NBS8300 Structure of a Dissertation 2024-25| NU

Appendix A - Table of Contents

• Title Page   
• List of Tables   
• List of Figures   
• Acknowledgements   
• Abstract   
• Abbreviations   
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• 1.1    Purpose of the Study   
• 1.2    Methods of Analysis   
• 1.3    Plan of Work   
• 1.4    Data Sources   
• 1.5    Synopsis of dissertation   
• Chapter 2 Literature Review
• 2.1    The need for risk management in business   
• 2.2    Theoretical approaches to risk management   
• Other Chapters
• Chapter X – Conclusions
• X.1    Overview of the process   
• X.2    Recommendations   
• X.3    Opportunities for further research   
• References Appendices
• An interview protocol
• B    Sample transcript of interview
• C    Sample survey
• D    Ethics Approval, GDPR & Risk Assessment
• E    Others

Structure of a Dissertation

Dissertations Will Normally Comprise:

A Title Page (this is essential):

Including the title of the dissertation, your name and degree course, and the institution awarding the degree (Newcastle University Business School). The title should be succinct yet clearly specify the report's content. This should be brief, descriptive and explicit rather than poetic or implicit. Thirty (30) words is normally the maximum length. It should be agreed and finalised as part of the final draft. It may be different from the original working title.

An Abstract (essential):

Stating briefly the subject of the dissertation, the mode of enquiry and any main conclusions reached. This should be brief, certainly no more than one page in length.

A Contents Page (essential):

See Appendix A.

Acknowledgements (essential):

Acknowledging any help, advice or support, especially from people outside the Business School.

A statement of originality (if appropriate):

If required, you should declare that the submission is your work.

An Introduction (core):

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce and contextualise the study. This means that the significance or importance of the topic is set out. If there is no apparent importance to the study to any external reader, the topic may not be appropriate. Personal interest may inspire the selection of the project topic, but ultimately, its importance to others as a research project should be specified. This can best be done by positioning the dissertation about other work that has been published, whether in agreement with that work or otherwise – in other words, you should summarise here the main points from the next chapter, the Literature Review. This Introduction should also describe the setting in which your research was undertaken and discuss the questions your dissertation addresses. Although research questions should be formed at the end of the Literature Review, they should also be included here. If that is the case, they should be cross-referenced to the end of the Literature Review. This chapter should include broad aims and objectives to give the starting point for the Literature Review. Finally, the chapter should also tell the reader how the topic will be unfolded and the order of forthcoming material (overview of the dissertation).

Literature Review (core):

The literature review should be a separate chapter. It should review the relevant literature to provide a framework within which your empirical material can be evaluated. It should be succinct (i.e. you should not attempt to describe a whole body of literature in detail, but focus on those areas which are relevant to your aims and questions) and should link directly to your investigation. Be critical in your approach: be clear about areas of disagreement, in terms of views or research findings. Attend the relevant library sessions on the Research Methods course and make good use of the library resources available.

A good literature review does more than simply restate the literature. You need to consider the difference between a literature report and a literature review. A report of the literature simply describes what theoretical and empirical work exists in the topic area under discussion, summarising
 
perhaps, but not adding analysis or commentary. A literature review goes much further. It discusses theoretical and empirical work thematically, bringing out inconsistencies and controversies and relates your detailed research questions to that discussion. Ideally, a literature review will develop an argument that justifies your research question/issue/problem. Hence, it should conclude with the research questions and, if applicable, the hypotheses, which guide the actual work. If you struggle to find research questions in your literature review, it is likely descriptive, rather than analytical.

