9/28/13 Writing a Dissertation

Writing Your Dissertation

Some Guidelines for University Students
Daniel Chandler
Page Contents

Proposing a topic
Framing a research focus
The main elements
Rationale and theoretical framework
Literature review
The broader survey
The 'critical' review
What is a literature review for?
What should I include in a literature review?
Where should I look?
How long should a literature review be?
Methodology
Data gathering and analysis
Discussion and conclusions
Presentational issues
Readability
Illustrations
Reference format
Structure and word counts
Other presentational Issues
Dissertation Template (Word)
Further reading
Dissertation Feedback Form

Proposing a Topic
Your choice of topic for research is likely to be influenced by such factors as:

relevance: its perceived relevance to the academic department(s) in which you are studying;
supervision: the availability of tutors/supervisors within the department(s) who are interested in the topic
and their willingness to supervise such a dissertation;
interest: your existing knowledge of that topic and the strength of your desire to learn more about it;
competence: your likely ability to employ the proposed methods of data gathering and data analysis;
scale: the feasibility of completing the study within the time and resources available.

Most university departments have profiles of their academic staff which list their main areas of research
interests, so check these. You may be required to demonstrate that your proposed topic is viable in the light of
such factors. In particular, try to choose a topic in which you are genuinely interested.

Undergraduate students of media and communications are often tempted to propose 'effects research'. Quite
apart from being wholly impractical with a limited time-scale and no budget, this approach has been subjected
to extensive academic criticism. If you are tempted to research 'how the media influence people', read David
Gauntlett's 'Ten Things Wrong with "The Effects Model"' (Gauntlett 1998).

For a research degree as such (MPhil, PhD) you are usually expected to provide a formal research proposal.
Indeed, your acceptance for a research degree may depend on the submission and approval of such a formal
proposal as part of your application. Such a proposal needs to include the title (even if that might change over
time), a clear explanation of the academic (rather than personal) importance of the topic with reference to
some existing published research in the field, an outline of a proposed methodology for data-gathering and also
for analysis, and a provisional schedule for key stages in the work tied to dates in the calendar.

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Framing a research focus

For the purposes of your initial proposal, you need to frame your topic as clearly as you can at this stage (even
though it may alter over time). As an example, if your topic is representation, consider:

What will be your focus in terms of identity (e.g. gender, sexuality, race or class)?
What will be your focus in terms of genre (e.g. advertisements, feature films, trailers)?
What will be your focus in terms of medium (e.g. newspapers, magazines, film, TV, social media)?
What will be your focus in terms of the representational process (e.g. production factors, audience
factors, formal features, regulation)?
What will be your primary methodology? (e.g. if its with me, it is semiotic analysis).
What will be your historical focus (e.g. a specific day, month, season, year or decade)?
On which country (or countries, in the case of comparisons) will you focus (e.g. UK, Poland, Bulgaria)?

An example would be: 'A semiotic analysis of visual cues to social status in British magazine advertisements in
the Summer of 2012'. This is the provisional title of your dissertation and your final title will be in much the
same form (though the wording may well change). Insofar as the title is part of your initial proposal it needs to
be the kind of question that your tutors regard as worthy of investigation, so you need to put a lot of effort into
getting this right. It is usually wise to restrict it to a single sentence and to make your topic self-evident from
this. However, if the sentence is rather long a subtitle is acceptable (after a colon): the short form can then be
conveniently printed on the spine of a hard-bound dissertation. The specific research question(s) that you will
address will depend on your rationale and theoretical framework.

Rationale and theoretical framework

You must include a rationale: an explanation of why you are studying the topic and of why it is important. You
will need to show evidence that specialists in the field do find it important. It is not good enough to say that
you find it personally interesting (you shouldn't be studying it otherwise!). Think of your reader(s). In
justifying your study it can be useful to imagine a cynical critic who cannot imagine why anyone would waste
their time on such a study! If you can address their concerns you will be doing well. You could ask one of
your friends to play 'Devil's Advocate' for you to check how persuasive you are being. On the other hand,
bear your specialist readers in mind and don't try to explain terms that should already be familiar to them: just
demonstrate that you understand such terms by the way in which you apply them throughout your study.

