how to write a dissertation in one night

• Bournemouth
• King's
• University of East Anglia

I wrote my entire dissertation in 16 hours. That’s a record

And she got a 2:1

Some people spend months on their dissertation, agonising over every detail. Others will leave it until the last few weeks and make a big deal out of it. One girl wrote the whole thing in 16 hours.

Catherine Lux, now 25, managed to write 12,000 words for her Sociology and Communications dissertation at Brunel, doing it all the night before it was due. She’s beaten the Warwick student who wrote 10,000 words in one two day session  and the Aberystwyth third year who did his over the course of 36 hours .

“I started at 5pm the night before and then had it printed out and finished the following day”, she said. “I work really well under pressure and am a pretty fast writer once I have an idea in my head, and I really struggle to focus when I have a lot of time to do something.”

She added: “I would often fail essays that I’d written weeks before the deadline. But essays I wrote a day before – or in one case on the day it was due in – I got A’s and B’s.”

Catherine, who is originally from Guildford, had done a survey several months earlier. But that was the entire extent of her research. She had barely even looked at the results right until the night before it was due. Somehow the essay titled “Web 2.0 and the Effects it has had on Relationships” got her a 2:1.

More impressively, Catherine says she stayed away from obvious forms of caffeine to keep herself awake. She explained: “At the time I didn’t drink coffee, tea, or energy drinks, and I don’t smoke or anything. Around 3am I got a headache and was exhausted, made a cup of coffee but just couldn’t stand the taste.”

Instead she got through it other ways: “I went to the shops and got a six pack of coca-cola. I also ate a packet of dough balls, Milky Bar yoghurts, a pack of Jaffa cakes, a large bar of Dairy Milk, and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream,” she said.

People who leave work until the last minute often consider themselves on the brink. The guy who wrote his dissertation over two days claimed he started hallucinating. Catherine’s experience got a little weird too. “I listened to Glenn Miller Little Brown Jug for a few hours on repeat,” she said. “It was the only song I could listen to that made me concentrate. I have no clue why.”

“I actually thought I would fail,” she admitted. “My friends at Uni thought I was crazy. When I got a 2:1 I was sort of shocked, but also sort of not because every essay I wrote at the last minute had pretty good grades.”

Catherine graduated from Brunel and now works for a media agency in London. She also runs a luxury lifestyle blog called Lux Life .

As for the other two students who left starting their dissertation until an embarrassingly delayed date, Catherine called them “amateur”.

She added: “Although I’m not sure that being the best person at leaving essays until the last minute and smashing them is a good thing.”

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Do you know someone who has written their entire dissertation at the last minute? Email [email protected]

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How to Write a Paper in a Night

Last Updated: January 5, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 83% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 238,658 times.

While you may never plan for it, writing a paper in one night is a stressful experience. Not only do you need to produce a certain amount of words, but to get a decent grade you need to create an argument and address the prompt. Fortunately, by preparing yourself and efficiently planning, writing, and editing your paper, you may be able to create a good paper in a single night.

Maximizing Your Time Through Preparation

• Set aside some time for planning your paper – perhaps 25%.
• Set aside the bulk of your time for writing it – maybe 50%.
• Put aside about 25% of your time for proofreading and editing your paper.

• Most paper assignments will revolve around a single question that you’ll need to respond to – your prompt. Spend as much time as you can making sure you completely understand the prompt.
• Read the details of the assignment. For example, your instructor might have specified that you need to include a certain number of sources, meet a word limit, type in Times New Roman, and double space your paper. Make sure you follow these directions.

• If your prompt is limited to one text, focus only on that text. However, you may need to conduct some research, especially if you need to incorporate support into your paper. In this case, do a quick search on academic databases, such as JSTOR, EBSCO, and Google Scholar. Quickly skim the results to improve your understanding of the text and find good quotes to cite in your paper. Be careful when choosing your keywords!
• Read topic sentences, and then allow your eyes to skim toward specific examples in whatever you are reading. Use a highlighter to help you move through the text quickly.
• If you’re allowed to rely on and cite outside information, look for Sparknotes, Shmoop, CliffNotes, book reviews, online articles, and other sources that can briefly explain the subject matter. [3] X Research source

• Your thesis is typically one sentence that takes a clear stance on a specific argument. For example, if the paper prompt poses a question about the cause of the decline of the Roman Empire, a good thesis would state a specific cause, such as the Empire’s reliance on non-citizens in its army.
• Once you have a good thesis, write it out and keep it in front of you at all times. Your thesis is essentially your mission of the evening – prove it or fail.

• If you need, take a minute to look up specific ideas or facts you may think of while brainstorming.
• If it helps, organize your ideas in a graphic manner. Link ideas and facts together with lines, or as if they are branches or leaves on a tree. [5] X Research source

Writing a Quality Paper

• It's a good idea to write all of your topic sentences for your support paragraphs before you write your paper. This helps you understand where each paragraph should begin and end, which will make writing your paper easier.
• You should have a minimum of three support paragraphs.
• Every paragraph should have a mini-thesis/argument that supports the larger argument of your paper. This could be the same as your topic sentence.

• Write a sentence or two addressing the subject of your paper.
• Restate the thesis. Instead of rewriting your thesis, reformulate it: "The Roman Empire's overextended military was unable to defend its vast borders in Europe and Asia Minor."
• Make a final appeal to the reader to believe what you’ve said. You may want to remind the reader of some of your most compelling evidence.

• Use whatever citation method/standard your instructor requires. This could be MLA, APA, or Chicago, depending on the course.

• If it is really late, you might want to just get a few hours of sleep and wake up very early to proof and edit your paper.
• If it is somewhat late, like around midnight, you may want to take a walk, watch a TV program, and get a cup of coffee before resuming work on your paper.
• If you’re really determined to get your paper done as soon as possible, take a half hour break and grab a cup of coffee and do some light exercise to get your juices flowing.

• Do just one quick run-through to edit for clarity. For a standard 1,500-word paper, this might take 30 minutes.
• Your statements should be self-explanatory and make sense.
• Topic sentences should concisely describe the subject of the support paragraph.
• Your thesis statement should be apparent throughout the paper.
• A clear paper should flow and proceed in a logical manner. Pay special attention to missing transitions and lack of logical flow.

• While proofreading might be your final step, it is perhaps the most important one – do not neglect it.

Avoiding Distractions and Pitfalls

• Quiet areas of your campus library. Don’t hang around the coffee shop or computers where people access social media.
• A coffee shop far from campus – where you won’t run into friends.
• Your bedroom or home office. Make sure to unplug your TV and let your roommates know you’re working.

• Be careful drinking products like Eight Hour Energy.
• Don’t combine caffeinated products with prescription drugs.
• If you’re not into caffeine, consider hydrating yourself and exercising a little before and while you write. In addition to drinking lots of water, you could try adding lemon to your water, eating an apple, or increasing your protein intake. [11] X Research source

• Take a break when it seems appropriate. If you’re on a roll writing and making a lot of progress, put your break off until you run out of steam.

• Many high schools and colleges require that papers be run through a program to check for plagiarism. These programs can detect similarities to any text that's appeared online or in a published book. Additionally, the program will check your work against other papers turned in by students, both currently and in years past. Plagiarism isn't work the risk, as you'll likely get caught.

• Use a day planner to plan all of your course work. Write down due dates and other important information.
• Start your work at least two weeks ahead of time. Start researching when the paper is assigned, then begin outlining once your research is complete. [14] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

Expert Q&A

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• ↑ https://harvardwritingcenter.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/the-nuclear-option-how-to-write-a-paper-the-night/
• ↑ https://www.collegemagazine.com/write-killer-essay-day-due/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/procrastination/
• ↑ https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/articles/g31312/caffeine-alternatives-wake-you-up-light-matcha-tea-fruit-yoga-water/

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Hacks How to Write a 10 and 20 page Paper in One Night

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: April 19, 2020

It’s the night before a big paper is due. For whatever reason, you find yourself needing to write an entire research paper in a very short amount of time. While procrastination isn’t ideal, extenuating circumstances may have caused your timeline to get pushed back. So, here you are, looking for how to write a 10-page paper or how to write a 20-page paper in one night.

It goes without saying the best way to write a paper is to give yourself enough time to outline, draft, and edit. Yet, it’s still possible to write in less time. Take heed of these best tips and tricks to organize your thoughts and get your thesis on paper as fast as possible.

Photo by  Adolfo Félix  on  Unsplash

How to prepare before you write, 1. create a schedule to maximize your time.

You’ve likely already spent time panicking. Once you calm yourself of the anxiety of having to finish a 10- or 20-page paper in one night, organize your plan of attack. First, you should designate an area free of distractions so that you can focus. Aside from a few breaks and snacks, it’s best to set up a comfortable place to write. Give yourself some time to outline and find/cite research . Once you know how you’re going to approach the subject, then you can start drafting.

2. Determine your Main Topic

If you’ve been given a prompt, then your topic is clear. However, sometimes you have the freedom to choose what your research will be about. In this case, it’s smartest to choose a topic that you are already knowledgeable about. That way, you will save yourself key time that would have otherwise been spent on research. If you don’t feel strongly about any particular topic, then at least try to pick one that has a lot of information available.

3. Perform Research

Start looking up sources to cite that support your thesis, or main argument. As you research, be sure to take notes. One of the best ways to do this is to use a word processor like Google Docs or Microsoft Word to copy and paste URLs. For each source, it would be best to copy/paste one main sentence that covers its point.

Then, you can write brief notes in your own words that summarize what you have read from that source. While you are performing research, you can start to put together an outline, or the flow of how you will present your ideas broken down by topic and argument.

