The Dissertation Synopsis Format – 5 Fundamental Writing Rules

When you are doing graduate and doctorate studies, your writing skills will be a great determinant of the grades you get and whether you will graduate in time or not. As such, you need to learn all the tricks that are used by the people who have been successful with their doctorate and masters. Here are a few guidelines that will be very useful when you are writing a synopsis format for your dissertation.

What’s a dissertation synopsis?

The first step is to understand what a dissertation synopsis is and how you are supposed to write it. The synopsis is like a short summary that describes what your entire paper will discuss. This means that it will touch in brief about everything that you will have discussed in your paper. The synopsis comes at the beginning of your academic paper.

The contents of a synopsis

There are certain things that must be contained in your summary. These include:

  • The heading: this is the title of the essay itself. It should be based on the study or research topic that you chose.
  • The thesis statement: this is the argument that you have put forward and are trying to prove with the paper.
  • The research methodology used: It is important to let the readers know the research methods that you employed so that they will have an easier time understanding the research.
  • The scales and other references used in the paper. It is important to give information on the scales that you have used in your analysis.
  • Description of terms: There are certain terms whose meaning changes depending on the context. If you are planning to use any of these terms, it is advisable to start by explaining the context which you have used them and what they mean.

These are some of the things that should be part of your dissertation synopsis. There are certain qualities that make a good summary. The first and the most important is brevity. The lecturer or thesis adviser will have time to look at the paper itself, avoid making this summary another version of the real paper. The other great quality is adherence to the right formatting rules. Choose a referencing and style technique and stick to it. In you decide to go with APA for instance; stick with it to the end; mixing APA and MLA will make you look like a confused student.