Several US guides describe five parts: introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and discussion or conclusions. It isn't the only format. At Georgia State, the student and the advisory committee must agree on the format, so ask how your program handles this. You can test the whole document by asking what each chapter needs from the one before it.
Georgia State University's College of Education & Human Development lists five required areas for its traditional format, which are typically presented as chapters. The other two columns are our own way of testing them.
| Chapter | Its job | What the next chapter needs from it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Introduction | The problem, why it matters, the research questions | Clear questions and terms that the review can pick up |
| 2. Literature review | What is known, what is disputed, what remains open | Concepts and measures your method can use |
| 3. Methodology | How you collected and analyzed your material, and why | A plan that produces an answer to each question |
| 4. Results or findings | What you found, organized by question or theme | Findings stated plainly, so chapter 5 can interpret them |
| 5. Discussion or conclusions | What it means, its limitations, what follows | Nothing follows: check that the answer matches chapter 1 |
The University of Kansas journalism school gives rough estimates for each chapter of its dissertations. For the literature review, as it describes the proposal: “An exhaustive literature review outlining the previous research conducted on the subject, an extensive explanation of the theory being used in the study, and research questions and/or hypotheses that the dissertation will address. (30-40 pages)” It gives the same range for the revised review in the finished dissertation. That is one chapter in one program in one field. Ask your advisor for yours, and look at recent dissertations from your department.
At Kansas, “The proposal consists of the first three chapters of the dissertation”, and those chapters are later revised in line with committee recommendations. If your program works this way, check three things when you turn the proposal into chapters: a plan in the future tense has become an account of what you did, anything that changed during data collection is explained, and the literature review has been updated since the proposal.
Five chapters aren't the only option. Georgia State also accepts a review and research format, built from a literature review manuscript and a research manuscript, and it sets a condition: “Before the student is admitted to candidacy, the Dissertation Advisory Committee must approve the use of the review and research format.” More generally, “The student and the advisory committee must agree on the dissertation format.” Ask early, because the format affects how you plan every chapter.
Esmond evaluates every assignment before you submit. It never writes it.
Esmond reads your chapters in relation to each other. It comments where results don't clearly answer the questions you set or where your discussion goes beyond your findings. You decide what to change, and your committee has the final say.
No. Kansas says other schemes may suit some topics, and Georgia State accepts a manuscript-based format. Your committee and program decide.
At Georgia State, the introduction of the problem and a description of its significance. Some programs add the research questions and key terms there. Check your program's outline.
In a five-chapter format, usually in Chapter 1, sometimes repeated at the end of Chapter 2. Kansas places research questions with the literature review. Keep the wording the same wherever they appear.
Chapter 4 reports what you found; Chapter 5 says what it means. See results vs. discussion for how to sort a sentence.
Read on November 3, 2026.
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