4. Outline 3-5 subtopics

Once you’ve chosen your topic, then try to pull 3-5 subtopics from it. Each sub-topic should be juicy enough to be able to write a lot about it. The subtopics are your supporting paragraphs which fill the body of the research paper. They should basically be mini essays within themselves.

Writing in One Night

Writing a long research paper in one night isn’t ideal, but it is doable. Some of the best ways to get it done is to follow these 5 tips:

1. Plan and Outline

Take those few extra moments to plan and outline your paper. While it may feel like a waste of valuable time, it is going to help you stay on track. When you have an outline and you get to the middle of your paper, you won’t feel lost as to how to continue. An outline will be useful to you like a map is on a journey.

2. Use Specialized Search

Take advantage of search tools that are designed for scholars. For example, a few of these include: Google Scholar and Elsevier .

3. Leverage Tools

There are citation management tools that will help you find sources for your topic. Mendeley is just one of them. You can type parts of your paper into the tool and find quotes of value. Be sure to cite everything you use to avoid plagiarism .

4. Proofread and Edit

Once you complete writing 10 to 20 pages, you may feel like throwing in the towel and going to sleep for a few hours. However, it is crucial to power through and proofread your paper. If you have anyone available who can read your paper over, that would be best because it’s hard to catch mistakes when you’ve been looking at the same thing for so long. But, if no one is available, try to read your paper back to yourself out loud. This way, you may be able to catch typos better.

5. Check Formatting

Every research paper needs to adhere to a particular format guideline. Whether it’s APA, MLA, or another standard formatting practice, be sure to double check that your layout adheres to the guidelines.

Photo by  Christin Hume  on  Unsplash

When to start writing.

If you have yet to find yourself trying to write a paper at the last minute and all the notes above are scaring you out of procrastination, then that’s a good start! Perhaps you were recently assigned a research paper. In this case, the best way to tackle the project is to do the following:

Start Early

Get started right away. Even if it means just performing early research or writing an outline, starting early is going to save you from having to write a paper in one night down the line. When you start early, you benefit greatly because you can: leverage peers for ideas, take the necessary time to edit and rewrite, and you lower your risk of picking a topic with too little information and having to change topics at the last minute.

Writing in Stages

Starting early also affords you the opportunity to write in stages. You can think of writing as a cycle when you write in stages. First, you can create your outline. Then, you can write the introduction, edit it, and rewrite anything you may need to before moving on to the next piece (or the first body paragraph, in this case).

Use a Timeline

Create a timeline for your writing in stages. If you start four weeks in advance, for example, you have time to do all of the following:

• Fully understand the assignment and ask any questions
• Start to read and document sources
• Create notecards and cite books for sources
• Write a summary of what you’ve discovered so far that will be used in some of your paper
• Create 3-5 subtopics and outline points you want to explore
• Look for more sources on your subtopics
• Start writing summaries on each subtopic
• Write some analysis of your findings
• Start to piece together the research paper based on your notes and outline (almost like completing a puzzle)
• Edit and proofread / ask for feedback

The Writing Process

The actual writing process is a little different for everyone, but this is a general overview for how to write a 20-page paper, or one that is shorter.

• Start with a Thesis: Your thesis is one sentence that clearly and concisely explains what you are going to prove with research.
• Include a Menu Sentence: At the end of your introduction, you will briefly outline your subtopics in what is often referred to as a “menu sentence.” This allows the reader to understand what they can expect to learn about as they continue to read your paper.
• Create a Detailed Introduction: Your introduction should be detailed enough so that someone with little to no knowledge about your subject matter can understand what the paper is about.
• Keep References: Be sure to write your references as you go along so that you basically can create your bibliography in the process of writing. Again, this is where a tool like Mendeley may be useful.
• Write First: Write first and edit later. You want to get all your ideas down on the page before you start judging or editing the writing.
• Save Often: Create the draft on a cloud platform that is automatically saved (i.e. Google Docs in case your computer crashes) or email the work to yourself as you go.

The Breakdown of a 10-Page Paper

Sources to Consider Using

When writing your research paper and finding sources, it’s best to use a mix of sources. This may include:

• Internet: The Internet is filled with limitless possibilities. When you use the Internet, it’s best to find credible and trustworthy sources to avoid using fake news as a source. That’s why tools like Google Scholar can be so helpful.
• Textbooks: It’s more likely than not that you’ll be able to use your class textbook as a source for the research you are conducting.
• Books: Additionally, other books outside of those you read within your class will prove useful in any research paper.

Final Steps: Editing and Formatting

Once you’ve written all your ideas on the page, it’s time to edit. It cannot be stressed enough that editing is pivotal before submission. This is especially true if you’ve been writing under immense pressure.

Writing a 10- or 20-page research paper in one night is not easy, so there are bound to be mistakes and typos. The best way to catch these mistakes is to follow these tips:

• Take a break before you edit so you can come back to the page with somewhat fresh eyes and a clearer head
• Read it out loud to edit and catch mistakes because sometimes your brain will override typos or missing words to make sense of what it is reading
• If possible, ask someone else to look it over
• Consider using footnotes or block quotes
• Format according to how your university asks – MLA or APA, etc.

The Bottom Line

Life throws curveballs your way without warning. Whether you are holding yourself accountable for procrastinating or something out of your control came up, you may find yourself needing to write a big research paper in one night. It’s not the best-case scenario, but with the right tools and tricks up your sleeve, you can surely get it done!

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/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="how to write a dissertation in one night"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Guide to writing your thesis/dissertation, definition of dissertation and thesis.

The dissertation or thesis is a scholarly treatise that substantiates a specific point of view as a result of original research that is conducted by students during their graduate study. At Cornell, the thesis is a requirement for the receipt of the M.A. and M.S. degrees and some professional master’s degrees. The dissertation is a requirement of the Ph.D. degree.

Formatting Requirement and Standards

The Graduate School sets the minimum format for your thesis or dissertation, while you, your special committee, and your advisor/chair decide upon the content and length. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other mechanical issues are your sole responsibility. Generally, the thesis and dissertation should conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field. The Graduate School does not monitor the thesis or dissertation for mechanics, content, or style.

“Papers Option” Dissertation or Thesis

A “papers option” is available only to students in certain fields, which are listed on the Fields Permitting the Use of Papers Option page , or by approved petition. If you choose the papers option, your dissertation or thesis is organized as a series of relatively independent chapters or papers that you have submitted or will be submitting to journals in the field. You must be the only author or the first author of the papers to be used in the dissertation. The papers-option dissertation or thesis must meet all format and submission requirements, and a singular referencing convention must be used throughout.

ProQuest Electronic Submissions

The dissertation and thesis become permanent records of your original research, and in the case of doctoral research, the Graduate School requires publication of the dissertation and abstract in its original form. All Cornell master’s theses and doctoral dissertations require an electronic submission through ProQuest, which fills orders for paper or digital copies of the thesis and dissertation and makes a digital version available online via their subscription database, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses . For master’s theses, only the abstract is available. ProQuest provides worldwide distribution of your work from the master copy. You retain control over your dissertation and are free to grant publishing rights as you see fit. The formatting requirements contained in this guide meet all ProQuest specifications.

Copies of Dissertation and Thesis

Copies of Ph.D. dissertations and master’s theses are also uploaded in PDF format to the Cornell Library Repository, eCommons . A print copy of each master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation is submitted to Cornell University Library by ProQuest.

• How it works

How to Structure a Dissertation – A Step by Step Guide

Published by Owen Ingram at August 11th, 2021 , Revised On September 20, 2023

A dissertation – sometimes called a thesis –  is a long piece of information backed up by extensive research. This one, huge piece of research is what matters the most when students – undergraduates and postgraduates – are in their final year of study.

On the other hand, some institutions, especially in the case of undergraduate students, may or may not require students to write a dissertation. Courses are offered instead. This generally depends on the requirements of that particular institution.

If you are unsure about how to structure your dissertation or thesis, this article will offer you some guidelines to work out what the most important segments of a dissertation paper are and how you should organise them. Why is structure so important in research, anyway?

One way to answer that, as Abbie Hoffman aptly put it, is because: “Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information.”

Also Read:   How to write a dissertation – step by step guide .

How to Structure a Dissertation or Thesis

It should be noted that the exact structure of your dissertation will depend on several factors, such as:

• Your research approach (qualitative/quantitative)
• The nature of your research design (exploratory/descriptive etc.)
• The requirements set for forth by your academic institution.
• The discipline or field your study belongs to. For instance, if you are a humanities student, you will need to develop your dissertation on the same pattern as any long essay .

This will include developing an overall argument to support the thesis statement and organizing chapters around theories or questions. The dissertation will be structured such that it starts with an introduction , develops on the main idea in its main body paragraphs and is then summarised in conclusion .

However, if you are basing your dissertation on primary or empirical research, you will be required to include each of the below components. In most cases of dissertation writing, each of these elements will have to be written as a separate chapter.

But depending on the word count you are provided with and academic subject, you may choose to combine some of these elements.

For example, sciences and engineering students often present results and discussions together in one chapter rather than two different chapters.

If you have any doubts about structuring your dissertation or thesis, it would be a good idea to consult with your academic supervisor and check your department’s requirements.

Parts of  a Dissertation or Thesis

Your dissertation will  start with a t itle page that will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic, degree program (the paper is to be submitted for), and research supervisor. In other words, a title page is the opening page containing all the names and title related to your research.

The name of your university, logo, student ID and submission date can also be presented on the title page. Many academic programs have stringent rules for formatting the dissertation title page.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgments section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God, and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

However, the acknowledgments section is usually optional.

