Two Dissertation Questions - references and format

I am working on the Concept Paper (class starts on 6/1) and I am getting a jump on the Literature Review section. Here are my two questions - how many references did you (PhD and DBA holders) use? I have about 60 so far. Is that too few? I have heard as many as 150-200 are used. Any feedback would be great.

Second question (the really dumb one) - are all dissertation formats the same with Chapters 1 - 5 being Introduction/Problem Statement, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings, Conclusions? I ask because I was speaking to someone who claims to have a D.Div. and asked her about a Literature Review and how she did it and she looked at me like I had three heads and changed the subject. Just wanted to ask

 

I followed the general rule of two references per page on a paper, thesis, or dissertation. I think that would depend also if your dissertation is qualitative or quantitative. I did qualitative so I had one or more chapters that were narrative of what happened in a series of interviews. In sections as such I did not use references.

 

Sixty? That's more than enough!

Yes, for DBAs and PhDs, they are all essentially the same. The chapter format that you described is fine. However, I have no idea how religious doctorates are chaptered; they are an entirely different animal.

 

Let me clarify - 60 total (not just for the lit review).

 

Yes, for the concept paper, 60 should be more than enough. As you go through the process, it may increase or decrease, depending on your needs. In the end, you probably won't use them all.

 

Is "concept paper" another term for proposal?

 

The following was retrieved from http://www.gslis.org/wiki/Writing_the_dissertation#Dissertation_structure

Dissertation format

Below is the standard, familiar, ordinary, and probably easiest form to follow. Essentially, it is a way of setting out a problem (parts 1 and 2), a way of solving that problem (part 3), the solution (part 4), and reflections on that solution (parts 5 and 6). A structure similar to this is used in many dissertation and research paper competitions as a guide for evaluators. No one says that the dissertation has to have this structure, but it obviously helps the evaluators when they can easily find sections corresponding to the ones they need to rate.

1. Introduction -- tells what this is about; why it's important; states research questions; summarizes the study
2. Background (aka conceptual framework, literature review; theory; previous work) -- sets the theoretical and research context; what related work has been done; why haven't these questions already been answered?
3. Methods -- restates research question(s); what you did (as researcher); why this site; why these data? why 3 cases? limitations? etc.
4. Results (aka Findings; stories from the setting) -- What you found out; what happened. Sometimes this chapter is broken down into several sections or even separate chapters. Some people separate the descriptive parts from the more interpretive parts. For example, you might have three parts corresponding to the three case studies.
5. Discussion (aka interpretation) -- what does this mean? How does it connect with chapter 2?
6. Conclusion -- Briefly summarizes, but more importantly, synthesizes the results in terms of what this means and why it's important; does this at a higher level than chapter 5; usually includes sections on implications for teachers, for researchers; open questions; sometimes 5 and 6 are combined into one chapter
7. Bibliography -- Should the bibliography for the dissertation include only the references cited in the text, or should it reflect the range of reading you did to get there? Generally it includes only those references actually cited. If some readings were significant for you then they would most likely work their way into a discussion of the theoretical and empirical background, and then be cited and included in the list. You could append "additional readings", "related works", or the like, but I don't know that it adds much for a dissertation in the way it does for a book.

 

I thought the D.D. (in US) was honorary. I know that some schools in S. Africa offer it as an earned degree.

 

How could there be a standard rule as to how many references should be in a dissertation? If your study is in a relatively new field, you will probably have few references (even though you would probably point out work in related fields). If you analyze Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, 500 references may not be enough to situate your research in the field.

My M.A. thesis had around 60 references (new field, but multi-discipline), my Ph.D. thesis will probably have more. Both are in Linguistics.

The second question is actually not stupid at all. The format you describe is standard for research papers in (American?) English academic writing. Your can conceptualize your dissertation as either a big research paper or as something different (e.g. a book). The 5-chapter format is never wrong as it is conventionally accepted and contains all necessary elements. However, you can of course add to the number of chapters, e.g.

1. Intro
2. Lit review
3. Methdology 1
4. Results 1
5. Methodology 2
5. Results 2
6. Conclusion

 

Is it acceptable or common practice to write a thesis to obtain your MA and then expand on it for a PhD dissertation? Couldn't you save some time going this route?

 

It can be earned as far as I know.

 

Have you checked out the forum over at www.phinished.org? It's a great place for people working on PhD programs and dissertations. They can probably answer any question you can think of as most of the people there have already dealt with all of them!

 

My daughter in laws dissertation had 180 references and 200 pages (marine science). In her UC school dissertations use a bibliography rather than references.

I have an engineering dissertation on my desk from the University of Illinois that has 41 references and 80 pages.

Not a wide sample but ratio is 1 to 2 references per page.

During my brief foray into a Ph.D. at NCU around 5 years ago and in researching my proposed dissertyation topic I found one references and that was a Ph.D. disertation from George Mason which in turn only had two or three references. (Topic was recognition of professional society membership on ones career growth).

 

NCU has guides to follow for your dissertation (as do most schools)

http://www.ncu.edu/writingprogram/pdfdisplay.aspx?menu_id=166
http://www.ncu.edu/writingprogram/pdfdisplay.aspx?menu_id=173
http://www.ncu.edu/writingprogram/pdfdisplay.aspx?menu_id=342

Check with your advisor for applicable guide and revision.

 

Hi Randell,

My dissertation was about 260 pages long and I had about 200 references (thank you EBSCO!). I have been on a number of thesis/dissertation committees and we usually don't count the number of references--we are more concerned that the references are relevant and follow the correct format (APA, MLA, etc.)

Tony

 

This is typically not done, since most MA theses are not necessarily original works of research, as dissertations are. Also, many universities will not allow you to work on your dissertation research until you receive approval.

Of course, in academia, there are exceptions to nearly every rule

 

Very true. I know several people who did expand on their masters thesis for a PhD. For the dissertation though, it did have to be "original".

 

Hi,

I am interested in studying Linguistics at the graduate level. May I ask where you attended school for the MA and PhD? Are you in a B&M or DL program?

Thanks,

 

This is the format I am using form my doctoral project.

- title page:Title of project, your name, student number, module
code, month and year of submission

- Contents Page: This is easy to add at the end, but if you are having
difficulty getting started you might want to do the contents page first
using the standard chapter headings and add the page numbers later.

- Summary:This should take the style of an executive briefing explaining
in outline what the project was about, the main approach used and major conclusions/recommendations.

- Chapter 1:You should put your project into context, explaining why the
project area is important.

- Chapter 2 :Terms Of reference/objectives

- Chapter 3 :Methodology describes and justifies your choice of research
approach and data collection techniques.

- Chapter 4 roject Activity describes and analyses what you did.

- Chapter 5 : Project Findings presents your results with a full discussion
and interpretation.

- Chapter 6:Conclusions and Recommendations. Your conclusions must
be clearly drawn from your findings and address the terms of
reference/objectives you set in Chapter 2.

I hope this can help.

 

My understanding at NCU is they look for the lit review to be around 50 pages. I do not know if that is a rule or a guidline. SO one answer would be 50 pages worth is how many you need