Writing a Winning Public Relations Dissertation

There exist four important factors to consider before embanking on writing a Dissertation:

-The topic for the Dissertation i.e. the big question
-The methodology of research
-A specification of what one expects to find or in other words a hypothesis
-Literature review

Choosing a topic for a Dissertation can seem like a daunting task for most students. Sometimes students choose broad and complex topics which become very difficult to explore. Also it is common for students to wander away from the main topic of discussion into more generalised theories that do not answer the question. When choosing a topic a student should address issues such as how academic it sounds i.e. is it related to Public Relations, if it is objective and more importantly if it is a broad or narrow topic.

The methodology of research that one chooses has to be justified and tested to confirm suitability. For instance one cannot interview 15 people and then make a conclusion from that particular finding.

Writing a hypothesis in Dissertation planning is confusing to some students as it implies looking for information that one already knows however a hypothesis is crucial as it helps guide the student not to wander away from the main question. This is especially common when students choose to explore broad topics such as CSR and Crisis Management.

Literature review forms the bed for the Dissertation. After reading around the topic one should ask themselves whether they disagree or agree. Comparing and contrasting what other authors have written in the past and giving one’s own opinion is thus crucial as it helps the examiner see that one has clearly explored and analysed the information rather than just describing and giving people’s opinion.

Lastly the Dissertation should show some originality i.e. what is new and unique that other PR professionals can learn from it in future.