A theoretical framework often features as an early section in a dissertation. Firstly, you must make explicit the
particular academic discourse within which your study is framed. It should be clear (to the reader) from the
outset that your approach is (for instance) historical, psychological, sociological, philosophical, semiotic or
linguistic (be wary about stepping outside the specialisms into which you have been inducted within your
department, though your topic area may straddle traditional disciplinary boundaries). Within any given
discipline you also need to locate your study within a relevant sub-discipline or branch of the subject (e.g.
social psychology or visual semiotics) and then within a particular tradition or 'school of thought' (e.g. social
constructionism or queer theory). In a theoretical framework you would include an outline of existing theories
which are closely related to your research topic. You should make clear how your research relates to such
theories. Who are regarded as the key theorists in the field on the central issues involved? You should find
some names coming up repeatedly (these will later appear in your literature review). Justify your choices. If
you can't identify key theorists this suggests that your topic lacks theoretical interest. What are the key debates
and what arguments and evidence have the key theorists put forward? What questions remain unresolved?
What key concepts
COUPONS that feature in your study are disputed
Users.aber.ac.uk x and which of the competing definitions are you
adopting or challenging (see, for instance, Chandler & Munday 2011 for different definitions of key concepts
within Media and Communication Studies). How are 'research questions' in the field framed? How does your
own research relate to such framings? You should make your own theoretical assumptions and allegiances as
explicit as possible. Later, your discussion of methodology should be linked to this theoretical framework.

Your research should be guided by a central research question (or a series of closely-connected questions).
This needs to be made explicit early on (although you may refine your question(s) as your understanding

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deepens. Your
Disable
research questions will help Translate
you toSelection
stay on target and to avoid being distracted by interesting
(but irrelevant) digressions. Your markers/examiners will need to consider whether, by the end of your
dissertation, you have adequately answered the question you set yourself. Consequently, it needs to be viable:
possible to address in the timescale and budget available and using the proposed methodology.

Reviewing the literature

Academic dissertations at all levels in the social sciences typically include some kind of 'literature review'. It is
probably more useful for students to think of this, as examiners usually do, as a 'critical review of the
literature', for reasons which will be made clear shortly. The literature review is normally an early section in
the dissertation.

The broader survey

Students are normally expected to begin working on a general survey of the related research literature at the
earliest possible stage of their research. This in itself is not what is normally meant in formal references to the
'review of the literature', but is rather a preparatory stage. This survey stage ranges far wider in scope and
quantity than the final review, typically including more general works. Your survey (which exists in writing
only in your notes) should help you in several ways, such as:

to decide on the issues you will address;

to become aware of appropriate research methodologies;
to see how research on your specific topic fits into a broader framework;
to help you not to 'reinvent the wheel';
to help you to avoid any well-known theoretical and methodological pitfalls;
to prepare you for approaching the critical review.

The 'critical' review

Clearly, if you are new to research in the field you are not in a position to 'criticise' the work of experienced
researchers on the basis of your own knowledge of the topic or of research methodology. Where you are
reporting on well-known research studies closely related to your topic, however, some critical comments may
well be available from other established researchers (often in textbooks on the topic). These criticisms of
methodology, conclusions and so on can and should be reported in your review (together with any published
reactions to these criticisms!).

However, the use of the term critical is not usually meant to suggest that you should focus on criticising the
work of established researchers. It is primarily meant to indicate that:

the review should not be merely a descriptive list of a number of research projects related to the topic;
you are capable of thinking critically and with insight about the issues raised by previous research.

What is a literature review for?

The review can serve many functions, some of which are as follows:

to indicate what researchers in the field already know about the topic;
to indicate what those in the field do not yet know about the topic - the 'gaps';
to indicate major questions in the topic area;

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to provide background information for the non-specialist reader seeking to gain an overview of the field;
to ensure that new research (including yours) avoids the errors of some earlier research;
to demonstrate your grasp of the topic.

What should I include in a literature review?

In the formal review of the literature you should refer only to research projects which are closely related to
your own topic. The formal review is not a record of 'what I have read'. If your problem is how to choose
what to leave out, one way might be to focus on the most recent papers. You should normally aim to include
key studies which are widely cited by others in the field, however old they may be. Where there are several
similar studies with similar findings, you should review a representative study which was well designed.

Some tutors encourage their students to refer to a range of relevant projects representing various research
methodologies; others may prefer you to concentrate on those employing the methodology which you intend to
use (e.g. experiments or field studies). Where you have been advised to review studies representing different
methodologies, do not over-represent any single methodology unless it represents that which you intend to use.

If you find that very little seems to exist which is closely related to your topic you should discuss this with your
supervisor. In such a case the most obvious options would be either to widen the net to include less closely-
related studies or to reduce the length of the review. However, you should make quite sure that your search
for relevant papers and books has been adequate.

Where should I look?

Always start by asking your supervisor for some suggested initial reading. Your institution's libraries should
(still) be your next port of call. Undergraduates may not until now have made regular use of specialist
academic journals - the serious journals are an essential resource for your dissertation, regardless of whether
they are in print or online. Your university library should be able to advise you how to locate relevant articles
in such journals. For other online documents, begin by checking for specialist on-line academic 'portals' (again,
your supervisor may know some). For research purposes, you should not rely on online sources which lack
details of author and date, including Wikipedia.

