Getting started with your dissertation

So you’ve reached the final year of your degree – well done, this is a huge achievement! And now you have the daunting task of writing a dissertation. As the longest piece of academic writing you’ve likely ever had to produce, often accounting for a large chunk of your final degree mark, it can feel overwhelming, if not impossible, to know where to begin.

Getting a basic structure in place

The good news is that creating your dissertation structure is an easy way to start, without having to think about what you’ll actually write about. Getting this in place can quickly ease some of the anxiety, because you’ll be able to break the dissertation down into manageable chunks. A simple structure will also help you map out your time over the next few months and ensure you’re on track for your deadline.

Forming your structure

Whilst all dissertations are different, the process of forming an initial structure is relatively straightforward.

First, find your assignment brief or module handbook provided by your tutors (this is often found on your Moodle platform) and locate the word count. Make a note of this number – it’s what we’ll use later to divide the available words across your chapters.

Next, search inside this same document for a recommended structure. Note: not all universities provide a recommended structure, and this varies a lot across courses. If you’ve been provided with one, definitely use this as your starting point.

If not, your structure will depend on the type of course you’re studying. For arts or humanities courses, it’s not uncommon to be left quite open. For primary research dissertations within science, healthcare or social sciences, it’s common to have something similar to:

Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion

This can vary, however. For example, some universities ask for the Results and Discussion to be combined, and a Conclusion can often require Recommendations and Limitations sub-sections. Always follow the guidance provided by your own university or course where this is available.

For those working on a more open type of dissertation, usually within arts or humanities subjects, and without a recommended structure from your university, your structure can be more content-led. For example, you could have an Introduction and Conclusion, but the inner sections could take the form of several themes.

Three or four themes can be a useful starting point, as this can help balance depth of research with focus. At this stage, you don’t need to know your themes or even your question. You can simply put in placeholders for yourself, making your structure something like:

Introduction
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Conclusion

Adding in sub-sections

One of the most useful ways to make your dissertation more manageable is to break each section down further into sub-sections, with each allocated a smaller number of words.

We always advise putting in headings for each sub-section, even if you decide to remove them later. Having headings in place throughout your working document helps you organise your ideas and keep related research and notes together in one place.

We recommend adding sub-sections to your plan even if you don’t know what these will be yet. So, for example, Theme 1, Theme 2 and Theme 3 could each be divided into three further sections:

Theme 1
1.1 Sub-section
1.2 Sub-section
1.3 Sub-section

Sub-sections are also useful for organising dissertations with more typical structures, particularly within Literature Review, Results and Discussion sections.

Dividing up the word count

Now you’ve got your word count and your basic structure, you’ll need to divide the word count across your different sections.

For this, it’s helpful to refer back to your module handbook and search for the marking criteria. Often, this will say what percentage of the total mark is awarded to each section. This can help you decide how much space to give each section according to its importance within the assessment.

For example, if you’re writing an 8,000-word dissertation and your literature review is worth 20% of the total mark, you might use this as a starting point and allocate around 20% of your word count to that section – approximately 1,600 words.

If you don’t have this level of detailed guidance, a possible starting point is to allow around 10% of the word count for your Introduction and another 10% for your Conclusion, before dividing the remainder across your middle sections or themes.

The final step: working back from your deadline

Once you’ve got your basic structure, added in your sub-sections and divided your word count according to the guidance and marking criteria, the final step is to allocate your time.

Find your dissertation deadline on a calendar and work backwards, dividing the time available across each section of your dissertation. We also recommend factoring in a week or two at the end for final touches, document formatting and proofreading.

And now you have a dissertation plan

Your dissertation might still feel like a big piece of work, but you should now have something much more manageable in front of you: a series of sections and sub-sections, each with an approximate word count and a timeframe for completing it.

Remember that this structure isn’t fixed. It can, and probably will, change as your research develops. For now, its purpose is simply to give you somewhere to start.

Need some help getting your dissertation started?

Aster can help you refine your research question and create a clear structure that works for your individual topic, ideas and university requirements. See our One-to-One Tutorials and Dissertation Packages.