article style dissertation

College of Education

Guidelines for article-style dissertations.

Approved December 2015

These guidelines are designed to provide assistance for doctoral students and committees in creating dissertations that consist of multiple articles rather than the traditional format (with one large project). All dissertations should adhere to regulations and requirements from the University of Iowa Graduate College in addition to requirements from the College of Education. Moreover, programs can provide additional guidelines for this dissertation format. Students who are considering this format are strongly encouraged to confer with their dissertation chair as early as possible, since an article-style dissertation may not be the best approach for all students and dissertation topics.

• The dissertation should include at least two full-length articles that are of publishable quality within a peer-reviewed journal. At least one of these articles must be empirical in nature; that is, the student should conduct original data analyses of some kind (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, historical).
• Chapter 1 should provide an Introduction that discusses the need for these studies as well as the coherence among them, which may include an overarching conceptual or theoretical framework grounded within relevant literature. The end of the Introduction should provide at least one paragraph describing each of the articles. Each article then serves as an additional chapter. The last chapter should provide a Conclusion that discusses integrated findings, implications, and future directions that result from this collection of studies. The ideal length of the introduction and conclusion can vary at the discretion of the dissertation committee; for example, very closely related articles may require relatively less synthesis across studies (and therefore a shorter introduction and conclusion).
• The student must be the sole author or lead author on all articles. The student should be responsible for at least 85-90% of the conceptualization, data analysis, and writing of the articles.
• No more than one of the articles can be substantially complete before the dissertation proposal, but this study must have been conducted during the student’s current doctoral program. Moreover, if the student is only writing two articles, then neither of the articles can be substantially complete before the comprehensive examination. If applicable, students should secure appropriate copyright clearance to use a previously published article as part of their dissertation
• The intent of writing an article-style dissertation should be to publish the articles that appear in the dissertation. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the student (with guidance from the committee) identify appropriate publication outlet(s) for each article, write the articles in a manner that adheres to the publication guidelines for the respective journals, and submit these articles soon after the completion of the dissertation
• The dissertation proposal for this format may differ from what is typically expected in a traditional format; the nature of the proposal may vary at the discretion of the dissertation committee. For instance, the proposal could consist of a longer version of Chapter 1 (introduction) that provides sufficient detail about each study so that the committee can provide feedback on the proposed articles.

Dissertation Strategies

Dissertation Formats: Five Chapter Format vs. Three Article Format

by The Dissertation Success Coaching Team | Mar 17, 2021 | Dissertation Writing | 0 comments

The two most common dissertation formats are the traditional format (sometimes referred to as the five-chapter format ) and the three-article format (sometimes referred to as the manuscript format). The same quality of work and effort is required for both formats, but they are valued differently across programs and disciplines. For example, if your discipline values peer-reviewed journal articles over books/monographs, you might want to consider the three-article format.

This will prepare you to submit your dissertation as multiple manuscripts in preparation for or after your final defense. On the other hand, if your discipline places more value on books/monographs, sticking with the traditional five-chapter format might be your best option. This blog goes through the basic differences between these two options, but we recommend you discuss which might be best for you with your committee.

Dissertation Format: Traditional Format

In the traditional format , you would start with the introduction that gives the reader an idea of the problem being addressed, the literature around this problem, the background of the problem, why it is significant to address this problem, and a brief introduction to the framework and approach to addressing the problem. Both formats generally include these elements.

For the traditional format, the second chapter is a comprehensive review of the literature to give the reader an idea of what is currently known about the problem. The third chapter then presents the methods of data collection and analysis to tell the reader how you will empirically study the problem. Chapter four presents the findings or results, and chapter five concludes with a discussion of these findings/results and their implications, limitations, and recommendations.  

Dissertation Format: Three-Article Format

You would most likely have five chapters for the three-article format, but they don’t follow the sample outline as the traditional format. Typically, they go something like this: Introduction, Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, and then the Conclusion. The first chapter introduces the common thread. What is the issue that connects the three articles? What is the gap in the literature related to this issue?

This chapter commonly presents an overarching question and three sub-questions. The overarching question represents their collective contribution. That is, if all three sub-questions are answered, what is the combined contribution of your work? Each of the sub-questions will be addressed in the aligning article. Then the final chapter brings the results of all three articles back together to discuss their implications for the overarching question and what the research has contributed to the extant literature.  

