How to-write-your-researchdissertation-090304083030-phpapp02

How to Write Your Research
(c) Swansea University. All Rights
Reserved.
Dissertation
Dr C. P. Jobling
(C.P.Jobling@Swansea.ac.uk)

Abstract
This presentation describes the standard structure
of your research dissertation and suggests a
methodology for its successful production using
modern word processing tools.

Introduction
• How to write your research dissertation
• The physical layout of the dissertation
• The standard sections:
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Theoretical development/Analysis
 Design Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Conclusions

Introduction (Content)
• What’s in a dissertation
• Types of dissertation
• Writing a dissertation in MS Word
 Signposting and captioning
• References provided

Introduction (Contents)
• Theoretical development/Analysis
• Design, Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions and suggestions for further work
• References

Theoretical
development/Analysis
• Theory theory
• Physical restrictions
• Generic structure of a dissertation
• Variations on the theme
• The literature review section

Theory theory
• A Dissertation is a kind of Technical Report
• Technical reports have a standard structure
• Technical reports may not be read “cover to
cover”
• Different readers have different needs.
• (some) Repetition and signposting is good.
• Section labelling, figure and table captioning,
equations, references and citations are
standardized.
[Bonet and Towers]

The Physical Layout
• Physical constraints:
 A4 paper
 12 point serif font (Times New Roman or similar)
 1” margin all round (1.25” for bound [left] side)
 Template will be provided
• Main body (from page 1 or chapter 1 to last
page of references) 50 pages maximum.
• Up to 10 pages of appendices allowed.

The Submission
• Submitted to School reception by 4.30 pm,
Monday 27th April.
• Must include:
 Title page, front matter, body and appendices.
 Plus 2 Page extended abstract (conference
paper style, like the handout).
 Plus unaltered copies of the project plan and the
progress report.
 May include additional, non-assessed materials
but these should be clearly marked as such.
• All bound together with ring binding

Deadlines are deadlines!
• Zero tolerance policy
 if the dissertation is not submitted by deadline, it
will not be marked!

Generic Parts of a Dissertation
• Abstract
• Introduction
• References
• Appendices (optional)

The Abstract
• Part of the “front matter” of the dissertation
• Purpose, approach, main findings in brief
(½ – 1 page)
• Not a chapter!
• Summarizing the abstract
 The whole dissertation in 1 page or less

Chapter 1: Introduction
• Is an introduction to the dissertation itself
• Describes:
 Purpose of study
 Methodology
 Results
 Main findings & conclusions
• Summary:
 Introduce the dissertation as well as the subject
of the dissertation.

Chapter 6: Conclusions
• Conclusion of the dissertation
• Contains
 Reiteration of the purpose of study
 Summary of the methodology and results
 Defines the main findings & conclusions
 Gives suggestions for further work

References
• Not a Chapter
• Part of the “End Matter” of the dissertation
• All the sources used and cited in the body of
the report.
• Evidence of breadth of your reading and depth
of your understanding.

Appendices
• Supplementary or more detailed information
that supports or expands the report (possibly for
reference).
• Formatted as optional extra chapters but using
Appendix A, Appendix B, etc rather than
Chapter 1, Chapter 2.

Front and End Matter
• Give signposting information to the dissertation
• Should be automatically generated whenever
possible
• Front matter is not included in page count
• End matter is!

Front matter
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Table of Figures
• Table of Tables [if tables have been used]
• [optional] List of Abbreviations, and/or Formulae
and/or Glossary of terms used.
 Should be provided if it will help the reader
• Acknowledgments

End matter
• References
• Appendices
• In published books there may be an index

Supplementary Materials
• Additional material that you or your supervisor
wants to have included in the dissertation
• E.g.
 Copies of datasheets
 Code listings
 Detailed design drawings
 CD-Roms
• Will not be assessed.

