plural theses or thesissen , diminutive thesisje   n )

• Dated form of these . Synonyms: dissertatie , proefschrift , scriptie

From Ancient Greek θέσις ( thésis , “ a proposition, a statement, a thing laid down, thesis in rhetoric, thesis in prosody ” ) .

• ( Classical Latin ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈtʰe.sis/ , [ˈt̪ʰɛs̠ɪs̠]
• ( modern Italianate Ecclesiastical ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈte.sis/ , [ˈt̪ɛːs̬is]

thesis   f ( genitive thesis ) ; third declension

Descendants

• → Dutch: thesis
• → Armenian: թեզ ( tʻez )
• → Dutch: these
• → Persian: تز ( tez )
• → Romanian: teză
• → Turkish: tez
• Galician: tese
• Italian: tesi
• English: thesis
• Portuguese: tese
• Spanish: tesis
• “ thesis ”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short ( 1879 ) A Latin Dictionary , Oxford: Clarendon Press
• thesis in Gaffiot, Félix ( 1934 ) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français , Hachette.

• English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
• English terms inherited from Middle English
• English terms derived from Middle English
• English terms borrowed from Latin
• English terms derived from Latin
• English terms derived from Ancient Greek
• English doublets
• English 2-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• English terms with audio links
• Rhymes:English/iːsɪs
• Rhymes:English/iːsɪs/2 syllables
• Rhymes:English/iːsiːz
• Rhymes:English/iːsiːz/2 syllables
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English nouns with irregular plurals
• en:Rhetoric
• English terms with quotations
• en:Mathematics
• en:Computer science
• en:Philosophy
• English contranyms
• Dutch terms derived from Latin
• Dutch terms derived from Ancient Greek
• Dutch terms with audio links
• Dutch lemmas
• Dutch nouns
• Dutch nouns with Latin plurals
• Dutch nouns with plural in -en
• Dutch feminine nouns
• Dutch dated forms
• Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
• Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
• Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
• Latin 2-syllable words
• Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
• Latin lemmas
• Latin nouns
• Latin third declension nouns
• Latin feminine nouns in the third declension
• Latin feminine nouns
• Word of the day archive
• English entries with language name categories using raw markup
• Terms with Armenian translations
• Terms with Asturian translations
• Terms with Azerbaijani translations
• Terms with Belarusian translations
• Terms with Bulgarian translations
• Terms with Catalan translations
• Terms with Cantonese translations
• Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations
• Terms with Mandarin translations
• Terms with Czech translations
• Terms with Danish translations
• Terms with Dutch translations
• Terms with Esperanto translations
• Terms with Estonian translations
• Terms with Finnish translations
• Terms with French translations
• Terms with Galician translations
• Terms with Georgian translations
• Terms with German translations
• Terms with Ancient Greek translations
• Terms with Hungarian translations
• Terms with Italian translations
• Terms with Japanese translations
• Terms with Korean translations
• Terms with Latin translations
• Terms with Macedonian translations
• Terms with Malay translations
• Terms with Maori translations
• Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations
• Terms with Persian translations
• Terms with Polish translations
• Terms with Portuguese translations
• Russian terms with non-redundant manual transliterations
• Terms with Russian translations
• Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations
• Terms with Slovak translations
• Terms with Slovene translations
• Terms with Spanish translations
• Terms with Swedish translations
• Terms with Tagalog translations
• Terms with Turkish translations
• Terms with Ukrainian translations
• Terms with Vietnamese translations
• Terms with Arabic translations
• Terms with Gujarati translations
• Terms with Hebrew translations
• Terms with Indonesian translations
• Terms with Kazakh translations
• Terms with Khmer translations
• Terms with Kyrgyz translations
• Terms with Lao translations
• Terms with Latvian translations
• Terms with Lithuanian translations
• Terms with Norwegian Nynorsk translations
• Terms with Romanian translations
• Terms with Tajik translations
• Terms with Thai translations
• Terms with Uzbek translations
• Terms with Middle English translations

Navigation menu

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Language rules

Root Words | Definition, List & Examples

Published on September 13, 2023 by Kassiani Nikolopoulou .

A root word is the most basic form of a word that cannot be further divided into meaningful segments. Root words are used to form new words by adding letters at the beginning (i.e., a prefix) and/or the end (i.e., a suffix).

For example, the word “unfaithful” is made up of these different parts:

prefix        root word     suffix

By adding a suffix and/or a prefix to a root word like “faith,” we can make other words such as “faithful,” “faithfully,” “unfaithful,” and “unfaithfully . ” These words are linked both in terms of spelling and meaning and are called a word family .

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

What are root words, example root words, latin root words (free downloadable list), greek root words (free downloadable list), worksheet: root words, frequently asked questions about root words.

A root word is the fundamental unit of a word. A root word has nothing added at the beginning or the end. While some root words are standalone words in English, others need a prefix (like “anti-” or “un-”) and/or a suffix (like “-able” or “-ist”) to create a meaningful word.

For example, “cede” is a root word for other words like “recede” or “precedent,” but it is also a word on its own (meaning “to give up”). On the other hand, the root word “struct” does not constitute an understandable word in itself and other letters need to be added for it to make sense (e.g, “instructor,” “destruction,” “structural”).

Many words are created from Latin or Greek root words and usually cannot function as standalone words in English. For example, “chrono” comes from Greek and is the root of words like “chronology,” “synchronize,” and “chronic,” but it’s not a separate word in English.

Learning about root words can help you work out the meaning of new or longer words. When you know how to decode unknown words by identifying their root words and affixes (i.e., the prefix or suffix attached to them), you can navigate more complex or specialized texts. For example, many root words derived from Latin and Greek are common in math and science terminology, like “centi” (“hundred”) or “geo” (“earth”).

• When added at the beginning of the word, they are called prefixes . Common prefixes include: “an-” (“without”), anti- (“against”), “hyper-” (“over”), “non-” (“lack of”), “pre-” (“before”), and “post-” (“after”).
• When added at the end of the word, they are called suffixes . Common suffixes include: “-acy” (“state or quality”), “-able/-ible” (“capable of”), “-al” (“pertaining to”), “-ic/-ical” (“having the form”), and “-less” (“without”).

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

Try for free

Some root words can be used independently, while others need to be combined with a prefix (i.e., letters at the beginning), a suffix (i.e., letters at the end) or another root word (e.g., -logue) to form a standalone word.

Root words vs. base words

The terms root words and base words are often used interchangeably. However, they are not exactly the same. While root words cannot always be used as standalone words in English, base words can be used on their own or combined with other words or letters to create complex words.

For example, “code” is a base word that can be used independently or to create other words like “barcode,” “decode,” or “codify.” On the other hand, the root word “aud” (which comes from Latin) cannot be used by itself and has to be combined with other letters to form words like “auditorium,” “audition,” and “audible.” Because many root words are of Latin or Greek origin, they don’t make sense as independent words in English.

