Dissertation discussion chapter – how to plan, structure and write it

Planning, structuring and writing your dissertation discussion chapter is relatively straightforward and simple. That does not mean it’s EASY, but when you have some clear sections and headings to start out with, the process is considerably less painful.

Many graduate social science students do not enjoy writing the discussion chapter. Often, that’s because they’ve crashed straight into the discussion chapter after quite an intense and draining period of fieldwork and analysis, and they don’t go into the discussion chapter with a plan or a strategy.

As such, my first piece of advice with your discussion chapter is to take a break in between finishing your findings and analysis and starting your discussion. This will give you a chance to stave off the burnout and tackle the overwhelm that can set in when you’re nearing the end of your dissertation.

The break will also give you the opportunity to start planning and strategizing your discussion chapter. Take the time to map out the sections you’re going to use to structure the chapter, and develop an outline.

In this video, I’ll help you with that by providing you with some key headings.

I’ll also explain exactly how to link back to the literature review and consider your findings in the context of the existing knowledge in your field. This will be crucial in establishing the contribution to knowledge that your thesis will make.

Chapters
0:00 - 1:21 Introduction and overview
1:22 - 2:48 The introduction section
2:49 - 3:18 Chapter map
3:19 - 10:52 Main body
10:53 - 12:13 Limitations
12:14 - 13:18 Future research

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