The importance of dissertation cannot be underestimated. When scholars in the UK want to get a PhD degree they are to write a academic paper with a profound research on some topic or issue which is of special importance to the development of science nowadays. This is where this tremendous value of dissertation lies – in the fact that each dissertation is being approved on the basis of its relevance to the scientific development and relevance today.
Obviously, theory and practice are intertwined things and no one knows what comes first. However, there are so many things in the world which still require explanation and further in-depth study, that it seems scholars have a long way to go! If you are wondering what is the best way to start developing that science, there is only one answer so far – to write a dissertation. And to this end you will definitely begin with writing a dissertation proposal which is seen as a detailed plan for further extensive essay.
Writing For PhD.
Many scientific breakthroughs are frequently the results of someone’s research and its interpretation in the paper. Why? The answer is simple. When writing any kind of academic paper you as a researcher should first examine a bunch of literature, concepts, approaches, and theoretical schools. This usually leads to a better understanding of the topic and thus emergence of genuine interest in its further exploration.
Dissertation accounts for the final project that PhD candidates present before gaining their doctoral degree. It is usually a thorough scientific research of a specific topic conducted with sophisticated researching methodology and answering serious research questions. There still may be some confusion between thesis and dissertation. To alleviate possible misunderstandings, let us state that the thesis marks the end of a master’s program, while the dissertation occurs during doctoral study.
There are certain core elements which a decent dissertation has:
- title page;
- abstract: essence of the paper presented in up to 500 words;
- introduction: presenting the research question that has been investigated, motivation for doing the work, and relevance of this study. You may have broken your major research question into smaller questions to make it easier to handle;
- literature review: a comprehensive discussion of other works related to your subject-matter. In case you have found certain discrepancies in the work of the scholars who are authors to these academic papers you are reviewing, you may dwell on their wrongs and explain why your approach is a better one;
- methodology: explicitly explaining how you completed the research and why that way was the ultimately correct one. How did you do your work and how did you measure it and determine it to be significant and/or answered? What were your standards?
- results: containing key findings of the study noting whether the findings met the standards you established in methods;
- conclusions: description of how your study contributes to the big picture, where have you failed to answer the question and why do you think so, what are the further steps for other scholars to take in this direction;
- list of references: all of the works you have used in your piece of writing.
Basic Features of Scholarly Writing.
Writing for a scientific journal is nothing like writing for your personal blog or glamorous magazine, obviously. Moreover, there is a set of features which are inherent to academic writing and are likely to remain such for centuries to come. These include paper organization, accuracy, and achievement of the research objectives.
Firstly, your dissertation has to be properly organized and structured. The progression of ideas and paragraphing must always be supported by examples. To avoid excessive subjectivity, a reasonable number of alternative points of view shall be presented and discussed. Conclusion usually plays a vital role as it is used to suggest further areas of investigation and give recommendations.
Secondly, you have to be accurate in terms of grammar, tone of voice, word choice, spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. These are extremely important issues allowing for readability and understandability of the written piece. This is definitely not the reader’s job to guess what writer meant. You must avoid any kind of confusion throughout your dissertation as it may undercut all the good things you have already done.
Thirdly, one should approach the task in a direct and efficient way. The development of the argument must be relevant, accurate and appropriate. In many cases, successful academic writing must address a topic or title clearly. Sticking to the point allows your readers to use the time efficiently, find the most appropriate information and start using it immediately instead of trying to find a pin’s head.
Wrapping it up, dissertation writing plays an important role in the development of science as it encourages researchers to examine topics of interest to them and reflect on their findings through writing. Since there are uniform rules and norms for academic writing, it is rather easy to read and comprehend information given and thus become theoretically equipped in a particular field.
