Writing an Outstanding Final-Year PThD Dissertation AN ACADEMIC PRESENTATION BY DR. NANCY AGNES, HEAD, TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, PHDASSISTANCE GROUP WWW.PHDASSISTANCE.COM EMAIL: INFO@PHDASSISTANCE.COM
IN-BRIEF You w ill find the b est D issertationResearchAreas/Topics researchers enrolled in E ngineering/management.
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In order to identify the future research topics, we have reviewed the Engineering literature (recent peer-reviewed studies) on the security a n d privacy issues in the network environment for efficient network provisioning. The key challenge that you m i g h t be confronted with while undertaking a PhD dissertation would be the problem you intend to resolve through your research.
INTRODUCTION A dissertation is something that is a part a n d parcel of your PhD course which would eventually pave the w ay for assessment of a course of higher education. The dissertation is a i m e d a t c o m m e n c i n g a n d involving a scholar in the d o m a i n of a c a d e m i c research. The purpose of including a dissertation is to encourage a n d instil a sense of curiosity within PhD scholar that forms the crux for knowledge development. Through this article, a guide to writing a n excellent dissertation is presented.
STEPS TO BE KEPT IN MIND WH ILE WRITIN G AN PHD DISSERTATION
IDENTIFYING A THEME A th em e in this case would pertain to the topic that will be investigated through the research. It is selected on the basis of your (scholar ’s) lived experience or knowledge derived from books. In order to select a n appropriate th em e for a research, it would be helpful if you m a k e a note of wh at is it that you intend to achieve through the research. Nonetheless, it would m a k e sense to indicate that you need to delimit your research prior to getting your hands dirty on the field a n d thus eliminating the scope of getting stranded m i d - w a y.
PROBLEM DEFINITION AND CREATING OBJECTIVES The k e y c h a l l e n g e t h a t y o u m i g h t b e c o n f r o n t e d w i t h w h i l e u n d e r t a k i n g a PhD d i s s e r t a t i o n w o u l d b e t h e p r o b l e m y o u intend to resolve through your research. F o l l o w i n g t h e t o p i c b e i n g s e l e c t e d , i t is t i m e f o r d e f i n i n g t h e p r o b l e m in research. Defining the p r o b l e m of res earch will be i n s t r u m e n t a l i n j u s t i f y i n g w h y t h e r e is a n e e d t o c o n d u c t t h i s research. Once the research p r o b l e m has been defined, you set forth to outline the research objectives.
The r e s e a r c h o b j e c t i v e s fo rms t h e crux, it m a k e s u p t h e c e n t r a l axis on w h i c h t h e r e s e a r c h pivots. But p l e a s e n o t e t h a t it is n o t t h e su bject, b u t w h a t in a u s u a l l y v a s t d o m a i n a t t r a c t s t h e a t t e n t i o n of a r e s e a r c h e r. In c a s e yo u d e c i d e to p r o c e e d f u r t h e r w i t h your d i s s e r t a t i o n w i t h o u t first o u t l i n i n g t h e r e s e a r c h o b j ect ive s, it will l e a d to c o n fu sio n a n d u l t i m a t e l y b e a w a s t e of t i m e .
THEORETIC AL GROUN DS The t h e o r e t i c a l g r o u n d is t h e b a s i c c o m p o n e n t t h a t le n d s s u p p o r t to a n y scien ti fic r e s e a r c h . A t h e o r e t i c a l f r a m e w o r k e n a b l e s t h e r e s e a r c h e r to s i t u a t e t h e i r c o n c e r n s or c h a l l e n g e s in t h e s c o p e of t h e a r e a of k n o w l e d g e w h e r e it h a s b e e n a d d e d . The c o m p o n e n t of T h e o r e t i c a l F r a m e w o r k w i t h in A c a d e m i c R e s e a r c h w o u l d c o m p r i s e of a r e v i e w of articles, texts, books a n d e v e r y o t h e r p e r t i n e n t m a t e r i a l w i t h i n t h e s u b j e c t or domain being investigated.
FRAM IN G THE HYPOTHESIS Research hypotheses are nothing but st ateme n ts a t t e m p t t o p ro v id e a n sw e rs t o t h e p roblemofresearch .
tha t
Such i d e a s w o u l d c o m e to t h e fore r i g h t a t t h e b e g i n n i n g or d u r i n g t h e co u rse of t h e i n v e s t i g a t i v e p r o c e d u r e s on t h e b as is of t h e k n o w l e d g e t h a t t h e s c h o l a r h a s on t h e s u b j ect . Any h y p o t h e s i s t h a t is g o o d w o u l d b e o n e t h a t c a n b e challenged, which m e a n s one that can be confronted with actual data.
