• A is used before a noun that starts with a consonant sound (e.g., “s,” “t,” “v”).
• An is used before a noun that starts with a vowel sound (e.g., “a,” “o,” “i”).

Note that the rule is not whether they start with a consonant or vowel, but whether they start with a consonant or vowel sound. This can help you decide which to use in difficult cases like words beginning in “u” or “h.”

A or an before H

The rule of thumb for words beginning with “h” is to consider the way the word is pronounced. Words that have a silent “h” begin with a vowel sound, so they use “an.”

• For words where the “h” sound is pronounced, such as hat, hotel, or hard, use “a.”
• For words where the “h” is silent, such as honor, hour, or honest, use “an.”

A or an before U

Similarly, for words beginning with “u,” consider the way the word sounds.

• For words where the “u” sound is pronounced like “you,” such as user, usual, or utilized, use “a.”
• For words where the “u” sound is pronounced like “uh,” such as unusual, understanding, or utter, use “an.”

A or an before acronyms

The same rule applies to acronyms—say the acronym aloud to sound out whether it begins with a consonant sound or a vowel sound.

Some acronyms (like “NASA” [nass-uh]) are usually pronounced as full words, others (like “TV” [tee-vee]) by saying the individual letters. But remember that even the spoken form of a consonant can begin with a vowel sound (e.g., [em] for M, [aitch] for H).

• Acronyms beginning with a consonant sound use “a.”
• Acronyms beginning with a vowel sound use “an.”

Worksheet: A vs. an

Test your knowledge of the difference between “a” and “an” with these practice sentences. Fill in either “a” or “an” in each sentence.

Other interesting language articles

If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.

Frequently asked questions

Is it “an historic” or “a historic”?

A and an are different forms of the indefinite article. Words where the “h” sound is pronounced, such as hat, hotel, or hard, use “a” instead of “an.” Since “historic” begins with a hard “h” sound, you use “a historic” instead of “an historic.”

• A historic battle
• A historical fossil

Is it “an unique” or “a unique”?

A and an are different forms of the indefinite article. Words where the “u” sound is pronounced like “you”, such as user, usual, or utilized use “a” instead of “an.” Since “unique” begins with this “you” sound, you use “a unique” instead of “an unique.”

• A unique hair color
• A unique situation

Is it “an hour” or “a hour”?

A and an are different forms of the indefinite article. Words where the “h” is silent, such as honor or honest, use “an” instead of “a.” Since the “h” in “hour” is silent, it is “an hour” instead of “a hour.”

• An hour ago
• An hourly wage

Is it “an honor” or “a honor”?

A and an are different forms of the indefinite article. Words where the “h” is silent, such as hour or honest, use “an” instead of “a.” Since the “h” in “honor” is silent, you use “an honor” instead of “a honor.”

• It’s an honor
• An honorable person

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The proposal or prospectus stage is crucial for the development of your research. It helps you choose a type of research to pursue, as well as whether to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

You can download our templates in the format of your choice below.

Download Word template Download Google Docs template

What should your proposal contain?

Prior to jumping into the research for your thesis or dissertation, you first need to develop your research proposal and have it approved by your supervisor. It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your topic to your hypotheses and research objectives.

Depending on your department’s requirements, there may be a defense component involved, where you present your research plan in prospectus format to your committee for their approval.

Your proposal should answer the following questions:

• Why is your research necessary?
• What is already known about your topic?
• Where and when will your research be conducted?
• Who should be studied?
• How can the research best be done?

Ultimately, your proposal should persuade your supervisor or committee that your proposed project is worth pursuing.

What should your proposal look like?

An easy rule of thumb is that your proposal will usually resemble a (much) shorter version of your thesis or dissertation. While of course it won’t include the results section, discussion section, or conclusion, it serves as a “mini” version or roadmap for what you eventually seek to write.

