Stuck with writing a rationale for your dissertation?

There are many times when you feel you’ve hit the dead end, while working on your dissertation. Trying to write a rationale and make it convincing enough is one major roadblock for doctoral students. What exactly goes into a well researched and unique rationale that can convince the most critical of dissertation committees? A lot depends on what your primary advisor tells you! But these simple insights can help you make a start.

Briefly explain about your area of concentration

What is the triggering point of your entire dissertation research? Explain about your viewpoint and experience on the topic. Include as many stats and field reports as possible and include all the research work and material that is in conjunction with the topic of your dissertation. It could be a movie, documentary, interview, or even a photograph, if it shaped or had an impact on your research in anyway ensure that you mention it.

The how and what of it

Long paragraphs and bibliographic references can be tiresome to read and write. Explain the most pertinent points in your dissertation as snappy, to the point questions. If you are writing a thesis on Italian neo-realism you could frame a question like “What were the reasons behind this widespread nationalistic movement?” “How Bicycle thieves became a cult film of that era?” The rule of thumb is that you must include three questions that form the crux of your research.

Your personal life could serve as a touch point

It needn’t be just about extensive, groundbreaking research work. Your personal life and inferences, your take on the society we live in, views on popular culture, can all be used as touch points to illustrate, provide an insight into, prove or contradict long held beliefs, conventions and notions.

Have a contemporary approach

Being contemporary can save you the trouble of explaining your perspective and ideas at length. There is nothing that can add as much spark or interest as a credible and recent finding, statistic or social or psychological experiment. The newspapers are buzzing with new experiments and interesting research data. Your tabloid could possibly offer you interesting material to support your research. Use recent examples, incidents and headlines to make your rationale current and engaging.

And yes remember to love what you do, have a passion for your subject and have a record of all your research recordings. Transcribe it if you find the time, or approach a dissertation transcription services firm to help you save on precious time.