If you still cannot find relevant research publications, your tutor may suggest that you should review more
loosely-related studies which nevertheless employed the research methodology which you are intending to use.

At Aberystwyth University we are fortunate to have a National Library on our doorstep: any of our students
undertaking a dissertation should make as much use as possible of this invaluable resource. Books and journals
not in our own stock or in that of the National Library can be obtained (for a fee) using the Inter-Library
Loans service within the university library.

As for non-book materials the topic is too vast to cover here. However, some videoclips are available online.
Commercials in particular are quite widely available on YouTube (although not always the ones you wanted!).
For guidance on capturing stills from film or television, click here.

How long should a literature review be?

This varies and the attitudes of your supervisor and examiners must be taken into account: some supervisors
allow undergraduate students to devote the bulk of a mini-dissertation to a literature review; others insist on
some element of original research. As to how many research studies you should review, this varies too. You
should not review so many that you can devote little space to each.

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Methodology
A section on methodology is a key element in a social science dissertation. Methodology refers to the choice
and use of particular strategies and tools for data gathering and analysis. Your choice of methodologies should
be related to the theoretical framework outlined earlier. Particular methodologies are usually well-established
within the particular tradition and 'school of thought' with which you have allied your study and reflected in the
academic work that you have reviewed. Some methodologies embrace both data gathering and analysis, such
as content analysis, ethnography and semiotic analysis. Others apply either to gathering or analysing data
(though the distinction is often not clearcut):

data-gathering methodologies include interviews, questionnaires and observation;

data analysis methodologies include content analysis, discourse analysis, semiotic analysis and statistical
analysis.

There are many varieties of each methodology and the specific methodological tools you are adopting must be
made explicit. Interviews, for instance, are often categorized as 'structured', 'semi-structured' or 'open-ended'.
You should mention which other related studies (cited in your literature review) have employed the same
methodology. Note that 'textual analysis' as such is not a methodology - it is a focus; if you are focusing on
texts (in any medium) you need to specify what form of textual analysis you are going to use: for instance,
semiotic analysis, content analysis or discourse analysis.

A key practical consideration when deciding on your methodology is your own competence and confidence in
using the selected methods. For instance, do not attempt a psychoanalytical approach to textual analysis unless
you and your supervisor are confident that you can handle this (and that this is appropriate and acceptable).
Ideally you should use a method you have successfully employed before. If you need further training or advice
in using your chosen method, seek out local academic advice from someone who regularly uses that method.
Always consult methodological handbooks in your topic area for guidance on issues and pitfalls. It's a good
practice to consult several of these when you prepare your methodological section. In addition, you should
read several published academic papers in related topic areas which employ a similar methodology to the one
you are planning to use. You are not expected to invent the tools that you use, although the way that you
apply them may be novel and you will probably be applying them to different materials. Check out some
student dissertations which you know were regarded as acceptable within your course: their discussions of
methodology might give you some pointers for yours.

The section on methodology should include a rationale for the choice of methodology for data gathering and
for data analysis. In the rationale you should consider what alternative methodological tools might have been
employed (particularly those which related studies have employed), together with their advantages and
limitations for the present purpose. For instance... Why did you choose to undertake interviews? Why open-
ended interviews? Why did you opt for audio-recording (for instance)? Refer to a relevant study which
approached interviews in a similar way. Cite a reputable study which selected participants on a similar basis.
On what basis did you choose your participants (that they were friends of yours with time on their hands is not
an adequate justification!). If there are any obvious segments of the population which are not represented
within your sample why is this? Where class, age, gender and/or ethnicity is likely to be involved in the
phenomenon you are studying then make sure that your sample is demographically appropriate. What
limitations of your sample should your readers be alerted to?

If data can be counted it is quantitative; otherwise it is qualitative. Often one or the other kind of data
predominates in a study, in which case this may reflect the tradition or school of thought within which the
study is framed. However, qualitative and quantitative approaches are not seen as incompatible within all
academic research traditions: many studies (such as research into advertising) do successfully combine both
approaches (e,g. content analysis and semiotic analysis). If you are excluding either quantitative or qualitative
data, you need to explain why you are doing so. How does your decision relate to the approaches adopted in
the literature you have reviewed?

Relevant ethical issues need to be discussed. You are advised to seek special guidance on this from your
supervisor since the issues involved are highly dependent on the specific study. Note that investigations
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involving children and vulnerable persons require special protocols and this may not be practicable for
undergraduate dissertations. For adults, here is a sample Consent Form for Interviews, Photography and
Recording, but once again, your own institution is likely to have its own forms.

