Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation – This post focuses on ten tips for your dissertation, and using them will help you in writing your own dissertation and to support you in its successful completion. The below ten tips cover the planning, analyzing and presentation stages of the dissertation project itself. Your dissertation is an exciting and fulfilling challenge and should not be seen as daunting in any way. Trust me, once you start writing you will not stop, and you will complete your first 10,000 words in no time.

Ten useful tips for writing your dissertation

1. Analyse the question, again and again, make sure you are answering the questions you have deployed in your dissertation research

2. Plan your dissertation – Planning your workload will help you get your dissertation done on time. Make a plan, be realistic and try stick to it

3. Keep sentences short and straightforward. By keeping your sentences concise but meaningful, you will lessen the chances of grammatical and punctuation errors

4. Take care with spelling, particularly subject specific words if you are not sure how to spell a word, check a dictionary

5. Only include one argument or point of information per paragraph, this will make your work easier to read, digest and understand

6. Do not include any new information in your conclusions, the conclusions of your work should draw only upon what has already been written in your dissertation. If there is new information to be presented, it should be included in the main body of your dissertation

7. Ensure all information is correctly referenced. Any ideas you have taken from others, whether quoted directly, paraphrased or summarized, must be referenced

8. Keep it Interesting and Relevant – To try to keep the reader engaged and to make them read on

9. Check your dissertation brief for any specific format requirements – if specific format requirements have been set, i.e. for line-spacing or font, then you must adhere to them. Have this clarified by your dissertation supervisor. You do not want a lesser grade due to an oversight with the formatting

10. Proofread your work – Proofreading is such an important step, get a colleague or family member to proof read your dissertation and listen to any constructive feedback

Writing a dissertation is an enjoyable challenge!

My final piece of advice on the this topic is to keep the dissertation milestones at the forefront of your thoughts. Always keep track of the project duration and never exceed the deadline. Arranging regular meetings with your dissertation supervisor are a must to help keep you on track should you find yourself going off track.

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation
Ten Tips For Your Dissertation

Dissertations or theses are typically required of graduate students. Once completed, the dissertation or thesis is often submitted (with modifications) as a manuscript for publication in a scholarly journal.

Thus, the dissertation or thesis often provides the foundation for a new researcher’s body of published work. Writers will first want to determine whether the work in their dissertation or thesis merits publication. If it does, we then provide guidance on how to adapt a dissertation or thesis for submission to a journal.

Deciding To Submit a Dissertation or Thesis for Publication

When deciding to publish the work in a dissertation or thesis, it is important to consider whether the findings tell a compelling story or answer important questions. Whereas dissertations and theses may present existing knowledge in conjunction with new work, published research should make a novel contribution to the literature.

For example, some of your original research questions might be suitable for publication, and others may have been sufficiently addressed in the literature already. Likewise, some of your results may warrant additional analyses that could help answer the research questions more fully, and you may want to conduct these analyses before seeking publication.

You may also want to consider such factors as whether the current sample size provides sufficient power to adequately inform the analyses and whether additional analyses might clarify ambiguous findings. Consultation with colleagues can help evaluate the potential of the manuscript for publication as well as the selection of an appropriate journal to which to submit it.

Ten Tips For Your Dissertation – Adapting A Dissertation or Thesis for Publication

Once a decision is made to convert your dissertation or thesis into a manuscript for submission to a journal, you will want to focus attention on adapting it for publication. By attending to brevity and focus, writing style, relevant literature review and data analyses, and appropriate interpretation of the results or findings, you can enhance the fit of your manuscript for journal publication.

Editors and reviewers readily recognize an article that has been hastily converted; careful attention when reformatting the dissertation or thesis is likely to increase the manuscript’s potential for serious consideration and eventual publication. There are several steps writers seeking to prepare their dissertation or thesis for publication can take beforehand:

1 – Look at articles in the field and in relevant journals to see what structure and focus are appropriate for their work and how they are formatted.

2 – Request and consider the input of advisors, colleagues, or other coauthors who contributed to the research on which the dissertation or thesis is based.

The original research reported in a dissertation and thesis can then be reformatted for journal submission following one of two general strategies: the multiple-paper strategy or the conversion strategy

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Avoiding Plagiarism

Dissertation About Us

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Avoiding Plagiarism

Avoiding Plagiarism

A brief guide on avoiding plagiarism for students – It is vitally important to understand that a good dissertation involves the evaluation, synthesis and analysis of the work of others and that this is presented in a way that a reader can refer to the original sources. There is no doubt that you would have used existing academic matter in your dissertation to aid your literature review, analysis and findings sections.