Each article in the three-article format is a stand-alone manuscript — a cohesive presentation of the study. This format generally consists of three articles, but I have seen some with two, four, and even five articles. Schools have different policies on if the manuscripts actually have to be submitted to a journal or accepted by a journal. I mostly see that the student has to have the journal identified but does not have to submit the manuscripts to the journals until after the dissertation defense.

This, of course, would mean that there is not an expectation that the manuscripts are actually accepted by the journals, but just that they are determined by the committee to be suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. Some schools simply refer to this as “publishable quality.” If you are doing the three-article format, consider that there will inevitably be overlap between the articles. This means they will likely share common literature and/or methods.

However, it is important that it is re-written for each of the three articles to avoid self-plagiarism. Finally, the three articles often have to be written to the formatting of the target journal. As you will find in the journal’s submission guidelines, there are different preferred article lengths, citation styles, sections,  etc. Students will often write the dissertation in one common citation style, and the reformat articles are for submission to their target journals.  

From these brief introductions, you can see there are a lot of similarities between the two dissertation formats. You are still doing the same amount of work but presenting it in different ways. For example, in the five-article format, you will still present the methods in each of the three manuscripts and introduce your approach in the introduction, but you won’t have a stand-alone chapter for the methods. Similarly, the traditional format has a stand-alone chapter for literature, while in the three-article format, each article has its own literature section. Thus, the chapters in both dissertation formats are logically linked but to different ends.  

For additional information on comparing these dissertation formats, check out these resources:

University of Houston Three Article Dissertation-Guidance:  https://www.bauer.uh.edu/doctoral/mis/three-article-dissertation.php

Baylor University Dissertation/Thesis Formatting Options: https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/185171.pdf

Indiana University Guidelines for the Dissertation: https://fsph.iupui.edu/doc/student-portal/Guidelines_for_Dissertation_of_Three_Papers.pdf

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Manuscript-Based (Article-Based) Theses

• Initial Thesis Submission
• Thesis examination
• Doctoral oral defence
• Final Thesis Submission
• Thesis Writing and Support Resources
• Letters of Completion/PGWP

FAQ on manuscript-based theses

As an alternative to the traditional format, a thesis may be presented as a collection of scholarly papers of which the student is the first author or co-first author. A manuscript-based doctoral thesis must include the text of a minimum of two manuscripts published, submitted or to be submitted for publication. A manuscript-based Master’s thesis must include the text of one or more manuscripts. Articles must be formatted according to the requirements described below. Note that a manuscript-based thesis must follow the general structure of a thesis as explained here . An FAQ explaining the difference between a standard and a manuscript-based thesis is available here .

Manuscripts for publication in journals are frequently very concise documents. A thesis, however, is expected to consist of more detailed, scholarly work. A manuscript-based thesis will be evaluated by the examiners as a unified, logically coherent document in the same way a traditional thesis is evaluated. Publication of manuscripts, or acceptance for publication by a peer-reviewed journal, does not guarantee that the thesis will be found acceptable for the degree sought.

A manuscript-based thesis must:

• be presented with uniform font size, line spacing, and margin sizes (see Thesis Format under Preparation of a Thesis );
• conform to all other requirements listed under Thesis Components on the Preparation of a Thesis page;
• contain additional text that connects the manuscript(s) in a logical progression from one chapter to the next, producing a cohesive, unitary focus, and documenting a single program of research - the manuscript(s) alone do not constitute the thesis;
• stand as an integrated whole.

Any manuscripts that are under review, accepted or published in a journal must be included in your manuscript-based thesis without changes (i.e. identical to the published or submitted versions). The only change is with respect to the font/size which should be the same as the one used for the rest of the thesis for consistency and homogeneity reasons. So each chapter represents a full manuscript and has its own reference list. Then at the end of the thesis, you have a master reference list which includes all the other references cited throughout the other sections of the thesis, mostly within the general introduction but also from the general discussion.

Depending on the feedback of your examiners and/or the oral defence committee, you may be required to make revisions to your thesis before final submission. The committee’s comments must be addressed in the connecting text between chapters and/or the discussion section. You must not make any changes to the manuscripts themselves in your final thesis.

In the case of multiple-authored articles, the student must be the first author . Multiple-authored articles cannot be used in more than one thesis. In the case of students who have worked collaboratively on projects, it may be preferable for both students to write a traditional format thesis, identifying individual contributions. Consult this page for information on intellectual property and required permissions/waivers.

In the case of co-first authored articles , only one student can use the article in a manuscript-based thesis and must have a written agreement from the other co-first author student(s).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License . Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, McGill University .

Department and University Information

Graduate and postdoctoral studies.