Sometimes, root words and base words overlap. For example, the word “act” is a root word of Latin origin, but also a standalone word in English. By adding a prefix or suffix, we get new words like “reaction,” “exact,” and “actor.” In this case, “act” is both a root word and a base word.

Below is a list containing common Latin root words, their meaning, and examples of words based on each root. You can also download this list in the format of your choice below.

Download PDF list Download Google Docs list

Below is a list containing common Greek root words, their meaning, and examples of words based on each root. You can also download this list in the format of your choice below.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Base words can stand alone, but can also be combined with other letters to create new words.

Want to test your understanding of root words? Try the worksheet below. In each sentence, see if you can identify the root word(s) of the highlighted word.

• Answers & explanation
• The hotel lost our reservation, and the receptionist was really unhelpful .
• We came to a unanimous decision that more staff is needed during peak hours.
• ANOVA is an abbreviation of “Analysis of Variance”.
• My father is agnostic when it comes to religious matters.
• One of the three aqueducts supplying water to the Los Angeles area is from the Colorado River.
• The root word is help . The word “unhelpful” is made of three parts: “un-” (prefix), ”help” (root word), and “ful” (suffix).
• The root word is anim . The word “unanimous” is made of two parts: “unus” (meaning “one” in Latin) and “animus” (meaning “spirit” or “mind” in Latin).
• The root word is brev . The word “abbreviation” comes from Latin “ad” (prefix meaning “to”) and “breviare” (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”).
• The root word is gnost . The word “agnostic” is made of three parts: “a” (prefix meaning “not” or “without”), “gnost” (root word meaning “to know” in Greek) and “ic” (suffix).
• This word contains two Latin root words: aqua (“water”) and duct (“to lead”).

Although there is no particular rule for finding the root of a word, one way to do this is to check if the word has any affixes (suffix and/or prefix) added to it.

For example, the word “hyperactive” has the prefix “hyper-” (meaning “over”) and the suffix “-ive” (meaning “having the nature of”). If we remove the affixes, we get the root word (“act”).

The root word “dorm” means “sleep” in Latin. So words with this root word will have a meaning related to sleep. For example, the words “dormant,” “dormitory,” and “dormouse” all come from the same root word.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Nikolopoulou, K. (2023, September 13). Root Words | Definition, List & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved July 2, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/root-words/

Is this article helpful?

Kassiani Nikolopoulou

Other students also liked, compound words | types, list & definition, transition words & phrases | list & examples, contractions (grammar) | definition & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• Harvard Graduate School of Design - Frances Loeb Library

Write and Cite

• Theses and Dissertations
• Academic Integrity
• Using Sources and AI
• Academic Writing
• From Research to Writing
• GSD Writing Services
• Grants and Fellowships
• Reading, Notetaking, and Time Management

What is a thesis?

What is a dissertation, getting started, staying on track.

A thesis is a long-term project that you work on over the course of a semester or a year. Theses have a very wide variety of styles and content, so we encourage you to look at prior examples and work closely with faculty to develop yours. 

Before you begin, make sure that you are familiar with the dissertation genre—what it is for and what it looks like.

Generally speaking, a dissertation’s purpose is to prove that you have the expertise necessary to fulfill your doctoral-degree requirements by showing depth of knowledge and independent thinking.

The form of a dissertation may vary by discipline. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your department.

• PhD This site directs candidates to the GSAS website about dissertations , with links to checklists,  planning, formatting, acknowledgments, submission, and publishing options. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus . Consult with your committee chair about specific requirements and standards for your dissertation.
• DDES This document covers planning, patent filing, submission guidelines, publishing options, formatting guidelines, sample pages, citation guidelines, and a list of common errors to avoid. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus .
• Scholarly Pursuits (GSAS) This searchable booklet from Harvard GSAS is a comprehensive guide to writing dissertations, dissertation-fellowship applications, academic journal articles, and academic job documents.

Finding an original topic can be a daunting and overwhelming task. These key concepts can help you focus and save time.

Finding a topic for your thesis or dissertation should start with a research question that excites or at least interests you. A rigorous, engaging, and original project will require continuous curiosity about your topic, about your own thoughts on the topic, and about what other scholars have said on your topic. Avoid getting boxed in by thinking you know what you want to say from the beginning; let your research and your writing evolve as you explore and fine-tune your focus through constant questioning and exploration.

Get a sense of the broader picture before you narrow your focus and attempt to frame an argument. Read, skim, and otherwise familiarize yourself with what other scholars have done in areas related to your proposed topic. Briefly explore topics tangentially related to yours to broaden your perspective and increase your chance of finding a unique angle to pursue.

Critical Reading

Critical reading is the opposite of passive reading. Instead of merely reading for information to absorb, critical reading also involves careful, sustained thinking about what you are reading. This process may include analyzing the author’s motives and assumptions, asking what might be left out of the discussion, considering what you agree with or disagree with in the author’s statements and why you agree or disagree, and exploring connections or contradictions between scholarly arguments. Here is a resource to help hone your critical-reading skills:

http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf

Conversation

Your thesis or dissertation will incorporate some ideas from other scholars whose work you researched. By reading critically and following your curiosity, you will develop your own ideas and claims, and these contributions are the core of your project. You will also acknowledge the work of scholars who came before you, and you must accurately and fairly attribute this work and define your place within the larger discussion. Make sure that you know how to quote, summarize, paraphrase ,  integrate , and cite secondary sources to avoid plagiarism and to show the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have.

The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed. The project can feel daunting or even overwhelming unless you break it down into manageable pieces and create a timeline for completing each smaller task. Be realistic but also challenge yourself, and be forgiving of yourself if you miss a self-imposed deadline here and there.

Your program will also have specific deadlines for different requirements, including establishing a committee, submitting a prospectus, completing the dissertation, defending the dissertation, and submitting your work. Consult your department’s website for these dates and incorporate them into the timeline for your work.

Accountability

Sometimes self-imposed deadlines do not feel urgent unless there is accountability to someone beyond yourself. To increase your motivation to complete tasks on schedule, set dates with your committee chair to submit pre-determined pieces of a chapter. You can also arrange with a fellow doctoral student to check on each other’s progress. Research and writing can be lonely, so it is also nice to share that journey with someone and support each other through the process.

Common Pitfalls

The most common challenges for students writing a dissertation are writer’s block, information-overload, and the compulsion to keep researching forever.

There are many strategies for avoiding writer’s block, such as freewriting, outlining, taking a walk, starting in the middle, and creating an ideal work environment for your particular learning style. Pay attention to what helps you and try different things until you find what works.

Efficient researching techniques are essential to avoiding information-overload. Here are a couple of resources about strategies for finding sources and quickly obtaining essential information from them.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_criticism.html

https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques

Finally, remember that there is always more to learn and your dissertation cannot incorporate everything. Follow your curiosity but also set limits on the scope of your work. It helps to create a folder entitled “future projects” for topics and sources that interest you but that do not fit neatly into the dissertation. Also remember that future scholars will build off of your work, so leave something for them to do.

Browsing through theses and dissertations of the past can help to get a sense of your options and gain inspiration but be careful to use current guidelines and refer to your committee instead of relying on these examples for form or formatting.

DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

HOLLIS Harvard Library’s catalog provides access to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .

MIT Architecture has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Rhode Island School of Design has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

University of South Florida has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Harvard GSD has a list of projects, including theses and professors’ research.

• << Previous: Reading, Notetaking, and Time Management
• Next: Publishing >>
• Last Updated: Jun 24, 2024 11:19 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/gsd/write

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

• Dictionaries home
• American English
• Collocations
• German-English
• Grammar home
• Practical English Usage
• Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
• Word Lists home
• My Word Lists
• Recent additions
• Resources home
• Text Checker

Definition of thesis noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• Students must submit a thesis on an agreed subject within four years.
• He presented this thesis for his PhD.
• a thesis for a master's degree
• He's doing a doctoral thesis on the early works of Shostakovich.
• Many departments require their students to do a thesis defense.
• She completed an MSc by thesis.
• her thesis adviser at MIT
• in a/​the thesis
• thesis about

Want to learn more?

Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Table of contents

When and why do you have to write a dissertation, who will supervise your dissertation, what type of research will you do, how should your dissertation be structured, what formatting and referencing rules do you have to follow, frequently asked questions about dissertations.

A dissertation, sometimes called a thesis, comes at the end of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. It is a larger project than the other essays you’ve written, requiring a higher word count and a greater depth of research.

You’ll generally work on your dissertation during the final year of your degree, over a longer period than you would take for a standard essay . For example, the dissertation might be your main focus for the last six months of your degree.

Why is the dissertation important?

The dissertation is a test of your capacity for independent research. You are given a lot of autonomy in writing your dissertation: you come up with your own ideas, conduct your own research, and write and structure the text by yourself.

This means that it is an important preparation for your future, whether you continue in academia or not: it teaches you to manage your own time, generate original ideas, and work independently.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

During the planning and writing of your dissertation, you’ll work with a supervisor from your department. The supervisor’s job is to give you feedback and advice throughout the process.

The dissertation supervisor is often assigned by the department, but you might be allowed to indicate preferences or approach potential supervisors. If so, try to pick someone who is familiar with your chosen topic, whom you get along with on a personal level, and whose feedback you’ve found useful in the past.

How will your supervisor help you?

Your supervisor is there to guide you through the dissertation project, but you’re still working independently. They can give feedback on your ideas, but not come up with ideas for you.

You may need to take the initiative to request an initial meeting with your supervisor. Then you can plan out your future meetings and set reasonable deadlines for things like completion of data collection, a structure outline, a first chapter, a first draft, and so on.

Make sure to prepare in advance for your meetings. Formulate your ideas as fully as you can, and determine where exactly you’re having difficulties so you can ask your supervisor for specific advice.

Your approach to your dissertation will vary depending on your field of study. The first thing to consider is whether you will do empirical research , which involves collecting original data, or non-empirical research , which involves analysing sources.

Empirical dissertations (sciences)

An empirical dissertation focuses on collecting and analysing original data. You’ll usually write this type of dissertation if you are studying a subject in the sciences or social sciences.

• What are airline workers’ attitudes towards the challenges posed for their industry by climate change?
• How effective is cognitive behavioural therapy in treating depression in young adults?
• What are the short-term health effects of switching from smoking cigarettes to e-cigarettes?

There are many different empirical research methods you can use to answer these questions – for example, experiments , observations, surveys , and interviews.

When doing empirical research, you need to consider things like the variables you will investigate, the reliability and validity of your measurements, and your sampling method . The aim is to produce robust, reproducible scientific knowledge.

Non-empirical dissertations (arts and humanities)

A non-empirical dissertation works with existing research or other texts, presenting original analysis, critique and argumentation, but no original data. This approach is typical of arts and humanities subjects.

• What attitudes did commentators in the British press take towards the French Revolution in 1789–1792?
• How do the themes of gender and inheritance intersect in Shakespeare’s Macbeth ?
• How did Plato’s Republic and Thomas More’s Utopia influence nineteenth century utopian socialist thought?

The first steps in this type of dissertation are to decide on your topic and begin collecting your primary and secondary sources .

Primary sources are the direct objects of your research. They give you first-hand evidence about your subject. Examples of primary sources include novels, artworks and historical documents.

Secondary sources provide information that informs your analysis. They describe, interpret, or evaluate information from primary sources. For example, you might consider previous analyses of the novel or author you are working on, or theoretical texts that you plan to apply to your primary sources.

Dissertations are divided into chapters and sections. Empirical dissertations usually follow a standard structure, while non-empirical dissertations are more flexible.

Structure of an empirical dissertation

Empirical dissertations generally include these chapters:

• Introduction : An explanation of your topic and the research question(s) you want to answer.
• Literature review : A survey and evaluation of previous research on your topic.
• Methodology : An explanation of how you collected and analysed your data.
• Results : A brief description of what you found.
• Discussion : Interpretation of what these results reveal.
• Conclusion : Answers to your research question(s) and summary of what your findings contribute to knowledge in your field.

Sometimes the order or naming of chapters might be slightly different, but all of the above information must be included in order to produce thorough, valid scientific research.

Other dissertation structures

If your dissertation doesn’t involve data collection, your structure is more flexible. You can think of it like an extended essay – the text should be logically organised in a way that serves your argument:

• Introduction: An explanation of your topic and the question(s) you want to answer.
• Main body: The development of your analysis, usually divided into 2–4 chapters.
• Conclusion: Answers to your research question(s) and summary of what your analysis contributes to knowledge in your field.

The chapters of the main body can be organised around different themes, time periods, or texts. Below you can see some example structures for dissertations in different subjects.

• Political philosophy

This example, on the topic of the British press’s coverage of the French Revolution, shows how you might structure each chapter around a specific theme.

This example, on the topic of Plato’s and More’s influences on utopian socialist thought, shows a different approach to dividing the chapters by theme.

This example, a master’s dissertation on the topic of how writers respond to persecution, shows how you can also use section headings within each chapter. Each of the three chapters deals with a specific text, while the sections are organised thematically.

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

Like other academic texts, it’s important that your dissertation follows the formatting guidelines set out by your university. You can lose marks unnecessarily over mistakes, so it’s worth taking the time to get all these elements right.

Formatting guidelines concern things like:

• line spacing
• page numbers
• punctuation
• title pages
• presentation of tables and figures

If you’re unsure about the formatting requirements, check with your supervisor or department. You can lose marks unnecessarily over mistakes, so it’s worth taking the time to get all these elements right.

How will you reference your sources?

Referencing means properly listing the sources you cite and refer to in your dissertation, so that the reader can find them. This avoids plagiarism by acknowledging where you’ve used the work of others.

Keep track of everything you read as you prepare your dissertation. The key information to note down for a reference is:

• The publication date
• Page numbers for the parts you refer to (especially when using direct quotes)

Different referencing styles each have their own specific rules for how to reference. The most commonly used styles in UK universities are listed below.

You can use the free APA Reference Generator to automatically create and store your references.

