Researching and Writing a Dissertation for Business

Students




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WRITING AND PRESENTING YOUR THESIS
Živitere, M. & Živitere, A. L
• Write in such a way that you can reflect on all you have learned
while conducting the research.

• Adopt an appropriate format, structure and style for your

dissertation/ thesis.

• Ensure that your dissertation/ thesis meets the necessary

assessment criteria.

• Plan and design an oral presentation of your report.

 WRITING
Set goals and achieve them. Usually this is a set number of words (set sub-goals
during the day)
Generate a plan. For example, use the ‘clustering’ method (Veroff 2007, Rudestam and
Newton 2015: 266):
• Write the main topic in the middle of a sheet of paper.
• Jot down the other ideas that occur to you at other points on the page.
• As the page begins to fill, relationships between the ideas suggest themselves
and lines between the ideas may be drawn.
• This allows you to group the ideas into discrete but related ‘chunks’, which
enables you to devise an outline structure for a section, or chapter.
Finish a writing session on a high point and provide a link to a new session. The
worst thing you can do is to leave a complex section half completed. It will be difficult
to pick up the threads.
The importance of checking. Get friends to read your work: the importance of getting
someone else to read through your material cannot be over-emphasised. Your project
tutor should not be the first person who reads your report, even in its draft form.
Veroff, J. (2007) ‘Writing’, in K. Rudestam and R. Newton. R. (eds), Surviving your Dissertation (3rd edn). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 227-248.
Rudestam, K. E., & Newton, R. (2015). Surviving your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process (4th edn). Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.
 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: SUGGESTED STRUCTURE :
1. Abstract;
2. Introduction;
3. Literature review;
4. Method;
5. Findings;
6. Discussion;
7. Conclusions;
8. References;
9. Appendices.

These general sections can be sub-divided into one or more relevant chapters depending
on the topic and the way in which you want to present your particular storyline.
Your structure should have a logical flow.
 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: Abstract
The abstract is a short summary of the complete content of the
project report/dissertation.
It should contain four short paragraphs with the answers to the
following questions:
1. What were my research questions, and why were these
important?
2. How did I go about answering the research questions?
3. What did I find out in response to my research questions?
4. What conclusions do I draw regarding my research questions?

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 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: Abstract
Five principles for the writing of a good abstract:
1. It should be short (often 300–500 words).
2. It must be self-contained.
3. It must satisfy your reader’s needs. Your reader must be told
about the problem, or central issue, that the research
addressed and the method adopted to pursue the issue. It
must also contain a brief statement of the main results and
conclusions.
4. It must convey the same emphasis as the project report, with
the consequence that the reader should get an accurate
impression of the report’s contents from the abstract.
5. It should be objective, precise and easy to read.

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Introductory Chapter
The introduction should give the reader a clear idea about the central
issue of concern in your research and why you thought that this was
worth studying.
It should also include a full statement of your research question(s) and
research objectives.
If your research is based in an organisation, include in this chapter
some details of the organisation, such as its history, size, products
and services. This may be a general background to the more specific
detail on the research setting you include in the method chapter.
It is also important to include in this chapter a ‘route map’ to guide the
reader through the rest of the report. This will give brief details of the
content of each chapter and present an overview of how your
storyline unfolds.

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 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Literature Review
The main purposes of your literature review are to set your study within
its wider context and to show the reader how your study supplements
the work that has already been done on your topic.
The literature review, therefore, may inform directly your research
questions and any specific hypotheses that your research is designed to
test. These hypotheses will also suggest a particular research approach,
strategy and data collection techniques.
If you are working inductively your literature review may serve the purpose
of illuminating and enriching your conclusions.
The title of your literature review chapter should reflect the content of the
chapter. Do not call it simply ‘literature review’.
It may be that your literature is reviewed in more than one chapter. This
would be the case, for example, where you were using more than one
body of literature in your research.
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 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Method Chapter
Setting
1. What was the research
setting?
2. Why did you choose that
particular setting?
3. What ethical issues were
raised by the study, and
how were these addressed? 
 1. What were the characteristics of the
Participants
1. How many?
2. How were they selected?
3. What were their
characteristics?
4. How were refusals/non-
returns handled?
Materials
1. What tests/scales/interview or observation
schedules/questionnaires were used?
2. How were purpose-made instruments
developed?
3. How were the resulting data analysed? 