Tip: Many students wrongly assume that they need to thank everyone…even those who had little to no contributions towards the dissertation. This is not the case. You only need to thank those who were directly involved in the research process, such as your participants/volunteers, supervisor(s) etc.

Perhaps the smallest yet important part of a thesis, an abstract contains 5 parts:

• A brief introduction of your research topic.
• The significance of your research.
•  A line or two about the methodology that was used.
• The results and what they mean (briefly); their interpretation(s).
• And lastly, a conclusive comment regarding the results’ interpretation(s) as conclusion .

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“ Our expert dissertation writers can help you with all stages of the dissertation writing process including topic research and selection, dissertation plan, dissertation proposal , methodology , statistical analysis , primary and secondary research, findings and analysis and complete dissertation writing. “

Tip: Make sure to highlight key points to help readers figure out the scope and findings of your research study without having to read the entire dissertation. The abstract is your first chance to impress your readers. So, make sure to get it right. Here are detailed guidelines on how to write abstract for dissertation .

Table of Contents

Table of contents is the section of a dissertation that guides each section of the dissertation paper’s contents. Depending on the level of detail in a table of contents, the most useful headings are listed to provide the reader the page number on which said information may be found at.

Table of contents can be inserted automatically as well as manually using the Microsoft Word Table of Contents feature.

List of Figures and Tables

If your dissertation paper uses several illustrations, tables and figures, you might want to present them in a numbered list in a separate section . Again, this list of tables and figures can be auto-created and auto inserted using the Microsoft Word built-in feature.

List of Abbreviations

Dissertations that include several abbreviations can also have an independent and separate alphabetised  list of abbreviations so readers can easily figure out their meanings.

If you think you have used terms and phrases in your dissertation that readers might not be familiar with, you can create a  glossary  that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

Looking for dissertation help?

Researchprospect to the rescue then.

We have expert writers on our team who are skilled at helping students with quantitative dissertations across a variety of STEM disciplines. Guaranteeing 100% satisfaction!

Introduction

Introduction chapter  briefly introduces the purpose and relevance of your research topic.

Here, you will be expected to list the aim and key objectives of your research so your readers can easily understand what the following chapters of the dissertation will cover. A good dissertation introduction section incorporates the following information:

• It provides background information to give context to your research.
• It clearly specifies the research problem you wish to address with your research. When creating research questions , it is important to make sure your research’s focus and scope are neither too broad nor too narrow.
• it demonstrates how your research is relevant and how it would contribute to the existing knowledge.
• It provides an overview of the structure of your dissertation. The last section of an introduction contains an outline of the following chapters. It could start off with something like: “In the following chapter, past literature has been reviewed and critiqued. The proceeding section lays down major research findings…”
• Theoretical framework – under a separate sub-heading – is also provided within the introductory chapter. Theoretical framework deals with the basic, underlying theory or theories that the research revolves around.

All the information presented under this section should be relevant, clear, and engaging. The readers should be able to figure out the what, why, when, and how of your study once they have read the introduction. Here are comprehensive guidelines on how to structure the introduction to the dissertation .

“Overwhelmed by tight deadlines and tons of assignments to write? There is no need to panic! Our expert academics can help you with every aspect of your dissertation – from topic creation and research problem identification to choosing the methodological approach and data analysis.”

Literature Review 

The  literature review chapter  presents previous research performed on the topic and improves your understanding of the existing literature on your chosen topic. This is usually organised to complement your  primary research  work completed at a later stage.

Make sure that your chosen academic sources are authentic and up-to-date. The literature review chapter must be comprehensive and address the aims and objectives as defined in the introduction chapter. Here is what your literature research chapter should aim to achieve:

• Data collection from authentic and relevant academic sources such as books, journal articles and research papers.
• Analytical assessment of the information collected from those sources; this would involve a critiquing the reviewed researches that is, what their strengths/weaknesses are, why the research method they employed is better than others, importance of their findings, etc.
• Identifying key research gaps, conflicts, patterns, and theories to get your point across to the reader effectively.

While your literature review should summarise previous literature, it is equally important to make sure that you develop a comprehensible argument or structure to justify your research topic. It would help if you considered keeping the following questions in mind when writing the literature review:

• How does your research work fill a certain gap in exiting literature?
• Did you adopt/adapt a new research approach to investigate the topic?
• Does your research solve an unresolved problem?
• Is your research dealing with some groundbreaking topic or theory that others might have overlooked?
• Is your research taking forward an existing theoretical discussion?
• Does your research strengthen and build on current knowledge within your area of study? This is otherwise known as ‘adding to the existing body of knowledge’ in academic circles.

Tip: You might want to establish relationships between variables/concepts to provide descriptive answers to some or all of your research questions. For instance, in case of quantitative research, you might hypothesise that variable A is positively co-related to variable B that is, one increases and so does the other one.

Research Methodology

The methods and techniques ( secondary and/or primar y) employed to collect research data are discussed in detail in the  Methodology chapter. The most commonly used primary data collection methods are:

• questionnaires
• focus groups
• observations

Essentially, the methodology chapter allows the researcher to explain how he/she achieved the findings, why they are reliable and how they helped him/her test the research hypotheses or address the research problem.

You might want to consider the following when writing methodology for the dissertation:

• Type of research and approach your work is based on. Some of the most widely used types of research include experimental, quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
• Data collection techniques that were employed such as questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, observations etc.
• Details of how, when, where, and what of the research that was conducted.
• Data analysis strategies employed (for instance, regression analysis).
• Software and tools used for data analysis (Excel, STATA, SPSS, lab equipment, etc.).
• Research limitations to highlight any hurdles you had to overcome when carrying our research. Limitations might or might not be mentioned within research methodology. Some institutions’ guidelines dictate they be mentioned under a separate section alongside recommendations.
• Justification of your selection of research approach and research methodology.

Here is a comprehensive article on  how to structure a dissertation methodology .

Research Findings

In this section, you present your research findings. The dissertation findings chapter  is built around the research questions, as outlined in the introduction chapter. Report findings that are directly relevant to your research questions.

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the  Appendices .

As indicated above, you can either develop a  standalone chapter  to present your findings or combine them with the discussion chapter. This choice depends on  the type of research involved and the academic subject, as well as what your institution’s academic guidelines dictate.

For example, it is common to have both findings and discussion grouped under the same section, particularly if the dissertation is based on qualitative research data.

On the other hand, dissertations that use quantitative or experimental data should present findings and analysis/discussion in two separate chapters. Here are some sample dissertations to help you figure out the best structure for your own project.

Sample Dissertation

Tip: Try to present as many charts, graphs, illustrations and tables in the findings chapter to improve your data presentation. Provide their qualitative interpretations alongside, too. Refrain from explaining the information that is already evident from figures and tables.

The findings are followed by the  Discussion chapter , which is considered the heart of any dissertation paper. The discussion section is an opportunity for you to tie the knots together to address the research questions and present arguments, models and key themes.

This chapter can make or break your research.

The discussion chapter does not require any new data or information because it is more about the interpretation(s) of the data you have already collected and presented. Here are some questions for you to think over when writing the discussion chapter:

• Did your work answer all the research questions or tested the hypothesis?
• Did you come up with some unexpected results for which you have to provide an additional explanation or justification?
• Are there any limitations that could have influenced your research findings?

Here is an article on how to  structure a dissertation discussion .

Conclusions corresponding to each research objective are provided in the  Conclusion section . This is usually done by revisiting the research questions to finally close the dissertation. Some institutions may specifically ask for recommendations to evaluate your critical thinking.

By the end, the readers should have a clear apprehension of your fundamental case with a focus on  what methods of research were employed  and what you achieved from this research.

Quick Question: Does the conclusion chapter reflect on the contributions your research work will make to existing knowledge?

Answer: Yes, the conclusion chapter of the research paper typically includes a reflection on the research’s contributions to existing knowledge.  In the “conclusion chapter”, you have to summarise the key findings and discuss how they add value to the existing literature on the current topic.

Reference list

All academic sources that you collected information from should be cited in-text and also presented in a  reference list (or a bibliography in case you include references that you read for the research but didn’t end up citing in the text), so the readers can easily locate the source of information when/if needed.

At most UK universities, Harvard referencing is the recommended style of referencing. It has strict and specific requirements on how to format a reference resource. Other common styles of referencing include MLA, APA, Footnotes, etc.

Each chapter of the dissertation should have relevant information. Any information that is not directly relevant to your research topic but your readers might be interested in (interview transcripts etc.) should be moved under the Appendices section .

Things like questionnaires, survey items or readings that were used in the study’s experiment are mostly included under appendices.

An Outline of Dissertation/Thesis Structure

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FAQs About Structure a Dissertation

What does the title page of a dissertation contain.

The title page will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic , degree program (the paper is to be submitted for) and research supervisor’s name(s). The name of your university, logo, student number and submission date can also be presented on the title page.

What is the purpose of adding acknowledgement?

The acknowledgements section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

Can I omit the glossary from the dissertation?

Yes, but only if you think that your paper does not contain any terms or phrases that the reader might not understand. If you think you have used them in the paper,  you must create a glossary that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

What is the purpose of appendices in a dissertation?

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the Appendices, such as questionnaire that was used in the study.

Which referencing style should I use in my dissertation?

You can use any of the referencing styles such as APA, MLA, and Harvard, according to the recommendation of your university; however, almost all UK institutions prefer Harvard referencing style .

What is the difference between references and bibliography?

References contain all the works that you read up and used and therefore, cited within the text of your thesis. However, in case you read on some works and resources that you didn’t end up citing in-text, they will be referenced in what is called a bibliography.

