dissertation on website design

How to write the perfect design dissertation

Tutors and students from top design colleges share their advice.

Studying design is about crafting a great design portfolio that will wow potential employers, right? Well, yes. But don't discount the importance of astute creative thinking, and expressing yourself eloquently through the written word. In short, your design dissertation matters.

"I don't believe that design students should be focused entirely on portfolio work," argues Myrna MacLeod , programme leader for Graphic Design at Edinburgh Napier University. "They should also be able to demonstrate an interest in the contexts that underpin their work, and the histories and connections that have informed our practice."

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"Think of a dissertation as an opportunity, not a burden," urges Craig Burston , Graphic and Media Design course leader at London College of Communication (LCC). "It gives us visually-minded people an opportunity to demonstrate that we too can construct arguments and distil complex notions." 

As Burston points out, this is not just an academic exercise: the power of persuasion is often key to success as a commercial designer. "Clients seek clarity, and project concepts or proposals need to be put into context," he says.

Read on to discover some top tips from leading tutors and their students for nailing your design dissertation…

01. Treat it like a design brief

"A great dissertation should be a designed artefact, and portfolio-worthy in its own right," says Burston. And like a design brief, it should be about solving a problem: "Make sure it has clearly stated aims, strong focus, and doesn't lack opinion or rhetoric," he adds.

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"The value of a designed dissertation as a portfolio piece is that it's a holistic view of the individual," agrees Sarah James , senior lecturer in Visual Communication at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB). 

"It shows, type, editorial, research and aesthetic skill, as well as the personal interests and convictions of the individual."

James identifies AUB student Maarit Koobas , who investigated responsive type in both her dissertation and final project, as a particularly strong example of this. "Her design version was one of the most authentic, restrained and elegantly expressive I have ever received," she enthuses.

Koobas conducted a huge amount of initial research into both the contexts in which responsive type can be seen – such as advertising, product design, science and material cultures – and the theories behind its analysis, including semiotics, philosophy and politics. "Creating and analysing ideas, before they end up in your portfolio, is what design is all about," argues Koobas.

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02. Write about your passion

"To develop essay questions, AUB students are asked to consider what they love, hate or are puzzled by in their practice – essentially, what moves them," says James. 

"A poor dissertation is inauthentically chosen for ease as opposed to interest," she adds. "It rambles and blusters, using complex language to mask insufficient research." 

"You can tell a mile off when the writer isn't interested," agrees Burston. "How can you expect the reader to care about it if you don't? Write about something that reflects your interests, focus and direction. I've read fascinating dissertations on topics as diverse as patterns in nature, and Brutalist car parks. Make me interested in what interests you."

For Edinburgh Napier graduate Fiona Winchester , this topic turned out to be typography in graphic novels. "I love reading them, but I think people still don't take them seriously as an art form, which is a shame," she says. For her dissertation, she conducted qualitative interviews using modified pages with and without imagery (shown above). 

Her advice is simple: "Narrow down your idea to be as precise as possible. The smaller your question, the easier it is to research and try to answer it."

If you're struggling to get the ball rolling on the actual writing process, Winchester advocates starting with whichever bit you have ideas for. "If you're stuck, it's so much easier to write in whatever order it comes to you, and then edit it into a dissertation, than to try write straight through from beginning to end," she insists.

03. Don't be afraid to talk to people

"I always think my students get the most out of the new streams of knowledge they find from talking to people," says McLeod. "It breaks down barriers and allows them to find answers to problems. Hopefully they will adopt that approach when designing for people also."

In some cases, this can involve interviewing your design heroes. "Students are very surprised when they send a question to Stefan Sagmeister , Milton Glaser or Michael Wolff and they reply with the most precious nugget of knowledge," smiles McLeod. 

But remember: it's your dissertation, so don't get lazy and expect your interview subject to do all the heavy lifting.

In other cases, it could be as simple as asking friends or family to help proofread. "It is quite daunting writing such a large body of text," admits Kaori Toh , a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins, whose dissertation explored the politics of design and technology.

