The quality of the marketing dissertation you produce reflects your acquired knowledge and understanding of the marketing concepts. It is a chance to demonstrate you creativity, organizational and analytical skills and an opportunity to incorporate those skills to a specific marketing issue or a problem. A marketing dissertation requires you to understand, evaluate and analyze a specific marketing concept. It may require you to evaluate marketing concepts in a Macro or a Micro economic perspective.
Importance of Writing Skills
Writing good piece of dissertation can be very similar to cooking a recipe. When writing a piece of work, it is not just important to have the right information, but you need to put it in the right order, giving emphasis to the important things, laying the information in a suitable structure and following the required format. Getting the right information does not mean getting good grades. Just like a collection of correct ingredients does not make a good dish. You need ensure the right order, proportion and the presentation to make it desirable to eat. Similarly writing a good dissertation requires some academic writing skills and not just information about the topic.
Components of a Marketing dissertation
In order to produce a good marketing dissertation, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of its components. There are standardized frameworks for writing marketing dissertation having the fairly similar components. However there are some slight variations according to the standards of different academic institutions and countries.
Standardized Components of Marketing Dissertation
- Abstract
- Contents
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Research Methodology
- Ethical Issues
- Research Findings and Implications
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Appendices
Abstract
An abstract is a short summary of the dissertation. It gives a brief summary of the completed research to the reader. A good abstract persuades the reader to further go through the research. An abstract would summarize the following:
- Purpose of Research/Problem Statement.
- Method/Procedure/Approach
- Results/Findings
- Conclusion/Implications
Introduction
Introduction is the first impression of your paper. It is the face for the body of your research. It introduces your reader towards your subject, justifies your selection of the subject, elaborates specific question been dealt in your study and defines your goals and objective for undertaking the research. It should cover the following aspects of your marketing dissertation:
- Research Problem Area
- Research Aim
- Research Objectives
- Research Hypothesis / Hypotheses
Literature Review
Literature Review is report of what has been published on a topic by qualified scholars and researchers. It will provide the background of your marketing dissertation. While writing the literature review, your purpose should be to acquaint your reader with knowledge and theories that have been established on your topic, and criticize its strengths and weaknesses. The literature review of your marketing dissertation should not be a list of the existing materials but should be guided by the following objectives:
- Establish the importance of the topic
- Validate the research question
- Present background information
- Link your research with the existing knowledge
Research Methodology
The research methodology of your marketing dissertation defines your methods for research. It will mention whether your research is qualitative or quantitative. It should give the details of the followings:
- Proposed Approach to Primary Research
- Research Philosophy: e.g. Interpretivism and Realism
- Research Approach: e.g. Deductive
- Research strategy: e.g. survey, case study
- Data collection methods
Ethical Issues
This part of your dissertation should indentify the ethical and confidentiality issues encountered in conducting your research. It should refer to the method of the surveys conducted, the intention of the study, the manner of disclosure of the purpose, so that the respondents of the research are fully aware of the usage of the data being collected.
Research Findings and Implications
This component of the marketing dissertation should make up almost one third of the overall length. It will consist of the analysis and evaluation of the findings of your research followed by the explaining its importance.
Conclusion
This section will briefly summarize your research and make relevant recommendations. The conclusions should make certain that the goals of your research have been delivered.
Bibliography
This component would present a systematic list of the references used directly in your research and follow the citation style that has been approved by your institution.
Appendices
It would include graphs, tables, and figures, summary of the surveys, interviews and observations and statistical results which will not be counted in the actual word count of your research.