Even if you do a marvelous job in the entire semester, but fail to produce a quality dissertation, you will have to either repeat your semester or adjust with mediocre marks. More than 60% of the dissertations prepared each year are either cancelled, or given back for revisions. It is mainly because of the common mistakes that student make in their dissertations due to which their dissertations do not earn them the marks and appreciation they deserve for their efforts. Here are some of the commonly repeated mistakes in dissertations, which students can avoid to get better marks.
Selecting Overly Researched Topic
When you are writing your Masters or PhD level dissertation, it is expected from you to come out of something different and fresh. If you are going to research on a field which already has a large number of registered dissertations and thesis, your topic would not be appreciated, unless you convince the jury that you will add useful information in the provided data. With a weak topic selection, which does not excite your supervisors and the ones grading your dissertation, you will not be able to get flying marks.
Irrational or Unauthentic Statements
When you put forward a statement at the start of your dissertation, it is very important that you support it with necessary and adequate proves. For example, if you give the statement that “child labor is mainly the derivative of government negligence and not lack of resources”, it is important that you back it with proper and authentic sources. You will have to provide sources for elaborating both government negligence in terms of child labor and the abundance of resources in order to provide a complete justification of what you have stated. The majority of dissertations fail to make a strong impression to the supervisory panel because the given statements are not properly referenced and supported.
Copy and Paste
The act of plagiarism (copying and pasting directly) is an academic and intellectual crime, and it can lead your dissertation towards cancellation. When you have to quote someone or give reference from a source, you cannot just copy the entire thing and paste it, unless you do so in quotation marks and with proper citation. Presenting any idea without citation that is not yours is considered as plagiarism, and withholds your chances to get good grades in the dissertation.
Lack of Coherency
When you will start writing your dissertation, ideas will start flowing and it is important for you to go with the flow. However, the important thing is to make sure that all ideas and information that you have presented are coherent and linked. If you are describing topic A, then jump to topic B in the same paragraph, and return to topic A after a few paragraphs, without making a connection between the two topics, you will confuse yourself and your readers. For a dissertation to stand higher on the grade scale, it needs to be coherent, with all ideas being linked and presented in a proper flow.