APA Reference Generator

The words ‘ dissertation ’ and ‘thesis’ both refer to a large written research project undertaken to complete a degree, but they are used differently depending on the country:

• In the UK, you write a dissertation at the end of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and you write a thesis to complete a PhD.
• In the US, it’s the other way around: you may write a thesis at the end of a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and you write a dissertation to complete a PhD.

The main difference is in terms of scale – a dissertation is usually much longer than the other essays you complete during your degree.

Another key difference is that you are given much more independence when working on a dissertation. You choose your own dissertation topic , and you have to conduct the research and write the dissertation yourself (with some assistance from your supervisor).

Dissertation word counts vary widely across different fields, institutions, and levels of education:

• An undergraduate dissertation is typically 8,000–15,000 words
• A master’s dissertation is typically 12,000–50,000 words
• A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000–100,000 words

However, none of these are strict guidelines – your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided by your university to determine how long your own dissertation should be.

At the bachelor’s and master’s levels, the dissertation is usually the main focus of your final year. You might work on it (alongside other classes) for the entirety of the final year, or for the last six months. This includes formulating an idea, doing the research, and writing up.

A PhD thesis takes a longer time, as the thesis is the main focus of the degree. A PhD thesis might be being formulated and worked on for the whole four years of the degree program. The writing process alone can take around 18 months.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). What Is a Dissertation? | 5 Essential Questions to Get Started. Scribbr. Retrieved 2 July 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/what-is-a-dissertation/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, how to choose a dissertation topic | 8 steps to follow, how to write a dissertation proposal | a step-by-step guide, what is a literature review | guide, template, & examples.

• University of Michigan Library
• Research Guides

Microsoft Word for Dissertations

• Introduction, Template, & Resources
• Formatting for All Readers
• Applying a Style
• Modifying a Style
• Setting up a Heading 1 Example
• Images, Charts, Other Objects
• Footnotes, Endnotes, & Citations
• Cross-References
• Appendix Figures & Tables
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures/Tables
• Chapter and Section Numbering
• Page Numbers
• Landscape Pages
• Combining Chapter Files
• Commenting and Reviewing
• Tips & Tricks
• The Two-inch Top Margin
• Troubleshooting
• Finalizing Without Styles
• Preparing Your Final Document

Help with Microsoft Word

Members of the University of Michigan community can get dissertation & thesis formatting assistance from the experts at ScholarSpace:

Please  visit this link to make an appointment , or send an email to [email protected].

We're here to solve any formatting problems you've run into, and can give you guidance about captioning figures, solving numbering issues, creating a List of Tables/Figures/Appendices, and more.

Contact Information

Introduction to Word for Dissertations

Formatting your dissertation (or thesis) will likely take more time than you expect. But using the special features described in this Guide will save you a great deal of work , particularly if you use our template (available in the box below). The earlier you begin to use these tools, the more time you'll save and the less stress you'll have as your submission deadline approaches. Students at the University of Michigan are also encouraged to contact the experts at the Library's ScholarSpace anytime you run into a problem or have a question.

To meet  Rackham’s Dissertation Formatting Guidelines  you will need to modify the standard settings that Microsoft Word uses. This guide will show you how to use the tools to make the necessary modifications.  While we do follow the requirements from Rackham’s formatting guidelines to demonstrate the tools, in the end, you are responsible for verifying that your document meets the requirements that Rackham sets.

To save yourself time and effort , please consider using our Dissertation Template (link available in the box below). Many of the settings discussed in this Guide are already included in that document.

Please note that, as a University of Michigan student, you have free access to the Microsoft Office suite of tools -- including Microsoft Word. Visit this link to learn more and to download Office to your own computer.

Dissertation Template and other Resources

• ScholarSpace Template for Dissertations This Microsoft Word document comes with many of the Rackham formatting guidelines built in, and can be used for dissertations and theses. Please note that this template doesn't follow the formatting direction of any particular Style Guide. It is your responsibility to make sure you are following the Style Guide predominant in your field, and to make any relevant formatting changes to heading styles, numbering, captions, etc... How to make many of those changes is described throughout this Guide.
• Dissertation Formatting Workshops (online) We regularly offer free workshops throughout the school year to introduce you to the lesser-known features of Microsoft Word that will make formatting (and editing) your dissertation much easier.
• Rackham Dissertation Handbook Rackham's Dissertation Guidelines and Handbook
• Dissertation Formatting Checklist Rackham's list of formatting issues to watch out for in your dissertation.
• Using Microsoft Word for Large Documents (non-dissertation specific) Handout This document was written for an older -- much older -- version of Word, but nearly all of the information is still accurate and very useful.
• Guide to Copyright for Dissertations This guide addresses copyright questions specific to University of Michigan dissertation authors. It covers topics such as: Using Others' Content, Copyright in Your Dissertation, and Publishing Your Dissertation

A word about LaTeX

LaTeX is a markup language (sometimes accessed through the Overleaf editor) that is often used in science and engineering documents because it allows for great control in creating complex equations and formulas. ScholarSpace does not maintain a template for dissertations created with LaTeX, and we can only provide very limited support for it. That said, there is a community of U-M folks who actively maintain  this LaTeX template to keep it in line with Rackham's guidelines .

Here are some other very useful resources:

• Video recording of a  UM Library Workshop on Dissertation Formatting with LaTeX
• Documentation for LaTeX and Overleaf
• Bibiliography Management with LaTeX
• How to Write a Thesis in LaTeX
• A huge collection of LaTeX resources

Can I use Google Docs for my dissertation?

No. Google Docs can get you pretty far down the road to something that looks like what Rackham requires, however, it's going to take a lot more work to get that far, and as you approach the finish line you will collide with obstacles that Google Docs just won't be able to get around. The issue is that Google Docs was not designed for complicated documents like a thesis or dissertation. To get it to do many of the special things that Rackham requires, you'll have to do a great deal of work that Word will just do for you . A few examples:

• Rackham requires 1" margin on all pages, but a 2" margin at the top of each new section. You'll have to manually adjust every relevant page yourself in Docs to get this, but Word will just do it automatically.
• Docs gives you three choices for how your Table of Contents will look, none of which are suitable by Rackham's standards. While you can adjust the format, many aspects of it (such as spacing) will revert to the original every time you update it.  With Word, you're in charge of what your ToC looks like.
• In Docs, you'll have to manually type in your figure numbers ("Figure 3.6") and change them every time you add or move them. But Word will manage numbering and caption placement for you, it will renumber figures or tables as you add or move them, and it will create your List of Figures/Tables automatically – correct page numbers and all. 
• With Word's figure/table numbering, you can also insert cross-references, so when you refer to "(see Figure 4.2)" but then you add some new figures before that, not only will Figure 4.2 renumber itself automatically, but anywhere you've referred to it will be updated, too. No more anxiety about whether you've updated everything accurately.
• Page numbers: Rackham wants the first two pages to have no page numbers, the rest of the frontmatter to have small roman numerals, and the body of the document to have arabic numerals.  Docs just plain can't do that.

