Structure of a Dissertation or Thesis

A dissertation also called a thesis, is a scientific work that is presented, or defended by an applicant for an academic degree. It differs from various student papers in that it is serious scientific work and should have real practical value (which cheap dissertation writing services rarely offer). The typical structure of a thesis consists of the following parts:

  • Introduction;
  • The main part, divided into chapters;
  • Conclusion.

There also should be a bibliographic list of cited works and references. Let’s examine each of the parts of the thesis in more detail and familiarize ourselves with the requirements for each.

The introduction

The introduction is typically 5 to 10, rarely 15 pages long. In the introduction, the author must formulate the importance of the problem, analyze if the problem being studied is already well-elaborated in other works or not, review scientific sources on the research topic, consider the current state of the chosen scientific discipline.

The logical conclusion of the review should be the definition of the goal, objectives, object and subject of research, the formulation of a working hypothesis which was supposed to be obtained as a result of the study. Next, the research methodology is formulated and the source base, which will be used to substantiate the main provisions for the defence, is determined.

The main part

The main part of the thesis usually consists of two or three chapters. Typical content of the chapters of the thesis is as follows:

  • Methodology;
  • Research;
  • Results.

The first chapter is devoted to a critical analysis of the situation on the issue under study and analysis of sources. As a rule, the first chapter reflects the theoretical and methodological foundations of the analysis of the problem being studied. The applicant has some innovative theoretical construction, a vision of the problem, and methodological approaches that they should relate in this chapter with the already existing theory and methodology to substantiate the author’s approach, which allowed them to claim scientific novelty.

In the second chapter, the author’s new decisions are presented on the basis of this analysis from the first chapter. This chapter reflects the research in the chosen scientific discipline in accordance with the author’s concept, a statement of their own research results. It is often illustrated with tables of obtained data and/or drawings, which summarize or illustrate the results. Generalization of the obtained results is carried out, which has two main objectives. First, it is necessary to compare the data obtained by the author with the results of research by other authors, and secondly, the author should use the previously studied modern scientific concepts and determine which of them serves better as the explanation for the data obtained.

The third chapter describes the results of the implementation of the new decisions of the author with their critical assessment. All chapters end with conclusions by chapter.

The conclusion

The conclusion is usually 10-15 pages long. The number of conclusions in the thesis should correspond to the number of objectives and each should be a solution to its corresponding problem. However, in practice there rarely is such a perfect match. Two conclusions can correspond to one objective, or, more rarely, the conclusions correspond little to the set objectives from the introduction. This is bad; inconsistency of conclusions and objectives should be avoided. If the conclusions do not correspond to the objectives at all, the author should change the objectives.

Bibliography and appendixes

The list of sources must contain all sources and references used in the thesis. Usually, from 50-100 to 500 sources are used; technical sciences tend to use fewer sources, while humanities use more. Sometimes, a thesis also contains appendixes. They are usually lists of data, tables or illustrations, etc.