phd dissertation justification

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How to Justify Your Methods in a Thesis or Dissertation

4-minute read

• 1st May 2023

Writing a thesis or dissertation is hard work. You’ve devoted countless hours to your research, and you want your results to be taken seriously. But how does your professor or evaluating committee know that they can trust your results? You convince them by justifying your research methods.

What Does Justifying Your Methods Mean?

In simple terms, your methods are the tools you use to obtain your data, and the justification (which is also called the methodology ) is the analysis of those tools. In your justification, your goal is to demonstrate that your research is both rigorously conducted and replicable so your audience recognizes that your results are legitimate.

The formatting and structure of your justification will depend on your field of study and your institution’s requirements, but below, we’ve provided questions to ask yourself as you outline your justification.

Why Did You Choose Your Method of Gathering Data?

Does your study rely on quantitative data, qualitative data, or both? Certain types of data work better for certain studies. How did you choose to gather that data? Evaluate your approach to collecting data in light of your research question. Did you consider any alternative approaches? If so, why did you decide not to use them? Highlight the pros and cons of various possible methods if necessary. Research results aren’t valid unless the data are valid, so you have to convince your reader that they are.

How Did You Evaluate Your Data?

Collecting your data was only the first part of your study. Once you had them, how did you use them? Do your results involve cross-referencing? If so, how was this accomplished? Which statistical analyses did you run, and why did you choose them? Are they common in your field? How did you make sure your data were statistically significant ? Is your effect size small, medium, or large? Numbers don’t always lend themselves to an obvious outcome. Here, you want to provide a clear link between the Methods and Results sections of your paper.

Did You Use Any Unconventional Approaches in Your Study?

Most fields have standard approaches to the research they use, but these approaches don’t work for every project. Did you use methods that other fields normally use, or did you need to come up with a different way of obtaining your data? Your reader will look at unconventional approaches with a more critical eye. Acknowledge the limitations of your method, but explain why the strengths of the method outweigh those limitations.

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What Relevant Sources Can You Cite?

You can strengthen your justification by referencing existing research in your field. Citing these references can demonstrate that you’ve followed established practices for your type of research. Or you can discuss how you decided on your approach by evaluating other studies. Highlight the use of established techniques, tools, and measurements in your study. If you used an unconventional approach, justify it by providing evidence of a gap in the existing literature.

Two Final Tips:

●  When you’re writing your justification, write for your audience. Your purpose here is to provide more than a technical list of details and procedures. This section should focus more on the why and less on the how .

●  Consider your methodology as you’re conducting your research. Take thorough notes as you work to make sure you capture all the necessary details correctly. Eliminating any possible confusion or ambiguity will go a long way toward helping your justification.

In Conclusion:

Your goal in writing your justification is to explain not only the decisions you made but also the reasoning behind those decisions. It should be overwhelmingly clear to your audience that your study used the best possible methods to answer your research question. Properly justifying your methods will let your audience know that your research was effective and its results are valid.

Want more writing tips? Check out Proofed’s Writing Tips and Academic Writing Tips blogs. And once you’ve written your thesis or dissertation, consider sending it to us. Our editors will be happy to check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation to make sure your document is the best it can be. Check out our services for free .

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How do you Write the Rationale for Research?

• By DiscoverPhDs
• October 21, 2020

What is the Rationale of Research?

The term rationale of research means the reason for performing the research study in question. In writing your rational you should able to convey why there was a need for your study to be carried out. It’s an important part of your research paper that should explain how your research was novel and explain why it was significant; this helps the reader understand why your research question needed to be addressed in your research paper, term paper or other research report.

The rationale for research is also sometimes referred to as the justification for the study. When writing your rational, first begin by introducing and explaining what other researchers have published on within your research field.

Having explained the work of previous literature and prior research, include discussion about where the gaps in knowledge are in your field. Use these to define potential research questions that need answering and explain the importance of addressing these unanswered questions.

The rationale conveys to the reader of your publication exactly why your research topic was needed and why it was significant . Having defined your research rationale, you would then go on to define your hypothesis and your research objectives.

Final Comments

Defining the rationale research, is a key part of the research process and academic writing in any research project. You use this in your research paper to firstly explain the research problem within your dissertation topic. This gives you the research justification you need to define your research question and what the expected outcomes may be.

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Thesis & Dissertation: Guidelines for Masters and PhD Programs

General guidelines for formatting dissertation or thesis.

In formatting your dissertation or thesis, you must follow the guidelines for page composition presented on the following requirements. General guidelines are shown first; specific guidelines relative to each section of your dissertation or thesis follow.

Pagination for Body of Dissertation or Thesis

• Use continuous Arabic numbers (beginning with 1) inthe same size font as the text for the body of the dissertation or thesis.
• Page numbers are placed at the bottom of the page,centered between the margins. There should always be at least a 24-point space between the page number and the text.
• Chapters within the text begin on new pages.
• There are no format requirements for chapter headings. You should use a format that is standard in your field and be consistent for all chapters.
•  There should be no page breaks between sections or before tables or figures, unless they occur naturally. (Exception: If the bibliography is placed at the end of each chapter, a page break needs to be placed at the end of the text and the bibliography started on the next page. The page number stays at the bottom of the page.)
• In a dissertation or thesis with two volumes, the second must continue the numbering of the first part. Each volume must contain a title page (labelled beneath the title with the words “Volume I” or “Volume II”), and the title page of the second volume is counted as a text page but the numeral is not printed on the page.

Pagination for Preliminary Pages

• Preliminary pages are numbered consecutively, usinglowercase Roman numerals in the same size font as the text, centered between the margins, at least 0.5 inch from the bottom of the page.
• Page numbering starts with the biographical sketch,which is numbered as “iii.” (The title page and copyright page are counted but not numbered; the abstract is neither counted nor numbered.) Every preliminary page thereafter is numbered, including multiple pages within a section.

Exact margins are absolutely essential so that the dissertation or thesis can be microfilmed in its entirety for interlibrary loan. After photocopying, margins must be at least:

• Left margin: 1.5 inches or slightly larger.
• Top, bottom, right margins: 1 inch or slightly larger.

(Hint: It is recommended that you set margins at 1.6 inches for the left margin and 1.1 inches for all other margins, since photocopying may enlarge the text by as much as 2 percent.) These margins apply to all pages, including those with tables and figures.

Justification

• Left-aligned, ragged right margins are preferred.
• If you are using a computer or word processor, usejustified margins only if the computer does this well, i.e., does not separate punctuation from characters or leave large gaps in the text.

The dissertation or thesis must contain correct vertical spacing (or 24-point spacing), which is defined as three lines of type and three line spaces per vertical inch throughout the text. Microsoft Word users: go to Format/Paragraph/Indents and Spacing/Line spacing and choose “Exactly.” Set the points at 24. (To check that the font is three lines per inch, place a ruler vertically on the page and measure from the top of the first line to the top of the fourth line.) Exceptions:

• Quotations and footnotes may be single-spaced within each entry.
• Lengthy tables may be single-spaced.
• In an M.F.A. thesis, irregular spacing is permitted to accommodate poetry, some of which is written single-spaced, some triple-spaced, and some with variable spacing.

The Body of the Dissertation or Thesis

• Appendix (or Appendices) (optional)

Bibliography (or References or Works Cited)

• If using a PC, the following fonts and font sizes are acceptable:
• Times New Roman 12
• Helvetica 12
• Times 14 (Times 12 is not acceptable)
• Other fonts may be acceptable (but Courier is not).Check the font with the Thesis Advisor.
• Footnotes may be single-spaced in a 10-point size but must be in the same font as the rest of the text.

Equations, Formulas, and Sub- and Superscripts

• All equations and formulas should be typeset.
• When a computer, word processor, or typewriter cannot make the symbol, insertions by hand are acceptable.
• Equations also may be inserted from a non-matching typewriter or laser-printer font.
• All subscripts and superscripts must be large enough to be read on microfilm. (To ensure readability on microfilm, test a page with sub- or superscripts by photocopying the page using a 25 percent text reduction. If the sub- or superscripts are still readable, then they are large enough.)

