Writing a dissertation is a long process that usually extends across 2 or more years. It also usually doesn’t follow a linear path and can look different for each discipline and project. 

Given that, we have created an adaptable guide with the components generally included in many dissertations. We hope you can use this information as a flexible guide in whichever order and capacity best meets the needs of your particular project. 

We have also created a Dissertation Assignment Planner for those looking for a tailored, step-by-step plan for completing your dissertation. While our planner focuses specifically on guidance for an IMRaD-style project, you can apply it to dissertations with other structures too–just select and adapt what’s most helpful for your specific project. 

If you have arrived at this page after visiting our dissertation assignment planner, you’ll find supplemental explanations and extra resources here, expanding on the guidance offered in the planner. We hope that however you found your way here, this information will help guide you through your own specific process with your dissertation project. 

One of the first steps in a dissertation project is understanding and organizing the administrative requirements you have to fulfill. Knowing what you have to submit, and when, will help you avoid confusion while you’re managing many different components and set you up for success throughout your dissertation process. 

In addition, there are some indispensable support resources that all dissertation writers should know about. 

To that end, we’ve curated a list of important reminders, resources, deadlines, and paperwork to help you keep track of your dissertation requirements:

• UTK’s Graduate School Deadlines, including all critical dates for your dissertation-related work and links for paperwork. 
• UTK dissertation requirements, such as:
  • The appropriate Dissertation Template required by UTK 
  • UTK’s TRACE website, where you’ll upload dissertation drafts 
  •  TRACE’s Guidelines
  • The “Contact TRACE” webpage 
• Dissertation Format Chats offered by the Graduate School’s Coordinator of Student Services.
• An OIT self-paced MS Word for Theses and Dissertations online course.

• Make and Attend Appointments for Graduate Writing Help at The Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• UT Libraries’s Research and Collections resources.
• UTK Libraries’s  “Literature Reviews” Webpage.

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with important resources, you can explore the various guides below to help support you through whichever part of the dissertation process you’re working on.  

Note: Our guidance here may not refer to every type of dissertation structure–so select and adapt what’s helpful to you.  

Writing strong research questions

One of the early steps when working on your dissertation is crafting your research question or the question(s) you’re seeking to answer/explore through your research. After getting suggestions on your topic of interest from your dissertation chair/committee, you’ll want to conduct some initial research and then refine your research question(s) (and any sub-questions) based on your discoveries. 

Allow yourself room to change and refine your research question as you learn more about your research topic. You want to make sure you craft a research question that’s appropriate and achievable for the scope of the research you’ll be able to complete – in terms of available time, technology, people, and any other resources you have access to. 

Reading other scholars’ work to develop and revise your overall research question

When reading broadly to help you develop and revise your study’s overall research question, it’s helpful to begin with some preliminary research (that you’ll continue to build on throughout your project) to understand the scholarly conversation surrounding your research topic. You can begin mapping out which scholars have contributed to the history of research/work on your topic, what they’ve contributed, and essentially, what has and hasn’t been explored in connection to your topic. 

This knowledge of the scholarly landscape around your topic will help you understand how your research question can and should fit into the conversation that already exists, and this will help you refine your research question accordingly. 

Note: Some graduate students write their dissertations on research they’re a part of through assistantships or fellowships, working with faculty either to answer an already-existing research question or craft their own question using the study they’re a part of. If this applies to you, feel free to adapt any of our guides and resources so that they’re the most helpful to you. 

Resources:

Writing strong research questions

• Check out the University of Hull’s “Dissertations & Projects: Research Questions” guide.
• Check out UTK’s “Identify Research Question” diagram. 
• Look through Boston University’s “The Scope of Research Questions & Conversations” flipped learning module.
  • Scroll down to the three videos. Each video offers expert advice on establishing a productive research question.

Conducting research for your research questions

• Meet with one of UT Libraries’ Subject Librarians and Specialists. 
• Make and Attend Appointments for Graduate Writing Help at The Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• Keep a list of sources and effective notes with a tool such as PowerNotes, Zotero, or Endnote. 

Researching for your literature review 

Every good literature review starts with a deep exploration of the relevant scholarly conversation surrounding the topic you’re researching. While working towards your literature review, you’ll want to take the time to read, take notes, and follow up on leads and suggestions as they come your way. Early on in your research process, we encourage you to meet with your dissertation chair to discuss key researchers, paradigms, and sources. 

The time you invest during this part of your dissertation process will serve you well throughout, including when writing your formal literature review, methodology, discussion, and conclusion sections, and in your dissertation defense. 

Drafting your literature review

When drafting your literature review, you’ll want to take your newly expanded knowledge about the context and scholarly conversation surrounding your dissertation’s research topic and lay it out clearly and logically for your readers so that they (1) can also understand the conversation surrounding your research, and (2) see that you yourself understand how your research is contributing to the already existing body of research.   