"I often felt I'd get lost in all that text and research," she confesses. "Therefore, I would often send my drafts to a couple of friends to have them look through, and keep my writing cohesive."

04. Reflect on your design practice 

Most of all, dissertations are an opportunity to reflect on, and develop, your creative process as a designer. "Ultimately, it's your job to make your work relevant and credible, and the dissertation helps you learn how to do this," adds Burston. 

Of course, writing doesn't always come easily to visually minded people – and Burston highlights the fact that dyslexia is not uncommon amongst designers. 

"You're not on your own – in our profession, quite the opposite in fact – so do seek academic support, and just enjoy thinking and writing about 'stuff' that informs your practice," is his advice.

One of Burston's stand-out students from this year, Tom Baber , welcomed support from the university to help with his dyslexia. Baber's dissertation focused on type design, and particularly the extent to which the longwinded design process is worth the effort, compared to using an existing typeface.

"I saw it as an opportunity to approach other type designers and see what they thought. Turns out I'm not the first to ask the question," he smiles. "Writing my dissertation helped me change from a 'maker' mentality to a 'designer' mentality, and be more critical of my ideas."

Related articles:

• 15 things they didn't teach you at design school
• The skills every design graduate needs
• 5 alternative routes into design education

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The design and aesthetic performance of web sites (Entire thesis)

This thesis investigates the visual aesthetic performance of Web sites. An experiment was conducted in which a Web site, designed with three controlled levels of 'visual enrichment', was evaluated on a number of measures by two subject groups. The measures used represent facets of the Categorical-Motivation model of aesthetics, plus others directly related to the performance of Web sites. The results of the experiment indicate that the drivers of site evaluation were primarily exploratory variables that represent 'novelty', 'interest' and 'fun'. This supports the argument that an important question to consider when designing a Web site is not merely 'can the site's audience use the Web site?', but also 'does the site's audience want to use the Web site?' Visual, audio and interactive appeal are, as the findings show, very important design considerations. This research adds to a body of knowledge that seeks to understand aesthetic phenomena and develops a theoretical framework that will prove useful for the investigation of visual interfaces.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Internet; E-commerce; Website design'

Create a spot-on reference in apa, mla, chicago, harvard, and other styles.

Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Internet; E-commerce; Website design.'

Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.

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Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.

Kiani, Gholam Reza. "Business-to-business advertising effectiveness in the Web context." Thesis, Henley Business School, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.481276.

Teesri, Sumuscha. "Implementation business-to-business electronic commerce website using active server pages." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2000. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3023.

Oliveira, Luiz Claudio Barbosa de. "Uma proposta de modelo para avaliação de websites de comércio eletrônico: aplicação ao varejo de CD'S." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/3713.

Hjärne, Sara, Mathilda Perem, and Ewelina Wallin. "Hur fungerar egentligen köpbeslutsprocessen inom e-handel? : En kvalitativ studie om konsumenternas beteende vid konsumtion på Internet." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-34484.

Steyn, Leonie. "Using Internet resources and e-learning modalities for training learners in Nutrition for people living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa." Thesis, Pretoria : [s.n.], 2004. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05122005-083839.

Gustafsson, Madeleine. "Bibliotekens möjligheter och begränsningar kopplat till digitalisering och bibliotekens webbsidor : Med fokus på digitalisering och barn och unga." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för ABM, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-447373.

Ahrholdt, Dennis. "Erfolgsfaktoren einer E-Commerce-Website empirische Identifikation vertrauensfördernder Signale im Internet-Einzelhandel." Wiesbaden Gabler, 2009. http://d-nb.info/1000542912/04.

Grannas, Jenny. "What factors are important in developing a successful e-commerce website?" Thesis, University of Gävle, Department of Mathematics, Natural and Computer Sciences, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-166.

