Researching & Writing A Dissertation An essential guide for business students

Researching and Writing a Dissertation – An essential guide for business students

Third Edition

A concise, engaging and pragmatic introduction for business students to researching and writing a dissertation.

A dissertation is a substantial part of a business qualification and as a student you may be daunted by the prospect of embarking on such a sustained piece of academic work. This book takes an extremely practical, skills-based approach to both researching and writing a dissertation. It is designed to aid anyone on a business-related course who has to write a dissertation or a long, research-based paper as part of their programme of study.

This fully updated new edition guides the development of your dissertation, step-by-step – starting with how to choose your topic and carry out a critical literature review, through to framing your arguments and writing up your findings. Throughout the book, assessment criteria are explained so that your work is focused around the relevant academic objectives, and each step is illustrated with examples. It also covers essential skills such as how to argue and write effectively.

KEY FEATURES:

• Six basic steps to help you build your dissertation
• Examples throughout of what to do – and what not to do!
• Exercises with suggested answers to encourage the development of essential skills
• Explanations of how a dissertation is assessed
• Acknowledges the reality that project work is rarely sequential and advises on how to juggle several stages at once
• Completely new to this third edition: an extra chapter focused entirely on using the latest technology and software to aid your research

Colin Fisher is Professor of Managerial Ethics and Values at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, and has helped hundreds of students through their master’s, MBA and doctoral projects.

‘Broad coverage with good illustrative examples…well written, with a humorous touch.’

Diane O’Sullivan, Glamorgan Business School

'The strong focus on the research process makes this book a very valuable resource for students. It presents different research traditions very clearly and offers valuable guidelines on how to refine a research topic and write a critical review.'

Garance Maréchal, The University of Liverpool Management School

‘I found this book to be very useful, well structured and easy to read. It covers all the key areas of writing in an academic way, and the chapter on doing a literature review was particularly helpful for my dissertation.’

Laxmi Rao, studying for a master's degree in IT Management from M™lardalen University, Sweden

Researching and Writing your Dissertation is an essential guide for students undertaking research projects as part of a postgraduate qualification in business or management. Seven accessible chapters guide the reader through the process from choosing a topic, to gathering and analysing data, and finally writing and presenting the results.

This book is ideal for students who may not be taking a taught and assessed module in research methods, but are undertaking management research for the first time and will benefit from guidance on the process, from start to finish.