Suggested Guidelines for
Thesis/Dissertation Chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction
 Problem Statement: Why is this research
important?
 What are the objectives of this study?
 What are the testable hypotheses?
 Outline of thesis/dissertation. What do the
next chapters cover?
Chapter 2: Literature Review
 Review of relevant literature.
 Compare/contrast previous literature with
what you intend to do.
 How does your intended work extend the
knowledge frontier?
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
 Develop the theoretical framework underlying
this research.
 How would results from the testable
hypotheses alter or support the proposed
theoretical framework?
 How sturdy is this theoretical framework? Are
there short-comings?
Chapter 4: Data Specifications and Collection
Procedures
 Background information about data sources.
 Variable descriptions.
 Sampling procedures.
 Descriptive statistics.
Chapter 5. Empirical Model and Estimation
Results
 Based on theoretical framework, develop
empirical model.
 Discuss estimation procedure and testing.
 Discuss estimation results and test results.
Chapter 6: Summary, Conclusions and
Recommendations
 Summarize your findings.
 Given your empirical results, what do you conclude?
 Based on your results and conclusion, what do you
recommend?
 What are the limitations of your research? What else
could be done? What do you recommend for future
research based on your findings?