As the internet has become an increasingly growing market for companies, it has also subsequently revolutionized shopping. There are countless different options on the internet for individuals. If a website does not live up to the expectations, there is always another one just a few clicks away. This raises the demands on the retailers, in terms of development and maintenance of their e-commerce websites. In order to succeed, there are many things that have to be considered and addressed. This thesis research discusses some of the most essential questions that may arise during the development of an e-commerce website. The process has been divided into four different sections; graphical design, information design, interaction design, and online trust. Each one of these sectors is important and every website developer should be familiar with them.

Wang, Yan. "Design and creation of e-commerce website for Count-on-us Ltd /." Leeds, 2001. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/counter2/compstmsc/20002001/wang.zip.

Matějka, Lukáš. "Návrh na podporu prodeje služeb společnosti." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta podnikatelská, 2014. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-224373.

Khialani, Dinesh. "The Influence of Website Design on Online Trust in Electronic Commerce Retailing Environments." Diss., NSUWorks, 2018. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/1061.

Liljestam, Christopher. "Exploring a voice user interface to convey information in an e-commerce website." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22592.

MIKAELSSON, JENNIE, and ALEXANDRA JAKOBSSON. "AllWorkIt.se- en affärsplan om unika arbetskläder på internet." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Textilhögskolan, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-20130.

The aim of our report was to develop a business-plan, where the idea is to sell work wear to consumers through e-commerce. The background is that we are seeing an increased interest in free time activities that require some form of working clothes. For example, we have taken notice to the many TV-programs about cooking, baking, home decorating and gardening and that they are very popular. We have also observed that modern people like to fix their homes and we want them to be able do it in style. We think that the combination of design and functionality is an interesting approach for this type of clothing and we think that selling by e-commerce is both modern and democratic. E-commerce is available to a very broad audience and is steadily growing in number of users. We have chosen to concentrate our attention on the satisfaction of our customer and have therefore chosen to focus our work at customer service, customer satisfaction and delivery. We have seen that our competitors fail to compete in this area. Some, for example, do only have Web-based customer support and long delivery time. We will not initially be able to compete with the large range of products that several of our competitors have. It is also one of the reasons for our choice to position ourselves on the market with an advanced customer service. We have defined this report to concern the topic of consumers only, leaving our corporate customers behind. This since our restrictions from the beginning was that the report had to involve retailing. We have decided our target group to be a woman or man with a big interest for her/his hobby and with a need for stylish working clothes with high quality. But it could also be a woman or man with higher standards for her/his working clothes regarding fashion and quality, then what is offered by their employer. We have interviewed system developer and e-business expert Ralf Lindberg from 3bits Consulting AB. He has helped us with answering several questions about the practical work around a web-shop. We have also taken the help of several employees at Segers Fabriker AB for help on specific issues regarding assortment, logistics and purchasing prices. The reference books we have used have been updated and relevant. We have tried to be critical in our choice of sources and have tried to avoid online dictionaries such as Wikipedia, where the origin is uncertain. The conclusions we made in our report is that our business plan and business concept is viable. However, the competition and the market conditions makes it hard to succeed.

Program: Butikschefsutbildningen

Quiñones, Cesar. "Implementation business-to-consumer electronic commerce website using asp.net web programming framework." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2003. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2948.

Batista, Filipe Miguel Antunes. "O Impacto Económico e Social do Comércio electrónico em Portugal." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/575.

LASSALLE, Paul, and Clément LEMAIRE. " French luxury companies: Challenge to design E-Commerce without affecting their brand image ." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-5364.

NYKVIST, EVELINA, and JENNIFER RINGHEIM. "Hemparty : en studie om hur det är möjligt att tillämpa hempartyts säljverktyg på internet." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Textilhögskolan, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-20690.

Tonnellier, Aurore. "Le statut juridique du site internet." Thesis, Paris 2, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011PA020068.

Khodr, Nino. "Strengthening Efficiency and Safety in Forklift Operations through Autobiographical Design." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-296186.