Procedures
interviewers and observers, and how were
they trained?
2. How valid and reliable do you think the
procedures were?
3. In what context were the data collected?
4. What instructions were given to participants?
5. How many interviews/observations/
questionnaires were there; how long did they
last; where did they take place?
6. When was the research carried out?
STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Findings Chapter(s)
It may well be that your report will contain more than one findings
(sometimes called ‘results’) chapter. The question you should ask
yourself is: ‘Is more than one results chapter necessary to communicate
my findings clearly?’
It is your opportunity to report the facts that your research discovered.
This is where you will include such tables and graphs that will illustrate
your findings (do not put these in the appendices).
The chapter may also contain verbatim quotes from interviewees (slang
and swear words are often the most revealing, and provide amusement
for the reader!), or sections of narrative account that illustrate periods of
unstructured observation. This is a particularly powerful way in which
you can convey the richness of your data. It is the qualitative equivalent
of tables and graphs.

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Findings Chapter(s)
When writing your findings present facts.
The difference between findings and the conclusions drawn from findings:
‘What I found out’ ‘What judgements I have formed as a
result of what I found out’
e.g. 66 per cent of respondents indicated e.g. it appears that electronic forms of
they preferred to receive email messages communication are preferred to traditional
rather than paper memos

The first list is entirely factual and therefore the content of your findings
chapter.
The second list will be your judgements based on what you found out and
therefore the content of your conclusions section.

Source: Saunders et al. 2012: 605.

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Findings Chapter(s)
Drawing up a table will lead you to a consideration of the way in which you
present your findings. The purpose of your project report is to communicate
the answer to your research question to your audience in as clear a manner
as possible.
1. One of the simplest way is to return to the research objectives and let
these dictate the order in which you present your findings.
2. Alternatively, you may prefer to report your findings thematically. You
could present the themes in descending order of importance.
Whichever method you choose should be obvious to the reader.
As with the literature review, the chapter(s) devoted to research should be
titled in an interesting way that reflects the content of findings.

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Discussion Chapter
The main focus of the discussion chapter is on the interpretation of the
results that you presented in the previous chapter.
You should state the relation of the findings to the goals, questions and
hypotheses that you stated in the introductory chapter.
In addition, the discussion chapter will benefit from a consideration of the
implications of your research for the relevant theories which you detailed in
your literature review.
It is usual to discuss the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of your study.
However, it is not a good idea to be too modest here.
The discussion chapter is the second major opportunity in the research
process to demonstrate real originality of thought (the first time being at the
stage where you choose the research topic).

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Conclusion Chapter
This should be a conclusion to the whole project (and not just the research
findings).
Check that your work answers the questions:
1. Did the research project meet your research objectives?
2. Did the research project meet your aim or answer your research question(s)?
3. What are the main findings of the research?
4. Are there any recommendations for future action based on the conclusions
you have drawn?
5. Do you have any overall conclusions on the research process itself?
6. Where should further research be focused? (Typically this will consider two
points: firstly, new areas of investigation implied by developments in your
project, and secondly parts of your work which were not completed due to
time constraints and/or problems encountered.)

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STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: The Conclusion Chapter
Using a matrix in the planning of the content for the results and conclusions chapters:
Research questions Results (what factual Conclusions (what
information did I discover in judgements can I make about
relation to the specific the results in relation to the
research questions?) specific research questions?)

Source: Saunders et al. 2012: 607.

An alternative approach to the matrix is to draw a ‘mind map’, which places the findings
randomly on a blank page and links conclusions to these findings by way of lines and
arrows.
Answering the research question(s), meeting the objectives and, if appropriate, supporting
or otherwise the research hypotheses is the main purpose of the conclusions chapter.
You should also return to your literature review and ask yourself ‘What do my conclusions
add to the understanding of the topic displayed in the literature?’
It may be that there are practical implications of your findings. Even if you do not specify
any practical implications of your research you may comment in the conclusions chapter
on what your research implies for any future research.
 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: References
A range of conventions are used to reference the material of other writers’ material that
you have cited in your text:
• the Harvard system;
• the footnotes system;
• the American Psychological Association (APA) system;
• a variation of these systems.