Data gathering and analysis

Data should be presented as clearly as possible for the reader. Wherever possible you should present your
readers with sufficient data in an appendix for them to test your approach and to draw their own conclusions.
There is no data without a theory, so you need to underline the theoretical basis for your selection of relevant
data. Data does not speak for itself: it requires interpretation. Methods of interpretation vary widely but note
that you must adopt some recognised method and definitely not appear to 'make it up as you go along'! Try to
follow the practices employed in some relevant and reputable published study.

Online forms can be useful to gather data, although remember to note that this affects the character of the
sample - skewing it in favour of those with internet access who go in for online surveys.

Some Tips on Using Online Survey Forms

Keep such forms as short as possible and try not to gather more data than you know you can handle. Only ask for what you
are intending to make use of. Refer back to your key research questions/concerns. Exactly what kind of data will be most
likely to help you to address these?
Test the form out carefully before releasing it for general use.
Choose carefully where to advertise your survey site. Your supervisor may be prepared to circularise the URL to students
in appropriate classes but obviously this skews your sample towards students (and towards those at our own university). In
the case of film and television topics you may wish to contact fan sites and ask if they will consider including a link to your
survey site.
Reassure your respondents that they will be anonymous and keep this promise in what you write about your findings.
Some respondents may be more keen to participate if you offer to let them know your main findings (if you do this, keep to
your word).
Many respondents are understandably very wary about including their email address. If you require this reassure them that
you will not pass it on to any third parties or send them unsolicited mail.
Decide what basic demographic data you need from your respondents (e.g. sex, age). Consider what differences in
responses you might be looking for in relation to such demographics: e.g. you might want to consider whether men tended to
respond differently from women, straight males from gay males, older people from younger people etc. .
Many older respondents prefer to indicate age-range rather than exact age.
Don't assume heterosexual orientation.
When you used closed (fixed alternative) questions you should normally allow for 'not sure'/'don't know'/'none of these'.
When you are using statements with which respondents may agree or disagree, use the standard Likert scale: strongly agree,
agree, not sure, disagree, strongly disagree. Try to ensure that positively and negatively loaded statements balance out, and
that they are distributed irregularly through your form.
Where you use attitude statements keep them as simple and short as possible and definitely avoid any that seem to have two
parts (because respondents may agree with one part and not the other). If you find yourself saying 'it depends...' then
rework the statement.
Allow respondents some open-ended questions (even if it's only: 'Is there anything else you wish to add?') - especially
Why? questions. However, remember that the systems used may cut short their replies to around 250 characters.
If you are referring to characters in films or television programmes include photographs so that you can be sure they know
exactly who you mean.
How will you know if respondents have sent more than one submission (either accidentally or not)?
How will you weed out the forms of respondents who are just being silly? Daft ages? Clearly bogus email addresses? Or
what?
Are you going to discard incomplete forms? If so, say so.
Consider the format in which data will be generated - will it be emails (in which case you'll have to enter data by hand into a
database if you are using one) or will it be in 'csv' format (comma-separated values) as used by most databases? The use of
csv format may require special technical assistance since this is not the default format generated by standard forms. If you
don't have the necessary technical skills this may be beyond your budget. However, if you're at least able to create your
own webpages you might like to check for what format conversion utilities may be available.
If you are using a database which one will it be? It needs to be one to which you and your tutors have easy access and

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obviously you need to know how to use it effectively for analysing the data your survey will generate.
You may like to include a counter on the webpage so that you can see how many people visited the site.

Some notes on numeric data. If you are investigating mass media texts it often helps to provide well-sourced
demographic data at the outset (see Table 1).

Table 1: British newspaper readership demographics

Source: Derived from NRS data, June 2011
If you are going to compare the responses of different groups a basic statistical test that is suitable for such
comparisons is the Chi-Square Test. Here are some examples of how Chi-Square results are reported:

Chandler, Daniel & Merris Griffiths (2000): 'Gender-Differentiated Production Features in Toy
Commercials' Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 44(3): 503-520; [WWW document] URL
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/toyads.html
Chandler, Daniel & Merris Griffiths (2004): 'Who is the fairest of them all? Gendered readings of Big
Brother 2 (UK)'. In Ernest Mathijs & Janet Jones (Eds.) (2004): Big Brother International: Format,
Critics and Publics. London: Wallflower Press; [WWW document] URL
http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/short/who_is_the_fairest_of_them_all.doc

Remember that when you compare groups you need to ask yourself whether the differences between groups
are greater than the differences within them. Extensive tabular data is usually best confined to appendices:
select only the most important tabular data for inclusion in the main body of your text. Where you refer to
total numbers it is often useful to include percentages (but only where the numbers involved are greater than
twenty or so). Avoid any reference to 'significant' findings unless you can specify their statistical significance.
Consider where it would be most useful to employ graphical displays such as bar-charts or pie-charts rather
than tables. Label tables as 'Table 1' [or whatever] and all other forms as 'Figure 1' [etc.]. Remember to list
these at the beginning of the dissertation. While every table or figure requires comment in the main body of the
text do not simply repeat the data: help the reader to notice and make sense of patterns in the data.