Njeje, Sicelo Given. "Implementing a robust, cost effective, e-commerce platform for a disadvantaged community of the Eastern Cape, South Africa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/75.

GOVIN, Sandra, and Cedric ESPOSITO-FARESE. "The use of Web tools in French companies." Thesis, Halmstad University, School of Business and Engineering (SET), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-5009.

Describe and explore how French companies having a Website/homepage use Web tools and their Website/homepage.

The authors have gathered primary data through a quantitative research method. The research method chosen is the checklist observational method. The checklist used for this paper is composed of 29 items that have been observed on a sample of 20 French companies.

Jere, Nobert Rangarirai. "Implementation of a rewards based negotiation module for an e commerce platform." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/267.

Bilyayeva, Tetiana A. "Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Users’ Perception of the Navigation Organization of an E-Commerce Web Application." UNF Digital Commons, 2012. http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/413.

Dabous, Feras Taleb Abdel Rahman School of Information Systems Technology &amp Management UNSW. "A pattern based approach for the architectural design of e-business applications." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Information Systems Technology and Management, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/22047.

Conde, Ana Cristina Pinzkoski. "Estímulos no ambiente de compra online: impacto na intenção de recompra do consumidor." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-10062013-160834/.

Bäck, Karlander Marie, and Anders Eriksson. "Det första intrycket gör allt : Webbdesign på användarens villkor." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Handels- och IT-högskolan, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-17334.

Offensend, Elizabeth Gillette. "Crafting a Space: A Feminist Analysis of the Relationship Between Women, Craft, Business and Technology on Etsy.com." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/892.

KJELIN, MARIA, and EMELIE ÖSTLUND. "Hur ska klädexponeringen se ut i den perfekta webbshoppen?" Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Textilhögskolan, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-20694.

Fernandes, Clara Eloïse. "Interação e tecnologia ao serviço da moda: the virtual interface kinect interaction." Master's thesis, Universidade da Beira Interior, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/1727.

Köpmans, Anna. "Grafisk profil till ett företag som tillverkar handgjorda textilprodukter av naturmaterial : Hur kan en hemsida kommunicera ett varumärke?" Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Grafisk teknologi, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-10656.

Mynařík, Jan. "Aktuální trendy spotřebitelského chování." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2010. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-72696.

Coelho, Raquel. "Website design on the hospitality industry: how Portuguese men and women differ on their design preferences of destination marketing organizations’ websites." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/39605.

Reis, Maria Margarida Rodrigues. "Portugal chefs: conceção e desenvolvimento de website." Master's thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/20583.

Moczarny, Izabela Maria. "Dual-method usability evaluation of e-commerce websites : in quest of better user experience." Diss., 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5300.

Yang, Tao. "Brand and usability in content-intensive websites." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/4667.

Huang, Tse-Ming, and 黃則銘. "Applying Analytic Network Process to E-commerce Website Navigation Design." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/02759986972735617385.

Meyer, Natalie. "E-commerce interface design parameters and their relation to website popularity." Diss., 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25191.

Lin, Peiwen, and 林珮雯. "The Study of E-commerce Website Interface Design–Aesthetics v.s. Usability." Thesis, 2005. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/03313452196632469532.

Torres, Ângela Sofia Felgueiras. "Website e conteúdos multimédia para plataforma de E-commerce Redesign e comunicação da plataforma digital: Advogados 24 horas." Master's thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/88045.

Oliveira, Sara de Castro. "MARMOCAIMA: Re-design da Identidade e do Website." Master's thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/92545.

Lin, Ya-Fang, and 林雅芳. "A Study on User-Centered-Design Communication Model at an e-Commerce Website Project." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93970267226734909832.

Lee, Po-Yen, and 李柏彥. "An E-commerce Website Design of Interface and Content for the Large-Size Males." Thesis, 2016. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11808873868396322711.

ching, Li shih, and 李世景. "The Personalized E-Commerce Website With Collaborative Design Mechanism-Under the Worship Culture Industry." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57251185093880337535.