Introducing the dissertation

Some students choose or are required to use their literature review as the introductory chapter or section for their dissertation. If this is true for you, you’ll want to include introductory components as part of your literature review. See the “Writing the Introduction” subsection in our Writing the Introduction, Conclusion, and Abstract guide further down this page.  

Drafting your prospectus

Some departments require a dissertation proposal, also known as a prospectus, or written plan for your dissertation, around the time you’re drafting your dissertation literature review. You’ll often present your prospectus as a slide presentation to your committee, but you’ll want to follow the specific guidelines of your committee’s requirements. 

Resources:

Researching for your literature review

• Consider using a source management tool such as PowerNotes, Zotero, or Endnote.  
• Make an appointment with one of UT Libraries’ Subject Librarians and Specialists or complete a Librarian Consultation Request for help with various aspects of the research process. 
• As you read, ask questions such as those in UTK’s “A Good Lit Review” poster. Keep notes and organize sources to track the conversation around your body of research.

Drafting your literature review

• Look over the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking’s guide, titled: “How to Research, Write, and Survive a Literature Review.”
• Check out the University of Southampton Libraries’ “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Literature Review” webpage. Make sure you check out any helpful Literature Review Guide tabs at the top of the page.   
• Watch the video titled: Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students on UT Libraries’ “Literature Reviews” webpage. 
• Watch the Southampton Academic Skills Service’s Writing the Dissertation – The Literature Review video on synthesizing sources.   
• Look over the University of Manchester Academic Phrasebank’s “Referring to Sources” guide for helpful phrasing you can use in literature reviews.
• Use UTK Graduate School’s iThenticate to help you avoid issues with plagiarism throughout your drafting process.

Drafting your prospectus:

• Check out the University of Utah Library’s “Writing a Prospectus” Guide. 

Understanding the research design and methodology

After you understand the scholarly conversation surrounding your research topic and have identified the major research question(s) at the heart of your dissertation, plan your research design–the overarching plan for your study–and your research methodology–the detailed methodological framework that guides your research. 

Having a well-developed research plan is an important part of your dissertation, and that includes ensuring your plan is aligned with the specific expectations of your field, department, and committee. 

Note: depending on the nature of your project and the dissertation process of your specific field, there may already be both a research design and methodology for the project you’re working on for your dissertation. If that’s the case, you’ll want to describe both in a field-appropriate way that meets the expectations of your committee. 

Researching possible designs and methodologies

To craft a well-developed research design, you’ll need to figure out which methodological framework(s) and methods best support your research and goals. It’s important to discuss possible research methodologies with your dissertation chair to see if they have any suggestions for where you should start. 

Another approach is to look through books, articles, and dissertations with similar research goals/setups to your own to see which frameworks and methods worked well for them. (By the end of your research process, you’ll be expected to identify the foundational theoretical framework and methods that informed the design of your study.) 

Drafting your research design and methodology

When drafting your research design and methodology, you have to make it clear what your design (overarching plan for your research) and methodology (detailed framework and methods you’re applying to your research) are to your audience. You’ll therefore need to make sure you explain what you did to reach your results in enough detail so that fellow researchers who want to replicate or take inspiration from your work (and how you conducted it) can do so. 

Considering the ethics of human-based research (if applicable) 

If your research involves surveying, interviewing, or observing people, it’s important to thoroughly consider the ethics of any human-based research when planning your research methods. At UTK, the Internal Review Board (IRB) is a part of the Human Research Protection Program (HRPP).

If working with human research participants, make sure you’re aware of UTK’s IRB requirements apply for IRB approval early. Most research plans go through one or more revisions in order to gain approval from the IRB to begin their research. You’ll also want to keep your dissertation chair informed of any dates and progress on your IRB application, as they’re also required to fill out part of it.

Resources: 

Researching possible designs and methodologies

• Use UT Libraries’ website to research different methodologies that might work for your project. Consider chatting with a librarian or completing a Consultation Request. 
• Look through UTK’s collection of past dissertations on TRACE (to see how methodologies have been applied in similar research). 
• Use Mahesh B. Tengli’s (2020) article “Research Onion: A Systematic Approach to Designing Research Methodology” to help you develop a strong theoretical view for methodology. 

Drafting your research design and methodology

• Check out the University of Southampton Libraries’ “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Methodology” webpage. Make sure you check out any helpful Methodology tabs at the top of the page.
• Make and Attend Appointments for Graduate Writing Help at The Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• Make sure you’re using the appropriate Dissertation Template required by UTK.

Considering the ethics of human-based research 

• Check out UTK’s Human Research Protection Program’s (HRPP) main webpage and familiarize yourself with the HRPP officials’ office hours (right on that page). They’re happy to help answer any questions/prepare you for the IRB application process.

Understanding the results and discussion sections/chapters

After you’ve collected and analyzed your data, you’re ready to draft the results and discussion sections. Some writers choose to present their results and discussion sections as separate chapters, while some put them together in one chapter. Either option is perfectly acceptable, as long as you’re following your committee’s expectations and presenting the required information clearly. 

