Table of Contents
What is a Dissertation Appendix?
An appendix is an index at the end of a dissertation or thesis that gives additional information about the dissertation. The purpose of an appendix is to include information that directly answers your main question or is not important to understand your answer. New information can be used as items included in the appendices. The information should be relevant but not crucial to your dissertation argument. The role of an appendix is to explain certain terms and words used in the dissertation and provide data that is relevant to the dissertation but not as important as points that are directly involved in the main body of the dissertation.
An appendix is an important part of a dissertation. It comes after the conclusion. No main point should go in the appendix. Everything except the main points can be included in a dissertation appendix. It should be secondary knowledge provided to the reader in order to make them more aware of the subject addressed in the dissertation. All ‘relational information’ can be included in the appendices.
Appendices are usually long. The information provided comes under distinct headings. The reader chooses to read whatever seems beneficial to their understanding of the topic of the dissertation and leaves the rest.
Items to be Included in Appendices
1. Meanings of words or phrases
In the case of abbreviations used throughout the dissertation, it would help to create a glossary at the beginning or end of your dissertation. A glossary can be included in the appendix. Readers would refer to it to know the full form of an abbreviation or the contextual meaning of a word.
2. Forms of usage
While discussing different words used in a similar context, be sure to mention them in the appendix. Also, the same word used in a different context should be included in the dissertation appendix.
- Context behind a research methodology, question, or subject of study, objects used, etc
You can state your purpose for using particular data points. This context should not be highly important to your research question, though.
- Context behind a research methodology, question, subject of study, objects used, etc
You can state your purpose for using particular data points. This context should not be highly important to your research question, though.
- Information about an area of research
This can include the modes of transport you used to visit a particular region to collect information or data, the problems you faced while collecting data in that region, the exact location, geography and ethnography of that region, etc.
- Additional results and surveys
This will help the readers see what you have based your research on. Be careful not to include the main results, but only those not directly connected to your dissertation findings. They need to be extra ones you collected or made while working on your dissertation.
- Tables, diagrams, and graphs
Use as many tables and graphs as possible that support your dissertation question but cannot be included in the main body. Show the reader how much data you have collected as part of your dissertation.
- Dates, time, places
All skeptical readers who want to dig into the date, place, and time of your research can refer to the appendix, where they will find your systematic archive of days, months, and places of data collection. It is part of explaining the context behind an event or data point.
- Any other connected information
Your dissertation cannot be complete without further information that is connected to your main points in certain ways. It can be absorbed, along with its ambiguous nature, in the dissertation appendix. You can state your purpose for using particular data points. This context should not be highly important to your research question, though.
Tips to Help Write an Dissertation Appendix
- Go through your dissertation and mark phrases or words
Before you start writing an dissertation appendix at the end of your research paper or dissertation, read your dissertation from introduction to conclusion and make a list of all the words and phrases that need an explanation. At the same time, note the points that need to be explained more with the help of diagrams, tables, graphs, etc. The additional explanations, tables, graphs, etc can be in the appendix.
- Use a dictionary
Despite your knowledge of a word or a phrase and its usage, please refer to a dictionary as you prepare a glossary. The appropriate meaning is important to be given in an appendix to avoid miscommunications of any sort. Give the usage of the word along with the meaning.
- State what the table, diagram, or survey is in reference to
The additional survey, table, or diagram that is included in the appendix needs to specify its connection to the point made in the main body of the dissertation. It should be in reference to the main body of the dissertation. Page numbers need to be stated accordingly, along with the title or the respective point of reference in the main body (survey, diagram, table, or data). This will help the reader refer to these diagrams in relation to the information given in the main body of your dissertation.
- Try to include the date and time of data collection
If the date and time of collecting data for your dissertation are not directly relevant to your findings or do not affect the collected data in a certain way, you can include them in the dissertation appendices. In this way, you need not bombard your reader with unnecessary information and yet include it in your dissertation.
- Do not worry about giving TMI (Too Much Information)
The purpose of an appendix is to give extra information to a reader. There is no way the information or data you provide in your dissertation appendix will overwhelm the reader because of its size. Appendices are supposed to be long and tedious. It is up to the reader to go over the information in the appendices.
- Look at a few examples
Each book, dissertation, research paper, and academic article has an appendix or several appendices at the end. It would help you to go through a few appendices before you start writing your own dissertation appendix. Examples may provide you with an idea of the structure and format of an appendix and the components that may be included in it. Many of these examples are available online.
- Referring to an appendix
As you prepare an appendix, add a few notes in the main body of your dissertation referring to the appendix. Refer to particular points or elements at a time. Do not just say, ‘Refer to the appendix given at the end of the dissertation’. Instead, use something like, ‘Refer to point number 4 of Appendix 2 to get more information about table 2.3’.
Guidelines for Formatting of an Appendix
- Create multiple appendices if you need
To give information in a logical order and avoid confusion on the part of the reader, it is better to divide this information into various appendices, starting with Appendix 1, Appendix 2, and so on. The first appendix can be a glossary; the second one can have tables, graphs, or diagrams; and the third can include information about the institutes or papers referred to.
- Write point-wise
While creating an appendix, each new word, phrase, or element should be a separate point. Number each point properly. It would be easier to find the required table or word if it is a separate point.
- The contents explained should be in the order of their appearance in the dissertation
The order of words and phrases should be maintained in the appendix. You cannot put one above the other when their order of occurrence is the opposite. Haphazard content is very off-putting. If a word occurs on the 3rd page of a dissertation and another on the 4th, the one on the 3rd should be explained before the one on the 4th.
- Have a minimum of two columns to divide elements and their explanation
As you prepare an appendix, write the words or phrases in one column and their explanation in the next column. This would make your appendix neat and tidy. A word and its explanation should be on the same horizontal line to make the appendix systematic.
- Title and label the tables and graphs
All tables and graphs need to be assigned a title that clarifies their contents. They also need to be labeled so that they are beneficial to the reader. They need to make their position in the dissertation clear.
- Put these appendices in the right order
Order is very important in making dissertation appendices proper and appealing. Do not go all over the place with your appendices. Try to put them in a rational order with proper spacing between two appendices. Start each appendix on a new page.
To Conclude
An appendix, though not part of the main body of a dissertation, is relevant to it. All explanations that cannot be included in the main body of the dissertation can be found in the appendix. The role of an appendix is to show minor details that are part of the dissertation process.
However, appendices need to be well structured, and the items included in the appendices need to be systematically organized. There is no point in losing sight of the purpose of a dissertation appendix. Refer to your appendices wherever needed in the main body. In order to be able to refer to it, structure your appendix well. Do not ignore it just because it comes at the end of your dissertation.
-Masha Evans