Pereira, José Augusto Torres Faria. "Avaliação e desempenho de empresas no âmbito do comércio eletrónico: e-commerce." Master's thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1822/46958.

Castro, Alberto Jorge Ribas. "Relatório de estágio na startup Facestore: estagiário no Departamento de Marketing." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/26884.

Sardinha, Inês Bettencourt. "E-loyalty in e-commerce: a study at GIRISSIMA.COM." Master's thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/15509.

Chen, Hsing Hung, and 陳信宏. "The Influence of E-commerce Website Design Factors on Consumer’s Impulsive Buying Intentions - Based on S-O-R Theory." Thesis, 2014. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64204636345429455094.

Van, Lille Adele. "E-commerce opportunities for the Ficksburg Cherry Festival (2012)." Diss., 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13390.

Oliveira, Tiago André Gonçalves Félix de. "Estimation Models for the adoption and use of information technology: internet-related technologies at firm level in the Portuguese and European context." Doctoral thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/6735.

Zhao, Kanghua, University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, and School of Computing and Mathematics. "e-Marketplace development and trading agent design for supply chain management." 2006. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/23527.

Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings? In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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Top 27 Outstanding Dissertation Ideas On Web Design

Recently students are showing great interest in pursuing a career in web design. With more and more service providing companies going online, there is a huge need for web designers who can design an attractive and informative website for promotion of the services. Since the demand for such designers is increasing, many colleges and universities are opening up a course for web design. Now, before a student can complete the degree, he/she needs to complete a dissertation on web design. This is done basically to see how far the particular student can think and contribute independently to this field. This can be challenging for most of the students since it is an amalgamation of theoretical knowledge and scientific experiment. If you want to know more, you can try this site for additional help.

Web design is a huge field under computer science that includes a user interface, information, page navigation, layouts and templates, imagery, fonts, etc. These things should be combined in such a way that it meets the target of the page owner and helps promote his brand. The ultimate goal of the web designer is to meet the demands of the page owner and design the page as he/she says. If you are searching for a dissertation topic on web design, you can consult with your teachers and friends or search on the internet. There are some pages dedicated to web designing and web development. Let us see the areas of web designing on which you can compile a thesis.

• How is web design creating a virtual space that is often perceived to be real?
• Web design and internet culture in today’s world.
• Is the virtual space slowly overlapping the real life space?
• How to increase foot traffic with web design?
• How to create a one-click web page?
• How to create a responsive web page?
• Web design and search engine optimization.
• Web server management
• The commercial, cultural and social potential of web design
• The difference between web design and web development.
• Web design and content strategy
• Using responsive web design to serve a multi-device audience
• Tips to create a more engaging website
• How to create a mobile website
• E-learning and web design
• Visual arts and web design
• Web design and improved communication
• Web design and HTML tagging
• How to use storytelling to create a more compelling website content
• Web fonts and font stacks
• Web page analysis
• The effects of color and organization on the web
• Semantic web techniques and knowledge representation.
• The future of Web design: HTML5
• Basics of a website promotion
• Cross Browser testing
• Basics of web designing

These are some of the basic research areas on web design.

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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Why search this literature?

It is crucial for graduate students to search the thesis and dissertation literature to make sure that an idea or hypothesis has not already been tested, explored, and published.  An additional reason to search this literature is that it is rich with ideas and information not found elsewhere.  If graduate students do not continue on as academics or if students that came after them in their programs did not continue their research, this literature may be the end of the line for scholarship on a topic.

ProQuest has published dissertation e-learning modules covering the usefulness of using dissertations as a research source.  See link below:

• Dissertation eLearning resources from ProQuest Uncover the value of dissertations.

Library Databases

All graduate students should, at minimum, search the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database (PQDT) to see if the research they are proposing to do has already been done by a student at another institution/university.  RIT dissertations and theses have been included in PQDT since approximately 2006.

• Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window Identifies Ph.D. dissertations from U.S. & Canadian universities since 1861. Abstracts from 1980. Master's theses from 1988. Many with full-text.