With the dissertation you will have to adopt the correct referencing or citation in order to avoid plagiarism. “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense” (http://www.plagiarism.org)

Who cares if I plagiarize?… You should!

If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source. Also, if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.

There are fundamental reasons why you should not plagiarize:

Plagiarism is simply stealing: stealing other people’s work, words and ideas. It is morally no better than stealing a car, or anything else. If someone stole your words and ideas, think how you’d feel.

Plagiarism represents information illiteracy. What does that mean? It means if you have to plagiarize, clearly, you are incapable of researching and assimilating your own thoughts and ideas. You are effectively illiterate when it comes to handling information. What you should be aiming for instead is information literacy.

Information Literacy is: “is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner“. (Source: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)

Most common forms of plagiarism

  1. Copy directly from another source without presenting it as a quote or providing a reference
  2. Use ideas from another source without providing a reference
  3. Use too many words from another source when paraphrasing
  4. Submit someone else’s work or ideas as your own
  5. Include a diagram, image or data table from another source without providing a reference

How can you avoid plagiarism?
In many cases, students who find themselves accused of plagiarizing often have done so unintentionally. Poor organisation and time management, as well as a failure to understand good academic practice, are often to blame. You might therefore find it helpful to note the following points:

  • Manage your time and plan your work – ensure that you have enough time to prepare, read and write
  • When paraphrasing an author’s text, ensure that you use your own words and a sentence structure sufficiently different from the original text
  • In your notes, highlight in colour/bold any direct quotations you want to use in your assignment – this will help to ensure you use quotation marks with an appropriate reference when you are writing up your work
  • Allow enough time to check your final draft for possible referencing errors or omissions: for example, check that all your in-text citations have a corresponding entry in your reference list, and vice versa
  • Save all your notes, files, printouts and so on until you receive your final mark or grade. (Source: http://www.palgrave.com)

Avoiding plagiarism and quotations

Plagiarism is fraudulent stealing and may lead to serious consequences like imprisonment in the when exercised (Hu et al., 2015). Plagiarism can put human lives at risk and wide spread of illness in medical research field. The world today would not be where it is if plagiarism was not declared illegality hence giving room for new evolution of innovations like the new technology. Plagiarism destroys our industry reputation in our various professions areas.

It is important to keep accurate sources of your own work, in order to be properly to attribute the exact words ideas you draw from them. Make sure to record the exact page numbers if you dealing with a quotation. Paraphrasing is another way of avoiding plagiarism, as there is nothing wrong by summarizing other peoples work as long as you attribute the ideas to them.

Quotation is away to which guidance from various departments in the institutions are given. (Batane et al., 2010). Any direct inline quotations (that is quotations inserted in sentence) of someone else’s words must be put into quotation marks and attributed to their original author.

References

Batane, T., 2010. Turning to Turnitin to fight plagiarism among university students. Journal of Educational Technology & Society13(2), p.1.

Hu, Guangwei, and Jun Lei. “Chinese university students’ perceptions of plagiarism.” Ethics & Behavior 25.3 (2015): 233-255.

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Reliability and Validity Academic Research

Reliability and Validity

Inter-rater reliability

Reliability and Validity in Research – This is a statistical concept in the field of research whereby a particular phenomenon is being evaluated or rated by various raters. It is, therefore, the extent or degree to which there is an agreement in the rating scores amongst the multiple raters, which brings about homogeneity and unanimity amongst these raters. To measure inter-rater reliability, it entails taking the total number of ratings in a particular judgment conducted, as well as the counting the accumulative ratings are done in the rating exercise. The total number of agreements is then divided by the total number of ratings and converted into a percentage to give the inter-rater reliability. McHugh (2012) provides a good example of how inter-rater reliability is calculated by reviewing the various methods that have been stipulated by scholars previously.

Test-retest reliability

This is also another reliability aspect. Test-retest reliability is the extent or degree to which results obtained from a particular test (which is similar) and consistent over time. In test-retest reliability, a similar test is administered to the same people in two or more instances and then the results are evaluated. To measure the test-retest reliability, there are two primary formulas applied. The first formula, which is better applied in instances where two tests were conducted in the Pearson Correlation formula that tests how well two sets of data correlate.

The other method is intraclass correlation formula that is applicable where more than two tests were administered. These formulas help calculate the test-retest coefficients that range between 0 and 1. In his article on validity and reliability in social science research, Drost (2011) provides the various reliability and validity aspects and gives detailed examples of the test-retest reliability measurement.