Variations on a Theme
• Different types of dissertation will have different
structures:
 Experimental project
 Literature review
 Design and implementation project
 Software development project
• The extended abstract is a different format
again.
• Refer to references for general guidelines
• Follow your publisher’s or institution’s
guidelines for specific cases

Experimental Project
• Generic parts +
 Theory chapter
 Method or experimental procedure chapter
 Results chapter
 Discussion of results chapter

Literature review
• Generic parts +
 Research method and sources
 The literature review itself
 Discussion and suggestions for further enquiry
 Very detailed references with evidence of wide
reading

Design and development project
• Generic parts +
 Background
 Analysis
 Design
 Implementation
 Testing

Software development project
• Generic parts +
 Background
 Analysis
 High-level design
 Low level design
 Implementation
 Acceptance test results

Literature Review
• Purpose is to define what was
known about the subject
covered in the report before
the work was done
“If I have seen further
it is by standing on
the shoulders of
giants.”
[Newton, 1675]

Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Assumptions
• Basic “textbook” knowledge of the field
• State of the art prior to the work
• Detailed discussion of the available technical
literature
 text books
 journal articles
 conference proceedings
 web sites
• More on citing in the next briefing

Theory (Review)
• Theory theory
• Physical restrictions
• Generic structure of a dissertation
• Variations on the theme
• The literature review section

Chapter 3: Design, Materials and
Methods
• Method of writing a report
• Repetition is good!
 How to repeat yourself
 Signposting
• Numbering
• Using your word processor
• Writing the “methods” chapter
• Citations and references [next briefing]

How to write a dissertation
• Start in the middle
 You have done the work so you know what your
approach was.
 You have the results so you just have to write
them up!
 Ensure that you understand the background,
write it up and use it to evaluate the results.
 Gather your references and ensure that they are
cited in the background sections and other
sections as appropriate.
 Write the conclusions and the introduction (in
that order)
 Write the summary
 Summarise the whole dissertation in the
extended abstract

Repetition is Good!
• Form of technical report has developed to allow different
classes of readers to make use of the materials in
different ways:
 Only summary may be read by a researcher looking
for information or a manager seeking an “executive
summary”.
 Only conclusions or introduction may be read by
someone interested in the subject but only wanting to
adopt the main findings.
 The whole document may be read by someone
wishing to follow-up on the work published.
• It is important that each part tells the same story at the
appropriate level of detail.
• Repetition and signposts help the reader who is not
reading the document sequentially.

How to Repeat Yourself
• Say what you will say (in brief) in the Abstract
• Say what you will say (in more detail) in the
introduction
• Say what you have to say (in full in the body)
with signposting
• Say what you have said (in the conclusions)
• Emphasise the good bits in the extended
abstract

How to Signpost
• Open each section with a statement of context:
 In the [last section] we ….
 In [this section] we now …
• Close each section with a statement of context:
 In this [section] we ….
 In the [next section] we will …
• Provide cross references
 As we saw in [a previous section] …
 As we will show in [a later section] …

Numbering
• Numbering important parts of the report helps
with signposting
• “Figure 2 shows” …. is better than “the figure on
page 3 shows”

Things that should usually be
numbered
• Parts, Chapters, Sections, Subsections,
Appendices
• Pages
• Figures and Tables
• Equations

Things that can be numbered
• Citations

Things that aren’t usually
numbered
• Sub-sub-sections
 1.1.2.3 is ugly
 rearrange to avoid deep nesting of sections
• Front and end matter sections (exception
appendices)
 Note appendices normally numbered A, B, C
rather than 1, 2, 3

Number Sections
• It is easier to use signposting if you label your sections
and subsections.
• Dissertation or larger document
 Chapter 1.
• 1.1
– 1.1.1
• Extended abstract
 1
• 1.1
– 1.1.1
• Local rules often override general guidelines

Page Numbering
• Front matter use Roman: i, ii, iii, iv
• Main body use Arabic: 1, 2, 3, 4
• Continue page numbering in end matter
• Note page limits.
 Start on page one of the main body (that is
Chapter 1)
 End on last page of appendices.

Use Your Word Processor (WP)
• Use the outliner to define and manipulate the
structure of your document.
• Use style settings to make section numbering
automatic
• Use the cross-referencing tools for signposting.
• Let your word processor do the numbering for
you!
• Use section breaks in your word processor to
change numbering style
Most WPs provide these features. Learn how
to use them!

