PAN African eNetwork
Project
DISSERTATION
Semester - IV
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• MEANING OF DISSERTATION
• A Dissertation is a written thesis, often based on
original research. This research is usually an
advancement of a new point of view or any raw
idea. An important aspect of a dissertation is the
detailed and full of meaning analysis of a chosen
subject, area a topic, or a problem. It explores,
examines and validates a new idea.
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• A dissertation can be sector / economy/
specialized area or government specific. It
starts with the problem identification and
ends with the recommendations and
researched solutions.
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• RELEVANCE OF DISSERTATION
• The dissertation is usually a requirement
for an advanced academic degree. To
complete an advanced or Post Graduate
course , every student has to submit an
independent research report on his
specialized/ Chosen area.
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• Choosing a topic of research
• A dissertation is a written thesis on any chosen
subject. It starts with the selection of the area of
study, deciding about the relevant topic of study
through extensive preliminary research, coming out
with the current/ possible research problem, doing
an extensive research on the same, validating your
ideas and solutions and making final feasible
recommendations.
• The success of the project is highly dependent on
the chosen area and subsequent topic. The clarity on
the topic gives us a clear pathway for furthering our
research on the right track.
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Each student would have two guiding mentors.
One mentor would be a faculty appointed from the
side of Amity University and other would be from
the industry to be chosen by the student himself or
herself.
Once the industry mentor is chosen, the student
has to intimate the university by filling the attached
approval form duly signed by industry mentor.
Once the dissertation topic is decided, the next
step is to prepare SYNOPSIS of your report. To
know how to make a synopsis, refer to the
dissertation guidelines given by Amity University.
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1. Fill the Synopsis form on http://tinyurl.com/PAN-synopsis.
2. Once the synopsis is approved by the concerned faculty,
the approval will come on the student's registered email
address.
3. The student will then upload the final dissertation on the
portal under Major Project, just the same way they have
uploaded the assignment.
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GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF
DISSERTATION
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Basic Formatting and Grammar Rules
i) While the majority of the research proposal is
written in the present and future tenses, the
reporting of research reviewed is the past
tense (when the research has already been
done).
ii) A paragraph must have two sentences. It
cannot only have one.
iii) A situation that continues or is still occurring
in the present is written in the present tense.
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• iv) Do not use “I” or “you”. All writing must
be written in the third person. If it is
necessary to refer to you, then refer to
yourself as “the researcher”.
• v) Direct quotations (more than 40 words
or four typed lines) should be enclosed in
quotation marks and the specific page
number from the source of the quotation
included in the citation.
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• vi) Do not use colloquialisms, such “good to go”, “picking
up the slack”, or other phrases or wordings. Be as
precise as possible with word choices. Imprecision
allows multiple choices for interpretation, which is not
desirable.
• vii) Use multiple ways to cite someone when not
quoting. Words to use include “stated”, “posited” (if it is a
proposed theory or viewpoint), “said”, “found” (if
research), suggested (similar to posited), though there
are others.
• viii) For the proposal, what will be done should be in the
future tense, while past research that has been cited is
stated in the past tense
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• ix) A situation that continues is written in the
present tense. For example, “Education, today,
with the advent of the “No Child Left Behind” Act,
relies more on technology through online testing
than ever before.”
• x) The methodology and findings in the final
dissertation are written in the past tense, since
the study has been done, at that point.
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– General structure of the Dissertation
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The following outline is indicative of the
overall structure of a dissertation. Clearly
it will have to be adapted to the particular
study you have carried out.
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Title Page
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
Recommendations
References
Appendices
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Introduction
Literature Review
Research Methodology
Presentation of Data
Analysis of Data
Discussion and Interpretation of Findings
Conclusions, Implications and
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Word Length
The typical length of the dissertation is 20,000-25,000
words. This length is exclusive of title and contents
page, figures, tables, appendices and references.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, that is, the willful representation of an other
person’s work, without the acknowledgement or the
deliberate and unacknowledged incorporation in a
student’s work of material derived from the work
(published or otherwise) of another, is
UNACCEPTABLE and will incur the penalty of outright
failure. We have a software available to check
Plagiarism.
