Dissertations and theses guidance
Our guidance can help you complete the large pieces of written work that may be required for your course.
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Learn how to complete a dissertation, write a literature review, structure your writing and format your work.
The Library has created a reading list featuring various online resources to help you complete your dissertation.
Approaching your dissertation
What is covered:
- The importance of choosing the right topic.
- How to narrow the scope of your research.
- How to write your research proposal.
- An introduction to research methods.
Writing your dissertation
What is covered:
- How to get started.
- How to work with your supervisor.
- How to structure your dissertation.
Approaching your literature review
What is covered:
- Planning your search.
- Finding literature.
- Evaluating and organising your material.
- Writing your review.
Formatting your work
Styles: Using the 'Normal' style
Styles are the foundation of a Word document. And it begins with the 'Normal' style. Change its attributes to suit the requirements of dissertation/thesis.
Styles: Using 'Heading' styles
Apply 'Heading' styles to the headings and sub-headings in your document, and save yourself lots of effort. Use them to control the appearance of your headings (the font type, size and colour), to create an automatic Table of Contents, and introduce multilevel numbering to your headings.
Using Multilevel numbering for headings
Want to introduce a numbered hierarchical structure to your document? Then add Multilevel numbering to the 'Heading' styles that you have applied to the headings in your document. For example, 1. 1.1, 1.2, 2., 2.1, 2.1.1
Working smarter
Table of Contents
Let Word do the hard work for you. Once you have applied 'Heading' styles to your document, you can create an automatic Table of Contents with a few mouse clicks. Update the listing at any time as you continue to edit your work.
Captions
Achieve consistent looking numbered labels for your figures and tables by using the Caption tool. You can save huge amounts of time and effort by then creating an automatic listing for them.
Page Breaks
Why use them? Well, do you use the Enter key to make a heading appear at the top of a new page, only to find that as you continue to edit your document the heading moves up or down the page? Not with Page Breaks!
Structuring your work
Section Breaks: Changing page numbering
A dissertation/thesis typically has different types of page numbering in its footers. To feature a title page with no page numbering, then a series of pages with small Roman numerals, followed by your main document displaying standard Arabic page numbering – you need Section Breaks.
Section Breaks: Changing page orientation
You can change the page orientation within your document by using Section Breaks. You can then switch from portrait to landscape to accommodate e.g. a large image, and then switch back to portrait orientation for the remainder of the document.
Find dissertations and theses
You can access past Salford theses and previous dissertations and theses from other institutions. Looking at past dissertations can help give you an idea of what other research has been done in your subject area and can also help give you an idea of what a dissertation looks like. Find out how to search for dissertations and theses