Bryman & Bell: Research Project Guide

Table of Contents

1. Preparing Yourself to Do Research
2. What Do I Want to Research Exactly?
3. The Research Process
4. Writing Up Your Research Report
   1. Preliminary planning
   2. The structure of a dissertation
   3. Title page, acknowledgements and contents page
   4. Abstracts
   5. Introduction
   6. The literature review
   7. Research Methods
   8. Results
   9. Discussion & Conclusions
   10. References, appendices and obligations
   11. Referencing
   12. Writing up research checklist

Abstracts

Chapter 26, Page 560

1. An abstract is a brief summary of your dissertation.
2. Not all institutions require this component, so check on whether it is required and any guidelines on what is required.
3. Journal articles usually have abstracts, so you can draw on these for guidance on how to approach this task.
4. Abstracts in modern journals (especially e-journals) are often accompanied by keywords which can act as a useful guide in constructing searches for your literature.

Web link:

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/abstract/- the Writing Center at Colorado State University has excellent advice including cut & paste and backwards outlining methods.