Drafting your results section/chapter 

The results chapter should provide a direct and factual account of the data collected without any interpretation or analysis of the findings. It’s therefore crucial to present your results to your audience clearly and directly, as they provide the necessary detail for your discussion to build off of. The results are also often one of the sections readers are most interested in, so you want to make sure you discuss the results you achieved accurately and with enough detail so readers can easily understand your findings.  

Drafting your discussion section/chapter

Unlike the factual results section, the discussion is rooted in analysis and interpretation, allowing you and your reader to delve beneath the surface. Your discussion should therefore return to the relevant scholarship (previously identified in your literature review) to contextualize and deepen your reader’s understanding of the findings. Your discussion should also explain how your findings are working to answer your research question(s). 

You may have included comments about limitations in a previous section of your dissertation, but it’s also common to have one in your discussion chapter. The difference here is that your limitations are directly associated with your results/your capacity to interpret and analyze those results. 

Including Additional Information

It’s not uncommon for a discussion section to also include conclusion components in some dissertations. If this applies to your dissertation structure, see the “Writing the Conclusion” subsection in our Writing the Introduction, Conclusion, and Abstract guide further down this page. 

Resources:

Drafting your results section/chapter:

• Check out the Results tab at the top of the University of Southampton Library’s “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Results and Discussion” webpage.

Drafting your discussion section/chapter:

• Check out the Discussion tab at the top of the University of Southampton Library’s “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: “Results and Discussion” webpage.

Helpful tools for drafting both: 

• Get feedback on your results and discussion chapter draft(s) from your dissertation chair and/or the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center.  
• Make sure you’re working on your dissertation chapters/sections in the appropriate Dissertation Template required by the UTK Graduate School.

We’ve put tips for writing your introduction, conclusion, and abstract as the final guide on this page because some students find it easier to draft them after writing a full draft of their dissertation. However, you can work on your introduction, conclusion, or abstract at whatever stage of your drafting process (and in whatever order) feels right for you. 

Remember, sometimes introductory components can be included in your literature review, and sometimes your discussion can function as a type of conclusion. You’ll want to verify the expectations for these components with your committee so that you can structure your dissertation accordingly. 

Writing the introduction

The introduction’s purpose is to present the reader with an overview of your research so they can understand what problem you’re trying to solve throughout your dissertation. To help your audience make sense of your project, you’ll need to explain (1) the context; (2) the gap that exists in current research; (3) your research aims, objectives, and questions; (4) the value your research will bring to your field; and (5) the limitations of your project and approach. 

The dissertation introduction is like any other introduction in the sense that it provides your reader with the context for the larger project they’re about to read. You therefore want to prioritize your reader’s needs in how you clearly and helpfully describe the foundational information they’ll need to make sense of your dissertation. 

Writing the conclusion

The conclusion is more than simply a brief recap of your previous chapters. Instead, the conclusion revisits your primary research purpose – your research question(s) and/or hypotheses – and summarises your main research findings to reinforce how your dissertation responds to that purpose. 

The conclusion then moves beyond the immediate confines of your research to the wider impact and relevance of your work, and how it has advanced knowledge and understanding in your field. The conclusion will also include any recommendations you have for future research and/or future practitioners (depending on the nature and goals of your project). 

Writing the abstract

For some, the abstract is the very last component they tackle for their dissertation. It can often feel challenging, as it’s meant to encapsulate the entire dissertation in a 100-250 word summary. The abstract should include (1) your topic’s background, (2) the purpose of your research, (3) brief details about your research method, (4) a description of your results (this is often why readers look at the abstract), and (5) the significance of your findings and the implications for future research. 

Resources:

Writing the introduction:

• Check out Grad Coach’s “How to Write Your Dissertation Introduction” guide.

Writing the conclusion:

• Check out the University of Southampton Libraries’ “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Conclusion” webpage. Make sure you check out any helpful Conclusion Guide tabs at the top of the page, particularly the “Annotated Example” tab.

Writing the abstract:

• Look through the University of Bath’s “Writing an abstract – a six-point checklist (with samples).” 

Dissertation Guide – Conclusion

While drafting your dissertation can feel confusing or overwhelming at times, it helps to separate it into smaller components that you can tackle one at a time, and in whichever order or capacity works best for your particular project. 

If you’d like tailored, step-by-step guidance for completing the stages of an IMRaD-style dissertation, we recommend using our Dissertation Assignment Planner, which you can access on the Assignment Planners page. (You can adapt that guidance to apply to dissertations with other structures, too–select and adapt what’s helpful to you.) 

And as you continue your work, remember–you have many helpful resources available, including your dissertation chair and committee, graduate writing consultants at the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center, research librarians at the UT Libraries, the “Contact TRACE” page, and OIT’s self-paced MS Word for Theses and Dissertations online course. 

Good luck with your project!

---