Figures
• Give all figures a numbered caption
Figure 1: A Document
• Refer to figure in text. “Figure 1 shows a document.”
• WP tip: Use auto-captioning and cross-referencing.

Tables
• Give all tables a caption.
• Caption goes above table.
Table 1: Fee fie fo fum
Fee Fie
Fo Fum
• Refer to table in text. “Table 1 enumerates useful
words beginning with ‘f.’”
• WP tip: Use auto-captioning and cross-referencing.

Equations
• Give all equations a label
4 2   
b b ac
a
2
• Refer to equation in text. “Equation (1) shows
the formula for a quadratic.”
• Use your WP’s equation editor to get auto-captioning
and cross-referencing.
(1)

Writing the “Design, Materials and
Methods” chapter
• Simply report what you did!
• How you:
 Designed an experiment, carried out the
measurements, recorded the results.
 Chose a research methodology, performed your
literature search, selected your sources,
summarised your findings.
 Analysed the problem, designed a solution,
implemented the solution, tested the solution.
• As you are reporting what you did use the past
tense!

Passive Voice?
• Some publishers prefer an objective tone and
“passive voice”
 “Measurements were taken of x and the
results were recorded in a lab book”
• You and your readers may find this a bit
awkward.
• But use it if you have to.

Design, Materials and Methods
(Review)
• Method of writing a report
• Repetition is good!
• Numbering
• Using your word processor
• Writing the “methods” chapter
• Citations and references [next briefing]

Chapter 4: Results
• Results section presents your findings.
• Use tables, figures and equations as
appropriate.
• Textual commentary is needed to tie results to
method.
• Provide explanation if necessary.
• Usually easiest section to write (if you recorded
the results carefully!)

Chapter 5: Discussion
• Compare results to expected results
• Account for any differences
 Experimental procedure wrong
 Accuracy of measurements
 Limitations of your implementation approach or tools
• Differences may point to inaccuracies in the background
section and may point to future work.
 “This result can be explained by experimental error” is
not an explanation as you should be able to quantify
the experimental error!
• Be honest, a result that does not match the expected
outcome is itself a useful result!

Chapter 6: Conclusions etc.
• Remind the reader of what you were trying to
achieve.
• Outline the theory, method, results and
discussion
• Attempt to tie together the theory, results and
discussion.
 Highlight the places where the theory was correct
 Highlight the places where the theory was incorrect
• Make suggestions for further work.
• Ensure that the conclusions stands alone
because it may be the only part to be read!

Conclusions and further work
In this presentation we have:
• Described the structure of a dissertation
• Presented the main sections of a dissertation
• Provided a methodology for approaching the
writing of a dissertation
• Given guidelines on topics such as numbering,
sign posting, and use of the word processor.
• In the next briefing we will cover referencing,
quoting and citing.

Introduction (Contents)
• Theory
• Method
• Results
• Discussion of Results
• Conclusions
• References

References
Bonet, J. and M.S. Towers, Layout and Structure of an
Honours Project Thesis, School of Engineering, Swansea
University. Available on the Blackboard module site.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 1675. Letter to Robert Hooke, February
5. As quoted online at URL:
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Isaac_Newton/
(The Quotationspage.com)
Wikipedia, “Isaac Newton”, URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton, last updated
28 Feb. 2009.

Further Reading
Bonet, J. and M.S. Towers, Writing an Honours Thesis,
School of Engineering, Swansea University. Available on
the Blackboard module site.
Barrass, Robert 2002. Scientists Must Write: A Guide to
Better Writing for Scientists and Engineers. Routlege
Study Guides, Routledge Falmer. ISBN: 0415269962 . [In
the Library T11>Bar]
Rosenberg, Barry 2005. Spring into Writing for Engineers
and Scientists, Addison Wesley.ISBN: 0131498630.
Technical Writing, Library Call Number T11.
University of Wales Swansea, Student Support Services
Web Site, Study Skills Resources.

Summary
• Theoretical development/Analysis
• Design, Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References

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