To document dissertation sections in a specific field, you must align your chapter structure, formatting, and citation style with the established conventions of your particular academic discipline. While most graduate research shares a similar foundational purpose, the way you organize and present your findings will look completely different depending on whether you are writing for the humanities, social sciences, or STEM.
Here is how to properly document and structure your dissertation based on your field of study.
1. Identify Your Field's Standard Structure
The first step in documenting your thesis is understanding the macro-structure expected by your department.
- STEM and Social Sciences: These fields typically follow the rigid IMRAD format (Introduction, Methodology, Results, and Discussion). You will need distinct, clearly labeled sections for your literature review and quantitative or qualitative data analysis.
- Humanities: Disciplines like history, literature, or philosophy rarely use IMRAD. Instead, you will document your research through thematic chapters that build a continuous narrative argument.
To find the exact expectations for your niche, download three recent, successful dissertations from your specific department and use their tables of contents as a structural template.
2. Apply Discipline-Specific Formatting
Every academic writing field has a governing style manual that dictates how sections should be formatted. This includes rules for heading hierarchies, title pages, margins, and how to present tables or figures. For example, psychology and education rely heavily on APA style, literature uses MLA, history defaults to Chicago, and engineering fields often use IEEE. Consult your university’s graduate school handbook to ensure you are applying the correct manual to your document.
3. Master Citation and Reference Documentation
Properly documenting your sources is the most critical part of academic writing. Your literature review and discussion sections will require hundreds of references, and the formatting of your in-text citations and bibliography must be flawless. To streamline this process, WisPaper's TrueCite automatically finds and verifies citations, helping you build accurate bibliographies that adhere to your field's exact style guidelines while eliminating the risk of hallucinated references.
4. Tailor Your Methodology and Results
The way you document your methods and results is highly field-specific. In the hard sciences, your methodology section must be documented with enough technical precision—detailing exact equipment, chemical parameters, or algorithms—that another researcher could perfectly replicate the experiment. Conversely, in qualitative fields, documenting your methodology involves detailing your theoretical framework, how you selected interview participants, and the ethical considerations of your research.
By strictly following your discipline's structural norms and citation rules, you ensure your dissertation is professional, readable, and ready for your committee's review.
