Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

Your Committee Will Look For This in Chapter 5

19 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief instructional video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of reminding readers of the dissertation’s core elements—research problem, purpose, and research questions—at the beginning of Chapter 5. Although these elements appear earlier (Chapter 1 and possibly Chapter 3), restating them in Chapter 5 helps readers stay oriented without scrolling back, thereby maintaining engagement. The speaker also offers a free dissertation help community, inviting viewers to comment the word “help” to receive a link.

Chapters

It's always good to remind your reader when you're beginning Chapter 5, hey, what was the problem you were looking at? What's the purpose? And what are the research questions? Now it's easier for them to understand. Yes, you put them in Chapter 1. Yes, you might have put them in Chapter 3 as well. But, you know, this is a number of pages separated from when you did it. And reminding them here and saving them from having to paw back through your document scroll back through your document. Keeps them more engaged. So remind them where your study was going and what it was doing. Drop the word "help" in the comments, and I'll send you the link to my free dissertation help community. Thank you.