Methods (core):

If you have formulated your research question/issue/problem fully, then it may already suggest a particular approach to the design of the research project. In any case, in selecting a method, you must ensure that it is appropriate to your research question. This chapter should first describe and briefly justify your overall research strategy (including research philosophy, research approach, etc.), concerning the research methods literature. The specific data collection methods you employ – surveys, interviews, observation, analytical models – should fit within the overall methodology. For instance, it would be inappropriate to adopt a qualitative interpretive methodology and then rely mainly on quantitative tools or SWOT analyses. You should clearly describe and justify the methods and tools you employ. Where there are constraints or limitations on the kind of investigation that you can conduct, you should acknowledge them. You should include samples of the data collection instruments you have used (e.g., copies of your questionnaire, interview protocols, etc.) in the appendices, where appropriate.

Results or findings (core):

These should be presented. Avoid over-burdening the reader with masses of data: produce summaries of the main findings. Depending on your method, these might take the form of appropriately headed numerical tables with descriptive accounts of their content in the text, or qualitative analyses with examples of material to enable the reader to judge the relation between the data and the conclusions drawn. Where statistical procedures are employed, these should be described. You should include samples of data, calculations (non-core) and computer printouts (non-core) in the appendices (appendices do not contribute to the word count).

Discussion (core):

This should summarise your findings and indicate their implications for your research questions. You should discuss how your findings support or challenge the theoretical/empirical context set out in the literature review. Do not overstate your conclusions: remember that your method may be incomplete, your sample unrepresentative, and your conclusions open to different interpretations by different readers. When editing your work, try to anticipate any weaknesses that a reader might find in your discussion and acknowledge/incorporate/change what you have said to take them into account.

You may want to compare your results to the literature and, in particular, references that you have not previously used. You should not restrict yourself only to literature that has been used in the Literature Review. Your results may agree or disagree with the literature. Both outcomes are valid. You may wish to try and explain why this has happened, particularly if there is disagreement. In analysing your data, you may wish to move away from relying on software to decide the method of analysis. You may examine your data yourself and devise your tests and examinations to try and gain a better understanding of what you have found. You may develop a new theory, but should not use other theories that have not been included in the Literature Review.
 
The Discussion chapter functions as an appraisal and criticism of your work, about the issues and hypotheses raised in the introduction. It should not simply repeat chunks from your introduction or findings. There are, of course, exceptions, especially with these two main chapters on Findings and Discussion. For some styles of dissertation, for instance ethnographic, historical or case studies, it may be more appropriate to integrate the discussion with the presentation of empirical material.

Conclusion (core):

A brief statement of any conclusions you have reached as a result of your enquiries. What do you want the reader to know as a result of having read your dissertation? How do your findings and/or discussion relate to any broader issues you have raised in the Introduction? The conclusion may also suggest further work or study needed on the topic, as well as ways the new work can be used or applied in other cases. It is not meant to be a summary or restatement of the entire project, which belongs in the abstract. If you have developed any strong personal opinions about the subject that seem appropriate to relate, this is the place where such content is appropriate. Evaluate here any deficiencies or limitations in the way you designed the research or practical difficulties in carrying it out in the way that you intended. You may also want to discuss alternative approaches that could be employed to gather data relevant to your questions.

References (essential):

A complete list, properly set out, with all relevant details. All references cited in the text should be included here, and vice versa. See the section later in this Guide on the Harvard Referencing System.

Appendices (if appropriate):

As a general rule, if figures, tables, charts or quotes are less than a full page and can be conveniently included in the text, you will want to do so, since reference to appendices is awkward for the reader. All such material, in the text or at the end, should be titled and sequentially numbered. Tabular material that is presented in landscape format should be bound with the top of the table to the spine. Appendices are labelled alphabetically, although if there is little such material and it is all of a similar nature, it may all be included in one Appendix. Appendices are not included in the final word count. Equally, however, they are not included in the main marking of the dissertation. Do not put into an appendix any information, discussion or data that is essential for your argument or conclusions. Appendices are intended to support and provide additional, substantiating information for your work, not as a ‘dumping ground’ for anything that you could not get into the main text because of word count restrictions. The completed ethics approval, GDPR, and risk assessment forms must be attached as appendices.