This might seem like a really dumb question but what are the individual chapters used for?

If you have an introduction section and then 3-4 chapters, is it just the same layout as a research paper but labelled individual chapters instead of methodology, results, discussion, etc? Or are you supposed to have a few chapters for the different areas of the literature and then go on to the other stuff?

My research is in human and health science, I don't know if that makes any difference.

I think it depends on the your thesis - whether it is laid out in the traditional way: Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion as individual chapters, or journal style where each individual chapter is written in a journal format of Intro, Methods, Results/Discussion and Conclusion all within the same chapter. If your university doesn't have any recommendations to follow I think you have to discuss with your supervisors which style you go for. An increasing number of theses are going for the latter, that way each chapter could be a stand-alone article if you wish to publish your results later.

In science, many theses have a general intro and lit review (1), methods (2), then 3-5 separate 'results' chapters that also have intro, (methods), results and discussion and then a final discussion chapter.

Your results chapters may be standalone because they cover distinct aspects of your thesis, or they may be chronological, with each one building on the preceding chapter.

I agree that it varies. What I have seen commonly though is:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology of the thesis
Chapter 4,5,6: Study 1/2/3 (each with an intro, aim, methods, results, discussion, conclusion)
Chapter 7: Discussion (of the whole thesis)
Chapter 8: Conclusion and Further work

So your introduction would be about the general topic area, lit review about the specific topic areas and then if you had separate studies from your one research project, each study would have it's own chapter with its own lit review section in that chapter, is that what you mean?

I've got my second year viva tomorrow and my supervisor told me to include that we have discussed a skeleton plan for the thesis and that plan and then said we will discuss it after the viva tomorrow.

Whether each chapter has a separate lit review or just a short intro would depend on the content of the thesis. My thesis has three distinct results chapters with little overlap so each one has its own introduction where I discuss the relevant literature to that chapter. My general introduction chapter incorporates a lit review of the overarching theme of my thesis.

Can you look at other theses in your lab/department? Your supervisors may have their own ideas of what they want to see as well

You should read "Authoring a PhD" by Patrick Dunleavy. There are used copies on Amazon for a tenner. Also, read other dissertations in your dept for an idea of layout and structure. (Mine, for example, doesn't have separate lit review or methodology chapters. I've just incorporated this into my introduction. I only knew I could do this after I read other dissertations in my department.)

Just had to check my thesis (never believed I'd move on and forget some of the specifics!)

It may differ somewhat by study, but mine follows structure TreeofLife suggested.

My thesis involved doing various tests (psychosocial, cognitive, MRI) on a clinical population. My structure was as follows;

- Intro and lit review (this chapter for was short ~5000 words and introduced the general area)
- Methods (general method such as recruitment, testing procedures)
- Four data chapters each with intro, methods, results, conclusions (in the intro here I went into more specific research, e.g., in the cognitive chapter I reviewed previous research into cognitive deficits in this population).
- General discussion (bringing everything together, future directions etc).


I did discuss having a methods chapter where I covered all the methods, but decided with my supervisors that this chapter would be long and potentially quite boring to read!

Thanks everyone. I am 5 hours away from my uni so it's not easy to go in to look at previous work. I will try and get hold of some the next time I am in but your posts have been a great help for now. Thanks

Have you tried Ethos? You can refine the search by institution.

This thread and ETHOS really help. Thanks!