The Doctoral Dissertation Structure: 8 Basic Writing Rules

At the end of your education, you will be required to create your dissertation. This will be the last paper that you will make and the most important one. It will be judged by many professors, and your future career can depend on it. The topic needs to be clear and engaging if you want to get their attention, and you must make research for a few weeks before you can write. When you plan your structure, you need to remember that there are many elements to be included in your paper. These are the 8 basic rules of structure writing:

1. Start with the title page. This is the first page that any reader will see, so it needs to be simple but representative for your dissertation. It should contain not only the title, but also your name, the name of the course and the name of your supervisor.
2. Build your abstract. It is very important to have a smart abstract if you want to impress anyone. It can be a few lines long and it needs to be a summary description of your project. Stay away from details; focus on the most important ideas.
3. Add the acknowledgements page. This is optional, but it will be considered very professional by your professor. You will mention all the people who helped you with your dissertation, including your teachers and colleagues.
4. Attach the outline. It can be added at the beginning or at the end of your main composition. Either way, it needs to help the reader find easily any chapter or information. Make sure that you do not have too many chapters, and that you use suitable titles for each one of them.
5. Write the main paper. This is the most important and time consuming part. Of course, the dissertation itself will be pretty long; most of the students write over 20 pages.
6. Always write the conclusion. If you forget this, the entire project is compromised. Your entire project had a purpose; did you reach your goal?
7. Don’t forget about the bibliography. It is very important to mention your sources and all the authors that you quoted in your paper. Put them in a list and write the page number where you used each one of them.
8. See if you need an appendices. If there is any idea that you forgot to mention in your text, you can add it at the end on a separate page.