If you're concerned about the learning curve of using Word, please know that this Guide goes over how to do everything, AND the Word template found here has nearly everything already set up for you. We also regularly offer a workshop that serves as an introduction to the most useful features, and you can set up a meeting with a ScholarSpace expert anytime you run into something that you can't figure out. 

Writing Assistance

This Guide is all about how to properly format your dissertation -- how to make it look the way Rackham wants it to look. But what if you need help with the actual composition  of your content? Our friends at the Sweetland Writing Center offer such assistance, through their Writing Workshop program. From their website:

These are just a few quick but especially important tips to help you get started. See our more expansive Tips & Troubleshooting section for suggestions that are a little more complex.

• Save early , save often, and create backup versions as you go along. Consider setting up Microsoft OneDrive (you have free access with your umich login credentials). With this, you can turn on "Autosave" in Word to automatically save your document at regular intervals, and have access to previous versions.

• Use our template (available above), it will save you lots of time. Nearly all of the difficult formatting stuff we discuss in this Guide is already built into the template. Consider doing all of your writing in it -- even if you're working in separate files for each chapter, you can use a copy of the template for each one of those chapters.
• Set the margins including the two-inch margin for chapters titles  ( Setting Margins ) .
• Define styles for Headings 1-3, Normal, Captions, and Quotes – these are most common; you may need others ( Working with Styles ).
• If headings need to be numbered (for example, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, etc.), define a multi-level list ( Automatic Numbering ).
• If captions need to include the chapter number, define a multi-level list ( Automatic Numbering ).
• Share your file(s) with your advisors using Track Changes ( Commenting and Reviewing ) .
• If you use EndNote to manage your citations and create your bibliography, use only one EndNote library for your entire dissertation (see our EndNote Basics guide).
• Did we mention that you really ought to try out our template (available above)?

• Aberystwyth University
• Finding and Managing Information for Your Dissertation
• 4. Searching techniques

Finding and Managing Information for Your Dissertation: 4. Searching techniques

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The dissertation process
• 3. Information sources
• 5. Where to search
• 6. Systematic Reviews
• 7. Methods and data analysis
• 8. Evaluate and fact check information
• 9. Managing information
• 10. Referencing This link opens in a new window
• 11. How the library can help

Searching for information

It is important to prepare a plan for how you will find references relevant to your dissertation - this is generally known as a 'search strategy'.

This strategy will be defined by your dissertation topic(s) and any specific limits which have been placed on it by your department/supervisor. Your interests may be limited to certain topics in your subject matter, by date, by geographical area, by a particular method of analysis, or by a particular viewpoint/aspect of the subject.

Some related topics may be included and some may be excluded. It is important to get these limits sorted and agreed by your supervisor in order for your search strategy to be correctly formulated. This is an iterative process and you may need to return for discussions with your supervisor several times before a final position is agreed.

Searching for information - where to start?

There is a lot of information out there! Searching for information is easy but finding reliable, useful and relevant information is a much harder task.  You will need to search for good information sources when you come to learn about a subject or topic. To answer your research question you will search for books, journals, articles and many more information sources.   This is where developing skills in searching effectively come in. This page takes you through a range of different strategies and techniques for effectively searching for information online. This could be searching our Library catalogue Primo, subject databases and online search engines. 

Why do I need to learn to search effectively?

Learning how to form effective search strategies  will help you find relevant and useful information. It is very easy to find information in an electronic database by typing in a few keywords. What is not so easy is to find the information and results you actually need and require. By adopting certain search techniques, the results you find will be more concise and more relevant to your topic. This will save you time and enable you to focus on information of real value to your studies and research.

How do I do it?

Use this page to learn different ways to plan, organise, execute and refine your searches.

Information Sources

• Different categories of information sources

You can find Information anywhere — books, diaries, social media, blogs, personal experiences, magazine articles, expert opinions, encyclopedias, and web pages — and the type of information you need will vary depending on the question you are trying to answer for your assignment or research.

Different assignments require information from a variety of sources; therefore, you need to understand where to go to find certain types of information. Knowing what type of source you need will also help you find the correct source.

There are three broad categories of sources:

• secondary and

Take a look through these tabs for definitions and a few examples.

Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based. They are firsthand documents that provide direct evidence on your topic.

Correspondence

Manuscripts

Government Documents

News film footage

Archival Materials

Autobiographies 

Architectural drawings/plans

Photographs

T ertiary sources are organisation , categorisation , index or collection of sources.  A tertiary source presents summaries or condensed versions of materials, usually with references back to the primary and/or secondary sources. 

Dictionaries

Encyclopedias

Abstracts 

Bibliographies

Fact books and digests

Directories and guidebooks

Indexing and abstracting sources

Peer-reviewed articles

Peer-reviewed literature

When you are searching for sources, keep a look out for peer-reviewed articles.

These types of articles:

• are submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed or scholarly journal
• have gone through a rigorous evaluation by a board of scholarly reviewers in the subject area of the journal. 
• are reviewed for quality of research and adherence to editorial standards of the journal, before they are accepted for publication.

A peer-reviewed article is an article that has a badge of quality.

In Primo you will see this image for a peer reviewed source:  

Step-by-step

A sequence of steps which you can follow for selecting terms/phrases and building them into your search strategy is given below:

• Break down your dissertation topic into a small number of related concepts
• Identify terms and phrases related to each individual concept which you think may be useful search terms, Start with broad terms and then move towards more specific terms for each of the concept groups
• Run an initial search in a general database, combining the terms and phrases you have chosen for each concept. It is usually best to enter each group of terms in a separate search box if possible.
• Add more key terms to each of your groups, such as alternative terminology, synonyms, varied spellings, as you come across them in your initial search results
• Introduce truncation symbols (often *) to cover different endings for your terms in your search (e.g. to cover singular and plural forms)
• Enclose any phrases in your search term groups in quotes (e.g. “climate change”).
• Use filters offered by your database to cut down the number of results by date, language, method, geography etc.
• Filtering out the review papers can be very useful for getting a broad view of recent developments in your topic and also for finding more search terms.
• Output the references which you wish to save from this initial search either as an e-mail to yourself, as a saved file or download to a reference management package such as EndNote.

Repeat this procedure from steps 3-9 in a more specialist database, again adding any further useful terms which you find to the relevant group of concepts, until you are contented with the search. Use the same output method as used with the general database to output your results.

Managing your searches and results

• Managing your searches
• Saving searches
• Saving records
• Emailing records to yourself

Every time you get results from a database, you will need to manage them.

To avoid duplicating your searches again and again, save them! 

Take a look through these tabs to find out more on how to save searches and records and how to go about emailing them to yourself. 

If you find that you are repeatedly searching for the same word or phrase, you can save a search term to your Account on Primo.

• Ensure that you Sign In to Primo.

In Primo, at the top of the search results page, you will see an option to Save query.

 If you would like to be notified by email when new results are added to your search, click Turn on notification for this query on the banner that appears. 

