Speaker 1: Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you've ever done, and it can be intimidating to know where to start. This video will help you work out exactly what to include and where to include it. Hi, I'm Jessica from Scribbr, here to help you achieve your academic goals. Before we go into each section, let's take a quick overview of the elements that are included in a dissertation or thesis. Dissertations can take many different forms. You might include different chapters or use different headings, depending on the type of research you're doing. But for empirical research in the sciences or social sciences, this is the most common structure. Title page Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of figures and tables List of abbreviations Glossary Introduction Literature review or theoretical framework Methodology Results Discussion Conclusion Reference list Appendices Hmm, how long should each section be? This is a really common question, although it really depends on the type of research you do. Here's a rough idea of the proportions. Generally speaking, the literature review and discussion should take up a bigger portion of your dissertation, whereas the methodology, results, and conclusion are usually relatively short. If you ever need extra information for a specific section, we have lots of videos on our YouTube channel. And in the Scribbr knowledge base linked in the description, you can find tons of free resources, how-to articles, templates, checklists, and examples. Just click this little exclamation mark, we've got your back. Now let's go through each section. The very first page of your document contains your dissertation's title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. The acknowledgment page is where you thank everyone who helped you, like your supervisors. The acknowledgments are then followed by an abstract. The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, normally around 150-300 words. Include a table of contents so your readers can easily navigate through your dissertation. If your dissertation contains a lot of figures, tables, or abbreviations, you can also include lists of these to make them easily findable. But this is often optional. Same goes for glossary, it's optional. But if you've used a lot of highly specialized terms that will not be familiar to your reader, it might be a good idea to include one. Now we've arrived at the most important part, the text of your dissertation itself. The introduction is where you set up your topic, purpose, and relevance, and tell the reader what to expect in the rest of the dissertation. In your literature review, you don't just summarize existing studies, but develop a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear basis or justification for your own research. In the methodology section, you describe how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its reliability and validity. Next, you report the results of your research. Only report results that are relevant to your objectives and research questions. Pay attention. If you're doing qualitative research, this section might be woven together with discussion. In the discussion, you explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research questions. Here you should interpret the results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations. If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. The dissertation conclusion should concisely answer the main research question, leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your central argument. Throughout your dissertation, you build upon research of others. This research needs to be cited in the running text and the reference list. It's important to follow a consistent citation style. You can generate sources and manage your reference list super easily with Scribbr Citation Generator. If you want to include any documents that don't fit into the main body, such as surveys, interview transcripts, etc., you can add them as appendices. Now before you go, here's a tip to kickstart your dissertation. Create a Word document. Insert the headings of each section. Write down and bullet points what you want to write in each section. This way, you will have a clear view of what you need to write. Good luck with your dissertation. You've got this. Make sure to sub Scribbr for more videos related to dissertation writing. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.