Face validity

Face validity, which is also referred to as the logical validity, entails the extent or degree to which an evaluation or investigation intuitively seems to quantify or measure the variable or rather the theory that it is objectively meant to measure. This, therefore, means that face validity is when a specific evaluation or assessment tool does what it is meant to do to provide results. To measure face validity, one can engage in the assessment of the concepts or ideas to be measured against the theoretical and practical applications.

Predictive validity

This is the measure of how accurate or effective a given value from a research study is and can be used in the future or rather to predict future patterns in the field studied. In their research on the predictive validity of public examinations (Obioma & Salau, 2007) use the predictive validity aspect to predict how the performance of students in public examinations will affect their future academic performances in the university and college level.

Concurrent reliability and validity

This entails the degree to which current test results relate to results from a previous test. For instance, if in the measurement of an individual’s IQ test are taken at two varied intervals, concurrent validity is measured through comparing on how closely similar are these results from the two tests. A good example of research that has employed the use of concurrent validity is the research done by (Tamanini et al., 2004) on the Portuguese king’s health test performed on women after stress. The researchers indicate how this test is applied and measured by using it as their primary test in their research.

Addressing the issues of reliability and validity

On most qualitative researchers, the nature of the data is more important to the researcher than the other descriptive elements of the research. This, however, does not rule out the need for conciseness in the descriptive sections. Reliability in research entails the concerns the stability, consistency of the data as well as homogeneous repeatability of the results if several tests are done (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber 2014). On the other hand, validity entails the accuracy and integrity of the data or results collected from the various tests that a researcher performs. Various researchers address these issues of validity and reliability in different ways, based on the purpose and the kind of research they carry out.

The authors, Obioma & Salau, (2007), go down to research on the effects of public examinations on the future academic performance of students. The focus here, therefore, is more on the data validation to ensure that their conclusions, as well as the outcomes of the results, have the required accuracy and integrity to validate their arguments. The two authors and researchers have applied the aspects of predictive and concurrent validity in their research. In regards to the use of predictive validity, this is where their research question is based on.

Reliability and Validity Research
Reliability and Validity in Research

They have made sure that the data or the arguments that they bring forth as substantially valid and convincing to attain the objective of predicting the future academic performances of the children who undertake the public examinations that are governed by the various bodies in the country. They have however not applied any reliability aspects in their research. At least not anyone that can be easily identified.

In the book by Drost, he has touched on both aspects; validity and reliability. In this book, he has not presented it in a research form but rather brought it out to the readers in the form of a review of both aspects of research, but on the dimension of social sciences. For instance, she has covered the various instances of both validity and reliability, by providing real-life examples and the various methods that can be used to measure the respective instances of both aspects. She approaches the concepts of validity and reliability from a general perspective whereby she accounts for the reasons as to why researchers, especially in education and social sciences, should adopt a culture of ensuring validity and reliability in their results. He explains the various instances of reliability and provides formulas and tools that can be effectively applied to measure these instances. She also provides the various elements that can impact the level of validity and reliability of data or results in research.

In conclusion, the concepts of validity and reliability are important in research. The researcher from various fields should adopt a culture of achieving these concepts in the results they obtain during their research. As Drost argues it, strong support for the validity and the reliability of research not only makes the research highly validated or otherwise believed in but also limits the possible critiques that the research may face. It fills the gaps that may be identifiable in the research. A researcher should be able to understand the various instances of both reliability and validity as well as know when it is appropriate to apply what instance in the research.

References

McHugh, M. L. (2012). Interrater reliability: the kappa statistic. Biochemia Medica, 22(3), 276-282.

Drost, E. A. (2011). Validity and reliability of social science research. Education Research and perspectives, 38(1), 105.

Obioma, G., & Salau, M. (2007). The predictive validity of public examinations: A case study of Nigeria. Nigerian Educational Research & Development Council (NERDC) Abuja.

Tamanini, J. T., Dambros, M., D’ancona, C. A., Palma, P. C., Botega, N. J., Rios, L. A., & Netto Jr, N. R. (2004). Concurrent validity, internal consistency and responsiveness of the Portuguese version of the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) in women after stress urinary incontinence surgery. International Braz j Urol, 30(6), 479-486.

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2014). Reliability and validity. G. LoBiondo-Wood & J. Haber. Nursing research. Methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice, 289-309.

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Management Dissertation Topics

Outstanding Management Dissertation Topics

Title: Outstanding Management Dissertation Topics. Many management students studying at university often ask me what constitutes towards a quality management dissertation topic. There are many factors that contribute towards an outstanding management dissertation but it is always advantageous to examine important factors that underpin a dissertation. Firstly, a management dissertation provides the opportunity to research a particular business management topic that is relevant to your studies. Therefore, it is essential to base your management dissertation topic in this field of study. Your business management dissertation involves writing a significant piece of research, and provides hands-on experience in research design, data collection and data analysis all of which will be summarized in a concise conclusion section.

