Seven steps to a dissertation 

by Mark Sebba

Research - a process 

Research is not just an activity, it is a process. The process doesn't just involve answering questions, it involves formulating the questions to answer. The presentation of the research (writing-up) is as important as the research itself. 

Levels of Research 

Ph.D. level - topic and data must be original - thesis must make an original contribution to the field and at least parts of it must be publishable. The original contribution could be in terms of theory or methodology (e.g. how the data is collected or how it is analysed). 

Masters level - usually the data is original, though there have been similar approaches to the topic; there may be some original methods used in data collection or analysis; the best ones will be publishable as journal articles or conference papers 

Undergraduate level - you are expected to collect some original data and to do an analysis of it, showing that you understand how to apply one or more theories to the data you have collected. There is no requirement to be original in terms of theory or method. However, there is nothing to stop you aiming for originality. 

Seven steps to a dissertation

This section, 'Seven steps to a dissertation', is designed to show you a way through the process of writing a dissertation, from the earliest step of defining something you are interested enough in to do research, to the final stage of writing it up and printing it out. 

1. Choose your topic 
Your dissertation will give you the opportunity to make an in depth study of an area of language that you are interested in. For it to be a success you need to find an interest which is researchable. This means that you need to be enthusiastic about your topic - choose something you really do find interesting! - but also, make sure there are answerable questions associated with the topic, and that there are no insurmountable practical difficulties. 

2. Review the field 
A dissertation nearly always begins with a literature review - a critical study of what has been done previously on the same or related topics. You can't skip this step! 

3. Plan your research 
Methodology - your research strategy - there is no one "right" way, BUT: some may work better than others - a combination of methods may be best. 

4. Collect your data 
This is the stage usually called "fieldwork", where you actually make your recordings, conduct interviews, search corpora etc. 

You may have to adapt your original methodology, research questions etc. if things do not exactly go according to plan. 

Fieldwork often involves practical difficulties: 

• your data source moves away, decides not to cooperate, loses his/her voice… 
• your tape recorder works perfectly except when you need it 
• your informants steal your tape recorder, with your data in it 

Rather than try to avoid such practical difficulties altogether (since new ones which hadn't occurred to you are bound to crop up) try to think creatively about how you can deal with them. That said, foresee problems if you can and make allowances, e.g. by allowing plenty of time for data collection and having a back-up in case your tape recorder doesn't work or your informant decides to leave town. Also, take sensible precautions like recording each session on a separate tape, making a copy and keeping it in a safe place.

5. Have a theory
Your data has to be interpreted in the light of some (maybe not yet fully developed) theory, which you will already have mentioned or discussed in your review of the literature. The diagram below shows how theory feeds into your analysis. 

6. Analyse and interpret the data 
This may involve a preliminary stage, for example where you transcribe and/or organise your data into a form ready for analysis. 

The analysis itself may involve various processes, depending on the kind of methodology and the kind of data. 

Stage I: Structural Analysis 
- Grammatical analysis (of syntactic or morphological structures) 
- Phonological analysis 
- Discourse analysis 
etc. 

Stage 2: Interpretation 
Your theory or approach shapes the interpretation of the data. 
It makes sense to think of a cycle of research going back and forth between theory and data.

For example 
- Statistical analysis (e.g. counting responses to questions in a questionnaire) 
- Critical discourse analysis (e.g. examining how meaning is created in text or in talk) 
- Comparative analysis (e.g. comparing negation in two languages; comparing attitudes to Standard English in two communities; comparing success in L2 learning in two groups of ten year old children.) 

7. Write up / present your findings 
Check our guidelines on citing words and meanings, diagrams and appendices 

Remember when you write up your research: 

Your research is not just the results! It's the process as well. Some part of the dissertation is usually devoted to describing the process of planning and carrying out the research. 

Your methodology and writing-up is just as important as your findings! Usually these take up at least as much space in the final dissertation. 

Even a negative result is useful! Though it may be disappointing that you did not find what you originally expected, if you have carried out the research properly, the process will have been useful to you as a learning experience and may have led to useful discoveries about methodology or other things. Do not worry too much about showing some 'big result' - often there are interesting smaller things which are just as important. 

Take ethics seriously! If there are ethical considerations which affect your work, you need to include a short discussion of these and mention any action you have taken (e.g. Did you use people's real names? Did you use the actual name of a school/hospital? Did you promise people anonymity? etc. etc.) See the ethics audit. 

Take the time to present your work neatly and to proofread accurately. Common faults which detract from otherwise good dissertations are: silly typos, misspelt names of authors, references which are not done according to the guidelines. Remember to number the pages - it is easy to forget to insert page numbers if you are using Word. 

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Last modified by Florencia Franceschina on 11 October 2003
LAEL, Lancaster University