Corrections

Strikeovers, correction fluid, and correction tape are not acceptable in the filed copies.

Widows and Headings Separated from Text

•  A dissertation or thesis will not be accepted if it contains “widows” (short lines ending a paragraph at the top of a page) at the end of a chapter.
•  A dissertation or thesis will not be accepted if it contains a heading or subhead at the bottom of a page that is separate from its respective text on the following page.
• In addition to the general formatting guidelines shown above, the following specific guidelines must be followed for each individual section of your dissertation or thesis.

Required Sections, Guidelines, and Suggestions

Required yes.

Typeset the title in all capital letters, centered within the left and right margins, correctly spaced, about 1.5 inches from the top of the page. • Carefully select words for the title of the dissertation or thesis to represent the subject content as accurately as possible. Words in the title are important access points to researchers who may use keyword searches to identify works in various subject areas. • Use word substitutes for formulas, symbols, superscripts, Greek letters, etc. Below the title, at the vertical and horizontal center of the margins, correctly spaced, position the following five lines (all centered): Line 1: A Dissertation [or Thesis] Line 2: Presented to the Faculty of the Weill Cornell Graduate School Line 3: of Medical Sciences Line 4: in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Line 5: Doctor of Philosophy [or other appropriate degree] • Center the following three lines within the margins, 1.5 inches from the bottom of the page: Line 1: by Line 2: [name under which you are registered in the University Registrar’s Office] Line 3: [month and year of degree conferral, not the date the dissertation or thesis is submitted; no comma between month and year]

Copyright page

A notice of copyright should appear as the sole item on the page (there is no page heading), centered vertically and horizontally within the margins: © 201_ [student’s registered name] • The copyright symbol is a lower case “c,” which must be circled. (On Macintosh computers, the symbol is typed by pressing the “option” and “g” keys simultaneously. If the font does not have the © symbol, type the “c” and circle it by hand. On PCs, go to the insert menu, choose “symbol,” and highlight the © symbol.)

Required ? Yes

Doctoral candidates.

The heading of the abstract in a dissertation is centered between the left and right margins about 1.1 inches down from the top of the page; it includes the following lines: TITLE OF DISSERTATION Student’s Name, Ph.D. Cornell University 201_ [year of conferral]

• Following the heading lines, skip one 24-point-spaced line and begin the text of the abstract on the same page.
• The abstract should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research.
• The abstract must not exceed 350 words in length (generally about one-and-one-half correctly spaced pages; the abstract may not be more than two pages).

Master’s candidates

• The page heading of the abstract in a thesis is simply the word “ABSTRACT” in all capital letters, centered within the margins at the top of the page. (The thesis abstract does not display the thesis title, author’s name, degree, university, or date of degree conferral.)
•  The abstract must not exceed 600 words in length (approximately two-and-one-half to three pages of correctly spaced typing).

Biographical Sketch

The biographical sketch must be written in third-person voice and contain your educational background. It may contain additional biographical facts.

• As a page heading, use “BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
•  Number this page as iii. (This is the first numbered preliminary page.)

Dedication 

Required optional.

No title is used on the page.

• The text is centered on the page and can be shown in italic or regular type.
• Text on this page does not need to be in English

Acknowledgments

• The acknowledgments may be written in first-person voice. If your research has been funded by outside grants, you should check with the principal investigator of the grant regarding proper acknowledgment of the funding source. Most outside funding sources require some statement of acknowledgment of the support; some also require a disclaimer from responsibility for the results.
• As a page heading, use “ACKNOWLEDGMENTS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Table of Contents

As a page heading, use “TABLE OF CONTENTS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

• List the sections/chapters of the body of the dissertation or thesis; also list preliminary sections starting with the biographical sketch. (The title page, copyright page, and abstract are not listed.)
• If the dissertation or thesis consists of two volumes, list “Volume II” as a section in the table of contents.
• Page numbers must be listed in a column to the right of each section or chapter title; only the first page of each chapter or section is stated (not a range of page numbers, such as 7–22).
• The table of contents may be single-spaced.

List of Figures and List of Illustrations

Required if included.

As a page heading, use “LIST OF FIGURES” or "LIST OF ILLUSTRACTIONS" in all capital letters, centered on the page.

• The list must contain enough of the titles or descriptions so that readers can locate particular items using the list. (It may not be necessary to include entire figure/illustration captions.)
• The list must contain the page number on which each figure or illustration is found, as in a table of contents.
• The list of figures/ illustrations may be single-spaced.
• Figures/ illustrations must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a figure is placed directly into the text, text may appear above or below the figure/illustration/table; no text may wrap around the figure/illustration/table.
• If a figure/illustration appears on a page without other text, it must be centered vertically within the margins on the page.
• Figures/ Illustrations may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation or thesis.
• Figure/illustration must be either continuous throughout the dissertation or thesis, or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2; 2.1, 2.2, etc.). The word “Figure,”  "Illustration" must be spelled out (not abbreviated), and the first letter must be capitalized.
• A caption for a figure/illustration must be placed at the bottom of the figure.
•  If the figure/illustration not including the caption, takes up the entire page, the figure/illustration caption must be placed alone on the preceding page and centered vertically and horizontally within the margins. (When the caption is on a separate page, the List of Figures, List of Illustrations  will list the page number containing the caption.)
• If the figure/illustration not including the caption, takes up more than two pages it must be preceded by a page consisting of the caption only. The first page of the figure/illustration must include the figure/illustration (no caption), and the second and subsequent pages of the figure/illustration/table must also include, at the top of the figure/illustration/table, words that indicate its continuance—for example, “Figure 5 (Continued)”—and on these pages the caption is omitted.
• If figures/illustrations are too large, they may be slightly reduced so as to render a satisfactory product or they must either be split into several pages or be redone. If a figure/illustration is reduced, all lettering must be clear, readable, and large enough to be legible. All lettering, including subscripts, must still be readable when reduced 25 percent beyond the final version. All page margin requirements must be maintained. Page numbers and headings must not be reduced. Figure/illustration captions must be in the same font and font size as the text, not reduced.
• The caption of a figure may be single-spaced, but then captions for all figures/illustrations/tables must be single-spaced.
• Horizontal figures/ illustrations must be positioned correctly—i.e., the top of the figure/illustration will be at the left margin of the vertical page of the dissertation or thesis (remember: pages are bound on the left margin). Figure/illustration headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure/illustration when they are on the same page as the figure/illustration. When they are on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in vertical orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure/ illustration.
• Page numbers are always placed as if the figure/illustration was vertical on the page.

List of Tables

• As a page heading, use ““LIST OF TABLES” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
• There must be separate pages for “LIST OF TABLES” even if there is only one example of each.
• The list must contain enough of the titles or descriptions so that readers can locate particular items using the list. (It may not be necessary to include entire table captions.)
• The list must contain the page number on which each  table is found, as in a table of contents.
• The list of tables may be single-spaced.
• Tables must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a table is placed directly into the text, text may appear above or below the figure/illustration/table; no text may wrap around the figure/illustration/table.
• If a table appears on a page without other text, it must be centered vertically within the margins on the page.
• Tables may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation or thesis.
• Table numbering must be either continuous throughout the dissertation or thesis, or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2; 2.1, 2.2, etc.). The word “Table” must be spelled out (not abbreviated), and the first letter must be capitalized.
•  A caption for a table must be placed above the table.
• If the table, not including the caption, takes up the entire page, the table caption must be placed alone on the preceding page and centered vertically and horizontally within the margins. (When the caption is on a separate page, the List of Tables will list the page number containing the caption.)
• If the table, not including the caption, takes up more than two pages it must be preceded by a page consisting of the caption only. The first page of the table must include the table (no caption), and the second and subsequent pages of the table must also include, at the top of the table, words that indicate its continuance—for example, “Figure 5 (Continued)”—and on these pages the caption is omitted.
• If tables are too large, they may be slightly reduced so as to render a satisfactory product or they must either be split into several pages or be redone. If a table is reduced, all lettering must be clear, readable, and large enough to be legible. All lettering, including subscripts, must still be readable when reduced 25 percent beyond the final version. All page margin requirements must be maintained. Page numbers and headings must not be reduced.
• Table captions must be in the same font and font size as the text, not reduced.
• The caption of a figure/illustration/table may be single-spaced, but then captions for all figures/illustrations/tables must be single-spaced.
•  Horizontal tables must be positioned correctly—i.e., the top of the table will be at the left margin of the vertical page of the dissertation or thesis (remember: pages are bound on the left margin). Table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the table when they are on the same page as the table. When they are on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in vertical orientation, regardless of the orientation of the table.