There are two common research approaches you will need to explore when starting your management dissertation. You may wish to undertake a quantitative study that may involve statistical analysis of survey data. You may opt for a qualitative study involving interviews and observation in organisations. Ultimately, you will naturally develop an enhanced understanding of management theory. When you undertake your management dissertation topic you will examine literature in order to identify potential research gaps, evaluate and reflect upon existing research. You will have the opportunity to critique management theory if deemed appropriate. Try to engage your dissertation supervisor and audience by clearly defining the vision, mission, aims and objectives of your management dissertation topic from the outset.

Management Dissertation Ideas

How will you kick start your management dissertation topic? I recommend that you examine previous research you have conducted in this field. Are you specialized in any business management theory? If so, look at expanding on this and incorporating it into your management dissertation topic. You will feel confident and more assured writing a dissertation in an area of research you are familiar with. I have a profound interest in entrepreneurship and submitted a handful of projects and an undergraduate dissertation in this field. When I began my MBA degree, I knew straightaway that I would expand on my knowledge of entrepreneurship and I am likely to submit my MBA management dissertation topic in this field. I must add that it was fulfilling when building upon my existing knowledge and it proved less stressful.

Business Management Dissertation Topics
Business Management Dissertation Topics

Furthermore, you will need to give an explanation of why you chose this particular management dissertation topic? You will need to expand on 2 – 3 research questions within your chosen management dissertation topic. A brief synopsis of approximately 300 words describing your field of study is advisable. It is recommended to include key literature resources used in the dissertation abstract or synopsis section of your management dissertation. Discuss the sample size disposition and a brief explanation of the methodology framework for collecting the data in your management dissertation. These important factors need to be discussed at the beginning of your research and need to be highlighted in your management dissertation topic.

Writing the Perfect Management Dissertation

What will you gain from writing an engaging management dissertation topic? There is no doubt that you will enhance your writing and analytical skills. You will become more critical (within reason) of existing literature and research. You will not take everything you read and hear at face value, you will start to challenge existing knowledge within the business management field and you will become more commercially aware.

It is safe to say that once you have completed your management dissertation topic you will appreciate the range of methodologies in management research. You will demonstrate the ability of identifying, analyzing and integrating an existing body of literature into your management dissertation topic. You will be able to set out the principles of designing a viable research study and apply these in formulating a research study to investigate a management issue. Ultimately, you will demonstrate the ability of writing a quality management dissertation within demanding time constraints.

Sample Business Management Dissertations

Choosing the best management dissertation topic from the outset is important but sometimes a student can experience a writing block or loss of enthusiasm, there are many factors that can cause this. It happens to many writers. It is inevitable and many academic writers struggle with writer’s block at some point. Below is a list of sample management dissertation topics that will inspire you to write your own management dissertation. The sample management dissertations below are supplied as a reference guide and should not be plagiarized. You should not fall into the trap of plagiarism – always refer to your university’s guide on referencing material, I cannot stress this enough. Be mindful that you will fail your degree if you plagiarize material. The management dissertation topics below have been submitted by undergraduate and postgraduate business management students.

Management Dissertation Topics

MBA Dissertation Investigation into Management Control Strategy

Change Management Within The Retail Banking Sector

Is Culture Management A Symbol Of Management Progression Or Merely Another Form Of Management Control? A Case Study Of Retail Bank ‘X’ Versus Investment Bank ‘Y’

A Review into Project Theoretical Concepts and Models in Regards to the Management of Change and Conflict

An Analysis into the Extent of Financial Leverage within the UK Food and Drink Industry – Identifying Potential Communication Problems between Senior Management and Investors

What is the Impact of Innovation and Technology Usage on Business Management?

Whether you choose to write your management dissertation on the topics above or if you developed your own management dissertation topic, you need to ensure that you write your research on something you are interested in and knowledgeable on – do not conduct research in a field you have no genuine interest in. As previously mentioned you can reduce a lot of pressure on yourself when writing research on a field of management you are comfortable and familiar with.

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Best University Dissertation Examples

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Sample Dissertations University Students

The Benefits of Buying Sample Dissertations

Title: The Benefits of Buying Sample Dissertations. During times of uncertainty during your studies, it is becoming more commonplace for university students to look at options to help them with their studies. The first port of call is often the internet, searching for material that would help in certain areas of study. Another method students undertake is to look at existing material that has been submitted in their own area of study.