Additional readings might also be present alongside each bibliography entry for readers.

You May Also Like

A literature review is a survey of theses, articles, books and other academic sources. Here are guidelines on how to write dissertation literature review.

The list of figures and tables in dissertation help the readers find tables and figures of their interest without looking through the whole dissertation.

If your dissertation includes many abbreviations, it would make sense to define all these abbreviations in a list of abbreviations in alphabetical order.

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I wrote my entire dissertation in 48 hours

At one point I hallucinated: one of my books suddenly had arms and legs and walked around my desk

by Anonymous student

Wednesday September 23 2015, 12:03am

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Whether you are a fresher reading about Cambridge, or a returner doing your dissertation this year, I urge you in all seriousness not to repeat this experience, or to write it in anything like the circumstances in which I did mine. But this will offer a huge serving of  S chadenfreude  over the folly of my former self.

For a long while, I’ve wanted to pursue a career in theatre and film – especially theatre; there’s nothing like acting in front of the live audience and seeing them respond in laughter or tears to comedy or tragedy – and the ADC was a huge attraction for me when I applied to Cambridge. Consequently, in first year I became very committed to it. Then, as I got more and more into it and realised just how much I loved pretty much every aspect of Cambridge student theatre, the amount of it I did intensified in second year. The only problem was that this was at just the point when the workload for my subject ramped up. Keeping up with weekly essays was one thing: it was hard doing eight hours of theatre six days and then bashing out an essay on the back of very little reading the day before it was due in. But we were supposed to work steadily through our dissertations as well, in order to complete them before the deadline at the start of exam term. Considering my routine, of course I didn’t do that.

Thus, I ended up staring at my diary entry ‘DISSERTATION DEADLINE’ – and this was in black permanent marker, beneath a date just two days into the future. I had written none of the 5,000 words required. I had made no notes. I had done zero reading. I was fucked.

In this situation, there were two options: give into the panic, accept a fail on this part of my degree – or work flat out with only brief stops for food, cigarettes and sleep until I finished it in time for the deadline. Either way, I was in mad, bad and sad territory. I went for the latter option. I thought, as Hunter S. Thompson wrote in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:  “We can’t stop now – we’re in bat country.”

As I got going – coming up with responses to extracts chosen at random from my primary texts – I realised that there was no time for sleep. The first all-nighter was grim; I sat in the library and frantically bashed out as much material as possible with the goal of finishing my first draft before 6 in the morning. The panic made me procrastinate a lot. I went out for cigarettes every half an hour. I remember spending twenty minutes Facebook-stalking my GCSE Geography teacher, despite having zero interest in him at all, never mind his posts such as: “Got a new iPhone and loving it”.

I finished that first draft at 8, went for breakfast in the college bar and got 6 cans of Monster Energy while I was at it. I then guzzled away at them as I leafed through the books and typed, typed, typed. By the afternoon, I was editing it into a second draft. I was almost overcome by the profound desire to go back to my room, climb under the covers and enjoy the bliss of the sleep I needed, but I’d just take several gulps of Monster and type on.

Around 3.30 a.m. during the second all-nighter, I felt a flush of confidence that I’d produced a passably complete dissertation. All I needed to do was the footnotes and bibliography. Do them and I’d maybe scrape 60. I got too confident and spent an hour talking to my best friend on the phone (she lives in America and it was evening there) while chain-smoking. I went back and found footnoting more annoying and time-consuming than I’d envisaged. I started to feel the time pressure like a horrible burn – it was nearly just hours until the deadline and the bloody footnoting was interminable. The whole business belonged in Dante’s vision of hell in the Inferno . Just after I had that thought, I had a hallucination in which one of the books I had lying about developed arms and legs and started doing handstands on the desk. Watching this, I had a feeling like I’d taken a wrong turn into a very, very bad part of town.

I downed some more Monster and hugged close to the fact that if I didn’t think about anything else but the footnotes, ignored the tiredness and carried on doing these footnotes as quickly as possible, I could print the document off, hand it in to my DoS and sleep soundly and happily. Somehow I did that, and slept for 19 hours straight.

It wasn't a great start to exam term – which was later full of its own stresses. I felt shellshocked and all over the place for the next few days. I now think of it as an amusing anecdote and as an example of something not to do, for myself and others, but there's no getting away from the fact that it was deeply unpleasant at the time.

Don’t do it. I learned my lesson for finals and worked through my degree more steadily – especially the dissertation.

However, at this point you will, dear reader, want to know what I got for that second year dissertation. I don’t know how: but I got 67.

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How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow

Published on November 11, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.

Choosing your dissertation topic is the first step in making sure your research goes as smoothly as possible. When choosing a topic, it’s important to consider:

• Your institution and department’s requirements
• Your areas of knowledge and interest
• The scientific, social, or practical relevance
• The availability of data and resources
• The timeframe of your dissertation
• The relevance of your topic

You can follow these steps to begin narrowing down your ideas.

Table of contents

Step 1: check the requirements, step 2: choose a broad field of research, step 3: look for books and articles, step 4: find a niche, step 5: consider the type of research, step 6: determine the relevance, step 7: make sure it’s plausible, step 8: get your topic approved, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about dissertation topics.

The very first step is to check your program’s requirements. This determines the scope of what it is possible for you to research.

• Is there a minimum and maximum word count?
• When is the deadline?
• Should the research have an academic or a professional orientation?
• Are there any methodological conditions? Do you have to conduct fieldwork, or use specific types of sources?

Some programs have stricter requirements than others. You might be given nothing more than a word count and a deadline, or you might have a restricted list of topics and approaches to choose from. If in doubt about what is expected of you, always ask your supervisor or department coordinator.

Start by thinking about your areas of interest within the subject you’re studying. Examples of broad ideas include:

• Twentieth-century literature
• Economic history
• Health policy

To get a more specific sense of the current state of research on your potential topic, skim through a few recent issues of the top journals in your field. Be sure to check out their most-cited articles in particular. For inspiration, you can also search Google Scholar , subject-specific databases , and your university library’s resources.

As you read, note down any specific ideas that interest you and make a shortlist of possible topics. If you’ve written other papers, such as a 3rd-year paper or a conference paper, consider how those topics can be broadened into a dissertation.

After doing some initial reading, it’s time to start narrowing down options for your potential topic. This can be a gradual process, and should get more and more specific as you go. For example, from the ideas above, you might narrow it down like this:

• Twentieth-century literature   Twentieth-century Irish literature   Post-war Irish poetry
• Economic history   European economic history   German labor union history
• Health policy   Reproductive health policy   Reproductive rights in South America

All of these topics are still broad enough that you’ll find a huge amount of books and articles about them. Try to find a specific niche where you can make your mark, such as: something not many people have researched yet, a question that’s still being debated, or a very current practical issue.

At this stage, make sure you have a few backup ideas — there’s still time to change your focus. If your topic doesn’t make it through the next few steps, you can try a different one. Later, you will narrow your focus down even more in your problem statement and research questions .

There are many different types of research , so at this stage, it’s a good idea to start thinking about what kind of approach you’ll take to your topic. Will you mainly focus on:

• Collecting original data (e.g., experimental or field research)?
• Analyzing existing data (e.g., national statistics, public records, or archives)?
• Interpreting cultural objects (e.g., novels, films, or paintings)?
• Comparing scholarly approaches (e.g., theories, methods, or interpretations)?

Many dissertations will combine more than one of these. Sometimes the type of research is obvious: if your topic is post-war Irish poetry, you will probably mainly be interpreting poems. But in other cases, there are several possible approaches. If your topic is reproductive rights in South America, you could analyze public policy documents and media coverage, or you could gather original data through interviews and surveys .

You don’t have to finalize your research design and methods yet, but the type of research will influence which aspects of the topic it’s possible to address, so it’s wise to consider this as you narrow down your ideas.

It’s important that your topic is interesting to you, but you’ll also have to make sure it’s academically, socially or practically relevant to your field.

• Academic relevance means that the research can fill a gap in knowledge or contribute to a scholarly debate in your field.
• Social relevance means that the research can advance our understanding of society and inform social change.
• Practical relevance means that the research can be applied to solve concrete problems or improve real-life processes.

The easiest way to make sure your research is relevant is to choose a topic that is clearly connected to current issues or debates, either in society at large or in your academic discipline. The relevance must be clearly stated when you define your research problem .

Before you make a final decision on your topic, consider again the length of your dissertation, the timeframe in which you have to complete it, and the practicalities of conducting the research.

Will you have enough time to read all the most important academic literature on this topic? If there’s too much information to tackle, consider narrowing your focus even more.

Will you be able to find enough sources or gather enough data to fulfil the requirements of the dissertation? If you think you might struggle to find information, consider broadening or shifting your focus.

Do you have to go to a specific location to gather data on the topic? Make sure that you have enough funding and practical access.

Last but not least, will the topic hold your interest for the length of the research process? To stay motivated, it’s important to choose something you’re enthusiastic about!

Most programmes will require you to submit a brief description of your topic, called a research prospectus or proposal .

Remember, if you discover that your topic is not as strong as you thought it was, it’s usually acceptable to change your mind and switch focus early in the dissertation process. Just make sure you have enough time to start on a new topic, and always check with your supervisor or department.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

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How to Write a Dissertation Proposal | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 11 November 2022.

A dissertation proposal describes the research you want to do: what it’s about, how you’ll conduct it, and why it’s worthwhile. You will probably have to write a proposal before starting your dissertation as an undergraduate or postgraduate student.