List of Abbreviations

•  As a page heading, use “LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

List of Symbols

•  As a page heading, use “LIST OF SYMBOLS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
• As a page heading, use “PREFACE” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Body of the Dissertation or Thesis: Text, Appendix, Bibliography

•  Chapter headings may be included that conform to the standard of your academic field.
• Textual notes that provide supplementary information, opinions, explanations, or suggestions that are not part of the text must appear at the bottom of the page as footnotes. Lengthy footnotes may be continued on the next page. Placement of footnotes at the bottom of the page ensures that they will appear as close as possible in the microfilm to the referenced passage.
•  Footnotes may be single-spaced in a 10-point size but must be in the same font as the text.
• Footnotes should be numbered with superscripted Arabic numerals. Numbering can be continuous throughout the dissertation or thesis or may start again for each chapter or page, but the method used must be consistent throughout the document. (Once footnotes have been numbered, any footnotes that are inserted later will require the renumbering of all footnotes to accommodate the newly inserted one. Amending the existing footnote numbers by adding letters to distinguish repeated Arabic numerals—for example, 12a, 12b—is not allowed.)

Published Material.

• If the material in any chapter has already been published or accepted for publication, written permission from the publisher authorizing the student to use it in the dissertation must be submitted.
• On the first page of all published chapters, type an asterisk (*) next to the title(s). The asterisk should appear again at the bottom of the page, followed by a complete reference to the publication.

Appendix (or Appendices)

•  As a page heading, use “APPENDIX” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
•  Place in an appendix any material that is peripheral but relevant to the main text of the dissertation or thesis, such as survey instruments, additional data, computer printouts, details of a procedure or analysis, a relevant paper that you wrote, etc.
•  The appendix may include text that does not meet the general font and spacing requirements of the other sections of the dissertation or thesis.
• As a page heading, use “BIBLIOGRAPHY” (or “REFERENCES” or “WORKS CITED”) in all capital letters, centered on the page.
•  Bibliographies may be single-spaced within each entry but must be 24-point-spaced between entries.
• The Graduate School recommends that you follow the standard citation format used by a major journal in your academic field and that the style be consistent throughout the dissertation or thesis. (Also see “References for Style and Format.”)

For more information please read the Graduate Degree Requirements: Instructions for Doctoral Dissertation and Thesis Preparation:

Fair Use, Copyright, Patent, and Publishing Options

1. Is information that you plan to include from others considered “fair use” and are you acknowledging these sources correctly?

You are responsible for acknowledging any facts, ideas, or materials of others that you include in your work. You must follow the guidelines for acknowledging the work of others in the “Code of Academic Integrity and Acknowledging the Work of Others” (published in the Policy Notebook for the Cornell Community).

If you use any copyrighted material in the dissertation or thesis, it is your responsibility to give full credit to the author and publisher of work quoted. The acknowledgment should be placed in a footnote at the bottom of the first page of the paper or chapter. Additionally, you must determine whether use of the material can be classified as a “fair use” by performing an analysis of your use of each copyrighted item. Please access the Copyright sources at Weill Cornell Library here. These resources are helpful tools for performing this analysis. (See also, Copyright Law and the Doctoral Dissertation: Guidelines to Your Legal Rights and Responsibilities , published by ProQuest, or The Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago Press.)

If your use of material is not considered a “fair use,” you must obtain written permission from the copyright owner. Two copies of each permission letter must be submitted with the dissertation or thesis. ProQuest has specific requirements for the content of the permission letter. For these guidelines, consult the ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation Agreement form (published by ProQuest).

If you have already published or had accepted for publication part of your own dissertation or thesis material in a journal, depending on the terms of your publication agreement, it may be necessary to write to that journal and obtain written authorization to use the material in your dissertation.

2. Embargo of online copies

The value of your dissertation extends well beyond your graduation requirements. It’s important that you make an informed decision about providing online access, via ProQuest and eCommons, to your work. This decision can expand the visibility and impact of your work, but it can also shape the options available to you for publishing subsequent works based on your dissertation.

ProQuest’s ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database indexes almost all dissertations published in the U.S. and provides subscription access online to the full text of more recent dissertations. ProQuest also sells print copies of dissertations, paying royalties to authors, when they exceed a minimum threshold. Authors retain copyright in the works they submit to ProQuest.

eCommons is a service of the Cornell University Library that provides long-term, online access to Cornell-related content of enduring value. Electronic theses and dissertations deposited in eCommons, unless subject to embargo, are freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. When submitting to eCommons, you retain copyright in your work. Ph.D. dissertations and master’s theses submitted to ProQuest are automatically submitted to eCommons, subject to the same embargo you select for ProQuest.

Electronic copies of dissertations in PQDT or eCommons may be made accessible immediately upon submission or after an embargo period of six months, one year, or two years. You may wish to consider an embargo period which helps address publishers’ interests in being the first to publish scholarly books or articles, while also ensuring that scholarship is accessible to the general public within a reasonable period of time. Your decision should be made in consultation with your special committee.

3. Creative Commons license

Creative Commons licenses provide authors with a straightforward and standardized means of prospectively granting certain permissions to potential users of the author’s material. Authors may request proper attribution, permit copying and the creation of derivative works, request that others share derivative works under the same terms and allow or disallow commercial uses. Authors may even choose to place their works directly into the public domain. You will have the option of selecting a Creative Commons license when you upload your dissertation or thesis to ProQuest, and your choice will automatically be applied to the copy of your work in eCommons.

4. Has a patent application been filed (or will one be) on the basis of your thesis or dissertation research?

Cornell University Policy 1.5 governs inventions and related property rights and MSK’s Policy on Intellectual Property . Inventions made by faculty, staff, and students must be disclosed to the Center for Technology Licensing at Cornell University (CTL). Theses and dissertations describing patentable research should be withheld from publication, in order to avoid premature public disclosure. Use the delayed release (embargo) option if a patent application is or will be in process, noting the reason for the delay as “patent pending.” If you have any questions, please contact Cornell’s Center for Technology Licensing at 607-254-4698 or [email protected] .

5. Register for copyright?

Copyright law involves many complex issues that are relevant to you as a graduate student, both in protecting your own work and in referencing the work of others. Discussion of copyright in this publication is not meant to substitute for the legal advice of qualified attorneys. A more detailed discussion of copyright law can be found in the publication from ProQuest entitled Copyright Law and the Doctoral Dissertation: Guidelines to Your Legal Rights and Responsibilities by Kenneth D. Crews.

Copyright protection automatically exists from the time the work is created in fixed form and the copyright immediately becomes the property of the author. Registration with the United States Copyright Office is not required to secure copyright; rather it is a legal formality to place on public record the basic facts of a particular copyright. Although not a condition of copyright protection itself, registering the copyright is ordinarily necessary before any infringement suits can be filed in court.

To register a copyright for your dissertation or thesis, register online or download printable forms . You may also request forms by mail from the Information Section, U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559, or contact them by telephone at 202-707-3000.

Doctoral candidates: You may authorize ProQuest to file, on your behalf, an application for copyright registration. This option will be presented to you as part of the submission process.

6. Supplementary materials

If supplementary materials (audio, video, datasets, etc., up to 2GB per file) are part of your thesis or dissertation, you may submit them as supplementary files during the online submission process. For help selecting long-lived file formats, note ProQuest’s guidance in their document, “Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission (Including Supplemental Files).” File formats for which ProQuest does not guarantee migration may still have a high likelihood of preservation in Cornell’s digital repository; please see the eCommons help page for further guidance.

