Speaker 1: In this video, I want to give you a template for your PhD thesis and show you exactly how to structure it so that a. you can write it faster and b. also, you know, write it much more logically so that it receives much better comments from your supervisor. So, let's dive right into it and see how to structure a really good thesis. If you're new here, my name is Marek Krzykowek and I run Academic English Now, where I help PhD students and researchers write research papers for high-impact journals. So, in this video, I want to look at the structure of the PhD thesis. And, in a nutshell, there are basically two types of structure. Type 1 is what we would call a paper-based thesis. A paper-based thesis is called in this way because it's structured around the papers that you have published. And, typically, you need, you know, probably three papers on average in order to have a paper-based thesis. So, how would something like this work? Well, first of all, the first chapter, really, would be the introductory chapter. So, in this chapter, you would, you know, set the scene, talk about the importance of the topic, identify the research gap or the problem, and then also present the structure of your thesis, right? So, it kind of sets the scene and it's a very short introductory chapter. Then, the second chapter would be the literature review chapter. And, this could also be a systematic review paper. If you've already published a systematic review, then this could also make this chapter. And, sometimes, in some theses, this literature review chapter is divided into several smaller chapters. But, in essence, you know, you need at least one or maybe two or three smaller literature review chapters where you're going to discuss the main themes from the literature review, right? If you're not sure how to write the literature review, I've got another video in here where I explain exactly how to do this as well. So, you can watch it later. And then, you would have, you would start presenting your research papers, right? So, you know, depending how many papers you have, then, you know, you'd have chapter 3 would be paper 1, chapter 4 would be paper 2, chapter 5 would be paper 3, right? And, basically, you know, you just copy and paste them as they are, making just some small tweaks to the introduction and the conclusion section of the paper so that it, you know, it kind of fits with the rest of the chapters, right? And, sometimes, you can expand it a little bit because sometimes, you know, in some journals, there's a really strict word limit. Whereas, in a thesis, you can add a few more tables or figures and expand that text a little bit. But, you know, for the purposes of this video, we could just say that you basically put those papers in. And then, the last chapter would be the concluding chapter in which, you know, you would summarize the main topics discussed in your thesis, you would summarize the main results of all the three papers that you've published, and you would, you know, briefly discuss those results again. You would make suggestions for future research, point out any limitations of your research as well. So, that's type one of a thesis. It's a paper-based thesis. Now, type two of a thesis is, you know, what would also be called a dissertation, right? Where it's basically just one long document without any papers published in it, right? How does it work? Well, it has an introduction and a literature review chapter which work in exactly the same way as in the paper-based thesis, right? So, I won't repeat that part. But then, after the introduction and the literature review chapter, you have the methodology chapter. In the methodology chapter, you basically lay out, you know, what you did in your study step by step. So, like, what methodology you adopted, what or who you studied and how you got that thing, you know, the research tools that you used to study that person or thing, the data analysis techniques that you used, any ethical considerations, and so on. And there is another video in here on this channel where I discuss in much more depth how to really write a very good methodology chapter so you can watch that as well. But that would be the third chapter of your thesis, methodology. And then the fourth chapter would be the results. Now, there is two ways of doing it. You could either have, you know, results and discussion together as one chapter, right? Or you would have a results chapter separate and discussion chapter separate. Both structures are absolutely fine. It really doesn't matter which one you choose. Another alternative here is to have two or three smaller results chapters, you know, where, for example, each result chapter maybe corresponds to, like, answers to one of the research questions or something like this, right? That's also possible. But in a nutshell, you know, in the results chapter, you want to provide the answers to the research questions or the research aims of your study, right? And organize it. The easiest way to organize it as well is by the research questions or aims. And then we've got the discussion chapter or combined with the results chapter where we're going to, you know, kind of recap the main results, compare it with literature, explain it and explain any differences with literature and interpret our findings and tell people what these findings mean in practice, right? So that would be the discussion chapter, right? And there's another video as well where, you know, I dive deeper and show you exactly how to write the discussion chapter. And then conclusion, right? How do you write a conclusion in chapter? Again, the same as with a paper-based thesis. So very simple. You know, you restart the main topic, the main results. You briefly discuss them again, but very briefly. And then importantly, you point out the limitations of your study and the suggestions for future research. And you also talk about practical implications of your study, right? So that's basically it. Two types of thesis structure, right? Type 1, paper-based. Type 2, more of a classic dissertation. And they have a lot of similarities like introduction, literature review and concluding chapter. And then some differences in terms of the chapters in between. So if you enjoyed this video, give it a like. Subscribe to this channel so you don't miss future videos. And also schedule a free one-to-one strategy session with me. And that's your opportunity to talk to me one-to-one so we can really identify your challenges and your goals. And see if and how I might be able to help you to achieve your goals faster. If you're interested, then the link is somewhere below this video in the description. And the strategy session is completely free. No strings attached. The main purpose is to really help you and to identify a personalized strategy that will work for you and will help you achieve your goals.