LT901 Research Methods
Dissertation Structure
Essay Structure
• Introduction
- situates the inquiry in a context
- establishes scope of essay
- states your argument / aims
• Body of essay
- provides evidence / analyzes primary sources
- each paragraph focuses on and develops one idea / topic
- paragraphs should be linked in logical sequence
- secondary sources should be used to argue with or
against (don’t rely on secondary sources to make your main
points or use them as the basis for your structure; create
your own structure)
• Conclusion
- summarizes findings & underlines your ‘verdict’
- elaborates wider implications
Dissertation Structure
Title page
Abstract (optional)
Contents page
Acknowledgements (optional)
Introduction, including statement of scope, aims / questions,
context, methods, and chapter outline
Chapters - analysis of primary texts; for creative practitioners,
exploration of writing / filmmaking styles that have inspired you
& reflection on process
Conclusion - for creative practitioners, self-evaluation; summary
of findings and implications for our understanding of the topic
Bibliography (& filmography, if appropriate)
Chapter-by-Chapter Structure
• Number your chapters (e.g. Chapter 1, Chapter 2 …) and
give them individual titles
• Each chapter should be devoted to a specific aspect of the
overarching argument of your dissertation
• Each chapter should have its own Introduction, Body of
Evidence, and Conclusion (i.e. each chapter is a kind of essay
in its own right)
• Interweave the threads between chapters, e.g. signpost how
the next chapter develops the concerns of the present chapter
Don’t let your dissertation come apart at the seams…!
Size:
1600 × 1200
Type:
423KB JPG
The Conclusion
• Summary of findings of the dissertation
• Elaborate the wider implications for our
understanding of the topic / field
• Self-evaluation
Hint: Don’t leave the conclusion to
the last minute! A rushed conclusion
can weaken an otherwise good
dissertation.
Quotations
Select your quotations carefully, isolating the words or
phrases that best capture the essence of the writer’s
argument
• Provide a footnote to acknowledge the reference, placing
the footnote numeral after any punctuation marks, including
quotation marks or full-stops, like this.1
• If your quotation is over 50 words, you should remove the
quotation marks and indent the quotation - see the example
on the next slide.
• If you make any alteration to the quotation, you should
indicate this with square brackets […]
• Leave the spelling as you find it in the original source. If you
wish to acknowledge any mistakes you find in the original,
then do so by adding [sic]
Layout of long quotations
In the opening of Water, a wide-angle shot establishes a verdant
landscape, a body of water over-grown with lilies and coconut palms
visible in the distance – conjuring up an uncultivated garden for imperial
eyes, especially as signalled in the script:
1. EXT. TROPICAL VISTA – DAY
A green lush landscape, peppered with coconut trees and banana groves as
far as the eye can see.
CLOSE-UP of creaking wooden wheels as they enter the frame …
We are behind a bullock cart as it plods along, its passengers hidden by their
own long shadows.
ON two tiny, bare feet, encircled with silver anklets, dangling by the side of
the bullock cart. The small bells on the anklets ring sweetly as the feet swing
back and forth to the easy rhythm of the cart.
We reveal the seven-year old CHUYIA.2
However, the film, in contrast to the script, creates ambiguity as to
whether what we see is land or water, highlighting instability of vision,
rather than mastery of the visual field.
It is good practice to use
illustrations - including film stills or
any other type of image or diagram
as supportive evidence. A wellchosen illustration can help to
enhance certain aspects of your
argument, and will draw the
reader’s attention. However, you
should ensure that you elaborate
on each illustration - developing
several points in relation to it - and
not use it for a purely ornamental
purpose.
Use of Illustrations
• Insert illustrations into the body of
your dissertation, near the relevant
part of the argument
• Number each illustration (e.g.
Figure 1) and provide a caption
with a brief description.
Figure 1. The first dream sequence in
A Gleam (Ioanna Tsilidou, 2009)
Writing Style
• Use of First Person is acceptable
• Address an intelligent general reader
• Clarity and precision are essential
• Explain any specialist terms on first usage
• Proofread your work carefully
How to find a dissertation supervisor
• Check staff profiles on departmental website
• Ask your scheme director whose research interests
match those of your topic
Process:
SLR – mapping the field
Dissertation Proposal (May/ June)
Work on dissertation with your supervisor
(June – Sept)
Build in time for each of the following:
• Planning
• Wide range of reading & thinking through your
subject matter
• Drafting (chapter by chapter)
• Re-writing
• Checking references
Example of a Creative Practice Dissertation Structure
(Discussed here as an example of ‘good practice’, but not necessarily
as a prescription of what all MA creative practitioners should do)
Ioanna Tsilidou
- short film, A Gleam (2009)
- critical commentary, ‘Representation of Death: An Observation of a
Phenomenon Passing through Time’
Main research inquiry: how to represent the subjective experience
of time of a man undergoing the passage from life to death
Structure of this critical commentary
• Introduction – States intention and what the film is about, summary of
concerns & inspirations
• Chapter 1 – Relates theories (Deleuze & Tarkovsky on time in cinema)
to the chosen form of her film
• Chapter 2 - Explores film styles which have been a source of
inspiration (Pasolini’s ‘cinema of poetry’ & Tarkovsky’s filmmaking) & her
attempt to find her own film language
• Chapter 3 – Reflects on Process
- How the idea of time is elaborated in the film through decisions of mise
en scene, camera movement, performance & editing
- How practical constraints impacted on the form of her film
• Conclusion - Evaluates the finished product in relation to her
intentions
Further points of good practice:
• The creative piece forms the primary object of analysis throughout the
commentary, even when she is discussing theories / other filmmaking
styles
• As her secondary sources, she draws on
- the work of filmmakers whose styles have inspired her
- these filmmakers’ own reflections on their practice