The five-chapter dissertation is a very common format at 亚色影库, used by many programs. This overview assumes that the dissertation employs some kind of empirical data collection.
The Hourglass Method of Organization
The overall organizational structure of a dissertation goes from a broad to specific to broad format, just like an hourglass. At the most broad is your introduction (which connects to larger issues at play) and your implications (which again connects to larger issues). At the most narrow are your specific methods and results.
The rest of this page offers details on each of these sections.
Chapter 1: Introduction, exigence, and significance of study
The goal of Chapter 1 is to provide an introduction to your dissertation, which sets off a clear problem or issue you are responding to, introduces key definitions on the topic, and provides a clear study purpose.
Key Questions
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- So what, who cares?
- Why should we read?
- Why is this important?
- At the end of this chapter: Why does this work matter now? So what/who cares? What are you attempting to do?
Key Writing Strategies for Chapter 1
- Typically the introduction is written in a problem-solution format. You will start by introducing a key problem or issue that the dissertation is working to solve. This could be an issue or gap in the field, a cultural challenge, something that has recently changed.
- The problem itself is the first part of your larger argument about the significance and contribution of the work.
- As you offer terms, you should offer definitions of key terms. Some dissertations integrate definitions while others create a separate definition section (this is based on the writer as well as conventions in the field).
- Offer your dissertation’s purpose (“signaled clearly: the purpose of my study is….”)
- Provide a brief overview of the rest of the dissertation.
- See the Writing Center’s “Writing your Introduction” presentation for more details.
Chapter 2: Background, Previous Literature, and Theoretical Frameworks
The goal of Chapter 2 is to provide a discussion of the relevant background literature and how your study fits into this larger conversation. Remember that your goal is not only to summarize the previous literature but to synthesize across sources and demonstrate a clear argument for why your study helps contribute to this body of literature.
Key Questions
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- What does the previous work in this area say?
- What are the gaps?
- What theoretical/conceptual frameworks will help the present study?
- At the end of this chapter: How are you building and extending this work?
Key Writing Strategies
- Using synthesis and argument, not just a summary of sources. Make sure you are talking about groups of sources, not just a single source per paragraph. Key sources should have much more discussion than less important sources.
- Make sure you offer clear arguments about the role your own work plays in describing the literature.
- See the Writing Center’s “Literature Review” presentation for more details.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The Methods chapter describes, in detail, exactly what you will do with your study: steps you will take to recruit participants, engage in data analysis, engage in ethical research, and describe clear limitations. While methods do vary by field, there are general established conventions that can occur across fields, which are described:
Key Questions
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- What are your research questions/hypotheses?
- Who are your participants?
- What is your research context?
- How will you answer your research questions? Provide a step-by-step overview.
- At the end of this chapter: What are the methods and limitations of the proposed study?
Key Writing Strategies
The goal of the methods is to describe in detail what you will do every step of the way in your study. Remember that the goal is to write it in a way that another person could replicate or extend your methods. Thus, you need to provide enough detail about what you are doing and how you are analyzing your data.
Typical sections include:
- Participants and recruitment
- Study context
- Instrumentation
- Specific methods of study
- Ethical Considerations
- Limitations*
*Limitations can occur in one of two places in a dissertation: either in Chapter 3 or 5. This is based on personal preference as well as field convention.
Chapter 4: Results
This chapter describes key research findings, including providing a clear “story” to readers with intentional organization. For some kinds of data collection, you may have more data than you can share, so your job in Chapter 4 is to present the most relevant and compelling findings in an easy to follow format.
Key Questions
- What key findings did your data reveal?
- What is the strongest evidence you can present to illustrate those findings?
- At the end of this chapter: What are your key findings?
Key Writing Strategies
- Avoid the data dump and provide only relevant, meaningful findings. You are a curator of your data; you have to decide what is important and relevant to your field.
- Offer an intentional organization of key research findings, organized by research question, dataset, or theme. Use headings and subheadings to help illustrate your internal organization.
- Employ effective data visuals to assist readers in presenting key information.
- See the Writing Center’s “Writing Results” presentation for more information.
Chapter 5: Discussion and Implications
The fifth and final chapter is arguably the most important, as this is the “payoff” chapter where you get to discuss what your findings mean, and how they relate to previous literature (discussed in Ch 1 and 2) and build the field through key implications. This chapter is where you can highlight and illustrate your key contributions to the discipline. It usually has three sections: the first is a discussion section that discusses your key findings, what they mean, and how they connect/diverge/illustrate previous research. The second section is the implications of the findings; this is where you step back and broaden your discussion for your field: what do these findings mean for practices, pedagogy, theories in the field, or other aspects of the field’s knowledge? This is where you might make a call for action, propose a new model or method, or propose a new approach to a challenge the field faces. This is a unique opportunity to build the field with the knowledge that you have gained. The final part of the discussion and implication is a call for future research, where you encourage others to pursue lines of inquiry opened up from your dissertation research.
Key Questions
- What do these results mean in light of other previous scholarship?
- What do these findings suggest to us to do?
- Where do we go next?
- At the end of this chapter: What are your key contributions?
Key Writing Strategies
- Discuss the major findings in relationship to your own understanding
- Discuss the major findings in relationship to the broader literature (that which you cited in Ch 1-2)
- Offer clear implications for practice and future research
- Consider future research possibilities and new work that may come from this study.