Dissertation Outline Template: (Table of Contents / Template)

Here’s how to structure your dissertation. Find a useful template for your dissertation work. Find the Table of Contents and the various sections that it should typically contain. Most of the sections also apply to other work (Thesis, project work, etc.).

Related: Importance of dissertation and how to improve its quality.

Abstract

Just as you write the ‘Executive Summary’ in a business report, you should write the Abstract, a brief overview of what the study is all about.

Table of contents page

List of figures page

List of tables page

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter should include background to the research area, problem definition/research gap, and Dissertation outline.

You are expected to provide a particularly clear and concise abstract, covering all key points, that is, purpose, background, rationale, method(s), key finding(s), and contribution(s).

The first chapter should present an excellent introduction, including an overview and motivation for what follows. It should provide an excellent overview/summary of the literature, clearly highlighting the gaps within existing works, leading to a well justified and argued research aim, which explicitly presents the overall intent of this research.

The objective(s), in particular, should be explicitly presented and it should provide very clear directions on how to achieve the overall aim of the research. This chapter should suggest that this Dissertation has an interesting and relevant ‘story’ which identifies a suitable ‘research problem/issue or an opportunity to explore’.

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter should provide an excellent description and an equally excellent critical discussion of the literature in the field and its treatment, demonstrating a highly sophisticated, critical and thorough understanding of the subject matter. The literature should be plentiful and wholly appropriate.

The particularly excellent introduction should include an overview and motivation for what follows. The discussion, drawing on an excellent interpretation and understanding of the literature gathered to support the claim(s) made, should be highly sophisticated in its critical powers. The analysis should demonstrate an exceptional insight into the aspect(s) of business/management (or your subject) that you have chosen chosen to explore.

It should be a ‘story’ which identifies a suitable research problem/issue. If there is a framework of any type, this should be well explained and it should address the identified research ‘gaps’ in an excellent manner. When hypotheses or research problems are presented, they should be well argued and phrased in a logical manner, specifying the relations between independent and dependent variables.

Chapter 3: Research methods.

Here you should present and justify your research approach, method used, and the rest, that is, what data was gathered, and when, how.

The research methods chapter should be excellent in terms of its clarity, and its treatment of the issues involved and should demonstrate a highly sophisticated, critical and thorough understanding of research methods more generally. An excellent argument should be made for the instrument(s)/tool(s) which you will use to gather the data. A particularly excellent justification should be provided as to why that/those selected have been chosen, and you should also provide excellent, comprehensive description of the data collection and analysis process, including consideration of the ethical issues involved.

There should be clarity as to how the literature in the field (the subject matter) informed its/their design. How/why data is gathered is crucial in a piece of research and your Project should demonstrate an exceptionally good treatment of this issue.

Chapter 4: Results/Findings

Here you should present your analysis and the results/findings from the data that you gathered.

The presentation and analysis of the results should be excellent and of high standard. Findings/results should be presented with exceptional clarity and in an exceptionally effective manner.

Advanced statistical and/or qualitative analysis should be employed and appropriately discussed, leading to well justified and meaningful results. There should be evidence of originality and independence of thought, and the work should clearly demonstrate the exceptional ability to develop a highly systematic and logical or insightful solution or evaluation.

Chapter 5: Discussion

This chapter should be titled ‘discussion’, or, ‘discussion and conclusion’, or ‘conclusion’ or some other wording which tells the reader ‘this is the final chapter’.

Here you should summarise the whole piece of research, highlight what you have found/what contribution your study has made, state the limitations, set out the future work and, if there are any, state the practical or other implications to research and/or practice.

Conclusions should be drawn from the discussion of the results/findings and demonstrate an exceptional ability to synthesise the data/evidence with the literature in the field (the subject matter). A highly sophisticated, critical and thorough understanding of the limitations of the piece of research should be identified and described.

Some excellent suggestions for future work, which follows from this, should be identified and discussed. The practical or other recommendations for business/industry should be targeted, specific and realistic, and should follow directly from the preceding analysis of the data/results presented.

References

Harvard, APA or relevant referencing style.

Appendices

This may include, say, the questionnaire or other instrument used for data collection, the letter from the Ethics Committee, etc.

Table of Contents (The various chapters)

INTRODUCTION:
What is your research all about.

LITERATURE REVIEW:
What literature exists and what does it say.

INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH WORK UNDERTAKEN BY INDIVIDUALS
REPORTS AND RESEARCH WORKS OF MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS
RESEARCH WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

TOPIC RELATED:
More chapters on your chosen TOPIC/S (Chunk of the work comes here)

METHODOLOGY:
Methodology adopted for the research including data collection methods.

INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
PROFILE OF THE STUDY AREA
SAMPLING
DATA COLLECTION
SURVEY FORM OF QUESTIONING
FOCUSED GROUP DISCUSSION
DATA ANALYSIS

KEY FINDINGS:
Here you list the key findings of your research.
INTRODUCTION
MORE CHAPTERS on Key Findings

CONCLUSION:
Summarize important points.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
List if References

ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE, DATA and other details that you may want to provide.

Checklist for Your dissertation Revision

Before submitting your dissertation, it is a good idea to revise your dissertation to ensure that there are no obvious mistakes in it.

The following checklist lists 12 points to be checked and revised before submitting your dissertation:

Title page
Paragraph is centred on the title page.
No page number is shown.
The year of the conferred degree is mentioned.

Pagination
All page numbers are centred at the bottom of the page.
No pagination on title page, copyright, and front matter.
Preliminary pages use lower-case roman numeral pagination.
Main body of the dissertation starts with page no. 1.

Table of Contents
It must not include entries for the Table of Contents and Copyright sections.
Each entry includes the chapter number, chapter title, and page number.

Headings format
No heading should have only a single sub-heading.
Headings are capitalized properly.
Spacing exists on top and bottom of each heading.
No headings at the bottom of page, unless followed by at least 2 lines of paragraph text.

Reference list
Reference list is in the correct style (Harvard or APA), as approved by the university.
Entries in the reference list are ordered alphabetically.
Links in all the web references are working.

List of Tables and Figures
Must be included if there are 5 (or more) tables and figures.
Includes tables and figures from all sections, including preface or appendices.

Tables and Figures
Every table and figure are referenced in the body text using a number (example, Table 1 or Figure 1).
The alignment of the table and figure title and number is consistent throughout the dissertation.

Footnotes
To be included on the same page as the citation.
Every footnote is numbered.

Consistent spacing between footnotes
Body of the Dissertation
Divided into chapters with chapter numbers.
Body text is consistently left-aligned or justified according to the formatting guidelines.

Paragraph Formatting
No extra space included between paragraphs.
No paragraphs at the top (or bottom) of a page with just 2 lines of text.
Paragraphs are consistently indented through the dissertation.

Mathematics
All numbers below 20 are written in words.
All formula expression and equations are italicized.

Miscellaneous
No blank or missing pages
Long dashes do not have space before or after them.
This checklist contains general points to check for revision, and does not include check points specific for your university.