Do not embed media files in the PDF version of your thesis or dissertation, as this can significantly increase the size of the file and make it difficult to download and access. Include a description of each supplementary file in the abstract of your thesis or dissertation. You may include an additional supplementary file containing more detailed information about the supplementary materials as a “readme” file or other form of documentation; this is particularly advisable for data sets or code. The Research Data Management Service Group ( [email protected] ) offers assistance in preparing and documenting data sets for online distribution.

7. Make your work discoverable on search engines?

ProQuest offers authors the option of making their graduate work discoverable through major search engines including Yahoo, Google, Google Scholar, and Google Books. If you chose the Search Engine option on their dissertation “paper” publishing agreement or within ProQuest’s PROQUEST ETD Administrator (electronic submission service), you can expect to have your work appear in the major search engines.

If you change your mind and do not want your work to be made available through search engines, you can contact customer service at [email protected] or 800-521-0600 ext. 77020. In addition, if you did not initially adopt this option but now want your works made available through this service, contact the customer service group to change your selection. Please note that search engines index content in eCommons, regardless of the choice you make for ProQuest.

Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences 1300 York Ave. Box 65 New York, NY 10065 Phone: (212) 746-6565 Fax: (212) 746-8906

• Manuscript Preparation

Know How to Structure Your PhD Thesis

• 4 minute read
• 33.4K views

Table of Contents

In your academic career, few projects are more important than your PhD thesis. Unfortunately, many university professors and advisors assume that their students know how to structure a PhD. Books have literally been written on the subject, but there’s no need to read a book in order to know about PhD thesis paper format and structure. With that said, however, it’s important to understand that your PhD thesis format requirement may not be the same as another student’s. The bottom line is that how to structure a PhD thesis often depends on your university and department guidelines.

But, let’s take a look at a general PhD thesis format. We’ll look at the main sections, and how to connect them to each other. We’ll also examine different hints and tips for each of the sections. As you read through this toolkit, compare it to published PhD theses in your area of study to see how a real-life example looks.

Main Sections of a PhD Thesis

In almost every PhD thesis or dissertation, there are standard sections. Of course, some of these may differ, depending on your university or department requirements, as well as your topic of study, but this will give you a good idea of the basic components of a PhD thesis format.

• Abstract : The abstract is a brief summary that quickly outlines your research, touches on each of the main sections of your thesis, and clearly outlines your contribution to the field by way of your PhD thesis. Even though the abstract is very short, similar to what you’ve seen in published research articles, its impact shouldn’t be underestimated. The abstract is there to answer the most important question to the reviewer. “Why is this important?”
• Introduction : In this section, you help the reviewer understand your entire dissertation, including what your paper is about, why it’s important to the field, a brief description of your methodology, and how your research and the thesis are laid out. Think of your introduction as an expansion of your abstract.
• Literature Review : Within the literature review, you are making a case for your new research by telling the story of the work that’s already been done. You’ll cover a bit about the history of the topic at hand, and how your study fits into the present and future.
• Theory Framework : Here, you explain assumptions related to your study. Here you’re explaining to the review what theoretical concepts you might have used in your research, how it relates to existing knowledge and ideas.
• Methods : This section of a PhD thesis is typically the most detailed and descriptive, depending of course on your research design. Here you’ll discuss the specific techniques you used to get the information you were looking for, in addition to how those methods are relevant and appropriate, as well as how you specifically used each method described.
• Results : Here you present your empirical findings. This section is sometimes also called the “empiracles” chapter. This section is usually pretty straightforward and technical, and full of details. Don’t shortcut this chapter.
• Discussion : This can be a tricky chapter, because it’s where you want to show the reviewer that you know what you’re talking about. You need to speak as a PhD versus a student. The discussion chapter is similar to the empirical/results chapter, but you’re building on those results to push the new information that you learned, prior to making your conclusion.
• Conclusion : Here, you take a step back and reflect on what your original goals and intentions for the research were. You’ll outline them in context of your new findings and expertise.

Tips for your PhD Thesis Format

As you put together your PhD thesis, it’s easy to get a little overwhelmed. Here are some tips that might keep you on track.

• Don’t try to write your PhD as a first-draft. Every great masterwork has typically been edited, and edited, and…edited.
• Work with your thesis supervisor to plan the structure and format of your PhD thesis. Be prepared to rewrite each section, as you work out rough drafts. Don’t get discouraged by this process. It’s typical.
• Make your writing interesting. Academic writing has a reputation of being very dry.
• You don’t have to necessarily work on the chapters and sections outlined above in chronological order. Work on each section as things come up, and while your work on that section is relevant to what you’re doing.
• Don’t rush things. Write a first draft, and leave it for a few days, so you can come back to it with a more critical take. Look at it objectively and carefully grammatical errors, clarity, logic and flow.
• Know what style your references need to be in, and utilize tools out there to organize them in the required format.
• It’s easier to accidentally plagiarize than you think. Make sure you’re referencing appropriately, and check your document for inadvertent plagiarism throughout your writing process.

PhD Thesis Editing Plus

Want some support during your PhD writing process? Our PhD Thesis Editing Plus service includes extensive and detailed editing of your thesis to improve the flow and quality of your writing. Unlimited editing support for guaranteed results. Learn more here , and get started today!

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• Formatting Your Dissertation
• Introduction

Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

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On this page:

Language of the Dissertation

Page and text requirements, body of text, tables, figures, and captions, dissertation acceptance certificate, copyright statement.

• Table of Contents

Front and Back Matter

Supplemental material, dissertations comprising previously published works, top ten formatting errors, further questions.

• Related Contacts and Forms

When preparing the dissertation for submission, students must follow strict formatting requirements. Any deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection of the dissertation and delay in the conferral of the degree.

The language of the dissertation is ordinarily English, although some departments whose subject matter involves foreign languages may accept a dissertation written in a language other than English.

Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions.

• 8½ x 11 inches, unless a musical score is included
• At least 1 inch for all margins
• Body of text: double spacing
• Block quotations, footnotes, and bibliographies: single spacing within each entry but double spacing between each entry
• Table of contents, list of tables, list of figures or illustrations, and lengthy tables: single spacing may be used

Fonts and Point Size

Use 10-12 point size. Fonts must be embedded in the PDF file to ensure all characters display correctly. 

Recommended Fonts

If you are unsure whether your chosen font will display correctly, use one of the following fonts: 

If fonts are not embedded, non-English characters may not appear as intended. Fonts embedded improperly will be published to DASH as-is. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that fonts are embedded properly prior to submission. 

Instructions for Embedding Fonts

To embed your fonts in recent versions of Word, follow these instructions from Microsoft:

• Click the File tab and then click Options .
• In the left column, select the Save tab.
• Clear the Do not embed common system fonts check box.

For reference, below are some instructions from ProQuest UMI for embedding fonts in older file formats:

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2010:

• In the File pull-down menu click on Options .
• Choose Save on the left sidebar.
• Check the box next to Embed fonts in the file.
• Click the OK button.
• Save the document.

Note that when saving as a PDF, make sure to go to “more options” and save as “PDF/A compliant”

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2007:

• Click the circular Office button in the upper left corner of Microsoft Word.
• A new window will display. In the bottom right corner select Word Options . 
• Choose Save from the left sidebar.

Using Microsoft Word on a Mac:

Microsoft Word 2008 on a Mac OS X computer will automatically embed your fonts while converting your document to a PDF file.

If you are converting to PDF using Acrobat Professional (instructions courtesy of the Graduate Thesis Office at Iowa State University):  

• Open your document in Microsoft Word. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF tab at the top. Select "Change Conversion Settings." 
• Click on Advanced Settings. 
• Click on the Fonts folder on the left side of the new window. In the lower box on the right, delete any fonts that appear in the "Never Embed" box. Then click "OK." 
• If prompted to save these new settings, save them as "Embed all fonts." 
• Now the Change Conversion Settings window should show "embed all fonts" in the Conversion Settings drop-down list and it should be selected. Click "OK" again. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF link at the top again. This time select Convert to Adobe PDF. Depending on the size of your document and the speed of your computer, this process can take 1-15 minutes. 
• After your document is converted, select the "File" tab at the top of the page. Then select "Document Properties." 
• Click on the "Fonts" tab. Carefully check all of your fonts. They should all show "(Embedded Subset)" after the font name. 
•  If you see "(Embedded Subset)" after all fonts, you have succeeded.