Be sure to include:

• A succinct introduction to your topic and problem statement
• A brief literature review situating your topic within existing research
• A basic outline of the research methods you think will best answer your research question
• The perceived implications for future research
• A reference list in the citation style of your choice

The length of your proposal varies quite a bit depending on your discipline and type of work you’re conducting. While a thesis proposal is often only 3-7 pages long, a prospectus for your dissertation is usually much longer, with more detailed analysis. Dissertation proposals can be up to 25-30 pages in length.

Dissertation prospectus examples

Writing a proposal or prospectus can be a challenge, but we’ve compiled some examples for you to get your started.

• Example #1: “Geographic Representations of the Planet Mars, 1867-1907” by Maria Lane
• Example #2: “Individuals and the State in Late Bronze Age Greece: Messenian Perspectives on Mycenaean Society” by Dimitri Nakassis
• Example #3: “Manhood Up in the Air: A Study of Male Flight Attendants, Queerness, and Corporate Capitalism during the Cold War Era” by Phil Tiemeyer

Frequently asked questions about proposals

How do I decide which research methods to use?

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question.

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis, use quantitative methods. If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods.
• If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables, use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

What is a thesis or dissertation outline?

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation, such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

Why is research design important?

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources. This allows you to draw valid, trustworthy conclusions.

What do I need to include in my research design?

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative)
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey, experiment, or case study)
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires, observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization, timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests or thematic analysis)

The post How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal appeared first on Scribbr.

As you conduct your research and analyze the data you collected, perhaps there are ideas or results that don’t quite fit the scope of your research topic. Or, maybe your results suggest that there are further implications of your results or the causal relationships between previously-studied variables than covered in extant research.

What should recommendations look like?

Recommendations for future research should be:

• Concrete and specific
• Supported with a clear rationale
• Directly connected to your research

Overall, strive to highlight ways other researchers can reproduce or replicate your results to draw further conclusions, and suggest different directions that future research can take, if applicable.

Relatedly, when making these recommendations, avoid:

• Undermining your own work, but rather offer suggestions on how future studies can build upon it
• Suggesting recommendations actually needed to complete your argument, but rather ensure that your research stands alone on its own merits
• Using recommendations as a place for self-criticism, but rather as a natural extension point for your work

Building your research recommendation

There are many different ways to frame recommendations, but the easiest is perhaps to follow the formula of research question  conclusion  recommendation. Here’s an example.

How should your recommendations be written?

As a rule of thumb, try to limit yourself to only the most relevant future recommendations: ones that stem directly from your work. While you can have multiple recommendations for each research conclusion, it is also acceptable to have one recommendation that is connected to more than one conclusion.

These recommendations should be targeted at your audience, specifically toward peers or colleagues in your field that work on similar topics to yours. They can flow directly from any limitations you found while conducting your work, offering concrete and actionable possibilities for how future research can build on anything that your own work was unable to address at the time of your writing.

Recommendation in research example

See below for a full research recommendation example that you can use as a template to write your own.

Frequently asked questions about recommendations

Can I present new arguments in the conclusion of my dissertation?

While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion, especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section.) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

What should I include in a thesis or dissertation conclusion?

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

• A restatement of your research question
• A summary of your key arguments and/or results
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

What doesn’t go in a dissertation conclusion?

For a stronger dissertation conclusion, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the discussion section and results section
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion …”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g., “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

What’s the difference between the discussion and the conclusion?

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

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A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master’s program or a capstone to a bachelor’s degree.

Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation, it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete. It relies on your ability to conduct research from start to finish: crafting a proposal, designing your research, collecting data, developing a robust analysis, drawing strong conclusions, and writing concisely.

Thesis template

You can also download our full thesis template in the format of your choice below. Our template includes a ready-made table of contents, as well as guidance for what each chapter should include. It’s easy to make it your own, and can help you get started.

Download Word template Download Google Docs template

Thesis vs. thesis statement

You may have heard the word thesis as a standalone term or as a component of academic writing called a thesis statement. Keep in mind that these are two very different things.