A dissertation proposal should generally include:

• An introduction to your topic and aims
• A literature review  of the current state of knowledge
• An outline of your proposed methodology
• A discussion of the possible implications of the research
• A bibliography  of relevant sources

Dissertation proposals vary a lot in terms of length and structure, so make sure to follow any guidelines given to you by your institution, and check with your supervisor when you’re unsure.

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Table of contents

Step 1: coming up with an idea, step 2: presenting your idea in the introduction, step 3: exploring related research in the literature review, step 4: describing your methodology, step 5: outlining the potential implications of your research, step 6: creating a reference list or bibliography.

Before writing your proposal, it’s important to come up with a strong idea for your dissertation.

Find an area of your field that interests you and do some preliminary reading in that area. What are the key concerns of other researchers? What do they suggest as areas for further research, and what strikes you personally as an interesting gap in the field?

Once you have an idea, consider how to narrow it down and the best way to frame it. Don’t be too ambitious or too vague – a dissertation topic needs to be specific enough to be feasible. Move from a broad field of interest to a specific niche:

• Russian literature 19th century Russian literature The novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky
• Social media Mental health effects of social media Influence of social media on young adults suffering from anxiety

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Like most academic texts, a dissertation proposal begins with an introduction . This is where you introduce the topic of your research, provide some background, and most importantly, present your aim , objectives and research question(s) .

Try to dive straight into your chosen topic: What’s at stake in your research? Why is it interesting? Don’t spend too long on generalisations or grand statements:

• Social media is the most important technological trend of the 21st century. It has changed the world and influences our lives every day.
• Psychologists generally agree that the ubiquity of social media in the lives of young adults today has a profound impact on their mental health. However, the exact nature of this impact needs further investigation.

Once your area of research is clear, you can present more background and context. What does the reader need to know to understand your proposed questions? What’s the current state of research on this topic, and what will your dissertation contribute to the field?

If you’re including a literature review, you don’t need to go into too much detail at this point, but give the reader a general sense of the debates that you’re intervening in.

This leads you into the most important part of the introduction: your aim, objectives and research question(s) . These should be clearly identifiable and stand out from the text – for example, you could present them using bullet points or bold font.

Make sure that your research questions are specific and workable – something you can reasonably answer within the scope of your dissertation. Avoid being too broad or having too many different questions. Remember that your goal in a dissertation proposal is to convince the reader that your research is valuable and feasible:

• Does social media harm mental health?
• What is the impact of daily social media use on 18– to 25–year–olds suffering from general anxiety disorder?

Now that your topic is clear, it’s time to explore existing research covering similar ideas. This is important because it shows you what is missing from other research in the field and ensures that you’re not asking a question someone else has already answered.

You’ve probably already done some preliminary reading, but now that your topic is more clearly defined, you need to thoroughly analyse and evaluate the most relevant sources in your literature review .

Here you should summarise the findings of other researchers and comment on gaps and problems in their studies. There may be a lot of research to cover, so make effective use of paraphrasing to write concisely:

• Smith and Prakash state that ‘our results indicate a 25% decrease in the incidence of mechanical failure after the new formula was applied’.
• Smith and Prakash’s formula reduced mechanical failures by 25%.

The point is to identify findings and theories that will influence your own research, but also to highlight gaps and limitations in previous research which your dissertation can address:

• Subsequent research has failed to replicate this result, however, suggesting a flaw in Smith and Prakash’s methods. It is likely that the failure resulted from…

Next, you’ll describe your proposed methodology : the specific things you hope to do, the structure of your research and the methods that you will use to gather and analyse data.

You should get quite specific in this section – you need to convince your supervisor that you’ve thought through your approach to the research and can realistically carry it out. This section will look quite different, and vary in length, depending on your field of study.

You may be engaged in more empirical research, focusing on data collection and discovering new information, or more theoretical research, attempting to develop a new conceptual model or add nuance to an existing one.

Dissertation research often involves both, but the content of your methodology section will vary according to how important each approach is to your dissertation.

Empirical research

Empirical research involves collecting new data and analysing it in order to answer your research questions. It can be quantitative (focused on numbers), qualitative (focused on words and meanings), or a combination of both.

With empirical research, it’s important to describe in detail how you plan to collect your data:

• Will you use surveys ? A lab experiment ? Interviews?
• What variables will you measure?
• How will you select a representative sample ?
• If other people will participate in your research, what measures will you take to ensure they are treated ethically?
• What tools (conceptual and physical) will you use, and why?

It’s appropriate to cite other research here. When you need to justify your choice of a particular research method or tool, for example, you can cite a text describing the advantages and appropriate usage of that method.

Don’t overdo this, though; you don’t need to reiterate the whole theoretical literature, just what’s relevant to the choices you have made.

Moreover, your research will necessarily involve analysing the data after you have collected it. Though you don’t know yet what the data will look like, it’s important to know what you’re looking for and indicate what methods (e.g. statistical tests , thematic analysis ) you will use.

Theoretical research

You can also do theoretical research that doesn’t involve original data collection. In this case, your methodology section will focus more on the theory you plan to work with in your dissertation: relevant conceptual models and the approach you intend to take.

For example, a literary analysis dissertation rarely involves collecting new data, but it’s still necessary to explain the theoretical approach that will be taken to the text(s) under discussion, as well as which parts of the text(s) you will focus on:

• This dissertation will utilise Foucault’s theory of panopticism to explore the theme of surveillance in Orwell’s 1984 and Kafka’s The Trial…

Here, you may refer to the same theorists you have already discussed in the literature review. In this case, the emphasis is placed on how you plan to use their contributions in your own research.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

You’ll usually conclude your dissertation proposal with a section discussing what you expect your research to achieve.

You obviously can’t be too sure: you don’t know yet what your results and conclusions will be. Instead, you should describe the projected implications and contribution to knowledge of your dissertation.

First, consider the potential implications of your research. Will you:

• Develop or test a theory?
• Provide new information to governments or businesses?
• Challenge a commonly held belief?
• Suggest an improvement to a specific process?

Describe the intended result of your research and the theoretical or practical impact it will have:

Finally, it’s sensible to conclude by briefly restating the contribution to knowledge you hope to make: the specific question(s) you hope to answer and the gap the answer(s) will fill in existing knowledge:

Like any academic text, it’s important that your dissertation proposal effectively references all the sources you have used. You need to include a properly formatted reference list or bibliography at the end of your proposal.

Different institutions recommend different styles of referencing – commonly used styles include Harvard , Vancouver , APA , or MHRA . If your department does not have specific requirements, choose a style and apply it consistently.

A reference list includes only the sources that you cited in your proposal. A bibliography is slightly different: it can include every source you consulted in preparing the proposal, even if you didn’t mention it in the text. In the case of a dissertation proposal, a bibliography may also list relevant sources that you haven’t yet read, but that you intend to use during the research itself.

Check with your supervisor what type of bibliography or reference list you should include.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, November 11). How to Write a Dissertation Proposal | A Step-by-Step Guide. Scribbr. Retrieved 17 July 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/proposal/

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How To Write A Dissertation Introduction

A Simple Explainer With Examples + Free Template

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Reviewed By Dr Eunice Rautenbach (D. Tech) | March 2020

If you’re reading this, you’re probably at the daunting early phases of writing up the introduction chapter of your dissertation or thesis. It can be intimidating, I know. 

In this post, we’ll look at the 7 essential ingredients of a strong dissertation or thesis introduction chapter, as well as the essential things you need to keep in mind as you craft each section. We’ll also share some useful tips to help you optimize your approach.

Overview: Writing An Introduction Chapter

• The purpose and function of the intro chapter
• Craft an enticing and engaging opening section
• Provide a background and context to the study
• Clearly define the research problem
• State your research aims, objectives and questions
• Explain the significance of your study
• Identify the limitations of your research
• Outline the structure of your dissertation or thesis

A quick sidenote:

You’ll notice that I’ve used the words dissertation and thesis interchangeably. While these terms reflect different levels of research – for example, Masters vs PhD-level research – the introduction chapter generally contains the same 7 essential ingredients regardless of level. So, in this post, dissertation introduction equals thesis introduction.

Start with why.

To craft a high-quality dissertation or thesis introduction chapter, you need to understand exactly what this chapter needs to achieve. In other words, what’s its purpose ? As the name suggests, the introduction chapter needs to introduce the reader to your research so that they understand what you’re trying to figure out, or what problem you’re trying to solve. More specifically, you need to answer four important questions in your introduction chapter.

These questions are:

• What will you be researching? (in other words, your research topic)
• Why is that worthwhile? (in other words, your justification)
• What will the scope of your research be? (in other words, what will you cover and what won’t you cover)
• What will the limitations of your research be? (in other words, what will the potential shortcomings of your research be?)

Simply put, your dissertation’s introduction chapter needs to provide an overview of your planned research , as well as a clear rationale for it. In other words, this chapter has to explain the “what” and the “why” of your research – what’s it all about and why’s that important.

Simple enough, right?

Well, the trick is finding the appropriate depth of information. As the researcher, you’ll be extremely close to your topic and this makes it easy to get caught up in the minor details. While these intricate details might be interesting, you need to write your introduction chapter on more of a “need-to-know” type basis, or it will end up way too lengthy and dense. You need to balance painting a clear picture with keeping things concise. Don’t worry though – you’ll be able to explore all the intricate details in later chapters.

Now that you understand what you need to achieve from your introduction chapter, we can get into the details. While the exact requirements for this chapter can vary from university to university, there are seven core components that most universities will require. We call these the seven essential ingredients . 