The font used in the body of the text must also be used in headers, page numbers, and footnotes. Exceptions are made only for tables and figures created with different software and inserted into the document.

Tables and figures must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a table or a figure is alone on a page (with no narrative), it should be centered within the margins on the page. Tables may take up more than one page as long as they obey all rules about margins. Tables and figures referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation.

• Given the standards of the discipline, dissertations in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning often place illustrations at the end of the dissertation.

Figure and table numbering must be continuous throughout the dissertation or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.). Two figures or tables cannot be designated with the same number. If you have repeating images that you need to cite more than once, label them with their number and A, B, etc. 

Headings should be placed at the top of tables. While no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions are required, a consistent format must be used throughout the dissertation (contact your department for style manuals appropriate to the field).

Captions should appear at the bottom of any figures. If the figure takes up the entire page, the caption should be placed alone on the preceding page, centered vertically and horizontally within the margins.

Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.

Landscape orientation figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin. Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in portrait orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.

If a graphic artist does the figures, Harvard Griffin GSAS will accept lettering done by the artist only within the figure. Figures done with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles done by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text.

Original illustrations, photographs, and fine arts prints may be scanned and included, centered between the margins on a page with no text above or below.

Use of Third-Party Content

In addition to the student's own writing, dissertations often contain third-party content or in-copyright content owned by parties other than you, the student who authored the dissertation. The Office for Scholarly Communication recommends consulting the information below about fair use, which allows individuals to use in-copyright content, on a limited basis and for specific purposes, without seeking permission from copyright holders.

Because your dissertation will be made available for online distribution through DASH , Harvard's open-access repository, it is important that any third-party content in it may be made available in this way.

Fair Use and Copyright 

What is fair use?

Fair use is a provision in copyright law that allows the use of a certain amount of copyrighted material without seeking permission. Fair use is format- and media-agnostic. This means fair use may apply to images (including photographs, illustrations, and paintings), quoting at length from literature, videos, and music regardless of the format. 

How do I determine whether my use of an image or other third-party content in my dissertation is fair use?  

There are four factors you will need to consider when making a fair use claim.

1) For what purpose is your work going to be used?

• Nonprofit, educational, scholarly, or research use favors fair use. Commercial, non-educational uses, often do not favor fair use.
• A transformative use (repurposing or recontextualizing the in-copyright material) favors fair use. Examining, analyzing, and explicating the material in a meaningful way, so as to enhance a reader's understanding, strengthens your fair use argument. In other words, can you make the point in the thesis without using, for instance, an in-copyright image? Is that image necessary to your dissertation? If not, perhaps, for copyright reasons, you should not include the image.  

2) What is the nature of the work to be used?

• Published, fact-based content favors fair use and includes scholarly analysis in published academic venues. 
• Creative works, including artistic images, are afforded more protection under copyright, and depending on your use in light of the other factors, may be less likely to favor fair use; however, this does not preclude considerations of fair use for creative content altogether.

3) How much of the work is going to be used?  

• Small, or less significant, amounts favor fair use. A good rule of thumb is to use only as much of the in-copyright content as necessary to serve your purpose. Can you use a thumbnail rather than a full-resolution image? Can you use a black-and-white photo instead of color? Can you quote select passages instead of including several pages of the content? These simple changes bolster your fair use of the material.

4) What potential effect on the market for that work may your use have?

• If there is a market for licensing this exact use or type of educational material, then this weighs against fair use. If however, there would likely be no effect on the potential commercial market, or if it is not possible to obtain permission to use the work, then this favors fair use. 

For further assistance with fair use, consult the Office for Scholarly Communication's guide, Fair Use: Made for the Harvard Community and the Office of the General Counsel's Copyright and Fair Use: A Guide for the Harvard Community .

What are my options if I don’t have a strong fair use claim? 

Consider the following options if you find you cannot reasonably make a fair use claim for the content you wish to incorporate:

• Seek permission from the copyright holder. 
• Use openly licensed content as an alternative to the original third-party content you intended to use. Openly-licensed content grants permission up-front for reuse of in-copyright content, provided your use meets the terms of the open license.
• Use content in the public domain, as this content is not in-copyright and is therefore free of all copyright restrictions. Whereas third-party content is owned by parties other than you, no one owns content in the public domain; everyone, therefore, has the right to use it.

For use of images in your dissertation, please consult this guide to Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media , which is a great resource for finding images without copyright restrictions. 

Who can help me with questions about copyright and fair use?

Contact your Copyright First Responder . Please note, Copyright First Responders assist with questions concerning copyright and fair use, but do not assist with the process of obtaining permission from copyright holders.

Pages should be assigned a number except for the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate . Preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents, list of tables, graphs, illustrations, and preface) should use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages must contain text or images.  

Count the title page as page i and the copyright page as page ii, but do not print page numbers on either page .

For the body of text, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) starting with page 1 on the first page of text. Page numbers must be centered throughout the manuscript at the top or bottom. Every numbered page must be consecutively ordered, including tables, graphs, illustrations, and bibliography/index (if included); letter suffixes (such as 10a, 10b, etc.) are not allowed. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter heading.

• Check pagination carefully. Account for all pages.

A copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC) should appear as the first page. This page should not be counted or numbered. The DAC will appear in the online version of the published dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

The dissertation begins with the title page; the title should be as concise as possible and should provide an accurate description of the dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

• Do not print a page number on the title page. It is understood to be page  i  for counting purposes only.

A copyright notice should appear on a separate page immediately following the title page and include the copyright symbol ©, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author:

© [ year ] [ Author’s Name ] All rights reserved.

Alternatively, students may choose to license their work openly under a  Creative Commons  license. The author remains the copyright holder while at the same time granting up-front permission to others to read, share, and (depending on the license) adapt the work, so long as proper attribution is given. (By default, under copyright law, the author reserves all rights; under a Creative Commons license, the author reserves some rights.)

• Do  not  print a page number on the copyright page. It is understood to be page  ii  for counting purposes only.

An abstract, numbered as page  iii , should immediately follow the copyright page and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract will appear in the online and bound versions of the dissertation and will be published by ProQuest. There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 

• double-spaced
• left-justified
• indented on the first line of each paragraph
• The author’s name, right justified
• The words “Dissertation Advisor:” followed by the advisor’s name, left-justified (a maximum of two advisors is allowed)
• Title of the dissertation, centered, several lines below author and advisor

Dissertations divided into sections must contain a table of contents that lists, at minimum, the major headings in the following order:

• Front Matter
• Body of Text
• Back Matter

Front matter includes (if applicable):

• acknowledgements of help or encouragement from individuals or institutions
• a dedication
• a list of illustrations or tables
• a glossary of terms
• one or more epigraphs.

Back matter includes (if applicable):

• bibliography
• supplemental materials, including figures and tables
• an index (in rare instances).

Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of the dissertation in an appendix, not within or at the end of a chapter. If additional digital information (including audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the dissertation, it should be uploaded as a supplemental file through ProQuest ETD . Supplemental material will be available in DASH and ProQuest and preserved digitally in the Harvard University Archives.

As a matter of copyright, dissertations comprising the student's previously published works must be authorized for distribution from DASH. The guidelines in this section pertain to any previously published material that requires permission from publishers or other rightsholders before it may be distributed from DASH. Please note:

• Authors whose publishing agreements grant the publisher exclusive rights to display, distribute, and create derivative works will need to seek the publisher's permission for nonexclusive use of the underlying works before the dissertation may be distributed from DASH.
• Authors whose publishing agreements indicate the authors have retained the relevant nonexclusive rights to the original materials for display, distribution, and the creation of derivative works may distribute the dissertation as a whole from DASH without need for further permissions.

It is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is available to help the author determine whether she has retained the necessary rights or requires permission. Please note, however, the Office of Scholarly Communication is not able to assist with the permissions process itself.

