Thesis Structure
A good starting point when deciding upon structure is to read previous high quality theses.
Generic Thesis Structure
Introduction /Background/Context/Review of literature
- The subject of the research is important because…
- Those who have worked on this subject include…
- What has not yet been done is…
- The research project aimed to…
Theory/Approach/ Method /Materials/Subjects
- This study was based on the approach of…
- This approach was chosen because…
- It was likely to achieve the project aims by…
- Others have used this method to…
Analysis/Results
- The steps in the research involved…
- Analyses were conducted by…
- Data/information/observations were gathered as…
- These were organized into…
Interpretation/ Discussion
- Analyses suggested that…
- This interpretation was based on…
- Taken together the analyses show…
- Research aims were achieved to the extent that…
Conclusions /Implications/ Recommendations
- Further research is needed in order to…
- More information is needed on…
- Practice could be improved by…
- Proposed changes would be feasible if…
From Murray, R. (2002) How to write a thesis, pp. 215-216. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Paltridge's Four Thesis Types
Brian Paltridge indentified four common structures for theses in his paper Thesis and dissertation writing: an examination of published advice and actual practice, Volume 21, Issue 2 , 2002, Pages 125-143 (doi:10.1016/S0889-4906(00)00025-9).
Traditional Simple (6/15)
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Topic Based (4/15)
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Traditional Complex (4/15)
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Compilation Based (1/15)
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