Thesis Writing Format: Outline of a Master's Dissertation
Your master’s dissertation or thesis is a step in either
fully or partially earning a master’s degree. This degree means that you have mastered the skill of research, that
you have a good basic knowledge of your
field and an understanding of
academic conventions. You need to be demonstrating all of these things
within your dissertation document in order to be conferred a degree from your
institution, which is why it’s important to know what your supervisor and the
examiners will be looking for.
Having a master’s degree can be extremely useful in many
ways. It signifies that you’re a capable researcher with excellent critical
skills, something that many employers are looking for. Many types of
professional registrations require you to complete master’s training before you
are able to practice in the field, such as in psychology. The written component
shows that you’re able to apply your training in practical ways.
For a master’s degree, you don’t have to provide a unique or
new area of knowledge in the way that a doctorate degree should do. For a doctorate, you need to be expanding the field by either
challenging an existing model, developing and testing a new theory, or something
else that establishes you as an expert in a particular aspect of your field. You
need to do something that no one else has done before. For a master’s degree, your task isn’t quite
as big. You’ll have to show that you are able to conduct research and perform a
long, focused study, but it doesn’t have to provide completely new or unique knowledge
of your field. While you still need to have a thesis statement, you might
simply be expanding upon an already-established theory or method, or comparing
various methods which might not have been compared before in the way you are
doing. Certain master’s dissertations will only be required to conduct a literature review and to provide a
basic analysis of the literature.
Most fields require a master’s degree of around 35,000 – 50,000
words, or around 75-100 pages in length (Note that certain fields require more
data in the form of tables and figures, and less explanation. These include
certain studies in psychology, engineering or computer science, and might
require far fewer pages and a much lower word-count. Consult your supervisor in
these cases). If you think that your study will require a lot more space than
this, your topic is probably too broad and you should consider reframing it.
The key is to keep your research as manageable as possible for your master’s degree. Don’t try and take
on too much. Your supervisor will be able to advise you about whether your
topic is too broad for a master’s degree and if you should instead aim for
something more manageable. Your master’s degree only needs to accomplish the
goals set out above, and shouldn’t be on the same level of detail, scope or
research as a doctoral study. It is meant to be a rite of passage into academic
research, and not establish you as an expert just yet.
Your dissertation will generally contain the following sections,
which might be divided into multiple chapters each:
1.
Introduction
·
Gives context
·
Explains purpose and value of your study
·
Explains a problem that your study addresses
·
Gives theoretical background
·
Gives a thesis statement and research questions
·
Provides an overview of your study
2.
Literature
Review
·
Explains your theoretical background broadly and
in detail with citations
·
Consults the experts in your field and all of
the most prominent research and data which will influence and affect your study
·
Consults relevant literature and organizes this
literature to aid understanding of your study
3.
Research
Process
·
Explains research design
·
Explains ethical considerations
·
Explains instruments used to conduct research
·
Details how research was conducted
·
Gives limitations of your study
4.
Findings
and Analyses
·
Give all data procured from study
·
Analyze the data in terms of themes, theories or
expectations
·
Explain how your thesis statement was supported
or challenged by data
·
Explain how your research questions were
answered or what was still lacking
5.
Conclusion
·
Summarize the findings
·
Final links between data and thesis statement
·
What has your thesis accomplished? How does it
add to knowledge/ understanding of your field?
·
What are questions raised by your study which
could be answered in future research by yourself or other researchers?
Each of these sections will be discussed in the following
chapters so that you can have a good idea of exactly what your dissertation
should look like. We’ll start with the front matter and introduction
Review Your Learning:
·
Your master’s thesis is your entryway into
sustained academic research, and shows that you are knowledgeable about your
field and can perform a substantial study
·
Your dissertation should be about 35,000 to
50,000 words, or between 75 – 100 pages
·
Your study should have limited scope and not be
too broad. Rather say one thing well than try to say ten things but missing the
mark on all of them