Dissertation

The introduction is the section which provides background information related to your project. This information can be found in your lecture notes, in textbooks, and in published papers. Ensure you reference any information taking from an outside source. In reading around the research area and writing the introduction, you can present information only relevant to your project. For example, if your research topic relates to the biodiversity of barnacles on boats in a certain geographical location, it is likely you should not include information on barnacle species not present in this geographical location as it may be deemed irrelevant. The background information you provide should set the scene for your research, pointing out gaps in the knowledge, and lead into clear specific aims without mentioning or discussing your results. 

By reading the methods and materials section, someone should be able to reproduce the same experiments and results as you. The methods and materials section should always promote reproducibility and be robust. If you use a well-known technique in your research field, such as Western blotting, you do not need to detail every single step only the unique parameters (in the case of Western blotting the antibodies used, for example). If you use a pre-made kit from a supplier, you should provide a reference for the kit and if you did any optimisation detail this. The methods and materials section is stating the facts of how you carried out your research project and because of this many people find it the easiest part to write first. 

In the results section is where your results and figures will be presented. For more information and resources on how to create a figure legend, access the figure legend resource above. Describe your results in this section. For example, if you have a graph what are represented on both axes, and what are the units? Are there any observable trends in the data? If you have multiple figures using the same technique on different samples, describe what the different sample conditions are. In your dissertation you will not be marked specifically on what your results shows but how you present it, describe it and discuss it throughout your dissertation. Unexpected or negative results are still results and demonstrate the work you have performed to investigate your aims. 

While results are described in the results section, in the discussion and conclusions section this is where they are discussed. This includes thinking critically about your work and how it relates to other published work. For example, if you have determined a specific paint primer results in easier barnacle removal from the outside of ships but another study finds the opposite, you should reference this study and discuss why the results might be different. Did they perform their experiments in different conditions to you? Why did they do this and why did you choose your conditions? Thinking and writing critically like this is what will help propel your work into the higher marks as it demonstrates an ability to -----FigureOutTheCorrectWordForHere-----. When concluding your research project, always refer back to your aims and how your methods and results address them, including any future directions your project could take if you had another month to perform more work.