Click on the push pin icon which is located in the top right hand corner of the Primo page to go to your favourites, and then click the Saved Searches tab to view your saved searches:

You have the option to delete these saved searches whenever you wish by clicking on Unpin this search:

next to the search you wish to remove.

If you have found an item on Primo you wish to save  to your account for future reference, you can store or save a record by clicking the push pin icon next to the title.

At the top right of the Primo page, click the "Go to my favourites " push pin icon to view your saved items.

You can email your saved items to yourself too. 

• Visit Primo and sign in
• At top right of the screen select the pin
• Click drop down menu next to your name, select Saved Items

• Select up to 30 records by clicking the number box next to each record

• Above the list, click ... then select E-MAIL

• you can export one item at a time by click
• Continue until you have exported all the records you want to email to yourself from the Basket and any sub-folders you have previously created

Identifying search terms or keywords

• Define your search terms or keywords
• Synonyms or alternative search terms
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Terminology variations

Before you start

Consider 3 questions:

• What sort of information do I need?
• Where should I look for information? 
• How can I search effectively so that I find relevant materials - what search terms or keywords will find this information?

Highlight the key terms or keywords in your research question. Think carefully about suitable keywords and synonyms which are alternative words that have a similar meaning that will enable you to find manageable amounts of relevant material - not so many results to cause information overload, or so few that you retrieve insufficient information.

Think about alternative words/phrases or synonyms you should include in your search in order to improve your search results.

For example:

If you were researching the failure of small business in the UK you could use the following keywords:

•  failure, success, demise, challenges, risk.

As well as searching for the UK, you might also search for:

• United Kingdom, GB, Great Britain.

Use a thesaurus for synonyms:  https://www.powerthesaurus.org/

Some databases have a built-in thesaurus you can use to find alternative terms.

Think about if you can use acronyms or abbreviations in your search. These can be included in your search terms in order to find matching results. 

For example: 

• AIDS and/or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
• Doctor and/or Dr

Have a look at the following websites to find more abbreviations and acronyms:

Abbreviations.com

There are over 230,000 entries and 81 categories such as business, medicine, science and international abbreviations and acronyms.

Acronym Finder

Acronym Finder is a searchable dictionary of over 330,000 acronyms and abbreviations.

Think about differences in spellings and terminology, and use alternatives into your search strategy. 

For example:  

• globalisation (British spelling)
• globalization (American English spelling) 

W ildcard symbols can help with this:

• globali?ation will search and find globalisation and globalization

organi?e will search and find organise and organize

See 'Using symbols ?' box in the right hand column for further information on how to do this. 

Boolean operators - what are they?

• Boolean operators
• Combining operators

Boolean operators form the basis of database logic and ar e used to combine concepts when searching . By u sing these operators, you are able to focus your search. They connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.

The three basic boolean operators are:

Remember to type these operators in capital letters. 

Why use Boolean operators?

• To focus a search, particularly when your topic contains multiple search terms.
• To connect various pieces of information to find exactly what you're looking for.

Use AND in a search to:

• narrow your results
• tell the database that  ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records

​For example:

cat AND dog

exercise AND health

pollution AND water AND pesticides 

Be aware:  In many, but not all, databases, the AND is the default search and automatically puts an AND in between your search terms.

• Though all your search terms are included in the results, they may not be connected together in the way you want.
• Welsh language education is translated to:  Welsh AND language AND education. 
• The words may appear individually throughout the resulting records.
• You can search using phrases to make your results more specific (see box opposite).
• For example:  "Welsh language education" / "climate change"  This way, the phrases show up in the results as you expect them to be.

Use OR in a search to:

• connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)
• broaden your results
• You are telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records

travel OR tourism

cloning OR genetics OR reproduction

Use NOT in a search to:

• exclude words from your search
• narrow your search, telling the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms

cat NOT dog

cloning NOT sheep

travel NOT tourists

You can use multiple operators within the same search to get even more effective and powerful results. Databas es follow commands you type in and return results based on those commands.  When combining your search terms, be aware of your search order. 

• Databases usually recognize AND as the primary operator, and will connect concepts with AND together first.
• If you use a combination of AND and OR operators in a search, enclose the words/concepts in (brackets together).

You are looking for information on teenagers and the use of social media . You could combine your operators as:

• Group the OR concepts together using ( ) to ensure that the search is processed in the expected way.

You are looking for information on cloning humans and cloning sheep . You could combine your operators as:

• This will search for cloning AND sheep as well as cloning AND human

If you do not use the (parentheses) and search using the following cloning AND sheep OR human, your search will be processed as:

• cloning AND sheep as one search
• This means that your search results containing human would not be linked in any way to cloning.

Tweak your search

You can narrow your search results in databases by filtering the appropriate fields. For example clicking the Full Text Online option will show you just the items which you can access online directly through Primo.

You're telling the catalogue or database exactly what you want to be displayed.

Other examples to filter your results:

• year (for up-to-date research)
• type (e.g. article or book)
• subject (for relevance)
• language 
• online sources

Phrase searching ".................."

Phrase searching helps you to limit your search as it is used to specify that your terms must appear next to each other, and in the order you specify.

Phrase searching is achieved by surrounding your phrase with " quotation marks" .   (Always check the database help screens, as some databases may use different symbols.)

For example, when your add the quotation marks to the following terms, the database searches for those exact terms in the order your specify and not anywhere in the item record.

"social media" 

"climate change"

"Welsh medium education"

"agricultural development"

"to be or not to be"

Using symbols (*) - truncation

Truncation is another search technique you can use to find different word endings based on the root of a word. Truncate simply means to shorten something. When you are searching using truncation as a search technique, you will shorten or remove the ending of a particular word and leave behind just the root of that particular word which is shared by multiple terms so that the database will look for all the variations. You will not have to type all the different variations of the term as the database will search this for you in one go, rather than you making several separate searches.

The  truncation symbol (*) retrieves any number of letters - useful to find different word endings based on the root of a word.

educat* will find and retrieve results containing  educate, education, educational, educationalist.

agricultur*  will find and retrieve results agriculture, agricultural, agriculturalist.

child*  will find and retrieve r esults child , childs, children, childrens, childhood, childish, childlike. 

Using symbols (?)

Wildcards are similar to truncation but they are used to substitute for a single letter or no letter in a word . They are useful for irregular plurals and for British/American English spellings. They broaden your search by including variant word spellings.

The question mark symbol is most commonly used.  

wom?n  will search and find  woman  and  women

behavio?r   will search and find behaviour and behavior

model?ing  will search and find  modeling  and  modelling

Searching databases effectively video

• << Previous: 3. Information sources
• Next: 5. Where to search >>
• Diweddarwyd / Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 11:49 AM
• URL: https://libguides.aber.ac.uk/dissertation
• Argraffu / Print page

Hygyrchedd / Accessibility

Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

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 ...

You Might Also Like:

36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

• What Is A Literature Review (In A Dissertation Or Thesis) - Grad Coach - […] is to write the actual literature review chapter (this is usually the second chapter in a typical dissertation or…

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

Get JTA's Daily Briefing in your inbox

I accept the JTA Privacy Policy .