The 7 Essential Ingredients

• The opening section – where you’ll introduce the reader to your research in high-level terms
• The background to the study – where you’ll explain the context of your project
• The research problem – where you’ll explain the “gap” that exists in the current research
• The research aims , objectives and questions – where you’ll clearly state what your research will aim to achieve
• The significance (or justification) – where you’ll explain why your research is worth doing and the value it will provide to the world
• The limitations – where you’ll acknowledge the potential limitations of your project and approach
• The structure – where you’ll briefly outline the structure of your dissertation or thesis to help orient the reader

By incorporating these seven essential ingredients into your introduction chapter, you’ll comprehensively cover both the “ what ” and the “ why ” I mentioned earlier – in other words, you’ll achieve the purpose of the chapter.

Side note – you can also use these 7 ingredients in this order as the structure for your chapter to ensure a smooth, logical flow. This isn’t essential, but, generally speaking, it helps create an engaging narrative that’s easy for your reader to understand. If you’d like, you can also download our free introduction chapter template here.

Alright – let’s look at each of the ingredients now.

#1 – The Opening Section

The very first essential ingredient for your dissertation introduction is, well, an introduction or opening section. Just like every other chapter, your introduction chapter needs to start by providing a brief overview of what you’ll be covering in the chapter.

This section needs to engage the reader with clear, concise language that can be easily understood and digested. If the reader (your marker!) has to struggle through it, they’ll lose interest, which will make it harder for you to earn marks. Just because you’re writing an academic paper doesn’t mean you can ignore the basic principles of engaging writing used by marketers, bloggers, and journalists. At the end of the day, you’re all trying to sell an idea – yours is just a research idea.

So, what goes into this opening section?

Well, while there’s no set formula, it’s a good idea to include the following four foundational sentences in your opening section:

1 – A sentence or two introducing the overall field of your research.

For example:

“Organisational skills development involves identifying current or potential skills gaps within a business and developing programs to resolve these gaps. Management research, including X, Y and Z, has clearly established that organisational skills development is an essential contributor to business growth.”

2 – A sentence introducing your specific research problem.

“However, there are conflicting views and an overall lack of research regarding how best to manage skills development initiatives in highly dynamic environments where subject knowledge is rapidly and continuously evolving – for example, in the website development industry.”

3 – A sentence stating your research aims and objectives.

“This research aims to identify and evaluate skills development approaches and strategies for highly dynamic industries in which subject knowledge is continuously evolving.”.

4 – A sentence outlining the layout of the chapter.

“This chapter will provide an introduction to the study by first discussing the background and context, followed by the research problem, the research aims, objectives and questions, the significance and finally, the limitations.”

As I mentioned, this opening section of your introduction chapter shouldn’t be lengthy . Typically, these four sentences should fit neatly into one or two paragraphs, max. What you’re aiming for here is a clear, concise introduction to your research – not a detailed account.

PS – If some of this terminology sounds unfamiliar, don’t stress – I’ll explain each of the concepts later in this post.

#2 – Background to the study

Now that you’ve provided a high-level overview of your dissertation or thesis, it’s time to go a little deeper and lay a foundation for your research topic. This foundation is what the second ingredient is all about – the background to your study.

So, what is the background section all about?

Well, this section of your introduction chapter should provide a broad overview of the topic area that you’ll be researching, as well as the current contextual factors . This could include, for example, a brief history of the topic, recent developments in the area, key pieces of research in the area and so on. In other words, in this section, you need to provide the relevant background information to give the reader a decent foundational understanding of your research area.

Let’s look at an example to make this a little more concrete.

If we stick with the skills development topic I mentioned earlier, the background to the study section would start by providing an overview of the skills development area and outline the key existing research. Then, it would go on to discuss how the modern-day context has created a new challenge for traditional skills development strategies and approaches. Specifically, that in many industries, technical knowledge is constantly and rapidly evolving, and traditional education providers struggle to keep up with the pace of new technologies.

Importantly, you need to write this section with the assumption that the reader is not an expert in your topic area. So, if there are industry-specific jargon and complex terminology, you should briefly explain that here , so that the reader can understand the rest of your document.

Don’t make assumptions about the reader’s knowledge – in most cases, your markers will not be able to ask you questions if they don’t understand something. So, always err on the safe side and explain anything that’s not common knowledge.

#3 – The research problem

Now that you’ve given your reader an overview of your research area, it’s time to get specific about the research problem that you’ll address in your dissertation or thesis. While the background section would have alluded to a potential research problem (or even multiple research problems), the purpose of this section is to narrow the focus and highlight the specific research problem you’ll focus on.

But, what exactly is a research problem, you ask?

Well, a research problem can be any issue or question for which there isn’t already a well-established and agreed-upon answer in the existing research. In other words, a research problem exists when there’s a need to answer a question (or set of questions), but there’s a gap in the existing literature , or the existing research is conflicting and/or inconsistent.

So, to present your research problem, you need to make it clear what exactly is missing in the current literature and why this is a problem . It’s usually a good idea to structure this discussion into three sections – specifically:

• What’s already well-established in the literature (in other words, the current state of research)
• What’s missing in the literature (in other words, the literature gap)
• Why this is a problem (in other words, why it’s important to fill this gap)

Let’s look at an example of this structure using the skills development topic.

Organisational skills development is critically important for employee satisfaction and company performance (reference). Numerous studies have investigated strategies and approaches to manage skills development programs within organisations (reference).

(this paragraph explains what’s already well-established in the literature)

However, these studies have traditionally focused on relatively slow-paced industries where key skills and knowledge do not change particularly often. This body of theory presents a problem for industries that face a rapidly changing skills landscape – for example, the website development industry – where new platforms, languages and best practices emerge on an extremely frequent basis.

(this paragraph explains what’s missing from the literature)

As a result, the existing research is inadequate for industries in which essential knowledge and skills are constantly and rapidly evolving, as it assumes a slow pace of knowledge development. Industries in such environments, therefore, find themselves ill-equipped in terms of skills development strategies and approaches.

(this paragraph explains why the research gap is problematic)

As you can see in this example, in a few lines, we’ve explained (1) the current state of research, (2) the literature gap and (3) why that gap is problematic. By doing this, the research problem is made crystal clear, which lays the foundation for the next ingredient.

#4 – The research aims, objectives and questions

Now that you’ve clearly identified your research problem, it’s time to identify your research aims and objectives , as well as your research questions . In other words, it’s time to explain what you’re going to do about the research problem.

So, what do you need to do here?

Well, the starting point is to clearly state your research aim (or aims) . The research aim is the main goal or the overarching purpose of your dissertation or thesis. In other words, it’s a high-level statement of what you’re aiming to achieve.

Let’s look at an example, sticking with the skills development topic:

“Given the lack of research regarding organisational skills development in fast-moving industries, this study will aim to identify and evaluate the skills development approaches utilised by web development companies in the UK”.

As you can see in this example, the research aim is clearly outlined, as well as the specific context in which the research will be undertaken (in other words, web development companies in the UK).

Next up is the research objective (or objectives) . While the research aims cover the high-level “what”, the research objectives are a bit more practically oriented, looking at specific things you’ll be doing to achieve those research aims.

Let’s take a look at an example of some research objectives (ROs) to fit the research aim.

• RO1 – To identify common skills development strategies and approaches utilised by web development companies in the UK.
• RO2 – To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies and approaches.
• RO3 – To compare and contrast these strategies and approaches in terms of their strengths and weaknesses.

As you can see from this example, these objectives describe the actions you’ll take and the specific things you’ll investigate in order to achieve your research aims. They break down the research aims into more specific, actionable objectives.

The final step is to state your research questions . Your research questions bring the aims and objectives another level “down to earth”. These are the specific questions that your dissertation or theses will seek to answer. They’re not fluffy, ambiguous or conceptual – they’re very specific and you’ll need to directly answer them in your conclusions chapter .

The research questions typically relate directly to the research objectives and sometimes can look a bit obvious, but they are still extremely important. Let’s take a look at an example of the research questions (RQs) that would flow from the research objectives I mentioned earlier.

• RQ1 – What skills development strategies and approaches are currently being used by web development companies in the UK?
• RQ2 – How effective are each of these strategies and approaches?
• RQ3 – What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these strategies and approaches?

As you can see, the research questions mimic the research objectives , but they are presented in question format. These questions will act as the driving force throughout your dissertation or thesis – from the literature review to the methodology and onward – so they’re really important.

A final note about this section – it’s really important to be clear about the scope of your study (more technically, the delimitations ). In other words, what you WILL cover and what you WON’T cover. If your research aims, objectives and questions are too broad, you’ll risk losing focus or investigating a problem that is too big to solve within a single dissertation.

Simply put, you need to establish clear boundaries in your research. You can do this, for example, by limiting it to a specific industry, country or time period. That way, you’ll ringfence your research, which will allow you to investigate your topic deeply and thoroughly – which is what earns marks!

Need a helping hand?

#5 – Significance

Now that you’ve made it clear what you’ll be researching, it’s time to make a strong argument regarding your study’s importance and significance . In other words, now that you’ve covered the what, it’s time to cover the why – enter essential ingredient number 5 – significance.

Of course, by this stage, you’ve already briefly alluded to the importance of your study in your background and research problem sections, but you haven’t explicitly stated how your research findings will benefit the world . So, now’s your chance to clearly state how your study will benefit either industry , academia , or – ideally – both . In other words, you need to explain how your research will make a difference and what implications it will have .

Let’s take a look at an example.

“This study will contribute to the body of knowledge on skills development by incorporating skills development strategies and approaches for industries in which knowledge and skills are rapidly and constantly changing. This will help address the current shortage of research in this area and provide real-world value to organisations operating in such dynamic environments.”

As you can see in this example, the paragraph clearly explains how the research will help fill a gap in the literature and also provide practical real-world value to organisations.

