Title Page
This should include the university crest and name, title of your dissertation, your name, supervisor’s name, programme and academic year of study, registration (student ID) number, and the following statement: ‘Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the degree of MSc in [programme title] (2019-2020).”
Abstract
The abstract should contain a brief description of the aims and objectives of the research and a short summary of the research approach and main findings. The abstract should be between 250-300 words (which do not contribute to the final word count).
Contents
A list of the chapters and sections with page numbers should be included. Lists of tables and figures should be provided separately.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements recognize any individuals or companies who have provided helpful ideas, data or resources. Acknowledging your parents support is a nice touch.
Introduction
The introduction should ‘set the scene’ and context for your research. It should clearly identify the research topic, the research objectives, and include a statement of the overall aim of the dissertation.
Literature Review
Throughout the programme you will have been encouraged to take a critical approach when reading literature. This approach should also be followed in your literature review. In addition to describing theories and reporting the findings contained in journal articles, book chapters etc., you should aim to be critically evaluating the information.
The critical evaluation may provide a rationale for your own study. The literature review should be structured logically regarding the key themes and contributions with which you are engaging.
Some issues have received a great deal of attention from researchers whereas others have received far less, perhaps because the research origins are relatively recent or because they have simply been neglected. The number of research studies available to you therefore will depend on your research topic.
Where there are a large number of studies available to you, it is rarely necessary or desirable to review every single contribution to the literature. You should focus on those contributions which have been most influential or revealing and those that are most relevant to your own research.
Research Methods
You should provide a detailed description of, and justification for, the research methods used in your study. This section should include sufficient information for the examiner to make an informed judgement about the appropriateness of your research design, its strengths and its limitations. Please bear in mind that you will not be expected to have developed a ‘perfect’ research design. The most important thing is that you reveal the steps you have taken in arriving at your findings. This section should include;
- A consideration of broader methodological issues
- A justification of the research design (i.e., why it should be considered appropriate, and perhaps more appropriate than alternative approaches)
- A description of the methods, how they have been used and justification of the choices;
- A description of the sampling strategy
- A consideration of any ethical implications of the research design throughout (e.g., can individuals be identified and, if so, should this be considered a matter for concern?)
If you have conducted a survey, you should provide information about the following;
- The survey approach (e.g., postal survey, telephone survey, interviews)
- Questionnaire design
- Sampling strategy
- How your data have been analyzed
If you have taken a case study approach, you should provide information about the following;
- How the cases were identified
- How access was negotiated
- The extent of access and any resulting implications for the study
- What sort of information you collected and how it was collected
- How your data have been analyzed
If you have drawn on secondary data, you should discuss;
- The nature of the information
- The reliability of the source (s)
- The manner in which concepts have been operational
- Measurement issues
- The strengths and limitations of the data
The above lists should not be regarded as exhaustive. Additional information should be provided, as required. This section should also include relevant references in order to justify your approach.
Findings
This section will include a presentation of your research findings, which will depend on your research approach. Where necessary, you should include tables and figures. The information in the tables and figures should be explained in the main text. All tables and figures should be numbered and given full explanatory titles. Tables containing less important information can be include in the appendices and should be referred to in the dissertation. If your approach has been mainly qualitative, you may include fewer tables and figures, although this will depend on how your data have been analyzed.
Discussion
Your discussion should not simply repeat or summarize your research findings. Its contents are dependent on the research objectives.
Your discussion should identify how your study has contributed to academic theory and knowledge, i.e., have your findings confirmed or contradicted previous findings?
You can use the discussion to consider the implications of your findings for managers, policy makers etc. You may include a brief subsection on the limitations of your research. If your research has uncovered issues that would benefit from further study these may be discussed briefly in a subsection on future research.
Conclusions and Recommendations
You should highlight the main conclusions of your research, and recommendations for Practitioners, Policy and further Research.
References
A reference list containing all the works included in the dissertation should be included. Make sure your references come from reliable sources. It is absolutely essential that you fully acknowledge all sources you have used to help develop your arguments, your evidence and reach conclusions in your research.
Examiners will check references for format and accuracy, so you must ensure that your details are correct and presented appropriately. If you wish to familiarize yourself with academic referencing styles you should look at academic journals for further examples in print. Use the Harvard referencing system and check with the library if you are not sure how to
Appendices
These should be used for documents, data or additional explanations that provide further necessary information but are too lengthy to include in the main body of the dissertation, e.g., the final questionnaire. The appendices must be referred to in the text.
