How to structure your research

1. How to structure your
research (and reference!)
DISSERTATION AND PRACTICE AS RESEARCH
Week
5
Dissertation
and
Practice
as
Research

2. Sections/Chapters
Research Projects – PaR/science-based/primary case-study research
• Tend to require research reports to be divided into sections, with the use of
plentiful clear heading and sub-headings
Arts/humanities theses – discursive/lit. based research/comparative/case-
study
• The core chapters develop your argument, each chapter investigating an
aspect of the overall topic.
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

3. Structure
Sections
Title page/slide
Abstract*
Contents*
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendices (if relevant)
Chapters
Title page
Abstract
Contents
Introduction – includes lit. review and
methods
Chapters: discussion and analysis of
material
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendices (if relevant)
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

4. Overall Project
 To advance understanding of a
specific issue, building on what has
gone before, and laying groundwork
for future enquiry
 Understand how knowledge is
constructed in your subject
 Draw on what you have learnt already
on your course and integrate a broad
range of skills
 Manage complexity, making sensible
decisions in an independent way, with
a good feel for when to ask for advice
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

5. Abstract
 To summarise the key points of the
research project so that others can
decide quickly whether its worth
reading in full
 To help others to search and browse
for relevant research
 Can think clearly and precisely – and
can present that thought in writing
 Can construct an abstract in the style
typical for our academic discipline
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

6. Title page/slide
 To provide the title, author details,
date, submission details
 Can set out your research in a
professional way, following instructions
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

7. Contents
 To help the reader find each chapter,
section, appendix or table quickly and
easily
 Can organise information clearly and
accurately, taking your reader into
account
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

8. Introduction
 To provide contextual background such as
why the research was undertaken, what it
aims to achieve, and a rationale for the focus
or angle taken
 For arts/humanities theses – the Introduction is
a larger section that provides the research
background, literature and methods (see next
slides)
 Provide evidence of a broad background
understanding to your topic and write about
this in a way that avoids waffle or irrelevant
details
 Make sensible judgements about what other
relatively academic readers, who are not
expert in your topic, would need to know as a
starting place for making sense of your
research
 Present a reasoned case for undertaking the
research: that is has some purpose or
significance or addresses a relevant issue
 Set the scene for the reader about what you
did, and why, without going into too much
detail that would be covered in the rest of the
report
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

9. Literature Review
 For the researcher to be as informed as
possible about their specialism or area of
expertise
 To ensure that the research is well
grounded in theory, methodology and
knowledge base of the subject
 To ensure that their work is original and
hasn’t been covered by someone else
 To make clear to the readers how their
research has made use of existing
sources of information – how these have
been interpreted for the purposes of this
research
 Have researched widely into the
background of the subject
 Select the right material and convey to
others its relevance to your research
 Present previous research in a structured
way that shows the development of
understanding this issue
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

10. Methodology
 Ensure ethical codes are adhered to
 To inform the reader of the methodological
principles that inform the research
 To help the reader to grasp the thinking
behind the research, so that they can form
their own conclusions about whether the
design was fit for purpose or contained some
flaws
 Understand the methodological assumptions
and philosophies relevant to your subject
discipline
 Understand the ethical considerations and
take these on board
 Have thought through each aspect of your
research carefully to see that it is fir for
purpose
 Have designed your project to be internally
consistent; the purpose, philosophy, methods
and conclusions are mutually supporting
 Explain your methods fully, but briefly, with a
clear rationale for why you chose them. Don’t
account for why you haven’t chosen methods
that clearly would not be suitable for your
discipline/topic
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

11. Results
 To inform the reader of the outcome of the
research (mainly for research presenting
quantitative or PaR data)
 Data:
 Present data and findings clearly and accurately,
using the best graphics
 Identify the key findings rather than presenting
everything
 Demonstrate integrity in presenting true results rather
than correcting the figures to improve a particular
point
 Performance
 Present performance work that clearly and
accurately relates to your research questions, using
appropriate creative and technical skills
 Identify an extract of the performance or key
segments from performance practice
documentation
 Demonstrate integrity in presenting appropriate
creative approaches to your enquiry in terms of form
and style
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