• Missing Dissertation Acceptance Certificate.  The first page of the PDF dissertation file should be a scanned copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC). This page should not be counted or numbered as a part of the dissertation pagination.
• Conflicts Between the DAC and the Title Page.  The DAC and the dissertation title page must match exactly, meaning that the author name and the title on the title page must match that on the DAC. If you use your full middle name or just an initial on one document, it must be the same on the other document.  
• Abstract Formatting Errors. The advisor name should be left-justified, and the author's name should be right-justified. Up to two advisor names are allowed. The Abstract should be double spaced and include the page title “Abstract,” as well as the page number “iii.” There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 
•  The front matter should be numbered using Roman numerals (iii, iv, v, …). The title page and the copyright page should be counted but not numbered. The first printed page number should appear on the Abstract page (iii). 
• The body of the dissertation should be numbered using Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, …). The first page of the body of the text should begin with page 1. Pagination may not continue from the front matter. 
• All page numbers should be centered either at the top or the bottom of the page.
• Figures and tables Figures and tables must be placed within the text, as close to their first mention as possible. Figures and tables that span more than one page must be labeled on each page. Any second and subsequent page of the figure/table must include the “(Continued)” notation. This applies to figure captions as well as images. Each page of a figure/table must be accounted for and appropriately labeled. All figures/tables must have a unique number. They may not repeat within the dissertation.
• Any figures/tables placed in a horizontal orientation must be placed with the top of the figure/ table on the left-hand side. The top of the figure/table should be aligned with the spine of the dissertation when it is bound. 
• Page numbers must be placed in the same location on all pages of the dissertation, centered, at the bottom or top of the page. Page numbers may not appear under the table/ figure.
• Supplemental Figures and Tables. Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the back of the dissertation in an appendix. They should not be placed at the back of the chapter. 
• Permission Letters Copyright. permission letters must be uploaded as a supplemental file, titled ‘do_not_publish_permission_letters,” within the dissertation submission tool.
•  DAC Attachment. The signed Dissertation Acceptance Certificate must additionally be uploaded as a document in the "Administrative Documents" section when submitting in Proquest ETD . Dissertation submission is not complete until all documents have been received and accepted.
• Overall Formatting. The entire document should be checked after all revisions, and before submitting online, to spot any inconsistencies or PDF conversion glitches.
• You can view dissertations successfully published from your department in DASH . This is a great place to check for specific formatting and area-specific conventions.
• Contact the  Office of Student Affairs  with further questions.

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How to Write a Dissertation Introduction

Complete Guide to Write Dissertation Introduction

Write a dissertation Introduction with great importance. The chapter for Introduction is responsible for creating the first impression of your dissertation on the reader. It is the first chapter of your dissertation that begins just after the Table of Content. This is the reason that this chapter aims to offer an overview of your research in a very justified manner.

In the process of dissertation writing introduction, it is always appropriate to work on this chapter by the end of the research. Keep a draft in hand, but write the final content of the chapter when everything gets finalized through the research process. To gain the answer to - how to write a dissertation introduction - read this article to the end.

How to write a Dissertation Introduction with Justification

The Chapter 1 Introduction of your dissertation is meant to provide well-knitted and logically justified information about the purpose and relevance of the research. This chapter is solely about stating the reasons for your research. The way you narrate this chapter, you need to remain consistent in contextualising the justifications to your research. References to different academic debates about the practical problems that your research will strive to resolve are the key way to make an authentic appeal to the reader. While developing the background section, always add empirical data in support of your justification. For example, let us consider a topic like-

Importance of economical investment in optical fibre communication, even though it may not yield expected return.

To justify research on this topic, you must support the content with numerical data (see Table 1 below):

Table 1: Example Content for Justification

08 Steps to Write a Dissertation Introduction 

Writing a Dissertation Introduction can be a complicated task if you do not understand its importance and the systematic way to approach its construction. There are some specific steps through which you can construct a well-justified chapter as an Introduction. Construct the draft in such a way that there is enough room for improvement in every step. Follow the instructions noted below:

Step 1: Introduce your Topic =>  Enlist all the points that encouraged you to get involved in this research.

Step 2: Read extensively => Try to read as many journal articles and books as to understand the background of your subject.

Step 3: Write selectively  =>  Jot down all those debates and justifications that can support the construction of your Aim & Objectives.

Step 4: Chronological arrangement => Make a list of all the necessary developments regarding the topic in a chronological manner.

Step 5: Background construction  =>  Write about the developments from one year, decade, or century after another.

Step 6: Identify questions => Make a list of all the questions, which remain unanswered.

Step 7: Decide relevance =>  Concerning your Aim & Objectives, determine the core purpose and relevance of your research.

Step 8: Finalise the draft => Construct the contents for the subheadings as noted in Figure 2.     

How to write a Dissertation Introduction with Clarity

A reader looks into the dissertation Introduction chapter with the urge to have a clear idea about the kind of research that you will initiate. For this purpose, clarity in your narrative is mandatory. Your Introduction must be very clear in every expression. A comprehensive way of expressing your point of view and clear use of language are the soul ways to write a dissertation introduction. There should be no room for ambiguity. Every sentence should be short and precise to make the idea clear. Write a dissertation Introduction without mingling two to three contexts in one sentence. Dissertation writing introduction demands absolute clarity in the selection and usage of jargon and technical terms. Not a single word should be misinterpreted or misspelt. You can consider the following selections as in Table 2:

Table 2 Clarity in Language

Thus while dissertation writing Introduction, stay extensively focussed in offering the right phrases and follow the right format or as instructed by your University.

Format for Dissertation Writing Introduction

The format of Chapter 1 Introduction of your dissertation is all about how you want to make your presentation. There is no specific restriction regarding the length of this chapter. However, it is important to note that this chapter must comprise a certain percentage of the entire word count of the dissertation. Check the following for a clear idea:

Figure 1 Wordcount percentage

• Paper size:  A4
• Paper margins: 2.54 cms or 1 inch from all sides
• Font size: Arial 10 size with double space or Times New Roman 12 size with double space.
• Alignment: Justified
• Page numbers: bottom of the page or at the right-hand corner at the top of the page
• In-text citations: APA style 7 th edition

When you write a dissertation introduction, the core inclusions are:

Figure 2 Subsections of Dissertation Introduction

Purpose of the Chapter : Mention 'what' are the points that you are going to explore in this chapter.

Background Study : Explain the background of the selected research domain.

Statement of the Problem : State 'what' is troubling you, in a single sentence.

Research Questions : Enlist 3 to 4 core questions or ‘hypotheses’ that insist you lead research in this field.

Aim & Objectives : Mention 'what' is the core aim of your research and add 3 to 4 objectives that you will try to cover.

Research Relevance : Clearly state 'how' your research will be beneficial for future circumstances.

Dissertation Structure : Enlist the chapter-wise content of the whole dissertation.

As you write these subsections in the dissertation writing Introduction chapter, make sure that there is a systematic synchronization among the declarations that you make. It is important to declare the key references that you are going to analyse in the chapters that follow.

Thus, to gain insight into- how to write a dissertation introduction – follow the aforementioned points and give adequate clarity and justification to every point.

"Trent's teaching on justification can be correctly understood only in the context of history of dogma. In this context, however, it can and must be understood correctly. This, for the time being, is our preliminary answer to Karl Barth's polemic against Trent. Protestants speak of a declaration of justice and Catholics of a making just. But Protestants speak of a declaring just which includes a making just; and Catholics of a making just which supposes a declaring just. Is it not time to stop arguing about imaginary differences?" Küng, Hans  Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. 221. Print.

Hans Küng on Karl Barth

In Justification , Küng had chosen Karl Barth as his representative of the Protestant Doctrine of Justification (primarily using Barth's Church Dogmatics  Vol. IV/1 and IV/2.) Küng (a recognized teacher in the Roman Catholic Church at that time and later a  petrus at Vatican II) represented the Roman Catholicism counterpart to the Doctrine of Justification.

The question to why Küng had chosen Barth as his provost for Protestant may be partially explained by the following quotation from Hans Küng's essay, Karl Barth and the Postmodern Paradigm . If Karl Barth does not represent some Protestants, I hope that the following discourse would consider a second look at Barth's Doctrine of Reconciliation due to the hope of reunification of the divided Western Church may be found in it.