Some notes on textual analysis. If your data is some kind of text (including audio-visual texts), be clear about
your methodology for textual analysis and follow a specific published model. The main options are semiotic
analysis, content analysis and discourse analysis. Beware of assuming that the meaning lies within the text
rather than in its interpretation. You can avoid privileging yourself as an 'elite interpreter' by seeking the
responses of other viewers/readers/listeners.

Some notes on interview data. Bear in mind that transcribing interview data takes a great deal of time - as a
rough guide allow at least 2 hours for 10 minutes of audio-recording. Some of my own online notes on
interpreting interview data may be useful as a general framework (they were developed for the interpretation
of children's talk about television but they have a broader relevance). Do not assume that 'people say what
they mean' or 'mean what they say'. Supplement your comments on their words with reference to non-verbal
cues. Adopt an established method for your transcription of extracts from such interviews, citing the source for
your transcription conventions. For my own students I usually refer them to the transcription conventions
employed by David Buckingham as being adequate for most of our purposes (see the table below). Set out the
interview somewhat like a playscript, with each speaker's pseudonym in a column to the left. Always
anonymise your informants (and assure them in advance that you will do so). It should not be possible to
determine who they are from the data you provide. However, you should provide whatever details of their
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background (age, sex etc.) which seem relevant to interpreting their comments. Data from several interviewees
is usually best analysed on a thematic basis rather than interviewee by interviewee. Clearly you will need to
focus on themes which relate to your research question(s).

Basic transcription conventions

(...) Words undeciphered

. Talk omitted when irrelevant to the issue being discussed

= Contributions follow on without a break

/ Pause of less than two seconds

// Pause of more than two seconds

CAPITALS Emphatic speech

[....] Interjections by an unidentified speaker

(?...) Approximate wording

[....] Stage directions e.g. [laughter]

[ Simultaneous or interrupted speech

(&) Continuing speech, separated in the transcript by an interrupting speaker

[Buckingham, David (1993): Children Talking Television: The Making of Television Literacy. London: Falmer, x]

The ways in which you report your 'findings' depend heavily on the methodologies employed so it is difficult
to provide general guidelines here. However, it is important to ensure that you go beyond basic description of
your data (e.g. simply reporting which television programmes were watched by which groups of people).
There must be a substantial element of formal analysis and this analysis should be seen to emerge from your
engagement with the data you present; examples should not simply be presented in order to illustrate the points
that you wish to make. Whatever kind of data you are dealing with, try to be reflexive in dealing with it: reflect
on the constructedness of your data and on your role in constructing it.

Discussion and conclusions

In this section you need to summarise your key findings and discuss possible connections between them. Refer
back to your research question(s). You should relate your own findings to those in any related published
studies outlined in your literature review. Where your findings differ you should offer a suggested explanation.
What light do they shed on the phenomenon under discussion? What new research questions are raised by
your study?

Make clear what the limitations of your own study are. What are the limitations of your 'sample'? To what
extent are your findings specific to a particular socio-cultural context? In what ways is your interpretation of
your findings related to your own theoretical assumptions (outlined earlier)? What insights into the
phenomenon does your study seem to offer? What could others learn from your study?

Discuss any broader implications in relation to your theoretical framework. This is important because many
people discuss 'implications' as if these were simply logical consequences and leave implicit the model within
which the findings might have such implications. Your theoretical model must be explicit. Undergraduates are
sometimes unwisely tempted into using the concluding section of their disertation in order to make general
pronouncements on the topic, often going well beyond the scope of their study. Conclusions must follow
coherently from the evidence; do not be tempted into speculation, prediction or moralising. Unless specifically
called for, personal opinions should not feature. If you must end with a quotation, make sure it is a very short
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one.

Presentational issues
Your work should look as professionally done as possible. Even if relatively few marks may be formally
devoted to presentational issues (this varies between departments and institutions), the 'halo effect' of reading a
well-presented dissertation can dispose markers positively towards your efforts. Most institutions do allow you
to submit your draft to a proof-reader to check for the adequacy of grammar, punctuation, spelling and so on
(but check with your own university for its policy on this issue). Far too many otherwise able students leave
proof-reading and other presentational issues to the very last minute, in which case they may expect to lose
marks. Since 'first impressions count', ensure that (at the very least) the first paragraph of each chapter is well-
written.

