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Writing Your Dissertation: From Proposal to Submission

A 21-part video series for the five-chapter dissertation — quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods. Bring your own project and finish ready to submit.

Intermediate English Joseph M. Lamin Updated Nov 2026

What you will be able to do

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Turn a broad topic into a focused, researchable problem
  • Choose and justify a quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods design
  • Write Chapter One with objectives and research questions in the right form for your design
  • Search databases, manage references with Zotero and write a literature review organised by themes
  • Write a Chapter Three you can defend: sampling, tools, analysis, quality and ethics for your design
  • Present statistical results, qualitative themes or an integrated joint display in Chapter Four
  • Write a discussion that compares your findings with the literature and admits limitations
  • Write the summary, conclusion and specific recommendations in Chapter Five, then format and submit

Course content

6 sections · 31 lessons · 7 h 26 min total · lessons open when you enrol

This course supports three research designs. Shared lessons are for everyone; lessons marked Quant Qual or Mixed are for that design only. You choose your design when you start, and mixed-methods learners take every track.
Module 1: Getting started5 lessons · 37 min
Video 1: How this course works 3 min
Video 2: Choosing and refining your topic 3 min
Video 3: Quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods? 3 min
Task 1: Your project card and research design 20 min
Quiz: topic and research design 8 min
Module 2: Chapter One — Introduction5 lessons · 54 min
Video 4: Background and problem statement 2 min
Video 5: Objectives and research questions for your design 2 min
Task 2: Problem statement and objectives 40 min
Video 6: Finishing Chapter One 2 min
Quiz: Chapter One 8 min
Module 3: Chapter Two — Literature Review5 lessons · 1 h 8 min
Video 7: Searching for literature 2 min
Video 8: Managing references with Zotero 2 min
Video 9: Synthesising: the literature matrix 2 min
Task 3: Literature matrix and themes 60 min
Video 10: Theoretical and conceptual frameworks 2 min
Module 4: Chapter Three — Methodology7 lessons · 1 h 23 min
Video 11: Chapter Three: philosophy and design 2 min
Video 12: Quantitative methods: sampling, tools and analysis Quant 3 min
Video 13: Qualitative methods: participants, interviews and thematic analysis Qual 3 min
Video 14: Mixed methods: designs and integration Mixed 3 min
Video 15: Ethics and data management 2 min
Task 4: submit Chapter Three 60 min
Quiz: methodology 10 min
Module 5: Chapter Four — Results and Discussion5 lessons · 1 h 8 min
Video 16: Presenting quantitative results Quant 2 min
Video 17: Presenting qualitative findings Qual 2 min
Video 18: Mixed methods results: integration and joint displays Mixed 2 min
Video 19: Writing the discussion in Chapter Four 2 min
Task 5: submit Chapter Four 60 min
Module 6: Chapter Five and submission4 lessons · 2 h 16 min
Video 20: Chapter Five: summary, conclusion and recommendations 2 min
Video 21: Abstract, formatting and final checks 2 min
Final quiz 12 min
Final task: submit your draft dissertation 120 min

About this course

Most students do not struggle because they lack ability — they struggle because nobody shows them, step by step, how a dissertation is put together. This course does exactly that. Your own project is the case study. The course is a series of short videos; each one ends with a task you complete on your own topic, and a tutor reviews your work at five checkpoints.

The course follows the five-chapter format: Chapter One, Introduction; Chapter Two, Literature Review; Chapter Three, Methodology; Chapter Four, Results and Discussion; and Chapter Five, Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations.

It supports three research designs. Shared videos cover what every dissertation needs; separate videos cover quantitative methods and results, qualitative methods and findings, and mixed-methods integration. You choose your design when you start, and you see only the lessons you need. Mixed-methods learners take every track.

The course suits undergraduate final-year projects, Masters dissertations and research reports. Examples come from public health, social science and education, but the method applies to any field. Worked examples in the videos are illustrative and use invented data.

Requirements

  • A research topic (even a rough one) or an approved proposal
  • A computer with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs
  • Your institution's dissertation guidelines, if you have them

Who this course is for

  • Final-year undergraduate students
  • Masters students writing a dissertation or thesis
  • Research assistants and NGO staff writing study reports

Your instructor

JL
Joseph M. Lamin

Software developer and health-informatics researcher based in Bo, Sierra Leone. Teaches and supervises research at Njala University School of Public Health and builds health, school and business information systems.

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