Doctoral Dissertation Writing: What Are the Main Stylistic Standards?

There are two main styles that can be used to write your dissertation. Be sure to read any guidelines because certain programs only allow you to use certain styles for submission. Let’s take a look at each style to see how to format them.

Journal Style Format

A journal style format can be used for a dissertation or a thesis paper. It follows the same guidelines as a journal that is written in many of the manuscripts you will use to gather your resources. The use of the journal style format is to write various manuscripts that will be featured in journals throughout your last year instead of producing one for the conclusion of your classes. All of these manuscripts will be centralized around one theme so that they can be compiled together into one document. This style must be approved by the committee in order for it to count as your dissertation.

Article Style Format

Most doctoral dissertations must be written in this format. Some colleges will not accept this style for Master’s Degree programs. The article style format is a collection of works that include several studies that are unique but related. The quality of these pieces has to be high enough to publish. Let’s look at the article style format more in depth since it is the more popular model that is accepted in more programs in more schools.

Article Style Formatting Guidelines

• Copyright Information: This includes the list and information of previously published works that were used to write your manuscript.
• Abstract: This is a brief overview of what your paper will be about. It should tell your thesis and the main supporting facts of your paper.
• Abbreviation Guide: This is a list of all the abbreviations that will be used in the paper so that you don’t have to include them in your work.
• Acknowledgements: This should list anyone who assisted you in completing your work.
• Table of Contents: Each article should have its own section and be listed in the Table of Contents.
• List of Tables and List of Figures: This should list all of the diagrams, graphs, or any other tables that you have in your manuscripts.
• Main Body: This will include your introduction, various articles, overall conclusion, and appendices. The reference list and appendices for each article should follow the subsequent articles.

Here is the main formatting style that you should use to set up your doctoral dissertation. Be sure to follow any other college specific or program specific guidelines.