Readability

It is important to make your text easily 'navigable' for the reader, providing 'signposts' to help them to find
their way about. If you have been writing primarily to clarify your own thoughts (as many people do) then as
you get closer to presenting your writing to others you must switch your focus to the convenience of the
reader. It can help to ask a friend to comment on a late draft because it is not always easy for the writer to
spot the problems which readers may have. If you know who the reader(s) will be, then try to consider the
ways in which they are likely to react to the text. Can you anticipate any objections which they might have? If
so, then you need to revise your text to address these.

Your dissertation should tell a story in the sense that you should set the scene (and grab the readers
attention) at the start, then try to lead the reader as smoothly as possible from point to point, working up to
some genuine conclusions at the end. Not many of us can write like this at the first attempt, but a dissertation
can be gradually edited into this form. Check in particular that there are no sudden jumps from one point to
another.

Include a contents page (some universities have specific guidelines for the way in which this should be done).
Use subsections within each chapter (these can usually be included in the contents page). After the contents
page include a list of figures and a list of tables. It is customary to include an 'Acknowledgements' page: be
sure to record your thanks to all of those who have helped you. Most universities, faculties or departments
have a preferred order in which introductory sections should appear: check the conventions. Sometimes the
numbering of the introductory pages is in Roman numerals.

Check whether you are required to use a 'report style' format (with numbered sections, sub-sections and
paragraphs) or more continuous prose. Occasional lists of short items can help to break up the text: use plain
bullets for such lists unless there is a good reason to number them. Don't forget to number your pages! It
may also help to have 'running heads' which indicate which chapter each page belongs to.

You should double-space your text and use generous margins. Choose a font size of 12-13 points, and avoid
'san-serif' fonts (Arial, Helvetica etc.) since these are hard to read in large blocks of text; 'serif' fonts (such as
Times Roman) are more readable in bulk. Use italics only for occasional emphasis and for the titles of books,
journals, newspapers, television programmes etc. Check that you have included the author, date of publication
and page numbers immediately after quotations in the main body of the text and full references at the end. And
check that you have included your alphabetical list of references, in the preferred form, at the end.

If you include a long quotation (of four lines or more) you should indent it from the left-hand margin (in which
case you should drop the inverted commas). You should avoid using too many quotations, however: it may
give the impression that you have no ideas of your own and that you accept too uncritically what others have
said on the topic. If you are discussing, for instance, how people feel about something, direct quotations may
be appropriate in social science. But someone elses bald assertion is certainly not to be taken as adequate
evidence of the truth of what they are saying: just because the statement appears in print doesnt of itself make
it any more reliable than remarks in the pub! You should consider the adequacy of your source as evidence.
Normally, you should use a direct quotation only when the writer has put the point particularly well, and
generally a paraphrase is preferable. However, note that the source of any original ideas expressed in this way
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must still be given. The cardinal sin in academia is plagiarism, which we may define as the presentation as
ones own of ideas or phraseology knowingly derived from other writers. For students, there are very serious
penalties for this: it may be treated as an act of fraud. One may, of course, make use of the ideas of others,
since as one wit has observed, when you take stuff from one writer, its plagiarism; but when you take it from
many writers, its research! However, academic writing does require such borrowed ideas to be formally
acknowledged.

Illustrations

Your argument may be considerably strengthened by your inclusion of appropriate diagrams. Ask yourself
how you could usefully visualise some of the key concepts which you are exploring. If your topic is a visual
one (e.g. film, television, the internet) it is even more important to consider using carefully selected illustrations
(such as screenshots). These should never be purely decorative: they should be discussed in appropriate detail
in the text. Indeed, doing so is often a very productive way to anchor your argument in concrete details.
Consider where carefully thought-out diagrams or tables might help to make a point clearer. Note that for any
textual analysis, it is often both productive for the writer and helpful to the reader to place closely related
images side by side for comparison. Many students who feel that they have little to say when looking at one
image in isolation quickly realise that there is a lot to say about each image when they are displayed alongside
each other. A particularly powerful semiotic technique is the commutation test: imagine swapping over
particular features of each image (such as fonts, colours, postures) and consider how this affects the
interpretation of the image.

Table 1: British women's magazine readerships Figure 1: Front covers of British women's magazines,
Source: Derived from NRS data, June 2011 May 2012

Table 2: British men's magazine readerships Figure 2: Front covers of British men's magazines,
Source: Derived from NRS data, June 2011 May 2012

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Although full-page images (e,g, scans) may be placed in an Appendix, it is always better to have at least scaled-
down versions in the main body of your dissertation, as close as possible to where you discuss them. Cost-
conscious students may be tempted to reproduce such images in greyscale, but colour images are frequently
more effective, and of course where colour is being discussed, such images are essential.

