I have helped many doctoral students with the PhD dissertation. The usual language is that a master's degree student writes a "thesis" while a doctoral student writes a "dissertation", although sometimes the doctoral paper is referred to as a thesis, too. Some schools have undergraduates write some sort of final paper and some high schools do, too. Following the writing and editing, there are usually "orals", where the student and a committee discuss the paper.
What is the paper supposed to be about? My field of educational research, like the social sciences, typically expects a dissertation to be the report of an experiment or the analysis of some sort of data. The data may be observations of someone or something, say the opening day of school, or numerical information, say responses to a survey. Note that neither the opening day of school nor a written survey is actually an experiment. Either could be part of an experiment, perhaps two opening days that are intentionally different in some way or a before-and-after survey, perhaps before special training or procedure, and afterwards.
The usual distinguishing mark of a simple experiment is some sort of contrast, such as before X and after X, or comparison, such as the success of left-handed teachers v. that of right-handed teachers. But numerical or observational data can come for many sources. In schools and life, there are many moments and phenomena and periods of time that cannot comfortably, ethically or economically be repeated.
There are many other aspects of completing a dissertation requirement besides planning and accomplishing data gathering. The most important are social ones. The committee of reviewers is a social group, many of whom have known and disliked each other for decades. Usually, the dislike relates to differing stances or philosophies. The political currents are not actually the business of the student but it helps to sidestep them as much as possible. There are other circles that can affect the student, too. Political or doctrinal differences in the field studied may need to be understood and accommodated.
Another important aspect of the dissertation is that it is not pure research, done just because the researcher wants to study, understand, or improve things. The paper is part of the requirements of a particular department, college or university. The format, timing and other aspects have to be acceptable to all those bodies.
The typical format of a formal academic paper that reports an experiment or analysis of a data set is five chapters. The first three provide an introduction, a review of other work that relates to the current paper and an explanation of the plan and its use in this study. The fourth chapter explains what was found. The fifth chapter is often titled "Conclusions and Implications". This is the chapter where the student needs to explain the importance of the study for future practice and thought. The 5th chapter differs in that the rest of the paper tends to need careful justification while the final one need freer but still rational thought.
So, now you are all set, if you want to get your doctoral degree or maybe an additional one. Pass a slate of courses, usually between 60 and 100 credits worth, make a plan, have it approved by your advisor and write your dissertation. Remember to be patient with the whole process and don't let politics or specifications for the required color of the cover get you down. It may help to remember that you are dealing with the remnants of a medieval process, modified over the years.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