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Dissertation plan
It is recommended that the students should
have a synopsis/dissertation plan to guide
them right from the outset. Essentially, the
synopsis/dissertation plan is an outline of what
the student intends to do, chapter wise and
therefore should reflect the aims and
objectives of the dissertation in detail along
with detailed bibliography and critical review of
literature.
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Planning the dissertation
This entails the following:
Selecting a topic for investigation.
Establishing the precise focus of the study
by deciding on the aims and objectives of
the dissertation, or formulating questions
to be investigated. Consider very carefully
what is worth investigating and its
feasibility.
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• Drawing up initial dissertation outlines
considering the aims and objectives of the
dissertation. Workout various stages of
dissertation
• Devising a timetable to ensure that all
stages of dissertation are completed in
time. The timetable should include writing
of the dissertation and regular contact with
your dissertation guide.
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• The academics department appoints a faculty as a
dedicated mentor and guide for each student.
• You should see your dissertation guide on a regular
basis – at least once every two weeks in the beginning. It
is also advisable to start writing as soon as possible. Do
not worry if you feel that your material is not good
enough, almost all early material is weak at the
beginning. Starting to write at an early stage will enable
your supervisor to see what direction you are taking,
where your weaknesses are and give you constructive
advice and you will gain confidence from this feedback.
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The Role of Your Dissertation Guide
Discuss possible directions for the study
and advise on aims and objectives
Suggest some general areas of research
for consideration and where possible,
any examples of current research
relevant to the topic.
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• Examine written work and provide constructive
criticism. It is not the responsibility of the
dissertation guide to correct spelling mistakes,
etc. other than to point out these are present:
nor is it the duty of the dissertation guide to
organize the presentation content of the work,
although advice may be provided if enough work
has been submitted.
• Make student aware of inadequate progress or
any other facts which could impede the
completion of a successful piece of work.
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FORMAT OF A DISSERTATION REPORT
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The Synopsis
A synopsis should provide an overview of your study in
all its aspects. It should be around 1500-2000 in words
and should answer the following questions.
What does this research set out to do and why?
How did it seek to do it?
What are the general findings?
What do these suggest?
What conclusions are reached?
What are the implications of these?
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• Synopsis to be submitted will be strictly as
per the guidelines.
• Acknowledgements
• In these sections you should express thanks to
those who assisted you in your research. These
should be kept to a minimum and include
academic supervisors and people who
participated in the fieldwork, any funding bodies
and probably family, friend or relative.
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– Introduction
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In the introduction you should introduce
the reader to the background of the study
and the nature of the problem being
considered. It should therefore set the
study in context explaining why this study
is important, highlighting significant
issues, problems and ideas. The aim and
objectives should be stated clearly.
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Literature Review
In the process of creating the work it is very
important to pay attention to the dissertation
literature review in order to prove your paper’s
accuracy. Dissertation literature review is a
register or summary of used resources related
to the topic of the dissertation project. Here are
a few guidelines you should follow during the
dissertation literature reviews writing stage.
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• In a dissertation a student is expected to provide
a critical review of the existing literature
(published and unpublished) on the research
area being investigated. This does not mean
that you have to indicate every book and article
that has been written on the subject but anything
you read should be referenced appropriately.
Nevertheless your review should indicate that
you have studied existing and recent work in the
field. The Harvard System (author/date) of
referencing should be used. The literature
review should be:
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• Relevant: Literature used should support
your arguments relating to your research
question and aim and objectives of the
study. It should uphold methodology. In
some cases you may need to discuss
literature review and its relationship to
methodology in a separate chapter.
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• Up-to-Date: Recent literature (not older
than five years) is recommended unless
you are referring to classical works in your
field of study. Sources used have to be in
their majority primary sources, secondary
referencing may be used.
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• Comprehensive: Demonstrate that you have
read extensively without being over inclusive.
Develop your ability to employ summary
statements and to synthesize.
• Use evidence: A literature review in this sense
is just like any other academic writing research
paper. Your interpretation of the available
sources must be backed up with evidence to
show that what you are saying is valid.
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• Be selective: Select only the most important
points in each source to highlight in the review.
• The type of information you choose to mention
should relate directly to the review’s focus,
whether it is , methodological, or chronological.
• Use quotes sparingly: The survey nature of the
literature review does not allow for in-depth
discussion or detailed quotes from the text.
