Bell, Bryman, and Harley: 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. Writing up research checklist

Title page, acknowledgements, and contents page

Chapter 7, page 144

Title page

You should examine your institution's rules about what should be entered here, though generally it will require at least your title, name, date of submission and the course for which you are submitting the project.

Acknowledgements

You might want to acknowledge the help of various people, such as gatekeepers who gave you access to an organization, people who have read your drafts and provided you with feedback, or your supervisor for his or her advice. Don't go over the top with this, keep it brief.

List of contents

Your institution may have recommendations or prescriptions about the form this should take. Make sure the page numbers correspond with those in your report and remember that usually you should provide a separate list of tables and figures (with page numbers).