Let me begin on a personal note. I cannot, and will not, speak of Karl Barth as I would of any great theologian or philosopher of the past, Hegel, for example, Schleiermarcher, Kierkegaard, or Harnack. I cannot, and will not, pretend to a lofty objectivity and neutrality, least of all in the case of Barth. Talking about him means for me, now as ever, talking about a person and theologian who has remained alive, who was combative--and pious precisely because of this--a man whom I met in a crucial phase of my life and to whom I am indebted for basic insights into theology (without ever becoming an uncritical Barthian). I have no intention of providing an academic (in the bad sense) abstract of our common history, nor of course will I deny the fact that I disagreed with him then, as I do now. In this retrospective I should like to follow a difficult  via media between sympathy and distance, as I try to convey something of the vitality of this theologian and his theology, as I have seen it not only in Barth's work but in a great and many encounters and conversations. Küng, Hans. " Karl Barth and the Postmodern Paradigm. " Princeton Seminary Bulletin (1988): 1. Web.

Council of Trent

Karl Barth's Response to Justification

Karl Barth was no Roman Catholic sympathizer when Küng had chosen him. In the first part of  Justification , Küng summarizes Barth's Doctrine of Justification, including Barth's criticisms of Roman Catholic. I have already written about Küng's summary of Barth's criticisms of Roman Catholic Doctrine of Justification in a previous post.  The following quotation is an exemplary representative of Barth's criticisms.

[Karl] Barth reacts very strongly against the decree of [the Tridentine] Session VI: “The decree itself is theologically a clever and in many respects a not unsympathetic document which has caused superficial Protestant readers to ask whether there might not be something to say for it. But if we study it more closely it is impossible to conceal the fact that not even the remotest impression seems to have been made upon its exponents by what agitated the Reformers or, for that matter, Paul himself in this whole question of faith and works" (IV/1, 624f.) Küng, Hans. Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. 75. Print.

Hans Kung and Karl Barth

Hans Küng's response to Karl Barth's criticisms of the Council of Trent

The genius of Küng's  Justification is in the way Küng demonstrated that the Roman Catholics were not condemning what Protestants now believe, and also that the Protestants were not condemning what the Roman Catholic now believed regarding the Doctrine of Justification. Küng is convinced that these two parties were talking past each other as the previous quote exemplified.

Karl Barth's response to the Tridentine Canons represents the way that all Protestants have responded to the 16th century Council of Trent's Anathema sit! (anathematizing) of the Reformers doctrine of "Justification by faith alone".

"If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified: let him be anathema." (Council of Trent, Session VI, Canon XII.) Schaff, Philip. " Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume II. The History of Creeds. ", Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2009. 113. Web.

Is any Protestant 'unjustified' for reacting in such horror as Barth when they read this Tridentine anathema? This Tridentine Canon and those others like it, especially throughout Session VI, are horrifying to all Protestant ears? Küng's surprising solution does not reject the Council of Trent, but instead he explains that these anathamas do not represent a complete and systematic doctrine of the Catholic Magisterium or apply to Protestants today. Even if the statements claim to be the teaching of the Magisterium, Küng explains that in fact they are only a reaction against events that were convulsing the entire Church that no longer are in effect. Consider Küng's explanation of these events:

In similar discussions about Trent one is likely to be asked with a malicious grin whether such explanations do not produce " a bad historical conscience " among Catholics--the point being that Trent did after all wish to present a comprehensive theology of justification. It is true that Trent was not simply a discussion among confessions or simply a controversial theology but rather a cohesive, positive presentation of Catholic truth. And the Council, especially in Session VI de justificatione , did not limit itself (as it did in Session IV and for the most part in Session V) to restudy and refining texts already promulgated nor did it simply list errors in order to judge them (as did Session VII), but rather dealt directly with the problem of justification as such.

All this is true and indicates the noble and objective spirit of this ecclesiastical assembly, yet we have here no reason for historical pangs of conscience--because the point of departure and the target Council discussions, as well as the never-absent shadow over them, was clearly the Reformation teaching. The decree on justification too, was motivated not by the desire for an unbiased scholarly peace-time declaration but by heresy convulsing the Church. The introduction to the decree notwithstanding its irenic style, is clearly polemical in purpose: " Since at this time a certain erroneous teaching about justification is being broadcast with the consequent loss of many souls and serious damage to Church unity . . . this Council of Trent . . . intends to set forth for all the faithful of Christ the true, sound doctrine of justification " (CT, V, 791; D 792a).  Küng, Hans  Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. 107. Print.

Karl Barth's commendation of Hans Küng's Justification

Karl Barth was a life long friend of Hans Küng, and he responded to this young theologian with  a remarkable letter endorsing Justification , and this letter of retraction, in Augustinian fashion, was included as a preface to Justification . Here is a quotation from Barth's letter:

3. The negative conclusion of your critique is this: Due to my erroneous (because unhistorical) evaluation of the definitions and declarations collected in Denzinger and of the statements of the Church’s magisterium in general, I have been guilty of a thoroughgoing misunderstanding and, consequently, of a thoroughgoing injustice regarding the teaching of your Church, especially that of the Fathers of Trent.  Quid dicemus ad haec?  If the things you cite from Scripture, from older and more recent Roman Catholic theology, from Denzinger and hence from the Tridentine text, do actually represent the teaching of your Church and are establishable as such (Perhaps this single book of yours will be enough to create a consensus!), then, having twice gone to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Trent to commune with the genius loci, I may very well have to hasten there are third time to make a contrite confession—“Fathers, I have sinned.” But taking the statements of that Sixth Session as we now have them before us—statements correctly or incorrectly formulated for reasons then considered compelling—don’t you agree that I should be permitted to plead mitigating circumstances for the considerable difficulty I had trying to discover in that text what you have found to be true Catholic teaching? Imagine! So unexpected a view of freedom, of grace, of juridico-real justification and its realization and foundation in Christ’s death, of the  and  sola fide , and so on! How do you explain the fact that all this could hidden so long, and from so many, both outside and inside the Church? Küng, Hans. Preface. Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. xl-xli. Print.

Thus we have the genesis of the healing of the rift between the Roman Catholics and Protestants by Hans Küng and Karl Barth. The question immediately arises whether this is only a compromise among friends, or truly a solution to the Roman Catholic and Protestant schism? The answer is Nein! In 1962, Pope John XXIII appointed Hans Küng as a  peritus  (expert) in Vatican II. Hans Küng has a significant role in the Second Vatican Council, and worked in a similar capacity to Joseph Ratzinger (who would later become Pope Benedict XVI).

Karl Rahner in 1974

Karl Rahner's commendation of Hans Küng's Justification

In 1962, Karl Rahner published an essay titled, " Questions of Controversial Theology on Justification " in Theological Investigations Vol. 4 , that was an assessment of Küng's book Justification and Karl Barth's response. Karl Rahner's writings may be considered opinion or speculative, but he is no Barthian, and he is certainly well respected in Roman Catholicism. Rahner's conclusion was that Hans Küng had represented accurately the Roman Catholic view of Justification, and he also agreed that Küng's description of Barth's doctrine of Justification was compatible with the Roman Catholic view. Rahner raised some concerns regarding whether Barth's doctrine was represented accurately by Küng in  Justification , but recommended that Barth's approval and affirmation  Justification should be accepted from Barth over the opinion of those who say that Barth's system does not harmonize with Catholicism.

"One can be a Catholic and hold this doctrine of justification, which Karl Barth has declared to be the same as his own." [...] The history of theology is "not simply the history of the progression of dogma, but also a history of forgetting ( Probleme , 126)" Küng, Hans Justification: The Doctrine of Karl Barth and a Catholic Reflection. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004. 106-7. Print.