• A thesis statement is a very common component of an essay, particularly in the humanities. It usually comprises 1 or 2 sentences in the introduction of your essay, and should clearly and concisely summarize the central points of your academic essay.
• A thesis is a long-form piece of academic writing, often taking more than a full semester to complete. It is generally a degree requirement for Master’s programs, and is also sometimes required to complete a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts colleges.

How to structure a thesis

The final structure of your thesis depends on a variety of components, such as:

• Your discipline
• Your topic
• Your theoretical approach

Humanities theses are often structured more like a longer-form essay. Just like in an essay, you build an argument to support a central thesis.

In both hard and social sciences, theses typically include an introduction, literature review, methodology section, results section, discussion section, and conclusion section. These are each presented in their own dedicated section or chapter. In some cases, you might want to add an appendix.

Thesis examples

We’ve compiled a list of thesis examples to help you get started.

• Example thesis #1:  “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the ‘Noble Savage’ on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807” by Suchait Kahlon.
• Example thesis #2: “’A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man’: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947″ by Julian Saint Reiman.
• Example thesis #3:  “An Introduction to Higher-Order Frames in Communication: How Controversial Organizations Maintain Legitimacy Over Time” by Kees Smeets

Title page

The very first page of your thesis contains all necessary identifying information, including:

• Your full title
• Your full name
• Your department
• Your institution and degree program
• Your submission date.

Sometimes the title page also includes your student ID, the name of your supervisor, or the university’s logo. Check out your university’s guidelines if you’re not sure.

Read more about title pages

Acknowledgements or preface

The acknowledgements section is usually optional. Its main point is to allow you to thank everyone who helped you in your thesis journey, such as supervisors, friends, or family. You can also choose to write a preface, but it’s typically one or the other, not both.

Read more about acknowledgementsRead more about prefaces

Abstract

An abstract is a short summary of your thesis. Usually a maximum of 300 words long, it’s should include brief descriptions of your research objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Though it may seem short, it introduces your work to your audience, serving as a first impression of your thesis.

Read more about abstracts

Table of contents

A table of contents lists all of your sections, plus their corresponding page numbers and subheadings if you have them. This helps your reader seamlessly navigate your document.

Your table of contents should include all the major parts of your thesis. In particular, don’t forget the the appendices. If you used heading styles, it’s easy to generate an automatic table Microsoft Word.

Read more about tables of contents

List of figures and tables

While not mandatory, if you used a lot of tables and/or figures, it’s nice to include a list of them to help guide your reader. It’s also easy to generate one of these in Word: just use the “Insert Caption” feature.

Read more about lists of figures and tables

List of abbreviations

If you have used a lot of industry- or field-specific abbreviations in your thesis, you should include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations. This way, your readers can easily look up any meanings they aren’t familiar with.

Read more about lists of abbreviations

Glossary

Relatedly, if you find yourself using a lot of very specialized or field-specific terms that may not be familiar to your reader, consider including a glossary. Alphabetize the terms you want to include with a brief definition.

Read more about glossaries

Introduction

An introduction sets up the topic, purpose, and relevance of your thesis, as well as expectations for your reader. This should:

• Ground your research topic, sharing any background information your reader may need
• Define the scope of your work
• Introduce any existing research on your topic, situating your work within a broader problem or debate
• State your research question(s)
• Outline (briefly) how the remainder of your work will proceed

In other words, your introduction should clearly and concisely show your reader the “what, why, and how” of your research.

Read more about introductions

Literature review

A literature review helps you gain a robust understanding of any extant academic work on your topic, encompassing:

• Selecting relevant sources
• Determining the credibility of your sources
• Critically evaluating each of your sources
• Drawing connections between sources, including any themes, patterns, conflicts, or gaps

A literature review is not merely a summary of existing work. Rather, your literature review should ultimately lead to a clear justification for your own research, perhaps via:

• Addressing a gap in the literature
• Building on existing knowledge to draw new conclusions
• Exploring a new theoretical or methodological approach
• Introducing a new solution to an unresolved problem
• Definitively advocating for one side of a theoretical debate

Read more about literature reviews

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework, but these are not the same thing. A theoretical framework defines and analyzes the concepts and theories that your research hinges on.

Read more about theoretical frameworks

Methodology

Your methodology chapter shows your reader how you conducted your research. It should be written clearly and methodically, easily allowing your reader to critically assess the credibility of your argument. Furthermore, your methods section should convince your reader that your method was the best way to answer your research question.

A methodology section should generally include:

• Your overall approach (quantitative vs. qualitative)
• Your research methods (e.g., a longitudinal study)
• Your data collection methods (e.g., interviews or a controlled experiment
• Any tools or materials you used (e.g., computer software)
• The data analysis methods you chose (e.g., statistical analysis, discourse analysis)
• A strong, but not defensive justification of your methods

Read more about methodology sections

Results

Your results section should highlight what your methodology discovered. These two sections work in tandem, but shouldn’t repeat each other. While your results section can include hypotheses or themes, don’t include any speculation or new arguments here.

Your results section should:

• State each (relevant) result with any (relevant) descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (e.g., test statistics, p values)
• Explain how each result relates to the research question
• Determine whether the hypothesis was supported

Additional data (like raw numbers or interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix. You can include tables and figures, but only if they help the reader better understand your results.

Read more about results sections

Discussion

Your discussion section is where you can interpret your results in detail. Did they meet your expectations? How well do they fit within the framework that you built? You can refer back to any relevant source material to situate your results within your field, but leave most of that analysis in your literature review.

For any unexpected results, offer explanations or alternative interpretations of your data.

Read more about discussion sections

Conclusion

Your thesis conclusion should concisely answer your main research question. It should leave your reader with an ultra-clear understanding of your central argument, and emphasize what your research specifically has contributed to your field.

Why does your research matter? What recommendations for future research do you have? Lastly, wrap up your work with any concluding remarks.

Read more about conclusions

Reference list

In order to avoid plagiarism, don’t forget to include a full reference list at the end of your thesis, citing the sources that you used. Choose one citation style and follow it consistently throughout your thesis, taking note of the formatting requirements of each style.

Which style you choose is often set by your department or your field, but common styles include MLA, Chicago, and APA.

Create APA citationsCreate MLA citations

Appendices

In order to stay clear and concise, your thesis should include the most essential information needed to answer your research question. However, chances are you have many contributing documents, like interview transcripts or survey questions. These can be added as appendices, to save space in the main body.

Read more about appendices

Proofreading and editing

Once you’re done writing, the next part of your editing process begins. Leave plenty of time for proofreading and editing prior to submission. Nothing looks worse than grammar mistakes or sloppy spelling errors!

Consider using a professional thesis editing service to make sure your final project is perfect.

Defending your thesis

Once you’ve submitted your final product, it’s common practice to have a thesis defense, an oral component of your finished work. This is scheduled by your advisor or committee, and usually entails a presentation and Q&A session.

After your defense, your committee will meet to determine if you deserve any departmental honors or accolades. However, keep in mind that defenses are usually just a formality. If there are any serious issues with your work, these should be resolved with your advisor way before a defense.

Frequently asked questions about theses

How long is a thesis or dissertation conclusion?

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5–7% of your overall word count.

Is a list of abbreviations mandatory in my thesis or dissertation?

If you only used a few abbreviations in your thesis or dissertation, you don’t necessarily need to include a list of abbreviations.

If your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they won’t be known to your audience, it’s never a bad idea to add one. They can also improve readability, minimizing confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader.

How should you refer to chapters in your thesis or dissertation?

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation.

What is a thesis or dissertation outline?

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation, such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

Who typically writes a thesis?

A thesis is typically written by students finishing up a bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Some educational institutions, particularly in the liberal arts, have mandatory theses, but they are often not mandatory to graduate from bachelor’s degrees. It is more common for a thesis to be a graduation requirement from a Master’s degree.

