Writing Guide: Sections
Dissertation Synopsis: Know Its Purpose and How to Execute It
The dissertation is the most significant academic writing activity of students in the higher course studies. The dissertation requires a lot of effort in terms of thought, planning, and execution to ensure satisfactory completion.
The dissertation synopsis is the first step in the dissertation process. The development of the synopsis of a dissertation is critical to execution of a good dissertation and good grades.
Tips for understanding the synopsis of a dissertation
These few tips help in understanding what the synopsis of a dissertation means.
- The synopsis of a dissertation constitutes a brief presentation that includes why the research is being undertaken, what contribution is expected from the research, and the methods that will be employed in the research. In short a dissertation synopsis constitutes the proposal for conducting the research.
- By preparing the dissertation synopsis a route map of the dissertation is created, which allows for review and corrections prior to starting the dissertation itself.
- There are several components to a dissertation synopsis. The first component is the introduction that leads to the research question, the rationale for its choice, and the objectives of the research.
- A brief literary review follows which reinforces the need for the study and lays the groundwork for the design of the research design.
- The research methodology in brief provides the significant details of how the research will be conducted, how the data required for answering the research question will be collected, and how the collected data will be analysed to provide the findings of the research.
- The conduct of any study involves strictly following ethical code guidelines. How ethical considerations will be addressed must be present in the dissertation synopsis.
The tips provided will enable understanding a dissertation synopsis and how to go about it.




