Dissertation outlines

Ross Woods, 2022, '23 with thanks to Αnnαpurnα Κrιshjeeν αnd Αnkit Rαναnkαr.

Your dissertation will be easier to write if you look carefully at outlines. The principles apply equally to dissertations and publishable research articles.

These outlines guide you through the project stage by stage. In fact, a proposal can be an early version of the introduction, literature review, and methodology chapters. Most items have a place, and some detailed outlines are almost like a checklist to see that you have done everything necessary for a successful dissertation. Although more than one outline might be equally correct, some outlines are definitely errors that need correction. (Believe it or not, some students make outline errors, and then need to move large sections of text.)

Preliminaries

The preliminaries of all dissertations are determined by the institution's style guide for dissertations, so they might vary. The following is typical:

1. Title page
2. Approval page
3. Acknowledgment (if necessary)
4. Preface (if necessary)
5. Abstract
6. Table of Contents
7. List of Abbreviations (if any)
8. List of Symbols (if any)
9. List of Figures (if any)
10. List of Tables (if any)
11. List of Algorithms (if any)

Remember your readers

Your readers need the text to flow in a way that they can easily understand. The chapters generally follow the stages in which a research project is conducted, so they “tell a story.” Make sure that each chapter opens with a general paragraph that flows from the preceding chapter, and each following chapter makes a link with the previous one.

Fixed chapter outlines

Some programs rigidly prescribe chapter outlines according to disciplinary protocols. In many cases, uniform outlines enable institutions to supervise more students. These outlines tend to presume that you will be collecting and analyzing original data that you have gathered in the field.

Other programs allow some variation in chapter outlines. For example:

1. Some supervisors give specific advice according to the needs of the dissertation.
2. Some kinds of research needs a full chapter on social, cultural, organizational or demographic context.
3. Some methodologies are so complex that they need multiple chapters.
4. If the appendices contain references, the bibliography should be placed after the appendices.

The five chapter format is quite common:

1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Methodology
4. Analysis and results
5. Conclusion

Another common format comprises six chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Methodology
4. Analysis and results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion

The separate Discussion chapter is for implications. The writer specifically compares research findings with existing, similar research to show how his/her findings affect the understanding of the topic.

Compare

Compare the similarities and differences of these examples: