Guidelines - Dissertation Assistance

Guidelines
Introduction and Statement of the Problem
Introduce the subject area and explain the research topic. State your research question(s) or research objective(s). This is also the place for mentioning the scope and limitations of your study. It is difficult to write a good introduction before completing the literature review, which provides perspective and quotes to highlight the importance of the topic you have selected. You might wish to write the introduction and the literature review at the same time. Explain the terminology that you use. Keep the introduction short and focused.

Review of the Literature
The literature review is a major part of your research and deserves serious attention. Initially, the literature review will help you to select and focus on a topic, and will show you what has been published on that topic so that you do not duplicate someone else's work. Conduct a thorough literature search before designing your methodology and collecting your data.

The literature review should provide context and clarify the relationship between your topic and previous work in that area. When writing the literature review, present major themes, theories, and ideas that have been published in the area, and the findings of related studies. A thematic approach under section headings will help to focus the review and provide structure to this chapter.

Conclude the review of the literature with a short section that describes your topic, highlighting why it is important to address the problem you have investigated