Writing An Undergraduate Dissertation: A Complete Guide On Word Count, Structure And Formatting Requirements

Dissertation Guide

An undergraduate dissertation or a bachelor’s dissertation is an important and extended piece of research on a single topic. Usually, a student is asked to write a dissertation during the final year of his degree. The student is free to select his dissertation topic according to his interest. After selecting a topic to write a dissertation, it is required to explore it in-depth. While writing an undergraduate dissertation, it is also necessary for a student to work with an advisor. Therefore, while creating a monument of an undergraduate dissertation, it is also an unavoidable thing for the students to get fulfil the requirements and guidelines of the advisor. If a student is not able to write an undergraduate dissertation, then he/she can get help from dissertation writing services. A complete guide about the word count, structure and formatting requirements of an undergraduate dissertation is given below;

Guide On Word Count

When you are asked to write a dissertation, then some guidelines to write a dissertation are also provided. In these guidelines, there comes the word count of a dissertation. Therefore, the first tip to get an idea about the word count of a dissertation is to read out the requirements and guidelines of your advisor. Mostly, the word count for an undergraduate dissertation is between 10,000 words to 15,000 words. Anyhow, there are also some advisors who can demand more than 15,000 words of dissertation. After getting an idea about the word count of an undergraduate dissertation, most of the students don’t have enough idea about the word count.

10,000 words

If we talk about the weight of different sections of an undergraduate dissertation guide regarding the word count point of view, then we come to know that the weight of introduction is 10%, the weight of the literature review is 30%, the weight of research methodology is 15%, the weight of findings and results is 5%, the weight of discussion is 30%, and the weight conclusions and recommendations is 10%. For example, if we are going to write an undergraduate dissertation of 10,000 words, then our introduction will consist of 1000 words, our literature review will consist of 3000 words, the word count for the research methodology will be 1500, the word count for the findings and results will be 500, the word count for the discussing chapter will be 3000 words and the word counts for conclusions and recommendations will be 1000.

12000 words

On the other hand, if you are going to write an undergraduate dissertation of 12000 words, then the word counts for introduction, literature review, research methodology, findings and results, discussions, and recommendations will be 1200, 3600, 1800, 600, 3600 and 1200 respectively. For example, if you are asked to write an undergraduate dissertation of 15000 words, then the word counts for introduction, literature review, research methodology, findings and results, discussions, and recommendations will be 1500, 4500, 2250, 750, 4500 and 1500 respectively. In a similar way, you can adjust the word count for your undergraduate dissertation.

Structure 

Firstly, The structure is the name of arranging the different sections of an undergraduate dissertation in the form of a well-written and well-organized academic paper. Secondly, The overall structure of a dissertation may vary from one university to another university but the basic structure of an undergraduate dissertation remains the same. Thirdly, The basic structure of an undergraduate dissertation consists of the following things;

  • Preliminary Pages

Preliminary pages of an undergraduate dissertation, there come all the things that are written before the main body or introduction of a dissertation. The essential preliminary pages of an undergraduate dissertation are a title page, summary in the form of an abstract, acknowledgement, contents, list of tables, list of figures, and definitions. Moreover, you can also include some other preliminary pages according to the requirements of your advisor.

  • Introduction

It is an essential section or chapter of an undergraduate dissertation. With the help of an introductory chapter, the students can introduce their topic and problem statement.

  • Literature review

In this chapter, it is necessary for the students to provide all the possible answers to their descriptive research questions. This chapter provides an idea about the existing literature that is relevant to the topic of your dissertation.

  • Research Design or Research Methodology

To write a dissertation, we will have to gather the data. This is possible only if we conduct effective research. For this reason, we will have to select a suitable research design or research methodology. A research design or research methodology provides complete detail about the appropriate research method that you have selected to gather the data for your dissertation.

  • Findings and Results

This guide will provide the complete detail about the findings and results of your dissertation.

  • Discussion

In this chapter, it is necessary for the students to discuss their topic in detail.

  • Conclusion

It includes all the main points of your dissertation. There is no need to include new points in this section.

  • Recommendations

The main aim of writing this section is to provide some tips about the follow-up research to the other researchers.

  • Reference list

It includes complete detail of all the resources from where you have gathered the data for your dissertation.

  • Appendices

Formatting requirements

The formatting guide of an undergraduate dissertation is relevant to the appearance or presentation of the content. In the formatting, there come a lot of things. First of all, there comes the quality of the paper. It would be best to try to use high quality and long-lived paper. The typeface of your dissertation should be in between 10 to 12 font points. The paper margin should be 1.5 inches from all sides. There should be double spacing between the words throughout the dissertation.

The formatting style of a dissertation depends upon the requirements of your advisor. It can be MLA, APA or Chicago. Students should do the pagination in the upper left corner of the page. Students should do the pagination in Roman numerals. The students should try to add footnotes at the bottom of the page.

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