about how to write dissertation

pippo1983UID: 172110

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3) Please try and focus your work tightly around your objectives and research
questions. Don't drift. Try and get a story line which links your dissertation
title, your aims, objectives and research questions, the methodology you
propose, the analysis you do. When you conclude your work come back and consider
those objectives/research questions and tie it up neatly.

4) Do a good job on the literature review - and keep it relevant to your topic.
It is here where students sometimes drift. Ask yourself at all stages, is this
material relevant to the specific topic I am researching?

5) In the methodology chapter, if you wish to insert comments on epistemology
etc., so be it. I have told my students that it is not necessary - this was part
of your research methods training. The more imoportant issue is whether there
are alternative ways of addressing the problems/research questions you have set
yourselves. If there are, you need to discuss them and justify your approach.

6) When you conclude your work restate what your objectives/research questions
were and give a brief summary of your findings. You will already, in another
chapter, have discussed the specific results in great depth so now is the time
to present them succinctly and try and see them in a broader perspective (e.g.
is it consistent with or inconsistent with the work of others;  if you have done
a case study from Cardiff or City X you might like to say how you think your
results might be generalised to other cities - and if not, why not, etc). If you
have a section on "Evaluation of your work" by all means discuss limitations,
mention but don't fall over yourself to apologize for deficiencies in models or
methodology, etc. (unless it really compromises the validity of your effort - in
which case, say so). Use it as an opportunity to say what you might have done
differently, or if you had more time what would you do. If your work has thrown
up additional questions put these in a sub-section "Directions for further
work". Finally, if you have succeeded in what you set out to achieve, then say
so.

7) Please avoid padding and irrelevant material - it tends to stick out a
mile.

8) Finally, please make a supreme effort to present the work well. Avoid sloppy
presentation at all costs, use spell-checks but do a final read-through yourself
to make sure it all makes sense. Although you might be sick of it by then, this
last read-through is the most important of all!   

There is more than one way to cook an egg - to structure and discuss your work
- and your examiners will respect that. But they will always come back to the
marking guidelines.

槑熊UID: 2748785

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