"Thinking as we do, as we shall shortly explain, that we do not understand Barth's doctrine better than Barth, and that Küng propounds on all essential points a doctrine of justification which is in accord with Catholic doctrine, nothing very noteworthy can be said here on the actual theme of the book. Our considerations are therefore  marginal  notes with regard to the object and contents of the book, and we wish them to be understood as such." Rahner, Karl. "Questions of Controversial Theology on Justification." Theological Investigations Volume IV: More Recent Writings . Vol. IV. Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1966. 189. Print.

1999 signing of the Joint Doctrine of the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) with Bishop Dr. Christian Krause (left) and Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy (right) (source: elcic.ca )

The silencing of Hans Küng

Hans Küng's Justification  (1957) was his doctoral thesis and first book, and such a successful book that it resulted in Küng being made a  peritus (Latin for 'expert') at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). However, Küng wrote another controversial book,  Infallible? An Inquiry (1971)  that criticized the Roman Catholic doctrine of Papal Infallibility and subsequently lead to his right to teach being revoked by the Vatican in Dec. 1979 . It's important to know that the removal of Küng's right to teach was long after Justification and Vatican II, and that it was Küng's success in his book  Justification that lead him to address other dogmatics, but unfortunately, Infallible? An Inquiry , did not receive the same reception as  Justification . It's unfortunately that Infallible? An Inquiry  left such a dark cloud over Küng.

Hans Küng's Justification and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

The Joint Doctrine on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) was a controversial ecumenical statement in 1997 and 1999 that forged agreement between the Federation of Lutheran Churches and the Roman Catholics Church. The JDDJ was approved by a supermajority vote but not unanimously (124 in favor and 35 opposed). The JDDJ was a monumental eccumentical statement of unity between the Lutherans and Catholics, but many today deny that Hans Küng work in Justification germinated the JDDC, yet the JDDC is remarkably similar to the writings of Küng's 40 years before:

1. On the basis of the agreements reached in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JD), the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church declare together: " The understanding of the doctrine of justification set forth in this Declaration shows that a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine of justification exists between Lutherans and Catholics " (JD 40). On the basis of this consensus the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church declare together: “ The teaching of the Lutheran Churches presented in the Declaration does not fall under the condemnations from the Council of Trent. The condemnations in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church presented in this Declaration " (JD 41). " Official Common Statement #1 " The Holy See . Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, n.d. Web. 18 Aug. 2014.

The JDDJ did not settle all the issues dividing the Lutherans and Catholics, but laid the blue print to rebuilding the broken foundation of the divide Church. The Official Common Statement was put forth showing an unprecedented unity between Catholics and Lutherans unseen since the Reformation. Additional statements were put forward by the Vatican about the remain questions  as well as by conservative Lutherans on the work left unresolved by the JDDJ .

Was Hans Küng the Forgotten Founding Father of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification?

"I know today that an agreement could have been arrived at over the matter of justification, as I argued in my doctoral dissertation,  Justification , in 1957, and as has been confirmed in 1999 by the Roman Catholic-Lutheran consensus document." Küng, Hans, and John Bowden. The Catholic Church: A Short History . New York: Modern Library, 2001. 125. Print.

In Hans Küng's  Memoirs , in reference to the  Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) [mirror], he wrote:

"It will take around 40 years, until 1999, for the breakthrough already achieved in 1957 to be officially sanctioned by the church. I once read in C.G. Jung that it takes 40 years for an idea from the higher levels of the clergy to get down to the men on the street. Did the prelates also count on that? At any event, first of all there was some undesirable theological haggling: instead of taking the results of the book Justification, the subsequent discussion and the Malta document as presupposition of an official recognition of the consensus, the Vatican, playing for time, set up year another ecumenical commission with the Lutheran World Federation which for years had once again to chew through all the statements in the Tridentine decree on justification. Galley slaves’s work. Küng, Hans. My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs . Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2003. 144. Print.

There's a remarkable silence in the JDDJ regarding Hans Küng, especially since the JDDJ repeated the same ingenius arguments that Küng provided forty years before in  Justification . In the following quotation that extends the previous quote, Küng explains this extremely awkward situation, where the the JDDJ is formed due to his ground-breaking research, yet he remains uncredited, and how others give him recognition when the ancient Catholic Church does not (forgive my protestant slant):

It goes without saying that I remain excluded from such official discussions by commissions under the conditions of an all too eternal yesterday — at the wish of Rome and with the assent of Protestants. And I’m pleased: what a waste of time! Here of course the Roman infallibles attach importance to every statement of Trent: these cannot in any way be false or even wrong, but were ‘fundamentally’ correct or were at least ‘meant to be correct’ (otherwise ‘everything would collapse’). But of necessity Lutheran biblical scholars respond to the Roman tactics accordingly: they are concerned to demonstrate that as many formulations as possible in Luther or the confessional writings are irreformably correct and, where they can be, are to be pressed into the categories of law and gospel. In a neurosis over confessional profile, some remain caught in the mediaeval paradigm, others in the Reformation paradigm. And so they lose opportunity of making clear to people in a competitive society in a quite concrete and convincing way how important it is that human beings as persons are not justified by God on the basis of achievements, successes, works of all kinds, but happily by God himself, who expects only trusting faith. Be this as it may, finally in 1999, despite some shady moves and Luther counter-moves and after further additional declarations, on 31 October, the anniversary of the Reformation, a declaration of agreement will be signed in Augsburg. When this happens, vigorous applause spontaneously breaks out in the church and goes on for an astonishing time. For me — watching it on television — is a great delight. For the applause shows those in church and those watching on TV how great the longing is for such an ecumenical agreement. A late triumph. No doubt about it. But should I conceal the fact that at the wish of Rome the name of the author of the 1957 book Justification, which was originally top of the list of those to be invited, was again deleted — and as so often without a protest from the Protestants involved? Certainly this pettiness niggles me a little, but I can easily get over it, and in any case I am no friend of long church ceremonies. Did my former assistant and colleague Walter Kasper, now a Curia bishop, no doubt informed about the deletion of my name, perhaps sign for me in spirit? At any rate, to conclude from several reactions, including those of Bishop Karl Lehmann, I am not forgotten by the well informed. The best sign comes a few weeks later at the ‘Cape of Good Hope’, on the occasion of my lecture to the Parliament of the World Religions in December 1999. On the stage, the Lutheran Bishop of Cape Town, Nils Rohwer, gives me the fountain pen, beautifully engraved by the city of Augsburg, with which he himself signed the Augsburg document: he says that I deserve it more than he does. The Lord Mayor of the city of Augsburg is kind enough later to send him another jubilee fountain pen at my request. This is practical ecumenism in small matters." Küng, Hans. My Struggle for Freedom: Memoirs . Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2003. 144-45. Print.

The Legacy of Hans Küng's Justification today

The  Justification  is a ground breaking event in the reunification of Western Christianity, and despite that laudable success of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, Protestants and Roman Catholics remain 'separated brethren' and the uncrossable chasm between the two branches of Western Christianity remains for the foreseeable future. It is understandable that a five hundred year family feud would not heal overnight, and that the opposing sides desire to see more resolution on other disputed dogmas than 'justification by faith alone'. We may hope that further work would continue to be done now that Küng's Justification has let forth the floodgates.

The JDDJ was a productive test case of Küng's Justification, but some of my Reformed friends have expressed that it does not address the particular Reformed criticisms of Roman Catholicism, and suggest that the JDDJ was another incarnation of Andreas Osiander's doctrine of 'Essential Righteousness'. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion III.XI.5-13, contains Calvin's extended criticism of Osiander's Doctrine of 'Essential Righteousness.'

After contacting every Lutheran and Reformed with a Ph.D. that I could find on twitter, I received a consistent response that the JDDJ departed from Küng's Justification to the degree that they would accept Küng's Justification but not the JDDJ. And almost every person I spoke with, and there were many, referred me to Eberhard Jüngel's book, " Justification: The Heart of the Christian Faith " as the most important response to the ideas Hans Küng proposed fifty years ago.

Thanks for this! Awesome getting all this stuff in one place, particularly for people who weren’t aware of the book.

Thanks Jon! Took me a few weeks to assemble this blog with all the quotes

Fine way of explaining, and pleasant piece of writing to obtain data about my presentation focus, which i am going to deliver in college.

This is great. Thank you so much.

Thanks Kate!

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