Some short quotes here and there are okay;
though if you want to emphasize a point, but if
you find yourself wanting to put in more quotes,
check with your instructor
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• Summarize and synthesize: Remember to
summarize and synthesize your sources within
each paragraph as well as throughout the
review.
• Keep your own voice:While the literature
review presents others’ ideas, your voice should
remain front and center.
• Use caution when paraphrasing: When
paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be
sure to represent the author’s information or
opinions accurately and in your own words.
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• Now after you get draft in hand? The first thing is to
revise. Spending a lot of time revising is a wise idea,
because your main objective is to present the material,
not the argument. So check over your dissertation help
reviews again to make sure it follows the assignment
and/or your outline. Then just as you would for most
other academic forms of writing, rewrite or rework the
language of your review so that you’ve presented your
information in the most concise manner possible. Be
sure to use terminology familiar to your audience; get rid
of unnecessary jargon or slang. Finally, double check
that you’ve documented your sources and formatted the
review appropriately for your discipline
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Methodology
The purpose of this chapter is to indicate what
you actually did in your research so that your
reader may evaluate the design procedure and
findings of your study. The methodology
section should be well-structured, written in
concise, matter-of-fact manner and should
provide answers to the following questions What actually happened - How? - To whomWith what result? - How were problems dealt
with? Approach to data?
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• The following is an outline of the Methodology Section
• Review of Data Collection Methods
• - Why were the data collection methods you chose the
best suited to fit your research question?
• Secondary Data
• - What secondary data was used? How does it feed into
the current research?
• Primary Data:
• - A detailed description of research conducted, design of
the tool, description of fieldwork, you also need to
mention any specific procedures used.
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• Criteria for Sample Selection
• - Number of total sample, characteristics of sample and
method of selection
• Pilot Study
• - To whom was the study administered, what changes
were made to the research tool
• Methods of Analysis• - Briefly explain how you propose to analyze the data, if
computer software is going to be used, a description of
the type of software has to be included.
• Limitations
• - What were the limitations of this study and how did you
overcome these limitations?
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• 10 Presentation and Analysis of Data
• In the presentation of data you are to present the
major findings of your research in a summarized
form and the details of the analyses which have
been performed. The content and style depend
on the nature of the research method chosen,
but in the case of both quantitative and
qualitative studies, the object is to present the
data collected to answer the research questions.
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Presentation and Analysis of Qualitative
Research
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Presentation of data is mainly descriptive and this is
usually presented in a chronological order.
Analysis of data is conducted through the identification of
themes. The research tools in qualitative research include
open-ended descriptions, transcripts of interviews, essays
and observations. These produce a mass of data which
sometimes can be difficult to sift. A useful way to process
this data is to keep the research question(s) in mind, to
read through the data a couple of times until particular
issues or themes present themselves. These can be
suggestive of a structure for presenting the descriptive
data.
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• Evidence is usually in form of quotations from the
subjects being studied, discussions of people
involved, illustrations, photographs – the variations
are unlimited.
• You may find that there is evidence of difference of
opinion. Include variations in opinion and describe
poles of belief. These add richness to qualitative
research.
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Presentation and Analysis of
Quantitative Research
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As a preliminary to working out results, any test
given must be scored, data inputted into the
appropriate computer programme and additional
material gained from the sample must be sorted
out. This is often purely mechanical work, and it
takes time but must be done accurately.
The data presented must not be in their raw form
(this is placed in the Appendices). The only time
you would ever describe data on individual
subjects is when you have done a case study.
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In this section, the task is to summarise data
meaningfully, through the use of descriptive
statistics. These include mean scores, medians,
ranges, standard deviations, correlation
coefficients.
Visual presentation is very important in
quantitative research. Graphs, tables,
histograms, bar graphs are simple ways in which
to present condensed data but they are also very
effective.
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• Discussion of Results and Conclusions
– This chapter should draw together all the issues of
the research and link back to the aim and objectives
which were outlined in the Introduction and
Methodology. Have the aims set at the beginning
been met? If not, why not?
– Evaluate how your findings bear on issues or points
raised in the Literature Review.
– What are the implications arising from the findings. Be
careful with your generalisations and your
interpretations. Recommendations should be based
on evidence.