By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org

From Labour to the Day of Rest, here are the Jewish storylines in this week’s UK election

LONDON — Britain will go to the polls on Thursday in an election that will likely produce a once-in-a-generation political earthquake, and mark a notable shift for the country’s Jewish voters.

The opposition Labour Party is poised to win a historic victory over the Conservatives. The election will also constitute a pivot for the United Kingdom’s 290,000 Jews — precisely because they too are expected to vote largely for Labour after years of breaking with it. 

Labour leader Keir Starmer — who has a Jewish wife — is expected to be the next prime minister, dislodging Rishi Sunak, and the scale of Labour’s projected victory is immense: Polling indicates that the Conservatives, who have been in power for 14 years, could win fewer than 100 seats out of the 650 in the House of Commons. It would be their worst defeat since the advent of modern democracy in Britain in 1832. 

Britain’s Jewish community was considered broadly centrist for decades, but that all changed in 2015, when the veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn became the Labour Party’s leader. Labour quickly became plagued with persistent antisemitism allegations that Corbyn proved either unable or unwilling to resolve. British Jews abandoned Labour in historic numbers in the 2017 and 2019 elections, and Corbyn lost the latter in a landslide .

In the years since Starmer succeeded Corbyn, he has moved to aggressively tackle antisemitism within Labour, and has reached out to the Jewish community in a bid to regain trust. This seems to have worked: After almost a decade – many Jews now say they plan to vote Labour. 

“Today, happily, Britain’s Jewish communities can decide who to vote for on everyday issues like everyone else,” Ian Austin, an unaffiliated Jewish member of the House of Lords, wrote in London’s Jewish Chronicle . “That is a huge change from the existential worries facing Jewish people in 2019.” 

In addition, the campaign’s final days have seen a Jewish controversy: Conservatives have attacked Starmer for taking Friday night as family time — criticism some British Jews have said carried uncomfortable undertones.

Here’s what you need to know about the U.K.’s July 4 election, and how it affects British Jews — and Jewish officials whose seats are at risk.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks in London following the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s announcement that it has concluded its monitoring of the Labour Party, Feb. 15, 2023. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)

Labour is poised to win the Jewish vote.

According to a poll published last week by the U.K.’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research , Jewish voting intentions mirror the country’s as a whole.

The poll found that in the country’s multiparty system, 46% of Jews plan to vote Labour, compared to 30% who say they will support the Conservatives. Other parties will receive smaller shares of the Jewish vote: 10% will vote for the left-wing Green Party, 8% for the centrist Liberal Democrats and 6% for Reform U.K., a populist anti-immigration party. Negligible numbers are due to vote for Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties.

The biggest shift among Jews is in the vote for Labour. In 2019, at the height of Corbyn’s antisemitism crisis, the party polled at an all-time low of 11% among Jews. But Starmer vowed a “zero-tolerance approach” on the issue, implementing the recommendations of a government commission that found the party had treated Jewish members unlawfully. Starmer expelled Corbyn from the party and worked to root out antisemitism. In May, he told the Jewish News , “The changes I have made to Labour are permanent.”

Labour has clearly been trying to underscore that message. It has distributed a leaflet in Hendon, a constituency with a large Jewish population, signed by four senior Jewish political figures who were targeted during the antisemitism crisis. It read: “We are proud that under Keir Starmer, Labour has changed for good.” 

Now, Jews say they’ll vote for Labour in slightly higher numbers than the general population. 

“Jews are remarkably similar to the U.K. population as a whole,” wrote Jonathan Boyd, the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research . “Outwardly, our dominant concerns seem to be about Israel and antisemitism, but inwardly — in our day-to-day lives — we’re focused on the same issues as the rest of British society, such as health care, education and the cost of living.” 

There are splits among Jews by denomination.

Beneath the topline polling figures, there are splits beneath the surface. As in the United States, the Orthodox Jewish community trends rightward, and Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly intend to vote Conservative. If those numbers bear out, it could make Orthodox Jews the very few reliably Tory communities left in Britain in 2024. 

Jews affiliated with progressive synagogues, meanwhile, along with unaffiliated Jews, will vote in large numbers for Labour. As in the rest of the country, Labour is set to perform relatively well among Jewish women and younger Jewish voters.

Conservatives are facing backlash for attacking Starmer’s Friday night family time.

Starmer’s family belongs to a Liberal synagogue in north London, and he has spoken in the past about trying to be home with his family on Friday night, the beginning of Shabbat.

“It is about just being with the family,” he told the Jewish Chronicle in 2020. “It’s about being a bit more disciplined, about being home with our children and the family — they are growing up fast.”

In recent days, that commitment has come under attack from Conservatives, who are citing it to argue that as prime minister, Starmer won’t be on the job 24-7. 

“Keir Starmer has said he’d clock off work at 6pm if he became Prime Minister,” the party posted on X yesterday. “You deserve better than a part-time Prime Minister.”

Labourites as well as Jewish commentators have bristled at the criticism. 

“It’s an admirable aim for anyone, but for Jews, this is deep in our DNA,” wrote Stephen Pollard, the Jewish Chronicle’s editor-at-large, about Friday night dinner. The Conservatives’ post, he wrote, had the effect of “distorting [Starmer’s] words beyond all recognition” and “effectively telling every Jew in Britain who spends time with his family on a Friday night, rather than working, that they — we — are lazy good-for-nothings.”

John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, described the attacks as “insidious.” The former Labour M.P., who now sits in the House of Lords, wrote on X : “The attack on Keir Starmer for asserting his right to family time on a Friday night, as he has done for many, many years, is so dangerous. So insidious from those aware of why he chooses to be with his family specifically on Friday evenings.” 

The Labour leader called the attack “laughably pathetic.”

He added, “As people will appreciate, we use that [time] for family prayers — not every Friday, but not infrequently,” he added in a radio interview. 

More broadly, Starmer said maintaining Jewish traditions is important to the family. 

“We’re very keen for the children to know about it, to understand it,” he said.

Israel has featured prominently in an otherwise staid campaign.

Despite the potential for a landslide opposition victory, the actual campaign has been rather quiet — except, that is, when it comes to Israel and Gaza.

In the weeks after Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, Labour supported Israel’s military campaign. Starmer’s wife has family in Israel, and he came out in support of Israel’s actions in the days after the attack. 

“Obviously everything should be done within international law, but I don’t want to step away from the core principles that Israel has a right to defend herself and Hamas bears responsibility for the terrorist acts,” he said on Oct. 11. 

In another parallel to the United States, that stance has antagonized the pro-Palestinian activists in Labour’s base. And while the party initially held off calling for a ceasefire, it now firmly backs one, though it has avoided calling for a cessation of arms exports to Israel. Labour has also stated that it would comply with any International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Starmer said earlier in June that his focus as prime minister would be to help release remaining hostages held in Gaza.  

“The first and most fundamental thing is getting that ceasefire, ensuring we can get hostages out,” he said , adding: “I shudder to think what state they will be in.”  

