The Art of Writing a Dissertation: A Guidebook for Students and Researchers is a comprehensive book designed to throw some light on the ins and outs of planning and writing a dissertation. This practical book is primarily geared towards helping social sciences students overcome many hindrances and dispel doubts about a number of issues related to the technical side of the research methodology process. This guide is useful for other individuals who would like to understand the basic principles to undertake academic research. It focuses on the main elements of writing a research paper irrespective of the nature of the research approach adopted, be it quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research. The authors strongly believe that it will serve as a guide for undergraduate and postgraduate social sciences students interested in academic research.
In this book, various components of research are clearly listed and briefly discussed. The concepts considered cover most, if not all, the components related to the research paper journey. The book also includes the three major components of a research process: development of the research proposal, fieldwork (data collection and analysis) and writing-up of the research. Practice opportunities and assignments are provided as well.
In each section, there is a number of tasks so that readers would cross-check their understanding and translate the knowledge they have gained into practice. For further reference, major works are given at the end of the corresponding sections under foot notes and bibliographical references.
The authors believe that careful consideration of the book will pave the way for novice researchers to conduct academic and professional research with much ease and confidence and avoid many pitfalls that would negatively impact the quality of an academic manuscript.