RIT Digital Institutional Repository

• Digital Institutional Repository The digital institutional repository for the Rochester Institute of Technology, managed by RIT Libraries.
• ProQuest - Most Accessed Dissertations/Theses

Each month ProQuest updates this list of the top 25 Most-Accessed Dissertations and Theses across all subjects, based upon total PDF downloads. Find out what is trending.

The web sites below should also be consulted as appropriate to perform a full and thorough review of the dissertation and thesis literature beyond your introductory search of ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.  Consider whether a particular country or part of the world would have an interest in your potential research topic.

Only large-scale repositories of dissertations and theses are included here. You may also need to search individual university repositories directly.

• Ebsco Open Dissertations Search thousands of open dissertations and theses from over 50 participating libraries.
• EThOS (from the British Library) EThOS offers a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education.
• Indian Institute of Science Dissertations and theses from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
• Indian Theses and Dissertations (Shodhganga) Over 130 participating Indian universities and over 8800 ETD documents.
• National ETD Portal (South Africa) South African theses and dissertations.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The NDLTD Union Catalog contains more than one million records of electronic theses and dissertations. Search the Union Catalog from here: http://thumper.vtls.com:6090/?theme=NDLTD
• OhioLINK ETD Center Electronic theses and dissertations from colleges and universities in the state of Ohio.
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations OATD aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 600 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes over 1.5 million theses and dissertations. RIT is included.
• Theses Canada Canadian universities voluntarily participate by submitting approved theses and dissertation to Theses Canada. Click on "Search Theses Canada" under the Introduction on the left hand side of the page to begin your search.
• TROVE From the National Library of Australia - Search Trove to explore amazing collections from Australian libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives.
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Graphic Design Dissertation Topics & Titles

Published by Grace Graffin at January 4th, 2023 , Revised On August 16, 2023

Looking for some exciting graphic design research topics for your dissertation? We’ve got you covered. Get your graphic design dissertation topics from our experts.

Whether you’re a student or an active professional, graphics design needs you to be spontaneous. This implies possessing the power to return with distinctive and original work once functioning on a client’s project or a graphic design thesis for your lecturer. It’s one profession that depends entirely on creativity.

Graphic design is in the spotlight everywhere in the United States of America. From easy ad ways that we might read on the TV to advanced animation styles and interactive deposit exhibitions.

This helps to produce an array of various opportunities for finishing a fascinating and innovative graphic design dissertation, with there being a variety of various topic square measures that are prone to more analyses.

A graphic design dissertation is conducted to check your information and learning capabilities. In graphic designing dissertations, you may complete your study on the impacts and effects of style components in varied business sectors of the globe. This may assist you in building an understanding of how things are operating within the skilled world.

If you’re dawdling pondering a groundbreaking graphic designing dissertation topic, then you should stop pondering this much. Bobbing up with a dissertation topic isn’t a piece of cake.

It needs considerable expertise and business information to search out that one drawback already there; however, no one highlighted it. Ideation is a robust method that comes before generating a subject for your dissertation.

Your graphic design thesis topic is barely nearly as good as your graphic-style dissertation plan. Each square measure is interconnected.

So, you’re a graphic designing student with complete command over all the main subjects of your field. However, you have got no clue about the way to write a dissertation. The bulk of graphic planning students can relate to it. To return with a graphic designing dissertation topic, you need information and knowledge of dissertation writing.

Another thing to be mindful of when selecting a topic is the availability of literature since undergraduate and graduate-level dissertations . Unlike PhD. Dissertations, have a smaller scope and do not aim to change course or invent a new concept, so the available literature can be of great help in determining the goal, content, and methodology .

The supporting evidence can help you to fortify and strengthen the arguments presented in your dissertation. At ResearchProspect, we make sure that you choose a topic that is relevant, recent, and interesting. We understand the challenges of being a media student, as with each passing day, something new comes up that takes the world by storm.