Even if not mandatory, you may want to consider writing a thesis if you:

• Plan to attend graduate school soon
• Have a particular topic you’d like to study more in-depth
• Are considering a career in research
• Would like a capstone experience to tie up your academic experience

The post What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples appeared first on Scribbr.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

Award-winning undergraduate theses

University: University of Pennsylvania
Faculty: History
Author: Suchait Kahlon
Award: 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History
Title: “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University: Columbia University
Faculty: History
Author: Julien Saint Reiman
Award: 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize
Title: “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London
Faculty: Geography
Author: Anna Knowles-Smith
Award: 2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize
Title: Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington
Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering
Author: Nick J. Martindell
Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award
Title: DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

Award-winning master’s theses

University: University of Edinburgh
Faculty: Informatics
Author: Christopher Sipola
Award: 2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize
Title: Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University: University of Ottawa
Faculty: Education
Author: Matthew Brillinger
Award: 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize
Title: Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University: University of Ottawa
Faculty: Social Sciences
Author: Heather Martin
Award: 2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize
Title: An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University: University of Ottawa
Faculty: Physics
Author: Guillaume Thekkadath
Award: 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize
Title: Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University: London School of Economics
Faculty: International Development
Author: Lajos Kossuth
Award: 2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance
Title: Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

Award-winning Ph.D. dissertations

University: Stanford University
Faculty: English
Author: Nathan Wainstein
Award: 2021 Alden Prize
Title: “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University: University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Faculty: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Author: Nils Pilotte
Award: 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation
Title: “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University: Utrecht University
Faculty: Linguistics
Author: Hans Rutger Bosker
Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize
Title: The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology
Faculty: Physics
Author: Michael P. Mendenhall
Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics
Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Faculty: Computer Science
Author: John Criswell
Award: 2014 Doctoral Dissertation Award
Title: Secure Virtual Architecture: Security for Commodity Software Systems

University: Stanford University
Faculty: Management Science and Engineering
Author: Shayan O. Gharan
Award: Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013
Title: New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota
Faculty: Chemical Engineering
Author: Eric A. Vandre
Award: 2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics
Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Faculty: Marketing
Author: Ezgi Akpinar
Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014
Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington
Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering
Author: Keith N. Snavely
Award: 2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award
Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University: University of Ottawa
Faculty: Social Work
Author: Susannah Taylor
Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize
Title: Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

The post Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples appeared first on Scribbr.

Luckily, many universities have databases where you can find out who has written about your topic previously and how they approached it. While some databases are only accessible via your university library, more and more universities are making these databases public.

General databases

Login required (but you can make an account):

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• eThOS
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations
• EBSCO

University databases

• Brown University
• NUI Galway LibGuides
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth College
• Harvard University
• University of Pennsylvania
• MIT

The post Thesis & Dissertation Database Examples appeared first on Scribbr.

Your introduction should include:

• Your topic, in context: what does your reader need to know to understand your thesis dissertation?
• Your focus and scope: what specific aspect of the topic will you address?
• The relevance of your research: how does your work fit into existing studies on your topic?
• Your questions and objectives: what does your research aim to find out, and how?
• An overview of your structure: what does each section contribute to the overall aim?

How to start your introduction

Although your introduction kicks off your dissertation, it doesn’t have to be the first thing you write—in fact, it’s often one of the very last parts to be completed (just before your abstract).

It’s a good idea to write a rough draft of your introduction as you begin your research, to help guide you. If you wrote a research proposal, consider using this as a template, as it contains many of the same elements. However, be sure to revise your introduction throughout the writing process, making sure it matches the content of your ensuing sections.

Topic and context

Begin by introducing your research topic and giving any necessary background information. It’s important to contextualize your research and generate interest. Aim to show why your topic is timely or important. You may want to mention a relevant news item, academic debate, or practical problem.

Focus and scope

After a brief introduction to your general area of interest, narrow your focus and define the scope of your research.

You can narrow this down in many ways, such as by:

• Geographical area
• Time period
• Demographics or communities
• Themes or aspects of the topic

Relevance and importance

It’s essential to share your motivation for doing this research, as well as how it relates to existing work on your topic. Further, you should also mention what new insights you expect it will contribute.

Start by giving a brief overview of the current state of research. You should definitely cite the most relevant literature, but remember that you will conduct a more in-depth survey of relevant sources in the literature review section, so there’s no need to go too in-depth in the introduction.

Depending on your field, the importance of your research might focus on its practical application (e.g., in policy or management) or on advancing scholarly understanding of the topic (e.g., by developing theories or adding new empirical data). In many cases, it will do both.

Ultimately, your introduction should explain how your thesis or dissertation:

• Helps solve a practical or theoretical problem
• Addresses a gap in the literature
• Builds on existing research
• Proposes a new understanding of your topic

Questions and objectives

Perhaps the most important part of your introduction is your questions and objectives, as it sets up the expectations for the rest of your thesis or dissertation. How you formulate your research questions and research objectives will depend on your discipline, topic, and focus, but you should always clearly state the central aim of your research.

If your research aims to test hypotheses, you can formulate them here. Your introduction is also a good place for a conceptual framework that suggests relationships between variables.

Overview of the structure

To help guide your reader, end your introduction with an outline of the structure of the thesis or dissertation to follow. Share a brief summary of each chapter, clearly showing how each contributes to your central aims. However, be careful to keep this overview concise: 1-2 sentences should be enough.

Thesis introduction example

Introduction checklist

Frequently asked questions about introductions

What should I include in a research paper introduction?

The introduction of a research paper includes several key elements:

• A hook to catch the reader’s interest
• Relevant background on the topic
• Details of your research problem
• A thesis statement or research question
• Sometimes an overview of the paper

When should I write my research paper introduction?

Don’t feel that you have to write the introduction first. The introduction is often one of the last parts of the research paper you’ll write, along with the conclusion.

This is because it can be easier to introduce your paper once you’ve already written the body; you may not have the clearest idea of your arguments until you’ve written them, and things can change during the writing process.

What is a research objective?

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper, at the end of your problem statement.

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In it, you should:

• Clearly state the answer to your main research question
• Summarize and reflect on your research process
• Make recommendations for future work on your topic
• Show what new knowledge you have contributed to your field
• Wrap up your thesis or dissertation

Discussion vs. conclusion

While your conclusion contains similar elements to your discussion section, they are not the same thing.

Your conclusion should be shorter and more general than your discussion. Instead of repeating literature from your literature review, discussing specific research results, or interpreting your data in detail, concentrate on making broad statements that sum up the most important insights of your research.

As a rule of thumb, your conclusion should not introduce new data, interpretations, or arguments.

How long should your conclusion be?

Depending on whether you are writing a thesis or dissertation, your length will vary. Generally, a conclusion should make up around 5–7% of your overall word count.

An empirical scientific study will often have a short conclusion, concisely stating the main findings and recommendations for future research. A humanities topic or systematic review, on the other hand, might require more space to conclude its analysis, tying all the previous sections together in an overall argument.

Step 1: Answer your research question

Your conclusion should begin with the main question that your thesis or dissertation aimed to address. This is your final chance to show that you’ve done what you set out to do, so make sure to formulate a clear, concise answer.

• Don’t repeat a list of all the results that you already discussed
• Do synthesize them into a final takeaway that the reader will remember.

An empirical thesis or dissertation conclusion may begin like this:

A case study–based thesis or dissertation conclusion may begin like this:

In the second example, the research aim is not directly restated, but rather added implicitly to the statement. To avoid repeating yourself, it is helpful to reformulate your aims and questions into an overall statement of what you did and how you did it.

Step 2: Summarize and reflect on your research

Your conclusion is an opportunity to remind your reader why you took the approach you did, what you expected to find, and how well the results matched your expectations.

To avoid repetition, consider writing more reflectively here, rather than just writing a summary of each preceding section. Consider mentioning the effectiveness of your methodology, or perhaps any new questions or unexpected insights that arose in the process.