This section doesn’t need to be particularly lengthy, but it does need to be convincing . You need to “sell” the value of your research here so that the reader understands why it’s worth committing an entire dissertation or thesis to it. This section needs to be the salesman of your research. So, spend some time thinking about the ways in which your research will make a unique contribution to the world and how the knowledge you create could benefit both academia and industry – and then “sell it” in this section.

#6 – The limitations

Now that you’ve “sold” your research to the reader and hopefully got them excited about what’s coming up in the rest of your dissertation, it’s time to briefly discuss the potential limitations of your research.

But you’re probably thinking, hold up – what limitations? My research is well thought out and carefully designed – why would there be limitations?

Well, no piece of research is perfect . This is especially true for a dissertation or thesis – which typically has a very low or zero budget, tight time constraints and limited researcher experience. Generally, your dissertation will be the first or second formal research project you’ve ever undertaken, so it’s unlikely to win any research awards…

Simply put, your research will invariably have limitations. Don’t stress yourself out though – this is completely acceptable (and expected). Even “professional” research has limitations – as I said, no piece of research is perfect. The key is to recognise the limitations upfront and be completely transparent about them, so that future researchers are aware of them and can improve the study’s design to minimise the limitations and strengthen the findings.

Generally, you’ll want to consider at least the following four common limitations. These are:

• Your scope – for example, perhaps your focus is very narrow and doesn’t consider how certain variables interact with each other.
• Your research methodology – for example, a qualitative methodology could be criticised for being overly subjective, or a quantitative methodology could be criticised for oversimplifying the situation (learn more about methodologies here ).
• Your resources – for example, a lack of time, money, equipment and your own research experience.
• The generalisability of your findings – for example, the findings from the study of a specific industry or country can’t necessarily be generalised to other industries or countries.

Don’t be shy here. There’s no use trying to hide the limitations or weaknesses of your research. In fact, the more critical you can be of your study, the better. The markers want to see that you are aware of the limitations as this demonstrates your understanding of research design – so be brutal.

#7 – The structural outline

Now that you’ve clearly communicated what your research is going to be about, why it’s important and what the limitations of your research will be, the final ingredient is the structural outline.The purpose of this section is simply to provide your reader with a roadmap of what to expect in terms of the structure of your dissertation or thesis.

In this section, you’ll need to provide a brief summary of each chapter’s purpose and contents (including the introduction chapter). A sentence or two explaining what you’ll do in each chapter is generally enough to orient the reader. You don’t want to get too detailed here – it’s purely an outline, not a summary of your research.

Let’s look at an example:

In Chapter One, the context of the study has been introduced. The research objectives and questions have been identified, and the value of such research argued. The limitations of the study have also been discussed.

In Chapter Two, the existing literature will be reviewed and a foundation of theory will be laid out to identify key skills development approaches and strategies within the context of fast-moving industries, especially technology-intensive industries.

In Chapter Three, the methodological choices will be explored. Specifically, the adoption of a qualitative, inductive research approach will be justified, and the broader research design will be discussed, including the limitations thereof.

So, as you can see from the example, this section is simply an outline of the chapter structure, allocating a short paragraph to each chapter. Done correctly, the outline will help your reader understand what to expect and reassure them that you’ll address the multiple facets of the study.

By the way – if you’re unsure of how to structure your dissertation or thesis, be sure to check out our video post which explains dissertation structure .

Keep calm and carry on.

Hopefully you feel a bit more prepared for this challenge of crafting your dissertation or thesis introduction chapter now. Take a deep breath and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day – conquer one ingredient at a time and you’ll be firmly on the path to success.

Let’s quickly recap – the 7 ingredients are:

• The opening section – where you give a brief, high-level overview of what your research will be about.
• The study background – where you introduce the reader to key theory, concepts and terminology, as well as the context of your study.
• The research problem – where you explain what the problem with the current research is. In other words, the research gap.
• The research aims , objectives and questions – where you clearly state what your dissertation will investigate.
• The significance – where you explain what value your research will provide to the world.
• The limitations – where you explain what the potential shortcomings and limitations of your research may be.
• The structural outline – where you provide a high-level overview of the structure of your document

If you bake these ingredients into your dissertation introduction chapter, you’ll be well on your way to building an engaging introduction chapter that lays a rock-solid foundation for the rest of your document.

Remember, while we’ve covered the essential ingredients here, there may be some additional components that your university requires, so be sure to double-check your project brief!

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

43 Comments

Thanks very much for such an insight. I feel confident enough in undertaking my thesis on the survey;The future of facial recognition and learning non verbal interaction

Glad to hear that. Good luck with your thesis!

Thanks very much for such an insight. I feel confident now undertaking my thesis; The future of facial recognition and learning non verbal interaction.

Thanks so much for this article. I found myself struggling and wasting a lot of time in my thesis writing but after reading this article and watching some of your youtube videos, I now have a clear understanding of what is required for a thesis.

Thank you Derek, i find your each post so useful. Keep it up.

Thank you so much Derek ,for shedding the light and making it easier for me to handle the daunting task of academic writing .

Thanks do much Dereck for the comprehensive guide. It will assist me queit a lot in my thesis.

thanks a lot for helping

i LOVE the gifs, such a fun way to engage readers. thanks for the advice, much appreciated

Thanks a lot Derek! It will be really useful to the beginner in research!

You’re welcome

This is a well written, easily comprehensible, simple introduction to the basics of a Research Dissertation../the need to keep the reader in mind while writing the dissertation is an important point that is covered../ I appreciate the efforts of the author../

The instruction given are perfect and clear. I was supposed to take the course , unfortunately in Nepal the service is not avaialble.However, I am much more hopeful that you will provide require documents whatever you have produced so far.

Thank you very much

Thanks so much ❤️😘 I feel am ready to start writing my research methodology

This is genuinely the most effective advice I have ever been given regarding academia. Thank you so much!

This is one of the best write up I have seen in my road to PhD thesis. regards, this write up update my knowledge of research

I was looking for some good blogs related to Education hopefully your article will help. Thanks for sharing.

This is an awesome masterpiece. It is one of the most comprehensive guides to writing a Dissertation/Thesis I have seen and read.

You just saved me from going astray in writing a Dissertation for my undergraduate studies. I could not be more grateful for such a relevant guide like this. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much Derek, this has been extremely helpful!!

I do have one question though, in the limitations part do you refer to the scope as the focus of the research on a specific industry/country/chronological period? I assume that in order to talk about whether or not the research could be generalized, the above would need to be already presented and described in the introduction.

Thank you again!

Phew! You have genuinely rescued me. I was stuck how to go about my thesis. Now l have started. Thank you.

This is the very best guide in anything that has to do with thesis or dissertation writing. The numerous blends of examples and detailed insights make it worth a read and in fact, a treasure that is worthy to be bookmarked.

Thanks a lot for this masterpiece!

Powerful insight. I can now take a step

Thank you very much for these valuable introductions to thesis chapters. I saw all your videos about writing the introduction, discussion, and conclusion chapter. Then, I am wondering if we need to explain our research limitations in all three chapters, introduction, discussion, and conclusion? Isn’t it a bit redundant? If not, could you please explain how can we write in different ways? Thank you.

Excellent!!! Thank you…

Thanks for this informative content. I have a question. The research gap is mentioned in both the introduction and literature section. I would like to know how can I demonstrate the research gap in both sections without repeating the contents?

I’m incredibly grateful for this invaluable content. I’ve been dreading compiling my postgrad thesis but breaking each chapter down into sections has made it so much easier for me to engage with the material without feeling overwhelmed. After relying on your guidance, I’m really happy with how I’ve laid out my introduction.

Thank you for the informative content you provided

Hi Derrick and Team, thank you so much for the comprehensive guide on how to write a dissertation or a thesis introduction section. For some of us first-timers, it is a daunting task. However, the instruction with relevant examples makes it clear and easy to follow through. Much appreciated.

It was so helpful. God Bless you. Thanks very much

I thank you Grad coach for your priceless help. I have two questions I have learned from your video the limitations of the research presented in chapter one. but in another video also presented in chapter five. which chapter limitation should be included? If possible, I need your answer since I am doing my thesis. how can I explain If I am asked what is my motivation for this research?

You explain what moment in life caused you to have a peaked interest in the thesis topic. Personal experiences? Or something that had an impact on your life, or others. Something would have caused your drive of topic. Dig deep inside, the answer is within you!

Thank you guys for the great work you are doing. Honestly, you have made the research to be interesting and simplified. Even a novice will easily grasp the ideas you put forward, Thank you once again.

Excellent piece!

I feel like just settling for a good topic is usually the hardest part.

Thank you so much. My confidence has been completely destroyed during my first year of PhD and you have helped me pull myself together again

Happy to help 🙂

I am so glad I ran into your resources and did not waste time doing the wrong this. Research is now making so much sense now.

Gratitude to Derrick and the team I was looking for a solid article that would aid me in drafting the thesis’ introduction. I felt quite happy when I came across the piece you wrote because it was so well-written and insightful. I wish you success in the future.

thank you so much. God Bless you

Thank you so much Grad Coach for these helpful insights. Now I can get started, with a great deal of confidence.

It’s ‘alluded to’ not ‘eluded to’.

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Fact-checking RNC Day 4: What Trump, other speakers got right and wrong

Donald Trump's first public speech since the failed assassination attempt against him highlighted the final night of the Republican National Convention, and we were there to let you know when he and other speakers strayed from the truth.