Considering the dynamic nature of your subject, our team suggests topics that will help in getting approval you’re your professors instantly. You can also get back to us to either edit the topic or add a few missing elements.

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Problem fixed! We can write any type of essay in any referencing style. We ensure every essay written is beyond your expectations.

2022 Graphic Design Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: critical interpretation of the effectiveness of using graphic designing in advanced marketing strategies to increase conversion of the target audience by the uk retailers..

Research Aim: The aim of this study is to critically interpret the effectiveness of using graphic design in advanced marketing strategies to increase conversion of the target audience by UK retailers.

Objectives:

• To identify the suitability of graphic designing for marketing purposes.
• To demonstrate the relevance of using graphic designing in advanced marketing to increase conversion of the target audience in the UK retail sector.
• To provide valid recommendations to UK retailers about how they can strategically use graphic designing in advanced marketing practices aiming to increase conversion of the target audience.

Topic 2: Investigating the growing practice of graphic designing to use visual arts in healthcare, an initiative by the NHS.

Research Aim: The aim of this research study is to investigate the growing practice of graphic design to use visual arts in healthcare. For an insightful understanding, the study will focus on the initiative taken by the NHS.

• To analyse the relevance of using graphic design to create visual arts specifically for healthcare purposes.
• To describe the initiative taken by the NHS for creating visual arts with the help of graphic design and their purposeful utilisation in healthcare.
• To recommend strategies to ensure the best level of use of graphic design for creating visual arts in healthcare thereby meeting the goals of the NHS.

Topic 3: A critical study on the current trend of graphic communication by using graphic designs to strengthen brand identity and recognition in the UK online fashion brands.

Research Aim: The present research study aims to describe the current trend of graphic communication by using graphic designs to strengthen brand identity and recognition in UK online fashion brands.

• To study the ongoing trend of graphic communication by using graphic designs and their effectiveness.
• To examine how the UK online fashion brands rely on graphic communication to strengthen brand identity and recognition by using the means of graphic designing.
• To provide a set of recommendations for ensuring the best level utilisation of graphic designs for improved graphic communication.

Topic 4: Examining the benefits of extensive use of graphic designs in branding to ensure cost and time efficiency in UK SMEs.

Research Aim: The aim of this study is to examine the benefits of extensive use of graphic designs in branding that can ensure cost and time efficiency in UK SMEs.

• To carry out a discussion on the advantageous effects of graphic designing in the area of marketing.
• To determine how branding can be improved by using graphic designs, which leads towards cost and time efficiency in UK SMEs.
• To suggest the best possible strategies and ways of using graphic designs to improve time and cost efficiency in UK SMEs.

Topic 5: Critically analyse the relevance of using 3d printing and CAD software by professional graphic designers referring to the practice in the UK construction industry.

Research Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the relevance of using 3D printing and CAD software by professional graphic designers. The research study will focus on the activities and use of these technologies in the UK construction industry.

• To make a clear idea about the use of 3D printing and CAD software by graphic designers.
• To shed light on the use of 3D printing technology and CAD software used by graphic designers in the UK construction industry.
• To provide valid recommendations to the UK construction companies for helping graphic designers with the use of 3D printing and CAD software.

Graphic Design Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: graphic design and commercial distinctiveness.

Research aim: This dissertation topic can elaborate on how organizations and companies rely on graphics to be distinctive and different brands in the town. You can also emphasize how significant graphic design is to mould your business and increase more sales.

Topic 2: Role of graphic design in web design development

Research Aim: Graphic design plays a vital role in web development. In your dissertation, you can tell how graphic design appeals to the audience and how it can bring traffic to your website. As a graphic designer, you can also tell the history of web development and the role played by a graphic designer.

Topic 3: Visual Hierarchy in Consumers Preception

Research Aim: Visual Hierarchy is one of the most necessary principles behind attractive web design is the distinction between a website that strategically influences user flow  that “looks nice.”  You can add the importance of visual hierarchy in the design.

