Writing an Outstanding Final - Year PhD Dissertation - Phdassistance
                     Writing an
Outstanding  
Final-Year PThD 
 Dissertation
AN ACADEMIC PRESENTATION BY
DR. NANCY AGNES, HEAD, TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, PHDASSISTANCE  
GROUP WWW.PHDASSISTANCE.COM
EMAIL: [email protected]
IN-BRIEF
You will find the best D issertationResearchAreas/Topics for future  
researchers enrolled in E ngineering/management.
In order to identify the future research topics, we have reviewed the  
Engineering literature (recent peer-reviewed studies) on the security  
and privacy issues in the network environment for efficient network  
provisioning.
The key challenge that  you might  be confronted with while undertaking 
 a  PhD dissertation would be the problem you intend to resolve 
through  your research.
INTRODUCTION
A dissertation is something that  is a  part  and parcel of your PhD course 
 which would eventually pave the way for assessment of a  course of  
higher education.
The dissertation is a imed at  commencing and involving a  scholar in  
the domain of academic research. The purpose of including a   
dissertation is to encourage and instil a  sense of curiosity within PhD  
scholar that forms the crux for knowledge development. Through this  
article, a  guide to writing an excellent dissertation is presented.
STEPS TO BE
KEPT IN MIND  
WHILE
WRITIN G  AN
PHD
DISSERTATION

IDENTIFYING A 
THEME
A theme in this case would pertain to the topic that  will be investigated 
 through the research. It is selected on the basis of your (scholar’s) 
lived  experience or knowledge derived from books.
In order to select an appropriate theme for a  research, it would be  
helpful if you make a  note of what is it that  you intend to achieve  
through the research.
Nonetheless, it would make sense to indicate that you need to delimit  
your research prior to gett ing your hands dirty on the field and thus  
el iminating the scope of gett ing stranded mid-way.
PROBLEM DEFINITION AND CREATING OBJECTIVES
The key c h a l l e n g e  t h a t  you  m i g h t  be  c o n f r o n t e d  w i t h  wh i l e   
u n d e r t a k i n g  a  PhD d i s s e r t a t i o n  w o u l d  be  the  p r o b l e m  you   
i n t e n d  to  reso lve  t h r o u g h  you r  research .
Fo l low ing  the  t o p i c  b e i n g  se lec ted ,  i t  is t i m e  for  d e f i n i n g  the   
p r o b l e m  in research .  De f in ing  the  p r o b l e m  of  r es ea rch  wi l l  be   
i n s t r u m e n t a l  in j u s t i f y i ng  w h y  the re  is a  n e e d  to  c o n d u c t  th is   
research .
Once the  re sea rc h  p r o b l e m  has  b e e n  de f ined ,  you  set  f o r t h  to   
ou t l i ne  the  re sea rc h  ob jec t i ves .
The research object ives forms the crux, it m a k e s  up the  
centra l  axis on which the research pivots. But p lease note  
th a t  it is not the subject,  but  wh a t  in a  usual ly  vast  d o m a i n   
a t t rac ts  the a t ten t ion  of a  researcher.
In case you decide  to proceed further with your dissertat ion  
wi thout  first out l in ing the research objectives, it will l ead  to  
confusion a n d  u l t imate ly  be a  waste  of t ime.
THEORETICAL
GROUNDS
The theoret ica l  ground is the basic co mp onent  tha t  lends  
support  to any  scientif ic  research.
A theoret ica l  f ramework  enables  the researcher  to s i tuate   
their  concerns or chal lenges in the scope of the a r e a  of  
knowledge where it has been  added .
The compon en t  of Theoret ical  Framework  with in Academic   
Research would comprise of a  review of articles, texts, books  
a n d  every other per t inent  m a t e r i a l  within the subject  or  
d o m a i n  being invest igated.
FRAM ING THE
HYPOTHESIS
Research hypotheses are nothing but s ta tements  th a t
 a t te m p t to p rovid e a n sw e rs to th e p roblemofresearch .
Such ideas would come to the fore r ight a t  the beginning  or  
dur ing the course of the invest igat ive  procedures on the  
basis of the knowledge tha t  the scholar has on the subject.
Any hypothesis tha t  is good would be one th a t  can  be  
chal lenged,  which m e a n s  one tha t  can  be confronted with  
ac tu a l  da ta .
RESEARCH RATIONALE
The ra t ionale  for the research would present the reader  with  
a  ra t ional  just i f icat ion as to why this research is be ing  
carr ied  out.
The just i f icat ion comprises of four key rules; a )  why a  t h e m e   
was selected? b )  wh a t  is the purpose of the research? c )   who 
would be the ta rget  aud ience  for the research? a n d  d )   the 
base (source  of in format ion  where you work is based) .
For your PhD dissertat ion, you need  to write around 200 to  250 
words to justify your rat ionale .
This provides a  val id  a n d  be l ievab le  a r g u m e n t  for your  
research.
However, the a r g u m e n t  needs to be logical,  c lear  a n d  direct   
as it is worth decid ing the cont inui ty  within your research  
idea.
METHODOLOGY
The methodo logy  ad o p t ed  for research will describe your  
research process, th a t  is, the m a n n e r  in which you intend to  
conduct  your research.
In order to present  the methodo logy  ad o p t ed  for research,  
you should take  into account  the kind of research –  the  
m a n n e r  of research, which means;  you need to outl ine  
whether  your research will be descriptive,  exp lanatory  or  
exploratory.
The Research Methodology is wh a t  will guide your research  to 
reach the in tended  dest inat ion.
The choice of methodology  would depend  upon the  
object ives tha t  you have  f r a m e d  a n d  wh at  you intend to  
ach ieve  through the research.
RESULTS
The results are  essential ly  the f indings tha t  you derive while  
conduct ing  the research.  The tools for extract ing results  
would d epen d  on the methodology.
For instance,  if your study util izes a  Qual i ta t ive   Methodology,  
you would depend  on a  t h e m a t i c  analysis  to  arr ive a t  results. 
In contrast,  if your study involves a   q uant i ta t i ve  
methodology,  stat ist ical  tools would be used to  derive 
results.
REFERENCE
S
There are  several  referencing a n d  format t ing  styles tha t  are   
ava i l ab le  a n d  the choice of referencing a n d  format t ing  style  
would d epen d  upon your educat iona l  institut ion.
Each inst i tut ion follows a  fixed style. The most  c o m m o n  style  
of referencing a n d  format t ing  is Harvard  which is in pract ice   
across a  large n u mb er  of educat iona l  inst i tut ion
CONCLUSION
These are  some of the components   
tha t  need to be kept  in m in d  when  
wri t ing a  PhD dissertat ion.
Though we have  not covered  
l i terature review in this, which  
does not m e a n  tha t  Literature  
Review is not impor tant .
However, the way  you f rame  your objectives, methodo logy   
a n d  def ine the prob lem s t a t e m e n t  within your research is  
w h a t  would ensure tha t  you ach ieve  the a i m  with which  
you are  conduct ing  this research.
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