A PhD dissertation is a form of academic writing that is documented based on facts obtained through experimental and research findings. It is the largest piece of writing in your academic life. PhD thesis is supposed to be well structured and organised. It has tough criteria for its acceptance. A PhD thesis is structured into an abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. Various factors define the structure of the PhD dissertation, like research area, topic, and how you approach that topic with your research findings.
You need to present strong claims to support your topic and research statements. These arguments are presented in paragraphs. Each paragraph represents one aspect of your findings and links it to the research problem and objectives. However, there arises a question: How long should a paragraph be? Is writing long paragraphs a good approach to justify your arguments?
First, we need to understand what paragraphing is. How is it structured, and what is the ideal length used in PhD dissertation?
Paragraphs And Their Structure In The Dissertation:
PhD dissertation writing is organised into various headings and subheadings. A paragraph is the building block of the dissertation. Each paragraph in a dissertation explains the specific structure and aspect of the dissertation. Each paragraph should explain one point. In addition, a new paragraph should only be started if there is a new point.
Paragraphs in academic writing are based on the following factors:
- The topic sentence (main point of the paragraph)
- Evidence or arguments to support your claim (citations are added to support your claims in PhD dissertation)
- Explanation or examples (to debate the necessity of the point and to show how it will relate to the argument)
- Link (A link is necessary to connect paragraphs before and after writing one. Link helps to determine the relevant information and gives the writer the direction to cover other points).
The PEEL approach is the main approach the writers mainly used to write the paragraphs in the PhD dissertation. This approach creates a structure and direction in the overall dissertation. It ensures that only relevant content is added to the dissertation and that no content is repeated. The dissertation quality is automatically enhanced if the quality of paragraphs is increased.
What Is The Ideal Length Of A Paragraph?
A paragraph can be as long as anyone wants it to be, but in the case of PhD dissertation, paragraphs with ~150-200 words are considered an ideal length. The paragraphs with these word counts are not short and serve their purpose.
Short Paragraph approach:
When making a hypothesis or problem statement in PhD dissertation, short paragraphs help your readers understand what you are trying to say. By understanding your research problem, they will be able to comprehend your research findings.
Short paragraphs are attractive and make the PhD dissertation looks attractive. Moreover, when a paragraph is short, you only talk about relevant, brief, and concise points; unnecessary information is not added. Shorter paragraphs need to explain and cover the whole topic point and concept, thus, failing to convey the message. In addition, if you are to complete your point in a new paragraph, it frustrates the reader and lowers the dissertation’s quality.
Is Writing Long Paragraphs A Good Approach?
Consider reading a PhD thesis of 100-300 pages, and you have to read paragraphs 1 page long or longer than ~150-200 words. What will be your reaction? Will you be satisfied while reading these lengthy paragraphs? No, you will find it exhausting, as you will have difficulty understanding the key concept in the paragraph.
A PhD dissertation is already a high-level academic dissertation. It is already complex, and you are increasing the high complexity by writing long paragraphs. As you keep writing long paragraphs in the dissertation, you start deviating from the original concept. To increase the overall length of the paragraphs, you unconsciously start adding irrelevant content. Thus, instead of increasing, the quality of the paragraph content starts decreasing, and ultimately, the whole dissertation quality needs to be improved.
Not only that but writing long paragraphs also decreases the readability of the PhD dissertation. Moreover, writing long paragraphs makes the dissertation looks aesthetically unpleasing. The content will no longer remain organised.
Writing long paragraphs is frequently affiliated with cognitive notions and strongly linked concepts, which is precisely the kind of information a dissertation seeks. However, long paragraphs frequently lose the reader’s attention because they frequently combine and establish several suggestions rather than splitting them for precision. As a result, they may not be connected logically or coherently.
Even writing long paragraphs can be impactful if it is carefully thought out and documented, but breaking up the same information into smaller paragraphs, all of which deal with a varied perspective of the main idea first investigated in the lengthier paragraph, can give complex ideas a more defined structure and improve the flow of your core reasoning.
When reading a long paragraph, a reader will deviate from the original point, and his question will remain unsolved. It frustrates the readers, and instead of trying to understand your point, he stops reading midway.
Conclusion:
A PhD dissertation is the major coursework of a PhD scholar as it defines their whole career. A high-quality PhD dissertation depends upon the structure of its paragraphs. Each paragraph in the dissertation uses the PEEL approach to explain the main point with evidence and examples and links the information in previous paragraphs to the new paragraphs.
An ideal paragraph in a dissertation consists of 150-200 words. A paragraph f this length is easy to read and understandable. The idea is beautifully delivered using short paragraphs. However, on the other hand, writing long paragraphs complicates the already complicated concept.
Long paragraphs lose their readability, and the writer adds irrelevant information, leading to deviation from the core concept. It decreases the quality of the dissertation, and the reader finds it exhausting to read dissertations. Writing long paragraphs in a PhD Dissertation is not considered a good approach.
If you are facing a problem with your PhD dissertation, we can help you proofread your dissertation or write a new one from scratch.