Note that you should at the very least record sources and include full details of these in your text. Depending
on your topic it may also be useful to take some photographs with a stills camera. If you are lucky enough to
have access to a digital camera you can of course upload these into your document. The incorporation of
images which are already in print can best be accomplished by using a scanner (once again pasting the image
files into your text). If the text is to be published in any form it is of course essential to obtain copyright
permission for any images which you reproduce. For guidance on capturing stills from film or television, click
here.

Illustrations should be labelled as either Figures or Tables, and each should be numbered. This enables you to
refer to them directly ('see Figure 1'), avoiding the awkwardness of such formulations as 'see the illustration
reproduced below' (partly because when you are writing such texts the relative position of illustrations is
constantly shifting). Each should also have a short and appropriate descriptive caption. A list of Figures and a
list of Tables (including their captions and sources) should appear in the preliminary pages of your dissertation.

Reference format

Universities, faculties and departments differ in the referencing formats required. I recommend the Harvard
referencing system. Avoid footnotes and numbered references.

In-text references to sources should be at the end of sentences in this form: (Smith 1990: 25-9), omitting page
numbers when the reference is to on-line sources. Note the avoidance of 'page', 'p.' or 'pp.' here.

The list of references should appear at the end of the paper in alphabetical order as below.

References

Brown, Mac H, Patsy Skeen & D Keith Osborn (1979): Young Childrens Perception of the Reality of Television,
Contemporary Education 50(3): 129-33
Chandler, Daniel (1995): 'Children's Understanding of What is "Real" on Television: A Review of the Research Literature'
[WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/realrev.html [accessed DD/MM/YY]
Hodge, Bob & David Tripp (1986): Children and Television: A Semiotic Approach. Cambridge: Polity Press
Jaglom, Leona M. & Howard Gardner (1981): The Preschool Television Viewer as Anthropologist. In Hope Kelly &
Howard Gardner (Eds.): Viewing Children Through Television (New Directions for Child Development 13). San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 9-30

Note re. reference list:

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After the initial author, the names of co-authors need not be reversed
Link co-authors with an ampersand (&) rather than 'and'
Italicize et al.
Include the initials of the State in US references to place of publication
Use pp. only for chapters in books - not for journal page numbers
Include full names, where given, for authors
Always provide both volume number and part number for journal articles
Where more than one reference is to a chapter in an edited collection, list the collection as a separate
reference, ending the chapter reference with 'In [Editor(s)] [Date], op.cit., pp. [page-range]'

Structure and word counts

In the UK, undergraduate dissertations are usually around 10,000 words and doctoral theses usually around
100,000, with other kinds ranging between these limits. However, you need to check the relevant word counts
for your institution and the strictness with which these are enforced (e.g. plus or minus 15%). Reference lists
and appendices are not usually included in the word count.

Your institution may have guidelines regarding overall structure and the word counts for each section. Broadly,
you should normally devote at least half of your dissertation to the analysis and discussion of your findings,
though you need to examine carefully what proportion of marks your institution allows for different elements
in order to determine the relative time and attention you give to each part. Here is my own suggested
breakdown of word counts for typical dissertation lengths:

20000 100000
Suggested 10000 words
Section words words
Percentage Undergraduate
Master's Doctoral

[not [not
Prelims (e.g. Contents Page, Abstract, Acknowledgements) [not counted] [not counted]
counted] counted]

Chapter 1: Introduction and Rationale [Theoretical

5% 500 1000 5000
Framework]

Chapter 2: Literature Review 20% 2000 4000 20000

Chapter 3: Methodology 15% 1500 3000 15000

Chapter 4: Data Gathering and Analysis

[In larger dissertations, this section may constitute several 45% 4500 9000 45000
chapters]

Chapter 5: Discussion and conclusions 15% 1500 3000 15000

[not [not
Appendices [not counted] [not counted]
counted] counted]

[not [not
References [not counted] [not counted]
counted] counted]

Other Presentational Issues

Check to see what the current regulations are concerning whether and how the text should be bound. In the
absence of formal guidelines, these are common default options:

undergraduate dissertations: comb-bound or spiral-bound with protective plastic front cover and stiff card
back-cover;

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postgraduate dissertations: hardbound.

Note also how many copies are required (normally two).

Unless informed otherwise, you should include the following pages in the sequence shown.

