Complete Chapter 5 FASTER with These PROVEN Methods

Hi, my name is Steve Tippins, and I'm here today to walk you through chapter five of a dissertation. Before we get there, I've sat on over 300 dissertation committees, coached scores of people through finishing their dissertation. By the end of reviewing this material that we're providing today, you're going to feel a lot more confident about what you're going to put in your chapter five and how you're going to finish your chapter five so that you can finally defend that dissertation and be done. And that's what we want. So the first thing I want to say about chapter five is if your school has a template, it's going to provide you with rough outline of what's needed in chapter five. Pretty much it's going to have headings that you get to fill in. And if you're getting to chapter five, you probably should have done this already is have a copy of a completed dissertation that your chair has served on in the past. If that hasn't happened, then at least a completed dissertation with similar methodology from your university, both of these things, the template and a completed dissertation can give you a good outline basis for doing your work. So what is chapter five? Well, this wraps everything up. You've gotten a proposal approved, you've collected data, you have analyzed that data, you've reported it. Now we get to the part where you might even get a little bit, and not much, but a little bit of creative writing going here, because you get to say, what does this mean? All while doing academic writing, but what does it mean? How does it tie into the previous literature? So you want to go back to chapter two and say, okay, here are the findings I have. Here's how it compares to or contrasts with Jones 2022 or Yalom 2018. Whatever it is, you want to be tying this into the previous literature. That also gives you the opportunity in tying it and say, what do these results mean? How can they be used? What are the applications of these results that can be wants to know that you know what you've done and you know where it fits. The other major thing that's done in chapter five is open up the possibility of what else can be done. So we'll look at what has limited my study and say, okay, I did a qualitative study with 12 teachers from Middle school in the Midwest, and that provides information, but what else should be done? Well, maybe it should be done in other places in the U.S. or at other educational levels in the U.S. and then maybe a quantitative study or a series of quantitative studies, because Remember, research is, you know, we add little bits of information to the pile in order to get to places where we think we really know something. So this is where you get to say, hey, here's a bunch of other areas that we need to look at this with, or let's look at it with other methodology. That's, again, a different approach, because every time we look at things a little bit differently, we can get a different perspective and more information. And that's what we want, is more information. Because we are researchers, scientists, we're trying to come up with answers. And one approach usually doesn't provide the answer. As the expert. Now that you've done this, you get to suggest what else should be done. That's a lot of what's in chapter five. I once worked with a student who was having all kinds of problems trying to figure out chapter five and what to do and where to go until they actually realized it was just, look, I'm just going to tell you what it all means and how it fits into the literature. All of a sudden, that opened the door for them to finish. So that's what you need to do. As I said, many schools have not so much checklists, but formats for chapter five. That doesn't mean you don't get to insert your own personality, your own wording, things like that in there. It just, that's an outline. And from that outline, you. You can decide what goes in there, and you can decide how you want this information related to and integrated with past research. The more you do of that, though, the more you show that you understand how your work fits within what's already been done, the easier it's going to be for your committee to accept the document and move you forward. Now, while I'm mentioning templates, chapters like chapter three, for example, can seem to be pretty formulaic because you're laying out every step of the process. And in chapter four, I'm reporting all of my results. Chapter five. While again, there may be an outline, it's not so much a formula because it relies on you and your abilities to integrate what you've done and explain what it means and what else should be done, what other opportunities are there? And one of the big mistakes I see people make in chapter five is that they don't take the time or put the effort into tying their research into what's been done in the past. You got chapter two, which might be one of your biggest chapters of your dissertation, and that helped you define the gap in the literature, show how what you've done helps the body of work move forward, show how what you've done integrates or conflicts with what's been done. And that's all reasonable things to report and all things that the reader really wants to know. Okay, I see your results, but what does it mean? How does it fit? Where does it go? So take the time to do that. Another problem I see with people, and this one is, I think, comes up to fatigue, but people get done. They've written 107 pages on chapters one through four and they finally get to chapter five and it comes in at three and a half pages. And as a committee member, I sit there and think, wow, you don't have much to say about what you did. Really, Come on, you've spent a year working on this and all you're going to give me is three pages of which a bunch of it is repeating what you've done in other chapters. You haven't told me what it means. You haven't told me how it fits within the rest of the literature. You haven't told me what else should be done. So pause a little bit. Don't just quickly run to chapter five if you're tired, take a few days before you start doing it and understand this is the crowning jewel to what you've