mba dissertation structure

7/28/2019 MBA Dissertation Structure

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Suggested Format for Sharda MBA Dissertation

PRELIMINARY PAGES

1. Title Page

Title short (length is 10-12 words); reflective of the content, problem, and the

main variables to be studied; free of value judgment; should be written in

inverted pyramid boldface, and capital letters

Statement:

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree

of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

Authors Name

Name of the supervisor

Name of the Institution

Month and Year of Completion

2. Approval Sheet

3. Declaration

4. Acknowledgment

5. Executive Summary

In research, as in business and life in general, we are all lured into further engagement byshop windows that interest or appeal to us. Your summary is the shop window of your

dissertation. Its purpose is to say to somebody breezing by: hey, this is interesting, youshould look into this further. And, because were all busy you must do it quickly. Thus,

your summary should be no more than one page. It should briefly:

1. say what you have investigated,2. say why it is important,

3. summarise your main findings.

Tip: Summarise your main findings in 3-5 bullet points.

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Tip: The Summary should be the last thing you write before submitting. It will give thereader (and marker) an overview of what the dissertation is about and all other sections will

fit into this.

6. Table of Contents

7. List of Tables8. List of Exhibits

9. List of Appendices

10. CHAPTERS

CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION

- gives the background of the project and the rationale for conducting the

study

Background of the Study

- A statement of how the project was initiated

- What area youd investigate and why

- Which company youd focus on

Company Background

- Brief information on company mission, main strategic goals and

current status in terms of market share, branches or SBUs and

management structure if available

Aim and Objectives

Aim

- The main reason as to why the project is being undertaken

Objectives or milestones of the study

- states the specific objectives

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- should be consistent with the aim

- should be clearly stated and logically presented

Significance of the Study

- points out the vital contribution of the study and who will benefit from

it.

Scope of the Study

- sets the delimitations and establishes the boundaries of the study

(delimits the study in terms of size and area of coverage)

- states what the study will not cover or will not do

Potential barriers and strategies to overcome them

- identifies the constraints which may affect the results of the study

- proposes ways to resolve such constraints

Summary of Research Methodology

- brief description of methods used for sampling, data collection andanalysis

Report structure

-

brief description of what each chapter involves

Report plan

- brief description of activities with duration and costs of each activity

- draw a Gantt Chart or an Activity on Node diagram

- identify the key communication persons

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

- referencing must follow the style recommended by the Business

School. See the suggested style in the file on referencing

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

- describes how the study was conducted

Research Design

- specifies whether descriptive, causal/explanatory, correlational,

comparative, exploratory, evaluative or combination of two or more

designs

Sources of Data

- specifies the sources of primary and/or secondary data

Method of Data Collection/Data Collection Procedure

- indicates the sampling procedures (if primary data) and the data

collection methods such as survey, questionnaire, and others

Analytical Procedures/Methods of Analysis

- indicates the most appropriate statistical tools used in analyzing both

quantitative and qualitative data

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

- summarises the data collected and the statistical results in sufficient

detail to justify conclusions

- uses tables and graphs to supplement the text

- all figures must be numbered consecutively with their labels written

below the figures

- all figures must be placed immediately after the page where a

particular figure number is mentioned. All figures must be well

explained in the text and all figure numbers must be mentionedproperly in the text

- a thorough discussion must be offered with regards to the

management implications of the results

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CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS

- Recommendations on how the firm may optimize its decisions drawing

on the implications identified and discussed in chapter four.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- should be alphabetically arranged

- all the references cited in the text must be included in this section

APPENDICES

- A blank questionnaire

- Additional tables

- CV

- Others

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mba dissertation structure

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