RESEARCH RATIONALE The r a t i o n a l e for t h e r e s e a r c h w o u l d p r e s e n t t h e r e a d e r w i t h a r a t i o n a l j u s t i f i c a t i o n as to w h y this r e s e a r c h is b e i n g c a r r i e d out. The j u s t i f i c a t i o n c o m p r i s e s of four k e y rules; a ) w h y a t h e m e w a s s e l e c t e d ? b ) w h a t is t h e p u r p o s e of t h e r e s e a r c h ? c ) w h o w o u l d b e t h e t a r g e t a u d i e n c e for t h e r e s e a r c h ? a n d d ) t h e b a s e ( s o u r c e of i n f o r m a t i o n w h e r e yo u work is b a s e d ) .
For your PhD d i s s e r t a t i o n, y o u n e e d to w ri t e a r o u n d 2 0 0 to words to justify your r a t i o n a l e . This p r o v i d e s research.
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a v a l i d a n d b e l i e v a b l e a r g u m e n t for yo ur
However, t h e a r g u m e n t n e e d s to b e lo g ical, c l e a r a n d d i r e c t as it is w o r t h d e c i d i n g t h e c o n t i n u i t y w i t h i n your r e s e a r c h idea.
METHODOLOGY The m e t h o d o l o g y a d o p t e d for r e s e a r c h will d e s c r i b e your r e s e a r c h process, t h a t is, t h e m a n n e r in w h i c h yo u i n t e n d to c o n d u c t you r r e s e a r c h . In o rd e r to p r e s e n t t h e m e t h o d o l o g y a d o p t e d for r e s e a r c h , yo u sh o u l d t a k e in to a c c o u n t t h e k i n d of r e s e a r c h – t h e m a n n e r of r e s e a r c h , w h i c h m e a n s ; yo u n e e d to o u t l i n e w h e t h e r yo ur r e s e a r c h will b e d es c ri p t i ve , e x p l a n a t o r y or e x p l o r a t o r y.
The R e s e a r c h M e t h o d o l ogy is w h a t will g u i d e your r e s e a r c h reach the intended destination.
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The c h o i c e of m e t h o d o l o g y would depend upon the o b j e c t i v e s t h a t yo u h a v e f r a m e d a n d w h a t yo u i n t e n d to achieve through the research.
RESULTS The results a r e e s s e n t i a l l y t h e f in d in g s t h a t yo u d e r i v e w h i l e c o n d u c t i n g t h e r e s e a r c h . The tools for e x t r a c t i n g results w o u l d d e p e n d on t h e m e t h o d o l o g y. For i n s t a n c e , if yo ur s t u d y utilizes a Q u a l i t a t i v e M e t h o d o l ogy, y o u w o u l d d e p e n d on a t h e m a t i c a n a l y s i s to a r r i v e a t results. In c o n t r a s t , if your s t u d y in volves a quantitative m e t h o d o l o g y, s t a t i s t i c a l tools w o u l d b e u s e d to derive results.
REFEREN C E S T here a r e s e v e r a l r e f e r e n c i n g a n d f o r m a t t i n g styles t h a t a r e a v a i l a b l e a n d t h e c h o i c e of r e f e r e n c i n g a n d f o r m a t t i n g style w o u l d d e p e n d u p o n your e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t it u t io n . Each i n s t i t u t i o n follows a fixed style. The m o s t c o m m o n style of r e f e r e n c i n g a n d f o r m a t t i n g is H a r v a r d w h i c h is in p r a c t i c e across a l a r g e n u m b e r of e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n
CONCLUSION These a r e s o m e of t h e c o m p o n e n t s t h a t n e e d to b e k e p t in m i n d w h e n w r i t i n g a PhD d i s s e r t a t i o n . Though we h a ve not covered l i t e r a t u r e r e v i e w in this, w h i c h d oes n o t m e a n t h a t L it er at u r e Review is n o t i m p o r t a n t .
However, t h e w a y y o u f r a m e your o b j ect ive s, m e t h o d o l o g y a n d d e f i n e t h e p r o b l e m s t a t e m e n t w i t h i n your r e s e a r c h is w h a t w o u l d e n s u r e t h a t yo u a c h i e v e t h e a i m w i t h w h i c h y o u a r e c o n d u c t i n g this r e s e a r c h .
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