There are a number of standard devices used in the opening sections of dissertations which are usually precisely specified by faculty notices. Do not forget these elements – title page, acknowledgements, contents page – as they are standard requirements, not mere trivialities.
In the early stages of preparing for your dissertation, objectives and research questions can still be rather vague and open-ended. When embarking on primary research, however, you must begin by clarifying your guiding questions, or risk losing all focus. Word your questions precisely, write them down, know them back to front.
Open your dissertation with a clear statement of your purpose for conducting and writing up new research. These opening remarks need not yet precisely articulate specific research questions, but should indicate the definite direction which the dissertation will follow.
Think ahead clearly, before you begin, about how you want to put your essay together, what you want to say, and the nature of the relevant material. Strict deadlines can tempt you to put something on the page as soon as possible, but thorough planning will save you time by making the writing phase that much smoother.
It can be rather daunting to set about heavily critiquing authoritative texts, and takes some courage to put out fresh ideas of your own. As long as you are comfortable with the basic requirements of essay writing and academic conventions, you should be assured in your intellectual abilities and have the confidence to take a risk.
A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.
A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.
Towards the beginning of your concluding chapter it is useful to restate the findings reached from your recently analysed data. These findings should be stated clearly and with complete precision, forming a proper basis for developing a persuasive conclusion to your dissertation.
