Dissertation 1 Course Description

Students in the Dissertation 1 course will demonstrate the ability to articulate, interpret, and evaluate the theoretical constructs and research of their disciplines in order to create a dissertation topic that is well-established in research and has the potential to contribute to research, theory, and practice. Students will exhibit advanced levels of analysis and synthesis in research through creating a study that elucidates the major theories, research methods, and approaches to inquiry and/or schools of practices in their field(s). Course requirements for Dissertation 1 include: (1) a Google Sheets Research Collection Document with 50 complete research entries aligned to their dissertation topic of study, and (2) a finalized three-paragraph problem statement that logically identifies the need for the study and is aligned to a theory/theoretical framework that will allow for further exploration of the problem.

Your topic MUST be well-established in research! Even though the "problem" you identify may exist in your current context, it still must be recognized and written about in the research field. Sometimes it is difficult to think outside of your current context and experiences, however, as described in the previous section, Chapter 2 is a review of the literature that situates your topic in the context of the work that has already been done. If you are not able to find much research on your topic, then you will not be able to write 25-30 pages for the review of the literature, or justify the importance of your research to the larger body of knowledge.

Due to the importance of your topic being well-grounded in research, the initial two courses are designed to allow you to become more acquainted with the research that exists on your topic. In addition, you will begin your dissertation by writing Chapter 2, instead of Chapter 1, when you take your first research course, The Literature Review. When setting up your study, it is important to know that it is possible to find research to support your problem statements.

The following resources, Mendeley and a Google Spreadsheet, will assist you in organizing and annotating your sources.

Starting with D3, DL3, and DL4, we have added an additional column for the theory/theoretical framework identified in the articles/resources and these examples will not reflect that column.