This is something I did throughout my time spent in education but you have to be smart enough not to plagiarism any material. I often looked at assignment and dissertations that have been submitted into universities across the world. I refer to this as looking at sample dissertations. There are many sites that offer existing dissertations for students to reference but there are times when this material is outdated or unfit. Many university libraries grant access to dissertation repositories but not all are that great.

This is where students start to search for sample dissertation on offer from online suppliers or document sharing sites. In fact, these sample dissertation providers do more than you might think such as supporting students with their studies while providing on topic sample dissertations relevant to their subject.

Sample-Dissertations-University
Sample-Dissertations-University

Why Buy A Sample Dissertation?

How exactly do buying sample dissertations help university students, though? What are some of the reasons why students should look at buying such a product? These are some common questions among university students who contemplate buying sample dissertations online. We have outlined some reasons why students should look at obtaining online reference material including prewritten assignments, existing research offered by university libraries and online sample dissertations.

Buying sample dissertations in your chosen subject area can be more helpful than material on offer at your university or college library. You will be surprised by the number of university students who have submitted a thesis or dissertation along the same lines as your dissertation topic or title. I found many dissertations written in my subject field along with references that I had not encountered before. This is a very good reason why to look into sample dissertation during your studies.

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Don’t forget to check www.study-aids.co.uk for the latest collection of sample dissertations for university students

Many students who have obtained prewritten academic material often say that it has helped them to understand how to structure their own dissertation.  Many students write their own dissertation based on the research of other students and academic professionals. Sometimes it can be prove more valuable that sitting with a dissertation supervisor or steering group.

Another reason of buying sample dissertations is that you get to learn from university students who actually passed. You’re not asking anyone to write a dissertation for you – this is wrong. If I can write a dissertation from start to finish in just under one week so can you.  Sample dissertation helped me do this and achieve a high grade. Asking someone to write you material leaves you at a huge disadvantage.

Purchasing a prewritten sample dissertation is a proven way to gain valuable help with your writing skills and can be a great tool for improving learning. However, you should never buy a sample dissertation to submit as your own work as you will fail your degree without a shadow of a doubt.

Buying Sample Dissertations Can Save Time, Energy And Money

Buying sample dissertation online not only saves your time and energy but also money as you are not paying someone to write a thesis or dissertation for you. Online dissertation services such as www.study-aids.co.uk provide a great service and vast collection of sample dissertations for you to asses and sensibly use during your studies.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using the work of another person without giving the originator credit. There are different kinds of plagiarism; accidental plagiarism is a situation when you are not sure when to cite, summarize what a common knowledge is ending up renewing an old information, deliberate plagiarism; is copying the exact content of another person they way it is without making any changes. This is something that you need to consider when using sample dissertations and the work of others.

It is important to keep accurate sources of your own work, in order to be properly to attribute the exact words ideas you draw from them. When using sample dissertations be sure to record the exact page numbers if you dealing with a quotation. Paraphrasing is another way of avoiding plagiarism, as there is nothing wrong by summarizing other peoples work as long as you attribute the ideas to them. Quotation is away to which guidance from various departments in the institutions are given. Any direct inline quotations (that is quotations inserted in sentence) of someone else’s words must be put into quotation marks and attributed to their original author.

It is advisable to use a more strategic approach to dissertation writing. Always include full citation details for your sources and ensure that you note down the page number of each argument or quote you select. Stay on topic and to the main points, and summarise arguments in your own words as this helps you to understand them. Try not to approach any dissertation as a third person.

Sample Dissertations Features and Aspects

Features of sample dissertations, final year projects and extended reports can cover the following:

  • It is undertaken in your final year of undergraduate study, or in postgraduate education
  • It is linked to both current theory and practice
  • University students have more choice as to the dissertation topic and methodology, and will decide on the aims and objectives of the study at hand
  • Students will be required to undertake more independent research into subjects which may not have been taught or may have been covered in a range of modules throughout your program of university or college study
  • The dissertation word count is usually much higher than for a standard report
  • Your dissertation requires a Project Proposal in order to gain approval for your key concepts before you start.

There is no doubt using sample dissertations will help develop your report writing skills. Quality sample dissertations should always contain sections including introduction, research methodology, results and conclusions research investigation undertaken – do try to avoid any sample dissertation that does not include all sections commonly found in a thesis or dissertation.

Referring to the work of others will enable your supervisor to assess the way you have approached your investigation, collected your data and evaluated your results in your own research. Dissertations demonstrate skills in: planning, organizing, researching, problem solving and time management as well as oral and written communication skills. They also demonstrate in-depth subject knowledge.  We hope you have a better understanding of the benefits of sample dissertations and how they can assist students in their studies.

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