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Science Dissertation: The Rules, Conventions, and Structure
Higher levels of science education programs require students to write a science dissertation. Science dissertations form an important component of the evaluation of the level of knowledge and skills acquired.
Before undertaking science dissertations t is useful for students to be aware of the relevant rules, conventions, and structure.
Such awareness contributes to enhanced quality of science dissertations.
The relevant rules, conventions, and structure in writing science dissertations
- There are very few relevant rules in writing a science dissertation. These rules pertaining to the formatting of a science dissertation.
- These formatting rules involve the number of copies, layout, Title Page, Abstract, Summary, etc.
- These rules are not the same for every department or university. It is important that these rules are found out well in advance of writing the dissertation. Enquiries with the tutor or the department will provide this information.
- The conventions in writing a science dissertation in essence focus on the form, content, and style of the dissertation. They have been established as the efficient means to convey information present in a science dissertation. As with the rules, every discipline has its own conventions on the structure of a dissertation. The best means to understand the required conventions is to read and understand a dissertation recommended by the supervisor.
- The typical structure of a science dissertation consists of three parts.
- The beginning is the first part. It includes the Title Page, Abstract, Dedication, Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, List of Figures, List of Appendices, List of Abbreviations, and Introduction.
- The middle part consists of the Materials and Methods/Experimental Techniques.
- The end part contains the Discussion, References, Glossary, and Appendices.
These rules, conventions and structure guidelines will help in writing good science dissertations.



