British academic system asks students at the end of their masters and undergraduate degree to
make a dissertation which determines the final grade at the end of the degree. A dissertation
is a research work wherein a student explores the research topic very vividly and
independently. Apart from this, a dissertation showcases the researching and analytical skills
along with the subject matter expertise of the students and thus, dissertation is an important
academic piece of work for students which determine academic excellence.
Regarding word count of the dissertation, it is seen that the university programmers have
dissertation for around 15000-20000 words. This can also depend on the course the students
are studying and the university that they are going. The word count of the dissertation should
be divided in 4-5 chapters which include an introduction to the topic and a conclusion.
At undergraduate levels, majority of the times, students are asked to make word count
dissertations of about 5000 to 8000 words. On the contrary, a Masters level dissertation
usually involves 10000 to 15000 words. A dissertation is a core requirement of most
university degrees and thus, word count of a dissertation is an important consideration. There
is no denying that writing a dissertation is demanding but it certainly provides students to
explore a topic in-depth and also learn more about the research work.
In terms of pages, dissertations are about 100 to 300 pages which are indicative of the fact
that the dissertations are the lengthiest academic piece of writing. Dissertation help services
provide accurate structure of dissertation and they also provide professional services from
dissertation writers.
First steps of writing a dissertation
There are many dissertation writing services in UK which provide students with guidance on
how to write a dissertation as writing a lengthy academic piece of work is tricky. Here are
some of the first steps of dissertation writing-
Selection of topic- At first, students should choose a research topic on which research
is to be done. It is a crucial stage as the entire dissertation depends on the topic
chosen. For instance, if a student is planning for secondary research wherein second-
hand data is collected, students must choose that research topic on which a lot of data
is collected. If the research topic is not chosen wisely, it can lead to a failed dissertation
as well.
Literature search- After deciding the topic, a literature search is conducted which
provides with the current literature available on the research topic.
Devising research questions- Afer conducting aa detailed literature review, students
need to devise reseach questions which guide the direction to the research. It helps in
examining the outcome of interest of the research.
Deciding research approach- A research approach guides the research as it provides a
basic framework of how research is to be conducted. For instance, if a student is
undertaking primary research, he needs to devise the methodology and methods
beforehand which directs the research.
Research title- Student also needs to think of the research title which is an important
part of dissertation writing.
Planning time- It’s a no-brainer that dissertation is a time consuming task and thus,
students should plan their time effectively to commence and complete all chapters of
dissertation.
Writing a proposal- Writing a research proposal before starting the actual disssertation
as when the proposal is confirmed by the tutor, only then the dissertation can be
started.
Advice for dissertation writers
Writing a dissertation can be daunting and thus, we are providing some advice for new
dissertation writers. Students should have a clear topic and manage their time effectively to
be able to create an excellent dissertation. They should be aware of the deadlines and word
counts and should focus on writing in a clear manner. It is advised to the students to be
passionate about the research topic which gets reflected in their academic work. If a student
writes a research piece which he does not enjoy reading himself, then it will not be shown in
the work.
It is advised to students to start early as dissertation is very lengthy. They should start
thinking early about possible topics and it is very important to read the departmental
guidelines carefully. These guidelines contain useful information about how to write
dissertation and students should not skip this guideline. Apart from this, students should also
record their sources because referencing is marked strictly in dissertations and thus, students
should keep full records of their readings which will in turn, help in saving time and efforts.
Referencing should not be left at the end of the process as it becomes very stressful for the
students. In this case, students can easily delete any sources that they do not use.
Adding to this, the students should be able to back up their decisions in order to justify every
choice students make in their dissertation. Students should focus on providing good academic
reasons of choosing research method, research philosophy and data collection method and
analytical techniques. Reader can know about the choice of methodology only when the
author himself is aware of why he chose a particular methodology. Also, students should not
worry about their results if they did not come as expected. Before starting a dissertation,
students tend to think the outcomes beforehand but many times, results come unexpected and
it is this time when students need to understand that even unexpected results is not a bad
thing. Unexpected results, in turn prove that the researcher has done an extensive research
and thus, it contributes more to the subject area where more future research studies can be
conducted. This does not mean that students should look for unexpected results but should
focus more on conducting extensive research. This will be more interesting as well and thus,
students should choose interesting research topics for dissertation.
