Dissertation Essays: Peculiarities of Structure

So you have finally decided to take this challenge and accomplish the most important piece of academic writing in your life: the dissertation essay (or simply, dissertation). A multitude of questions concerning your dissertation essay crowds in your brain: What to do? How to do? Why do it at all? Below you may find the answers to the first of  inquiries which would clarify the structure of your dissertation essay.

Dissertation Essays: What to Do?

Let us suppose you have already defined the topic of your dissertation essay. Now you need to organize your ideas according to the following scheme:

• Abstract: a brief synopsis of the objectives and the outcome of your research; naturally written after your whole dissertation essay is completed;
• Table of Contents: a list of major sections and subsections with page numbers;
• Introduction: a detailed layout of the focus, objectives, background and structure of your dissertation essay, as well as summary of its findings and conclusions;
• Literature Survey: a review of the previous studies relevant to your topic;
• Methodology: an account of the ways you collected empirical data and a convincing argumentation of why precisely those ways are best for your research purposes;
• Empirical Data Presentation: a detailed presentation of data obtained, often in forms of tables, graphs, etc.;
• Discussion: a discussion of your findings combined from the literature and empirical data;
• Conclusion: a substantial summary of the whole dissertation essay;
• Bibliography: a list of all sources you have used for your dissertation essay;
• Appendices: additional materials that is not vital for inclusion directly in the dissertation essay, e.g. blank questionnaires, or interview transcripts.