How Bad A Dissertation Have To Be To Fail
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at June 7th, 2024 , Revised On June 13, 2024Students often think how bad their dissertation have to be to receive a failing mark. This is not surprising because every year many students fail their dissertation project for a variety of reasons.
If you had a tough time writing your dissertation paper and fear that you could end up failing the module because your work appears to be below the acceptable academic standards, then take some comfort in knowing that you are not alone. The sinking boat has many other students like you in it and there is still time to remedy the situation no matter how poor you think your research and writing appears to be.
This blog post is for students who want to be certain that their dissertation is written to an acceptable quality so they don’t fail the project. It lists down the five key reasons that could result in a failing mark and the possible actions you can take to ensure your dissertation does not look so bad that it fails.
Top Five Reasons Why Your Dissertation Is Bad Enough To Fail
- The research hypothesis or research questions are unclear and unrealistic
- The topic is too broad and your dissertation doesn’t seem to make a specific contribution to the field of study.
- The dissertation does not follow the formatting guidelines provided by the university.
- The research design is flawed.
- The results of the study are unclear and do not address the research questions/objectives
1. The research hypothesis or research questions are unclear and unrealistic
In most cases, a bad dissertation is the result of vague research questions or hypotheses that do not focus on specific problems. Consider writing research questions that are specific, focused and researchable with sufficient amounts of primary and secondary resources available.
Avoid questions that have already been addressed several times by other researchers in the past, that are too complicated for your academic level and that are irrelevant to your study area.
Similarly, your research hypothesis must be focused, specific, and researchable within the constraints of your project.
2. The topic is too broad and your dissertation doesn’t seem to make a specific contribution to the field of study.
If the topic is too broad and does not address a focused issue then as a researcher you are not making any meaningful contribution to the literature.
For example, if the topic of your research is “What are the main characteristics of a commercial vehicle”, then you are not doing yourself any favours because the question is too broad and the outcome of your study will be questionable.
To make your research more valuable and authentic, try to choose a specific research topic.
For example, “What are the characteristics of 2000 CC commercial vehicles in the Indian UK market”, is a focused topic that aims to answer a specific query.
3. The dissertation does not follow the formatting guidelines provided by the university.
Read your dissertation handbook carefully, which will clearly outline the formatting criteria you must meet. Make sure your font, page margins, table of contents, list of tables and figures, referencing style, and other elements of the formatting are in line with the instructions provided in the handbook.
Even if your research is authentic and valuable, if you fail to follow the formatting guidelines, your dissertation will look bad enough to receive a failing mark. Many students undermine the importance of following the formatting rules and lose out on crucial marks.
4. The research design is flawed.
However, the top reason why dissertations are marked as bad by the marker is the flawed research design. The research design will be flawed if there is a failure to describe how you have organised the raw data for analysis, including the selected methods of statistical analysis that you will be using to analyse the data to derive meaningful interpretations and key trends or patterns found within the data.
5. The results of the study are unclear and do not address the research questions/objectives
The results of the study will be all over the place and may not entirely address the research questions/objectives. If you made errors in data collection, analysis and reporting and if your research questions were too broad then the results of your study will not be definitive. The validity of your research and reporting will be questioned and could be completely undermined if you are not careful when developing the research design and strategy.
Need Help While Thinking How Bad My Dissertation Have To Be To Fail?
If you feel that your dissertation is poorly written and you could end up failing the project and risking progress to the next academic level, you should seek professional help on an urgent basis.
ResearchProspect has been helping students with their dissertation for the last several years. Many students like you who felt their ship had sank and they will end up failing the most important academic project of their lives turned to us to change their bad looking dissertation into a flawless and coherent document. For more details, contact our specialists today.