How to write a criminology dissertation
Writing a criminology dissertation will require focussing on three main elements; finding a suitable topic for a dissertation, carrying out the research and writing up the research. Finding a suitable topic for a criminology dissertation will involve reviewing the existing body of knowledge within the area of criminology you are interested in, and identifying either a gap in existing knowledge which can be researched, or existing research which can be refined. Carrying out the research will involve identifying the key questions that the criminology dissertation will answer or explore, designing and implementing a piece of research, and analysing and interpreting the results. To write the actual criminology dissertation, the entire process from literature review through design and implementation, and culminating in analysis and interpretation must be written up in a format and style that is relevant to the audience for which the criminology dissertation is intended for.
Finding a relevant topic for a criminology dissertation will require you to read as much contemporary literature that is relevant to the criminological field you are interested in, and to understand what the current status of criminological research is. Questions such as ‘what are the issues and debates?’, ‘what are the boundaries of existing knowledge?’, ‘what subjects are considered to be cutting edge?’ should be kept in mind as you peruse existing literature and start to build up a picture in your mind of where the areas are that could be used as the basis for a criminology dissertation. The criminology dissertation, as with all dissertations will need to demonstrate your competency and ability, and make some kind of contribution to existing knowledge. The degree to your criminology dissertation makes a contribution to existing knowledge depends on the level of study the criminology dissertation is being produced for. For example, a PhD dissertation usually needs to make a significant contribution to existing knowledge, which is a more onerous requirement than the requirement for a Masters dissertation. Once you have found the broad subject of your criminology dissertation, the existing literature that is relevant to your field of study can be used to inform your approach to design, methodology and analysis.
The key to the design of your criminology dissertation is defining what the specific research questions are that the dissertation will answer or explore. Once you have defined the specific focus of the criminology dissertation, the boundaries and scope of the research element of the dissertation should follow on relatively naturally. It is critical to define boundaries and scope at this stage, so that your criminology dissertation does not become unmanageable. With the boundaries and scope defined, design of your criminology dissertation can proceed, informed by the literature review. Design and methodology obviously need to be aligned to the theoretical underpinnings of your criminology dissertation, and to the specific research questions that you want to answer or explore in your criminology dissertation. It is important at this stage to begin detailed planning as to expected resources and timelines, and if relevant, cost. Your criminology dissertation needs to be realistic and achievable, and the plan is the benchmark against which progress will be monitored as your criminology dissertation is written. Re-planning may need to take place as your criminology dissertation progresses, but without the original plan, there would be no benchmark that would allow the affect of changing direction to be understood.
The implementation of the research that is the subject of your criminology dissertation should obviously proceed in line with the plan, and progress against the plan will need to be constantly monitored. If all of the other aspects so far discussed have been successfully carried out, the implementation of the research should be relatively simple, as all the hard work will have already been done in the design and planning stages. Once the research has been carried out, the analysis and interpretation stages of your criminology dissertation can be undertaken. The type of analysis will have already been identified and planned in. The interpretation of the results is one of the more complex aspects of writing a criminology dissertation, as it is at this stage, that several requirements come to bear;
- Theoretical approach
- Context or location within existing research
- Specific research questions
- Audience requirements
The original literature review that was carried out in the beginning of the process of writing of your criminology dissertation now becomes invaluable, as it describes the context of your criminology dissertation in terms of how it is located within the existing body of literature, and it describes therefore the theoretical background to your criminology dissertation. Both of these elements must now be returned to in order to understand what the findings actually mean. Similarly, the specific research questions originally identified must be returned to in terms of how your criminology dissertation has answered or explored them. The interpretation will also need to consider who the audience of your criminology dissertation is, for example, what are the format and style requirements of the educational institution you are writing the dissertation for?
The criminology dissertation itself will contain all of the elements discussed here, and will go through a cycle of numerous drafts and re-writes as each of these elements shifts, and perhaps affects other elements. Your criminology dissertation is therefore a work in progress until the moment you submit it. Scopes and boundaries of the research incorporated into the criminology dissertation might alter, timescales could shift, or the circumstances around carrying the research out could alter. The theoretical underpinnings could perhaps alter as other researchers progress their own lines f enquiry, resulting in your criminology dissertation having to flex in order to reflect a new theoretical position. The final stage of writing your criminology dissertation is to reconsider the original literature, and position your findings, and the entire dissertation within the context of existing research, thus demonstrating what your criminology dissertation contributes to existing criminological knowledge. Writing your criminology dissertation will be a long, time-consuming and at time frustrating process, but the outcome of a contribution to existing criminological knowledge is an exciting one, and something to keep firmly in focus as the writing of your criminology dissertation progresses.
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