Creating A Dissertation: Common Writing Rules

Dissertations have been intimidating many students for centuries. The dissertation is a 200-350 page study that the student must complete in order to receive their doctorate. In the sciences, the book-length project often seeks to make a new observation that has never been proposed before. The student will then test the efficacy of their theory through all kinds of experiments, polls, and other data, as well as bringing in the theories of scholars, specialists, and researchers to prove their thesis as well.

The Doctoral Dissertation: Think of It Like This

The doctoral dissertation, although it sounds awfully daunting is a book length study, but it is broken up into many small parts which makes the writing come much easier.

Even each chapter can be broken up into page long parts with headers. Therefore, you can think of your dissertation as several parts of a much larger project. Also, you can set yourself smaller goals by breaking the dissertation up this way.

The Parts of a Dissertation

• The Dissertation Abstract

The dissertation abstract tells in a very special language and in, typically around 500 words or less exactly what the dissertation sets out to prove.

The dissertation abstract is what everyone in the future will read in order to determine if they want to read your study for research of their own books, until you get your dissertation published, hopefully, and it is available to national university libraries.



• Acknowledgements

Acknowledges all who have helped you to write the dissertation.



• Table of Contents

This table precedes your dissertation content and breaks the dissertation down into its chapter headings by page number to the right.



• The Introduction

The introduction can be a short or long essay or chapter. The introduction cannot be written until you know exactly what you are going to discuss or you will merely have to rewrite it. Therefore, that is why students typically write the introduction last. You have to be careful not to leap right in or you will have to rewrite it.



• The Major Chapters

Break your study down into five major parts that can make for five chapters and an introduction. This way, if you each is 35-40 pages long, you will have basically met the length requirements of all universities.



• The Conclusion

The conclusion for a dissertation is typically quite long and summarizes your final thoughts of your study in the light of all you have said already.