The sources of any images must be listed: these can most conveniently be included in the List of Figures.
Blank consent forms or letters of permission (e.g. to take and include photographs) should appear as an
appendix; the the completed originals should be retained in case of any future query (it is best to submit these
in a sealed and labelled envelope to your supervisor). Other appendices are likely to be items that would be too
intrusive in the main body of the text, such as blank questionnaires, large tables, full-page scans and so on.
Where appropriate (e.g. where the dissertation involves the study of particular television commercials), a CD
including such materials may be included in a pocket inside the cover.

Universities require a signed declaration (after the Title Page) that what you are presenting as a dissertation is
your own work. The wording varies, so check with your institution. Here is a sample declaration...

Declaration

I have read and understood the University statement on plagiarism. This can be found online at:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/academicoffice/plagiarism.rtf

I declare that the attached dissertation is my own, original work undertaken in partial fulfilment
of my degree. I have made no use of sources, materials or assistance other than those which
have been openly and fully acknowledged in the text. If any part of another person's work has
been quoted, this either appears in inverted commas or (if beyond a few lines) is indented. Any
direct quotation or source of ideas has been identified in the text by author, date and page
number(s) immediately after such an item, and full details are provided in a reference list at the
end of the text.

I understand that any breach of the fair practice regulations may result in a mark of zero for this
dissertation and that it could also involve other repercussions. I understand also that too great a
reliance on the work of others may lead to a low mark.

[signed]

My own students may click here for a basic Word template for your dissertation.

Further reading

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Agar, Michael H. (1996) The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography. New
York: Academic Press
Altheide, David L. &and Christopher J. Schneider (2012) Qualitative Media Analysis. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage
Bell, Judith (2010) Doing Your Own Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education
and Social Science. Milton Keynes: Open University Press
Berg, Bruce L. & Howard Lune (2011) Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (2nd
Edn.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Berger, Arthur A. (1998) Media Research Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Burgess, Robert (1984) In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research. London: Allen & Unwin
Bryman, Alan (2012) Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Carr, Wilfred & Stephen Kemmis (1986) Becoming Critical: Knowing Through Action Research.
Victoria, NSW: Deakin University
Chandler, Daniel (2007) Semiotics: The Basics (2nd edn). London: Routledge
Chandler, Daniel & Rod Munday (2011) Dictionary of Media and Communication. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Corrigan, Timothy (2011) A Short Guide to Writing About Film (3rd Edn). London: Longman
Cramer, Duncan (1994) Introducing Statistics for Social Research: Step-by-Step Calculations and
Computer Techniques Using SPSS. London: Routledge
Gauntlett, David (1998) 'Ten Things Wrong with "The Effects Model"' [WWW document] URL
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/effects.htm
Gilbert, Nigel (Ed.) (2008) Researching Social Life. London: Sage
Glaser, Barbey G. & Anselm L Strauss (1999) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. New York: Aldine
Hammersley, Martyn & Paul Atkinson (2007) Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Routledge
Hart, Chris (1998) Doing a Literature Review. London: Sage
Hart, Chris (2001) Doing a Literature Search. London: Sage
Jacobs, Glenn (1970) The Participant Observer. New York: George Braziller
Jansen, Klaus Bruhn & Nicholas W Jankowski (1991) A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for
Mass Communication Research. London: Routledge
Levin, Jack & James A. Fox (2002) Elementary Statistics in Social Research (9th Edn.). New York:
Harper & Row
Lofland, John (2004) Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Marshall, Catherine & Gretchen B Rossman (1989) Designing Qualitative Research (3rd edn). Newbury
Park, CA: Sage
McCall, George J. & J. L. Simmons (1969) Issues in Participant Observation. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley
Oppenheim, A. N. (2000) Questionnaire Design and Attitude Measurement. London: Heinemann
Rudestam, Kjell Erik & Rae R. Newton (2007) Surviving Your Dissertation. London: Sage
Schwartz, Howard & Jerry Jacobs (1979) Qualitative Sociology: A Method to the Madness. New York:
Free Press
Silverman, David (1985) Qualitative Methodology and Sociology. Aldershot: Gower
Swetnam, Derek & Ruth Swetnam (2000) Writing Your Dissertation. London: How To Books
Walliman, Nicholas S R (2005) Your Research Project. London: Sage
Watson, George (1987) Writing a Thesis - A Guide to Long Essays and Dissertations. London: Longman
Wilkinson, David (Ed) (2000) Researcher's Toolkit. London: Routledge
Wimmer, Roger D & Joseph R Dominick (2010) Mass Media Research: An Introduction (3rd Edn.).
Boston, MA: Cengage

If you are, or have been, one of my students and would like me to write a reference for you, please read these
guidelines carefully.

Daniel Chandler
Aberystwyth University

Last modified: 03/05/2013 19:30:32

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