– Do you have suggestions for future research in this
area?
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References
• Full details of all the books and journal articles cited or referenced
throughout the dissertation should be included in this chapter. A
reader should be able to identify the exact source and refer to it
directly. The Harvard method of referencing is the recommended
system.
. Appendices
• The Appendices should include selective, supplementary material
which is distracting when placed in the main body of text. Only
material which is necessary for a full understanding of your study
should be included. These include important forms, questionnaires
or interview schedules, description of equipment or settings, tables
and lists of data supportive of the study.
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Appendix 1: Prototype of Title Page
Title
(Subtitle)
(Student’s name)
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements of
Masters in Finance and Control
at the
Amity Center for E-learning
Amity University, Noida
Month Year
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a)
b)
c)
Appendix 2: Assessment Scheme
Synopsis
Mid Term Review, Viva and Presentation
Report
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Conceptual Framework
Objectives & Methodology
Implications & Conclusions
d) Final Viva and Presentation
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60
75
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50
250
Evaluation of A , B, & D mentioned above will be through a formal presentation
in front of a panel which may consists of external experts from the industry.
Guidelines for the assessment of the dissertation
While evaluating the dissertation, faculty guide will consider the following aspects:
Clear statement of the objective or objective(s)
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• Practical relevance of the objectives and methodology to the
business world/economy
• Sufficient background reading and review of the available literature
critically by the student.
• Development of an appropriate analytical framework for addressing
the problem at hand.
• Collection of suitable information / data.
• Appropriateness & relevancy of the techniques employed by the
student to analyze the data / information
• Regularity of student in his/her work.
• Valid conclusion drawn or not.
• Layout of the written report.
• Confidence and knowledge of the student while answering
questions and giving the presentation.
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Appendix 3: Guidelines for Synopsis
The synopsis is a brief out line (about five A-4 size pages or 1500 words is
the maximum limit) of your future work.
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A synopsis must have the following headings:
a) TITLE: Should reflect the objectives of the study. It must be written after
the whole synopsis has been written so that it is a true representative of the
plan (i.e. the synopsis).
b) INTRODUCTION: Should contain brief background of the selected topic.
It must identify the importance of study, its relevance and applicability of
results. It must clearly state the purpose of the study.
c) OBJECTIVES: Objectives are statements of mentions. They inform the
reader clearly what the student plans to do in his/her work. The must
identify the variables involved in research. Objective should be sufficiently
specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound
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d) MATERIAL AND METHODS:
e) STUDY DESIGN: Mention the name of the appropriate study design.
SETTING: Name and place where the research work is to be conducted.
DURATION OF STUDY: How long will the study take with dates.
SAMPLE SIZE: How many persons will be included. If there are groups how
many per group?
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Type of sampling technique employed.
SAMPLE SELECTION:
Inclusion criteria: on what bases will persons be inducted in the study.
Exclusion criteria: On what bases will persons be excluded from the study.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE: A detailed account of how the student
will perform research; how s/he will measure the variable. It includes:
Identification of the study variables
Methods for collection of data
Data collection tools (proforma/questionnaire)
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• f) DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE: Relevant
details naming software to be used, which
descriptive statistics and which test of
significance if and when required, specifying
variables where it will be applied.
g) DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT:
The student must attach, as an annex, the
proforma or questionnaire with the help of which
he/she intends to collect data. The proforma /
questionnaire must match the objectives and
must not contain irrelevant sections like inclusion
and exclusion criteria etc.
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h) REFERENCES
HOW TO ENSURE THAT YOUR SYNOPSIS IS APPROVED IN THE
FIRST ATTEMPT
a.
Read the instruction carefully and ensure correct format.
b.
Abide by the instructions/guidelines and the model synopsis given in
your Login
c.
Cover all the headings
d.
Be brief and to the point
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Length of synopsis – not more than 3 - 4 pages.
f.
Submit two copies of Synopsis Approval Proforma: but only one copy
of Synopsis
g.
Do not submit extracts from any study already conducted in the
Organisation.
h.
Choose a guide with a Post Graduate qualification
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Do not start field work until your synopsis is approved.
j.
In your own interest, do not delay. Submit your Synopsis NOW
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Thank You
Please forward your query
nsinghai@amity.edu
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