Start your references section at the beginning of the writing process and add to it as you
go along.
At the start of your report you must acknowledge all those who have contributed to your
research (including your project tutor!).
In addition, you should ensure that you have cited in your reference section all those
sources to which you have referred in the text.
In order to avoid charges of plagiarism you should ensure that all data and material taken
verbatim from another person’s published or unpublished written or electronic work is
explicitly identified and referenced to its author.
• This also extends to work which is referred to in the written work of others. Even if
this work is not quoted verbatim, the originator should be cited in your references.
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 STRUCTURING YOUR DISSERTATION: Appendices
In general, appendices should be kept to the minimum.
If they are so important that your reader’s understanding of the points
you are making in the text makes their inclusion in the report
necessary, then they should be in the main body of the text. Your
project report will stand or fall on the quality of the main text.
Your appendices should include a blank copy of your
• questionnaire,
• interview or
• observation schedule.
Where these have been conducted in a language different from that in
which you write your submitted project report you will need to submit
both this version and the translation.

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 ORGANISING THE PROJECT REPORT’S CONTENT
Choosing a title. A good title is one that has the minimum possible number of words that describe
accurately the content of the paper.
Tell a clear story. Your storyline (your central argument or thesis) should be clear, simple and
straightforward.
‘REASONING BACKWARDS’ is a useful check to see not only whether your storyline is clear but also
that it stands up to logical analysis.
An example: a report that ends in clear recommendations for action.
1. Start by explaining your recommendations to the manager who, for example, may have to spend
money on their implementation.
2. This invites the question from that manager: ‘What makes you recommend this action?’ Your
answer should be: ‘I came to the conclusion in my report that they are necessary.’
3. The follow-up question from the manager here could be: ‘On what basis do you draw these
conclusions?’ Here your answer is, of course, on the findings that you established.
4. The next question asked by the manager is: ‘How did you arrive at these findings?’ in response to
which you explain your method.
5. The manager may counter by asking you why she should take any notice of your findings. The
response to this is that you took care to design a research strategy that would lead to valid and
reliable findings. Moreover, that research strategy is based on clear research objectives and a
detailed review of the relevant literature.

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 ORGANISING THE PROJECT REPORT’S CONTENT
Helping the reader to get all the information out by
• Dividing your work;
• Previewing and summarising chapters;
• Tables and graphics.
Writing two reports:
• The academic report (dissertation/ thesis)
• The consultancy reports — Reports for the management of the employing
organisation, or a non-employing organisation both of whom who will be interested
in the practical benefit that the report promises.
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 THE CONSULTANCY REPORTS
1. Executive summary
2. Introduction
3. Results
4. Conclusions
5. Recommendations

The executive summary is likely to be the part of the report on which

managers will concentrate. It is important that it can stand alone and
that it contains real information, including hard facts and figures. If
your report includes recommendations, the executive summary should
make it clear what these are and include their implications, values and
costs. As with the abstract, the executive summary should be short (no
more than two pages) and designed to get your main message across.

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 DEVELOPING AN APPROPRIATE WRITING STYLE
Writing a thesis, not just a dissertation:
• Constructing and maintaining a thesis (a thesis is a proposition that a
person offers to maintain, or does maintain, by argument);
• Constructing arguments
• Supporting your arguments

Style guide
• Dissertation, report and paper specifications
• Style hints (clarity and simplicity etc.)
• Guidelines for non-discriminatory language
• Guidelines for gender
• Guidelines for ethnicity
• Guidelines for disability

Meeting the assessment criteria

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 ORAL PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT
• Planning and preparing
• Using visual aids
• Presenting

Objectives for a presentation!

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• Describe the purpose of the research
project.
• Explain the context in which the research
was set.
• Identify the research strategy adopted and
the reasons for its choice.
• List the main findings, conclusions and
recommendations flowing from the research.

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