You can also mention any limitations of your research, but only if you haven’t already included these in the discussion. Don’t dwell on them at length, though—focus on the positives of your work.

Step 3: Make future recommendations

You may already have made a few recommendations for future research in your discussion section, but the conclusion is a good place to elaborate and look ahead, considering the implications of your findings in both theoretical and practical terms.

When making recommendations for further research, be sure not to undermine your own work. Relatedly, while future studies might confirm, build on, or enrich your conclusions, they shouldn’t be required for your argument to feel complete. Your work should stand alone on its own merits.

Just as you should avoid too much self-criticism, you should also avoid exaggerating the applicability of your research. If you’re making recommendations for policy, business, or other practical implementations, it’s generally best to frame them as “shoulds” rather than “musts.” All in all, the purpose of academic research is to inform, explain, and explore—not to demand.

Step 4: Emphasize your contributions to your field

Make sure your reader is left with a strong impression of what your research has contributed to the state of your field.

Some strategies to achieve this include:

• Returning to your problem statement to explain how your research helps solve the problem
• Referring back to the literature review and showing how you have addressed a gap in knowledge
• Discussing how your findings confirm or challenge an existing theory or assumption

Again, avoid simply repeating what you’ve already covered in the discussion in your conclusion. Instead, pick out the most important points and sum them up succinctly, situating your project in a broader context.

Step 5: Wrap up your thesis or dissertation

The end is near! Once you’ve finished writing your conclusion, it’s time to wrap up your thesis or dissertation with a few final steps:

1. It’s a good idea to write your abstract next, while the research is still fresh in your mind.
2. Next, make sure your reference list is complete and correctly formatted. To speed up the process, you can use our free APA citation generator.
3. Once you’ve added any appendices, you can create a table of contents and title page.
4. Finally, read through the whole document again to make sure your thesis is clearly written and free from language errors. You can proofread it yourself, ask a friend, or consider Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service.

Full conclusion example

Here is an example of how you can write your conclusion section. Notice how it includes everything mentioned above:

Conclusion checklist

Frequently asked questions about conclusion sections

What’s the difference between the discussion and the conclusion?

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

Can I present new arguments in the conclusion of my dissertation?

While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion, especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section.) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

What doesn’t go in a dissertation conclusion?

For a stronger dissertation conclusion, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the discussion section and results section
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion …”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g., “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

How long is a thesis or dissertation conclusion?

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5–7% of your overall word count.

What should I include in a thesis or dissertation conclusion?

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

• A restatement of your research question
• A summary of your key arguments and/or results
• A short discussion of the implications of your research

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A preface is much more personal than other types of academic writing. It is written mainly in the first person and is one of the few places where using first-person is considered acceptable. Your preface is typically written upon completion of your thesis or dissertation, as a final step.

What is included in a preface?

The following items can be included in the preface:

• Your (brief) personal background
• Any (brief) personal experiences or circumstances that motivated you to pursue this type of academic work
• The target group for which your thesis or dissertation was written
• Your name, the place name, and the date at the time of writing, at the end of the preface

While it’s common practice to briefly acknowledge any individuals and/or institutions who have helped you during your writing and editing process, these should mostly be saved for your acknowledgements section.

Indeed, it is often common practice to write either a preface or an acknowledgements section, not both.

Dissertation preface example

Check out this example about how to write a preface. The trick is to write the preface in a style that is personal, yet still professional. Remember that this is one of the few occurrences where first-person is acceptable, and in fact encouraged.

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How to write a results section

When conducting research, it’s important to report the results of your study prior to discussing your interpretations of it. This gives your reader a clear idea of exactly what you found and keeps the data itself separate from your subjective analysis.

Here are a few best practices:

• Your results should always be written in the past tense.
• While the length of this section depends on how much data you collected and analyzed, it should be written as concisely as possible.
• Only include results that are directly relevant to answering your research questions. Avoid speculative or interpretative words like “appears” or “implies.”
• If you have other results you’d like to include, consider adding them to an appendix or footnotes.
• Always start out with your broadest results first, and then flow into your more granular (but still relevant) ones. Think of it like a shoe store: first discuss the shoes as a whole, then the sneakers, boots, sandals, etc.