Topic 4: Psychology and its effects on Designing:

Research Aim: Psychology data helps build the look which can make users perform the actions they’re expected, like creating an acquisition or contacting the team. Designers may see psychological science as an advanced approach to enhance the look.

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Topic 5: Challenges in graphic designing

Research Aim: There are many challenges that graphic design faces in the industry. You can highlight topics such as Visual Branding and Project direction in your dissertation.

Topic 6: Photographic theory and graphic design.

Research Aim: In this dissertation topic, you can explain which tools are used by graphic designers and photographers. For what purpose tools are used, and what are the similarities in them.

Topic 7: Graphic design in Great Britain of 1978.

Research Aim: In this dissertation topic, you can discuss the evolution of graphic design during this period of Great Britain in 1978. Discuss how these movements increased the passion for graphic design and what its impact was on youth.

Topic 8: The evolution of graphic design in the 20th century.

Research Aim: In this research paper, you can elaborate on how graphic designing was introduced in the 20th century. How people took it, and how did graphic designing become popular.

Topic 9: Graphic design and corporate identity

Research Aim: You can discuss how graphic designing helped in the evolution of corporate identity. Discuss how brand logos helped increase companies sales by graphic designing, also add a part to empower people towards graphic designing.

Topic 10: Graphic design and mass communication

Research Aim: In this dissertation topic, you can tell how graphic design helps send messages to others by different means, i-e: images or videos. You can also discuss how graphic design works in marketing and how far it is successful.

Topic 11: Graphic design with a low budget

Research Aim: Discuss in your dissertation paper the possibilities to create a graphic product with a low budget. You can also name some companies or individuals who make graphic design on a low budget.

Topic 12: Influence of TV on Graphic Design

Research Aim: There was a need for visual language at the time of TV birth .  Many individuals worked on this and set the standards that still influence what is shown on TV.

Topic 13: Computer graphic designers

Research Aim: This would be the best topic to discuss how computer graphic designers helped increase the scope of graphic designing. Does this profession still attract people? Does this profession still worth it?

Topic 14: Paul Rand and his graphic design

Research Aim: In this dissertation paper, you may write about this well-known graphic designer who created many memorable logos and made many contributions to graphic designing. You can also quote other designers too who can be an inspiration for others.

Topic 15: Trends in Graphic Designing

Research Aim: Graphic design has so much innovation from the last decade till now. In your dissertation topic, you can discuss some main trends like 3d design and typography, Art deco and Isometric design etc.

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Topic 16: Women and graphic designing

Research Aim: Women have fought for equal chances in every field, like leadership, economic platforms, and politics. You can elaborate on how women are more creative and how they are taking part in graphic designing and making marks.

Topic 17: Development of career path in graphic designing

Research Aim: In your dissertation paper, you can tell that the typical graphic designer career path starts with the junior designer, which leads to senior designers, art directors, motion artists, web developers, and many more careers. You can empower youth to opt for these professions.

Topic 18: Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Graphic Design

Research Aim: AI is one of the most demanding and latest niches in IT. You can elaborate on how AI to help designers to make designs faster, efficiently, and cheaply. Moreover, you can talk about how AI can also take over designing and neglect humanly efforts.

Topic 19: How Graphic Design Revolutionized Product Packaging

Research Aim: Appealing and fanaticizing product packaging can play an essential role in increasing your sales. You can tell how packaging can attract consumers to buy the product. For example, vibrant colours are used in cosmetic packaging

Topic 20: Website Design and Sales

Research Aim: Improving your website’s style will boost its credibility, which will cause multiplied sales for your company. You can add how an appealing website can make your sales double or more increased .

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to find graphic design dissertation topics.

To find graphic design dissertation topics:

• Research recent design trends.
• Analyze design challenges or innovations.
• Explore cultural or social aspects.
• Review design history and theory.
• Consider cross-disciplinary ideas.
• Select a topic that resonates with your passion and career aspirations.

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