written. This is where you really get to show you know what you've done and you know what it means. So spend the time to do that. Now, that said, if you've written that 107 pages, I wouldn't have a 94 page chapter five on top of it, but put some effort into it. I like to think of chapter five somewhere around 15 pages. And I have seen and worked with students who have turned in two to four page chapter fives. And I and the committee have said, okay, you've got more to say. Take some time, really explain what this is and what it means. So you know, the other advantage of taking the time is when you submit something to my committee. I'm waiting for them to respond and if I've given them three pages and it might take two weeks, three weeks for them to get back to me and they say, no, that's not enough, we need more. Well, I've just wasted a couple of weeks. We know they're going to want more, so let's give them that at the first step and save an iteration back and forth, which can also allow you to graduate earlier and possibly save you some money. So what you want to do, avoid these mistakes and you're going to move forward faster. Let's talk about a shift in your mindset. You've done your research, you've reported your results. Chapter four, in my mind, is one of the easier chapters to write because it's reporting results. Chapter five is interpretation. I'm changing from a reporter to an investigative scientist. I'm allowing myself to integrate knowledge to show the reader I have a grasp of the material. It's not just a report. It's an integration within the scope of all things that have been done on your topic. And because this is an integration, it's almost like storytelling. Instead of it just reporting A, then B, then C, then D, then E. It's A was one of the findings, and here's what A means, and here's some of the implications of A. And now let's talk about how B and how it integrates with A and how also all of this integrates with what's been done and moving things forward. So you really are, within an academic context, telling a compelling story. In chapter five, if you adopt a storytelling mode of integrating your material, it's a way that you get to show your commitment committee the depth of your understanding. And that's what they're probing for. Yes, you have results, but they want to know what do you think it means? What are your opinions on this? Because, you know, while your committee, they have doctorates and they've done research, they haven't done the research you've done. You are the expert. So they're going to probe you to get understanding that you have an understanding and so they can learn as well. So the more you're able to relate this and integrate the material, the better it is for you to move forward, the easier it is for your committee to approve you. So if you want to find more information on a dissertation defense, and if you want to join our dissertation support group, click the link below because we have all kinds of support and all kinds of information available to support you in moving forward. Let's come up with the top ideas for a great discussion chapter or a great chapter five. What are the limitations of your research? And these are in no order. Limitations are great because it shows that A, you understand what you've done and how the parameters of what you've done. But B, it means now I get to talk about opportunities, what else can be done? So knowing limitations are great. Integrating with the literature. Another huge thing I want to know as a reader where this fits in the whole scheme of what's been done. And so please let the reader know where it fits. What's been done in the past, how you fit, how you change things, how you agree with others, your work is different than others. This helps the discipline move forward. Another tip is explain what else has to be done or needs to be done. What are the next steps to move forward in the quest for knowledge in this area? Remember when you were looking at the gap in the literature, wouldn't it be nice to have people outline for you, like, wow, I think these other things need to be done. This can help other researchers move forward faster. And I guess the final tip here is keep this in an academic tone, but it doesn't have to be boring. You can make this as interesting as possible while still citing APA style and doing all of that stuff and tying into the previous literature. But you know, when you get to the recommendations for future research, go for it. Really let the reader know what you believe is possible and what future things. And I guess finally an extra tip. How can this research be useful? Where can others use this? Is it going to help in education? Is it going to help in feeding people? Is it going to help people understand stock market prices? Is it going to help chemists do certain processes? You know, you've done all this work. How is it going to be beneficial to others? If you're watching this, listening to this, you're probably at the point where you're pretty close to finishing your dissertation. And first, congratulations. You've done the hard work, you've done the research. You're really close. You can make this because chapter five is not creating anything new. Chapter three, you had a methodology. Chapter four, you did all the research. Chapter five is, it's not reporting. That's what you did in four. Chapter five is integrating, but I'm integrating with chapter two. I'm integrating with chapter four. I'm integrating with everything I've done in the past, and I'm using the knowledge that I have as a scholar now to tell the reader what's important. So chapter five is one of the short, shorter chapters of a dissertation and really doesn't need to take you a long time. So you are so close to finishing. Congratulations. In the comment below, if you want to add what's been the hardest part of chapter five for you or what are you questioning about chapter five, please go ahead and do so. And you know, after chapter five, the next step for you is your dissertation defense. And no matter what, congratulations, and I wish you luck. And now that you're just about finished, and when you finish, please go out and change the world.