Rishi Sunak has been steadfast in his support for Israel, but has also expressed concern at the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza. Under Sunak, the U.K. has claimed that the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants over the conflict in Gaza. On Saturday, the prime minister made another pitch to Jewish voters on the issue while visiting the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green . 

“I will be steadfast in standing by Israel in its time of need,” he said. “I will not try and bully Israel into making concessions that are not in its interests. Israel deserves to live in peace and security.” 

Apart from Israel, both the Conservatives and Labour have committed to improving security for the local Jewish community. One issue that may be motivating for some Jewish parents is Labour’s popular promise to end a tax exemption for private schools, which would impact Jewish schooling. The Board of Deputies, a Jewish umbrella group, has appealed to Labour to re-examine the policy. 

Where will the Jewish vote matter most?

Jewish voters will be watching for whether Jewish Conservative incumbents can hold onto their seats against the likely Labour landslide. These will include heavy-hitters such as Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, both of whom seem likely to lose. 

And while the overall number of British Jews is small — 290,000 in a country of some 67 million — the community is highly concentrated in a small number of parliamentary constituencies. That means that their votes can have a significant impact in those races.

There are eight constituencies where Jews make up more than 5% of the population, topped by Finchley and Golders Green in northwest London, where more than one-fifth of voters are Jews. 

Many seats with large Jewish populations are competitive ones, where the Jewish vote could play a role in tipping the balance in favor of one party. In Conservative-held Finchley and Golders Green, Jewish Labour candidate Sarah Sackman is expected to edge out her opponent in a tightly fought race. Sunak, wearing a kippah, was out campaigning there on Sunday, talking up his support for Israel at a synagogue and a Jewish deli. 

“The great thing about this election is that British Jews have a choice,” Sackman told the Jewish News . “I think people can see that I’m someone who is committed to public service, and as far as the Jewish community is concerned, standing up and being a strong voice for our community.” 

Labour is almost certain to flip other constituencies with a large Jewish population, such as Hendon and Chipping Barnet, both in north London, and Bury South, near Manchester. The only seat with a large Jewish presence where the Conservatives could hold on by a whisker is Hertsmere, where 17% of voters are Jews. Jewish Labour candidate Josh Tapper is working to pull off a huge upset by unseating Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden. 

Dowden, in a recent interview , made a pitch for Conservatives by asking Jewish voters to judge the incumbent government on its actions. 

“When Israel was attacked by Iran, for the first time in the history of the U.K. we stood alongside Israel and British aircraft intercepted those attacks,” he said. “If you look at the fundamental positions taken by the government, we have been true to our word.” 

Share this:

Recommended from jta.

Amateur detectives are invited to join search for a lost Jewish library looted by the Nazis

Far-right German politician fined again for using a banned Nazi phrase

Far-right party with antisemitic roots projected to lead after first round of French vote

Synagogues in Dagestan, Russia, targeted alongside churches in terror attack

• Advanced Searches
• Legislation
• Congressional Record
• Search Tools
• Browse the Help Center

Examples: "Trade Relations", "Export Controls"

Examples: hr5, h.r.5, sjres8, sa2, pl116-21, 86Stat1326

Examples: trade sanctions reform, small modular reactor

Examples: hr5, h.r.5, sjres8, s2, 90stat2495

Examples: baseball, "standing rules"

Examples: 5, 20, 37

Examples: hr5021, H.Res.866, sconres15, S.51, 117pl2, 117-2

Examples: "enrolled bill signed", "leak detection dog"

Examples: "diplomatic service", retired

Examples: PN4, pn12, pn1633-2, 118PN345

Examples: Morris, Beck

Examples: general, "deputy under secretary"

Examples: judiciary, "Coast Guard"

Examples: marine mammals, "5 U.S.C. 801", "Presidential Address"

Example: peace corps

Examples: EC6228, r12313, PM45, PT83, ML160

Example: 5 U.S.C. 801

Examples: "trade relations", "Export Control Act"

Examples: EC2, PM32, POM43

Examples: UNESCO, "sea turtles"

Examples: 115-3, 114-13(A)

Example: 106-1

LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 674, TO CODIFY THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONDUCT CERTAIN LANDSCAPE-SCALE FOREST RESTORATION PROJECTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "ROOT AND STEM PROJECT AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2023"; H.R. 4297, TO AMEND THE JOHN D. DINGELL, JR. CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, AND RECREATION ACT TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL ENTITIES TO BE ELIGIBLE TO COMPLETE THE MAINTENANCE WORK ON BOLTS DITCH AND THE BOLTS DITCH HEADGATE WITHIN THE HOLY CROSS WILDERNESS, COLORADO, "BOLTS DITCH ACT"; H.R. 5443, TO ESTABLISH A POLICY REGARDING APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL PROPERTY FOR A TRANSACTION OVER WHICH THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR HAS JURISDICTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "ACCELERATING APPRAISALS AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS ACT" OR "AACE ACT"; H.R. 6994, TO REQUIRE THE REOPENING OF COVERED RECREATION SITES CLOSED DUE TO A NATURAL DISASTER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "RESTORING OUR UNOPENED TRAILS FOR ENJOYMENT AND SAFETY ACT" OR "ROUTES ACT"; AND H.R. 7072, TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO CONVEY CERTAIN NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND IN THE CHEQUAMEGON-NICOLET NATIONAL FOREST TO TONY'S WABENO REDI-MIX, LLC, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "WABENO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2024" 118th Congress (2023-2024)

House committee meeting.

More on This Hearing

• U.S. Capitol Map

Text: LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 674, TO CODIFY THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONDUCT CERTAIN LANDSCAPE-SCALE FOREST RESTORATION PROJECTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "ROOT AND STEM PROJECT AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2023"; H.R. 4297, TO AMEND THE JOHN D. DINGELL, JR. CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT, AND RECREATION ACT TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL ENTITIES TO BE ELIGIBLE TO COMPLETE THE MAINTENANCE WORK ON BOLTS DITCH AND THE BOLTS DITCH HEADGATE WITHIN THE HOLY CROSS WILDERNESS, COLORADO, "BOLTS DITCH ACT"; H.R. 5443, TO ESTABLISH A POLICY REGARDING APPRAISAL AND VALUATION SERVICES FOR REAL PROPERTY FOR A TRANSACTION OVER WHICH THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR HAS JURISDICTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "ACCELERATING APPRAISALS AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS ACT" OR "AACE ACT"; H.R. 6994, TO REQUIRE THE REOPENING OF COVERED RECREATION SITES CLOSED DUE TO A NATURAL DISASTER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "RESTORING OUR UNOPENED TRAILS FOR ENJOYMENT AND SAFETY ACT" OR "ROUTES ACT"; AND H.R. 7072, TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO CONVEY CERTAIN NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND IN THE CHEQUAMEGON-NICOLET NATIONAL FOREST TO TONY'S WABENO REDI-MIX, LLC, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, "WABENO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2024"

Text available as:.