How to Write the Review of Literature in a Dissertation – Distinguishing Different Formats

When writing a dissertation, you should be aware of the different types of thesis and formats you can use to create a paper with. Some papers require a vastly different writing style than others. Listed below are a number of different dissertation formats that anyone can use:

This form of thesis seeks to establish a topic and present an explanation for it. There is no judgment or attempt to prove one opinion's worth over another. The paper has a presentation of facts which uses opinion, summaries and paraphrasing to create favor for it. These papers introduce, establish and conclude findings and implications without any fanfare. Authors are not listed as researchers in the paper; they're simply fact-finding writers that compile the information into one source.

This form of thesis is where you pose questions, interpret and compare data, and ultimately judge all of the work you cite; basically, making an argument the center of your paper. You will explain to the reader why one opinion is right and the other is wrong. Statements made will be cited and placed in an argument that you have also created, about a topic that you can draw a conclusion of your own from. An argumentative thesis is ended by restating and affirming your implications of your own thesis.

This form of thesis is all about interpretation, evaluational of evidence and assessment of claims. You'll have to break a topic or question into small enough parts to analyze and reach a conclusion. There are two ways to break down a topic; classification (arranging objects and ideas into a set order) and division (which is to break down everything into smaller and smaller groups until they're all neatly categorized.)

In addition to the forms of thesis, writings styles also have dissertation formats that can be followed. These include the Modern Language Association (MLA) format, normally useful when writing about the arts and humanities; the American Psychological Association (APA) format, normally useful when writing about scientific papers; and the Chicago Manual of Style format, also known as Turabian style, which is normally used by history academics in writing their dissertations. Research into these topics will help you establish which format is useful for your dissertation.