ABSTRACT
More or less regardless of the educational system, at an advanced level of your undergraduate studies you will be faced with the prospect of writing a dissertation for the first time. Although there can be a good deal of variation between what is expected of a dissertation in different countries, at different institutions of higher education and in different departments (not to mention differing expectations on the part of tutors and examiners) there are also a great many areas of commonality. It is across these areas of commonality that this small volume will range. This book will not be the only resource that you need to consult in undertaking your dissertation studies. Hopefully though, it will serve as a compact and handy source that can assist in guiding you through what is, thus far at least, uncharted territory. Further basic reading has been suggested throughout the text in all chapters and this serves to direct you to further relevant
materials as regards this subject or that. In a volume of this size it is evidently impossible to cover everything, but then it is also impossible to cover everything in a tome of 1,000 pages. Thus, the purpose of this book is primarily to direct the reader through the process of preparing a dissertation with reference to as wide a range of issues as space allows and with regard to both fundamental principles and practical advice. In other words, this volume will seek to address (albeit in a truncated fashion) both the dogmatic and pragmatic issues with which you should concern yourself in the preparation of a dissertation. Whatever else you take from the book, bear in mind that the process of doing a dissertation is mainly about striking the right balance between dogma and pragma. This can be achieved through nothing more spectacular than employing your own considered judgement, informed by the relevant literature and aided and abetted by the advice of your dissertation tutor. If you can get this balance and judgement right, it makes it much easier to then demonstrate to the outside world that you have taken full account of all the relevant issues (both dogmatic and pragmatic) in the final written piece. Put in another way, if you get the balance and judgement right, you should be able to produce a high quality dissertation.
