WRITING A DISSERTATION OR THESIS

Once you are satisfied that you have collected all your information, done all the experiments, researched your conclusions and results of the research and have all your ideas in order, you are ready to start writing your dissertation or thesis. Remember you have to write to get your degree and it is not so easy, especially if you don’t have the talent to write.

A DISSERTATION OR THESIS AS A SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENT

A dissertation or thesis is a document that clearly and thoroughly indicates what the researcher has done to solve the problem he or she has identified. It must be factual, logical and readable. A good dissertation or thesis should be comprehensive and precise.

You should ensure that the time set aside for writing sessions is sufficient as constant restarting and trying to find where you were, or trying to get back into the flow of things, is not effective. You should set aside a number of days per week to write and do write on those days.

When writing any dissertation or thesis, you should:

first write your draft then you can edit it critically and eliminate unnecessary material. You don’t have to get it right the first time.

plan each chapter in detail and structure your report before you start writing. The layout of your report may change over your period of study but it is important to plan and structure the report.

motivate the necessity of the study and explain the goal clearly.

give your reader a clear understanding of the research problem. The implications must be explained in such a way that everyone reading the document has the same orientation towards the problem.

provide sufficient theoretical background to understand the study.

clearly describe the methods and aids used.

conform to the University's requirements for typing, printing and binding, and must also meet the requirements set out formally in the Postgraduate Research Policy and it is essential that you refer to those requirements.

manage your time as it is of the essence. Consider the timeframe and expected outputs from the project.

provide sufficient and accurate data to and indicate exactly how the data was used to solve the research problem.