Reporting quantitative research results

If you conducted quantitative research, you’ll likely be working with the results of some sort of statistical analysis.

Your results section should report the results of any statistical tests you used to compare groups or assess relationships between variables. It should also state whether or not each hypothesis was supported.

The most logical way to structure quantitative results is to frame them around your research questions or hypotheses. For each question or hypothesis, share:

• A reminder of the type of analysis you used (e.g., a two-sample t test or simple linear regression). A more detailed description of your analysis should go in your methodology section.
• A concise summary of each relevant result, both positive and negative. This can include any relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., means and standard deviations) as well as inferential statistics (e.g., t scores, degrees of freedom, and p values). Remember, these numbers are often placed in parentheses.
• A brief statement of how each result relates to the question, or whether the hypothesis was supported. You can briefly mention any results that didn’t fit with your expectations and assumptions, but save any speculation on their meaning or consequences for your discussion and conclusion.

A note on tables and figures

In quantitative research, it’s often helpful to include visual elements such as graphs, charts, and tables, but only if they are directly relevant to your results. Give these elements clear, descriptive titles and labels so that your reader can easily understand what is being shown. If you want to include any other visual elements that are more tangential in nature, consider adding a figure and table list.

As a rule of thumb:

• Tables are used to communicate exact values, giving a concise overview of various results
• Graphs and charts are used to visualize trends and relationships, giving an at-a-glance illustration of key findings

Don’t forget to also mention any tables and figures you used within the text of your results section. Summarize or elaborate on specific aspects you think your reader should know about rather than merely restating the same numbers already shown.

A two-sample t test was used to test the hypothesis that higher social distance from environmental problems would reduce the intent to donate to environmental organizations, with donation intention (recorded as a score from 1 to 10) as the outcome variable and social distance (categorized as either a low or high level of social distance) as the predictor variable.Social distance was found to be positively correlated with donation intention, t(98) = 12.19, p < .001, with the donation intention of the high social distance group 0.28 points higher, on average, than the low social distance group (see figure 1). This contradicts the initial hypothesis that social distance would decrease donation intention, and in fact suggests a small effect in the opposite direction.

Figure 1: Intention to donate to environmental organizations based on social distance from impact of environmental damage.

Reporting qualitative research results

In qualitative research, your results might not all be directly related to specific hypotheses. In this case, you can structure your results section around key themes or topics that emerged from your analysis of the data.

For each theme, start with general observations about what the data showed. You can mention:

• Recurring points of agreement or disagreement
• Patterns and trends
• Particularly significant snippets from individual responses

Next, clarify and support these points with direct quotations. Be sure to report any relevant demographic information about participants. Further information (such as full transcripts, if appropriate) can be included in an appendix.

Results vs. discussion vs. conclusion

Your results section should objectively report your findings, presenting only brief observations in relation to each question, hypothesis, or theme.

It should not speculate about the meaning of the results or attempt to answer your main research question. Detailed interpretation of your results is more suitable for your discussion section, while synthesis of your results into an overall answer to your main research question is best left for your conclusion.

Checklist: Research results

Frequently asked questions about results sections

What goes in the results chapter of a dissertation?

The results chapter of a thesis or dissertation presents your research results concisely and objectively.

In quantitative research, for each question or hypothesis, state:

• The type of analysis used
• Relevant results in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics
• Whether or not the alternative hypothesis was supported

In qualitative research, for each question or theme, describe:

• Recurring patterns
• Significant or representative individual responses
• Relevant quotations from the data

Don’t interpret or speculate in the results chapter.

What tense should I write my results in?

Results are usually written in the past tense, because they are describing the outcome of completed actions.

What’s the difference between results and discussion?

The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.

In qualitative research, results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research, it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.

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