The Authentic, Right, and Proper Way to Structure a Ph.D. Dissertation

What's Different About the Dissertation Than a Long Paper or Thesis?

Besides the obvious differences in length, there are several other important differences in the way you will put together a book length study like this. Also, a dissertation contains all the sections you would see in a book length project anywhere. Dissertations can and might contain

• A Title Page
• A Dedication Page
• A Thank You Note by The Author to all Who Helped With the Study
• A Table of Contents
• Dissertation Begins with Introduction (begins page one proper)
• Chapter 1-?
• Works Cited (this will be extensive - keep track of everything!)

And then you begin with the introduction, and your individual chapters.

Dissertation Guidelines

First let me say that each and every university has its on "Dissertation Guidelines." Often these are published on the general school websites of any school, for potential doctorate applicants to peruse.

Large Left Margin for Binding

Second, the reason that dissertation formatting is so unusual compared to other works is because it will be bound in leather and held in the libraries archives. Therefore, you must consider the binding at the left side of your dissertation as you compose. You'll have a huge left margin, often 2 and 1/2 inches or more, so that the book length work can be bound at the left.

Prefatory Sections and Formatting

Also, the dissertation has many prefatory inclusions that are typically formatted differently than the rest of the book to distinguish prefatory materials from the book proper. Prefatory For example, one dissertation at a respected university insists upon I, ii, iii for numbering prefatory materials, and then switches to numbers 1, 2, and 3, to begin with the first page of the introduction.

Footnotes

The dissertation is a completely different animal than anything you've ever written. For one thing, you'll want to employ footnotes, those discussions you see in high level scholarly research papers that are little discussions that might interest the reader about a critic, book, concept, theory, or any other matter you might digress upon. These can very from a simple "For more on Bergson's theory on laughter, see his epic work titled..." to very long paragraph digressions that are a necessary explanation that you cannot make within the text. Employing these footnotes is a sign that you've understood all the complexity and the scholarly world at large your study exists within.

Sources, Importance of Peer Review, and the Works Cited

One of the more challenging aspects of the dissertation is keeping track of all the information that will be contained in your works cited. Let me advise you carefully about this. Take the time to cite each one fully as you go - do not depend on memory to remind you where you got this information - it won't, not in the scattered memory you will develop with "dissertation syndrome."

Seriously, your works cited will be epic. It helps to have a notebook in which you write down all the information you'll need - from the source of the quote, with author, publisher, year of publication, and, most importantly - the exact page numbers of the quotes.

Also, use as many peer-reviewed articles from the school's library that you can get.

In your works cited, your method of citation will depend upon the discipline in which you study. Humanities related majors typically use MLA. The sciences use APA. Some schools also require Chicago Style, which is frequently used for book length projects.

Conclusion

If you work on this every single day with the primary purpose of getting it done and getting past this part of the doctoral program you will go far. Procrastinating or trying to create a publishable book, or something that impresses, is not advised. Just get it done.