12. Discussion / Chapters
 To draw out the significance of the findings
and what this means for understanding the
issue in the context of the field and/or brief
 To evaluate the extent to which the results
can be used as the basis for generalisations
 To evaluate the methodology
 To draw out lessons about the potential
relevance of the research and where future
research might take the issue further
 Describe your findings briefly, precisely and
with integrity
 Interpret your own findings correctly
 Evaluate appropriately the significance or
relevance of your findings and make that
clear to your reader
 Evaluate your methods with a critical eye,
demonstrating that you understand what
worked or didn’t work as expected, why this
occurred, and what is likely to work better
 Identify how future research could build on
your methods or findings, or take them in new
directions
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

13. Discussion / Chapters
 For arts and humanities subjects, most of your chapters will consist of
discussion. Each will focus on a distinct part of your analysis of the
materials and your argument.
 Divide the material into logical chapters. If relevant piece together the
findings emerging from the research and your interpretations of the
material.
 Chapters tend to build your argument consider what your reader needs
to know first in order to understand the next key argument.
 Chapters may be thematic rather than methods based
 i.e. you might use interview data throughout the various chapters but each
chapter addresses a different key theme that emerged from the research
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

14. Discussion / Chapters
 Before you commit to a linear structure, carry out a visual mapping of the
ideas and case studies that will form part of your dissertation research
 Create a spider diagram or use coloured sticky notes to group ideas
together into clusters.
 Then, move the ideas into a linear form, thinking about an order for the
material that creates through-lines of connection in the inquiry
 Use that as a basis for discussion with your peers and tutor.
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

15. Conclusion
 To draw together and summarise
thoughts about the research findings
and methods, and their significance
 Understand which aspects are the
most significant to include, and
summarise these succinctly
 Present these logically and coherently,
drawing on material you have
previously presented
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

16. Bibliography
 To provide details of the material used as
background for the project, whether cited in
the text or not
 Have read broadly around the subject, and
that your reading indicates a good
background knowledge of the field
 Demonstrate through the rest of your report
that your breadth of knowledge and
understanding is consistent with the
bibliography
 Based your research on previous work in your
field
 Are able to draw appropriately on the work of
others
 Can cite and reference sources correctly
 Attribute work to others appropriately
 Apply the correct conventions for referencing
sources
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

17. Appendices
 To provide supporting details and
materials which, if included in the
main body of the report, would
interrupt its flow for the reader
 Conducted the research yourself, as
the appendices are likely to reveal
copied data and material more easily
 Collated and interpreted data
correctly
 Produced materials that met ethical
and other guidelines and were fit for
purpose
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Dissertation and Practice as Research

18. Quotations
Quotations will be of two kinds:
 Short (i.e. less than 40 words). These will appear in
single quotation marks within the main body of the
double spaced text, and correctly referenced using
the Harvard referencing system.
 Long (quotation exceeding 40 words). These will be
indented, typed in single spacing, not in quotation
marks, and correctly referenced.
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

19. In-text citations
 Cite them right - https://brum.beds.ac.uk/record=b1960744~S20
 According to Bell (2014), the most important part of the research process is ...
 Goddard and Barrett (2016, p. 17) noted that 'teenagers are vulnerable’.
 This was proved by Young et al. (2015, pp. 21–23)…
 In their review of the literature (Norrie et al., 2012)…
 The most important part of the research process is “...” (Bell, 2014).
 Name – Date – Page (where relevant)
 Sentences should make sense when the bracketed material is removed.
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research

20. Bibliographic References
 Different format depending on type of resource and
 Number of authors
 Edition
 Missing information like dates, etc.
 Organisation/specific author(s)
 Electronic/print
 Cite them right - https://brum.beds.ac.uk/record=b1960744~S20
Week 5
Dissertation and Practice as Research