Author: Julie Watson, eLanguages, University of Southampton
As well as being much longer than other written course assignments, dissertations are generally far more complex pieces of extended academic writing. Before you embark on writing a dissertation it is a good idea to find out what different elements dissertations might contain and how these elements fit together.
In these activities you will gain an overview of the different dissertation elements and consider what typifies the content of each. You will also consider ways of structuring and numbering the parts of a dissertation.
Most dissertations involving experiment or empirical research of some kind are likely to be made up of a number of distinct parts or sections. A dissertation can, therefore, be divided into sections which form the main body of the text and sections which include additional information (the preliminaries).
This activity will familiarise you with the sections that usually occur in the preliminary part of a dissertation and those that occur in the main body of a dissertation.
Select an exercise and match each section name with a suitable description of its contents from the list provided.
Exercise 1: The preliminaries
Exercise 2: The main body of text
An important way of organising your dissertation effectively is by using a system of headings and subheadings. Different levels of headings and subheadings can be distinguished through a tiered numbering system and the use of different font sizes and styles for the various levels. The title of each section should then give a clear indication of the content which is to follow.
Study the following example, which shows how a chapter from a dissertation has been structured and consider these two questions:
Chapter 4: Research Methodology
4.1 Ethnography
4.1.1 What is ethnography?
4.1.2 Reasons for an ethnographic approach
4.2 Ethnography of a primary school playground
4.2.1 Background of the school
4.2.2 Justification for the selection of the school
4.3 Data collection methods
4.3.1 Non-participant observation
4.3.2 Interviews with the children
4.3.3 Interviews with the lunch time supervisors
4.3.4 Interviews with the teachers
Now look at this list of chapter and section titles taken from another dissertation. Place them in a three-tiered system of chapter and section headings and sub-section headings by dragging and dropping them into position using the numbering system given.
Produced for the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics
and Area Studies Materials Bank www.llas.ac.uk/mb
Author: Julie Watson, eLanguages, University of Southampton