The 78-year-old former president spoke five days after a gunman opened fire during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaving one attendee dead, two others seriously injured and Trump with a wounded ear . Other speakers joining him in Milwaukee tonight included Eric Trump, Tucker Carlson and Hulk Hogan.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Fact-checking the Republican convention : What Vance, Trump Jr., others got right (and wrong) on Day 3

Donald Trump claim: Household costs rose $28,000 per family

“The total household costs have increased an average of $28,000 per family under this administration.”

Trump's figure is largely in line with a study from Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee that has tracked inflation since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. From that date through January 2024, the study found the average household has paid $27,007 more in household costs due to inflation.

That includes cumulative increases of $9,366 for transportation, $4,678 for shelter, $4,562 for energy and $3,640 more for food, according to the study.

– Joedy McCreary

Donald Trump claim: There was no inflation during his presidency

“We had no inflation.” 

This is wrong, according to consumer price index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics . 

The year-over-year inflation rate between February 2017 and February 2018, which would have been entirely under the Trump administration, was 2.2%. 

The highest rate during his presidency was 2.9% in both June and July 2018 – the highest in more than six years .

By contrast, Biden’s inflation rate peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, the highest rate in four decades . The highest rate during former President Barack Obama's administration was 3.9% in September 2011 . 

The inflation rate did dip below 1% for three months of Trump’s presidency, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

– BrieAnna Frank

Donald Trump claim: US crime rate going up

“Our crime rate is going up while crime statistics all over the world are going down.”

This isn’t what the latest data shows.

A report from the FBI found violent crime in the U.S. dropped in 2023 .

Many U.S. cities also reported declines in homicides from 2023 to 2024, Axios reported in April. The number of murders fell by nearly 20% in the first three months of 2024 in 204 cities analyzed by criminal justice consulting firm AH Datalytics .

And FBI crime data showed sharp declines in violent crime in the first three months of 2024 compared to a year earlier, the Associated Press reported in June. Murder and rape were both down 26%, robbery was down 18% and aggravated assault fell by 13%, the AP said, noting the declines were in line with improvements following a surge in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Andre Byik and Chris Mueller

Trump claim: I’ve already built most of the border wall

“I will end the illegal immigration crisis by closing the border and finishing the wall, most of which I’ve already built.”

This is inaccurate. While it is true that under the Trump administration 458 miles of barriers were added to the southern border, the vast majority of this construction occurred where some kind of barrier was already in place, according to U.S. News .

These 458 miles of barrier account for about two-thirds of the total amount of barrier along the border, according to the Cato Institute . In all, the U.S. has 354 miles of pedestrian barriers and 300 miles of vehicle barriers, for a total of 654 miles, according to Customs and Border Protection’s website .

But the U.S.-Mexico border is 1,933 miles long , so the current wall only accounts for a fraction of that expanse. USA TODAY’s interactive border wall map shows there are vast swaths of land on the border with no barrier of any sort.

- Brad Sylvester

Donald Trump claim: Inflation under Biden was worst in U.S. history

“We’ve suffered the worst inflation we’ve ever had”

Inflation under President Joe Biden has certainly been higher than under former President Donald Trump, but it is far from the highest in the lifetimes of many Americans – much less ever.

Under Biden, the average annual inflation rate is about 5.7%, according to an analysis by Investopedia based on the seasonally adjusted consumer price index.

However, that rate was higher under both Jimmy Carter (9.9% average from 1977 to 1981) and Gerald Ford (average 8% from 1974 to 1977).

On an annual level this claim is also wrong, Investopedia reports . The highest annual increase under Biden was 7% in 2021. Inflation topped double digits in 1980 and twice in the 1970s.

– Nate Trela 

Donald Trump claim: Democrats ‘cheating on elections’

“We don’t have fierce people. We have people that are a lot less than fierce except when it comes to cheating on elections, and a couple of other things. Then they’re fierce.”

Trump’s comment came as he reflected on the domestic and international problems facing the U.S., such as immigration and wars.

But his assertion that Democrats have engaged in widespread voter fraud – a claim he’s made repeatedly since his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden – is false.

There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows Biden won the presidency that year. And no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud has been uncovered. Recounts, reviews and lawsuits have ultimately shown Biden’s win was legitimate.

Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, also said in December 2020 that the Justice Department had "not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election."

And in a statement released shortly after the election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it was "the most secure in American history," and there was "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised."

Donald Trump claim: His administration passed nation’s largest tax cut

“We gave you the largest tax cut.”

This is false, and it’s a claim Trump has made before .

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump championed ranks as the eighth-largest tax cut since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product , according to a 2017 analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The largest tax cut during that time frame was enacted in 1981, early in Ronald Reagan’s presidency, according to the think tank’s analysis.

The 2017 act overhauled the tax code , cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and increasing the standard deduction, among other provisions, several of which are set to expire in 2025 .

Donald Trump claim: Grocery prices have risen by 57%

Grocery prices are up, but not this much.

From 2019 to 2023, the all-food Consumer Price Index rose by 25%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA said increases from 2020-21 were “largely driven by shifting consumption patterns and supply chain disruptions resulting from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

-Eric Litke

Eric Trump claim: Gas prices under Trump were the lowest in decades

“Trump made the United States energy independent with the lowest gas prices in decades.”

This is false. Gas prices fell precipitously late in Donald Trump's term in the White House, coinciding with stay-at-home restrictions at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During Trump's term, the Energy Information Administration's data on the average weekly price of gasoline (based on all grades and formulations) bottomed out the week of April 27, 2020, at $1.87 per gallon.

While significantly lower than a couple months earlier, it certainly was not the lowest in decades. During the week of Feb. 15, 2016, gas averaged $1.83 per gallon under President Barack Obama.

- Nate Trela

Eric Trump claim: Obama administration ‘handed’ Iran $150 billion

On why Donald Trump ran for office: “(Donald Trump) could no longer tolerate an inept administration that handed $150 billion to Iran.”

This is false, and it’s a claim Trump has also repeatedly made about his predecessor, Barack Obama.

It references the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action .

While the agreement lifted some sanctions, it did not involve the Obama White House handing $150 billion to Iran. That money belonged to Iran – not the U.S. – and had been frozen in financial institutions around the globe as part of sanctions designed to curb the nation’s push for nuclear weapons, The Washington Post reported .

Much of the money was held in Asian and Turkish banks, not American ones, and many countries that received waivers to buy Iranian fossil fuels placed their payments in accounts resembling escrow accounts that remained inaccessible to Iran.

Additionally, the $150 billion figure is an upper-range estimate of the unfrozen funds. According to Treasury Department figures cited by The Washington Post, Tehran would have about $55 billion left once it fulfills its other obligations.

Eric Trump claim: Donald Trump made the U.S. energy independent

“My father made the U.S. energy independent.”

This is accurate, if you define energy independence as producing more energy than you consume . The U.S. most recently reached this mark in 2019 under Trump’s presidency when it became an "annual net total energy exporter,” according to the Energy Information Administration .

This was a reversal of the prior seven decades.

"Up to the early 1950s, the United States produced most of the energy it consumed," the administration's website says. "U.S. energy consumption was higher than U.S. energy production in every year from 1958 (to) 2018."

The U.S. has remained a net energy exporter since 2019, according to the available data.

-Brad Sylvester

Tucker Carlson claim: US drug deaths in last four years outnumbered US World War II casualties

“We’ve lost more Americans from drugs in the past four years than we lost in World War II.” 

The two numbers are very close, but drug deaths are indeed higher than military deaths in WWII.

There were 418,500 American deaths during World War II, including both military members and civilians, according to the National World War II Museum . The Department of Veterans Affairs puts the number of military deaths at 405,000.

Data from the last four full years, 2020 through 2023, shows 419,849 Americans have died from drug overdoses in that period.

That includes 93,655 deaths in 2020 , 107,622 in 2021 , 111,029 in 2022 and 107,543 in 2023 , according to news releases from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. 

Tucker Carlson claim: WWII was America’s bloodiest war

“We’ve lost more Americans from drugs in the past four years than we lost in World War II. Yeah. Our bloodiest war.”

Though figures vary , the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says the American Civil War resulted in more U.S. military deaths than World War II.

Nearly 500,000 military personnel were killed in the Civil War (1861-1865), according to the VA. The total includes both Union and Confederate battle deaths and other in-theater deaths. Other estimates pin the total at over 600,000 deaths .

About 405,000 U.S. military deaths were tallied in World War II (1941-1945), according to the VA . The National World War II Museum puts the figure at 418,500 American deaths including civilians.

– Andre Byik

Alina Habba claim: The only crime Donald Trump has committed is loving America

“The only crime president Trump has committed is loving America.” - Trump attorney

A jury in New York disagrees. Former president Donald Trump and his legal team have maintained his innocence in the face of criminal indictments in multiple jurisdictions, but on May 30 he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress. State prosecutors said it was an illegal scheme to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has asked to have the conviction thrown out , pointing to the Supreme Court’s ruling that a sitting president has immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts .

Trump’s other cases likely will not be resolved before the election. Federal charges over Trump’s possession of classified materials after leaving the White House were thrown out this month, although that action has been appealed . An election interference case in Atlanta has been put on hold until a hearing on whether DA Fani Willis can remain on the case. And his federal election interference case in Washington was put on hold before the Supreme Court ruling and likely cannot be completed before the election.

RNC video claim: Income fell three consecutive years under Biden

“Under Biden, Americans’ income has gone down three straight years.”

This is misleading and oversimplifies the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

The claim is an apparent reference to reports such as a September 2023 House Budget Committee analysis that tracked the inflation-adjusted median household incomes and found three consecutive yearly declines.

But it fails to point out that the decline started during the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency. After reaching a high of $78,250 in 2019, the real median household income fell to $76,660 in 2020 – the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fact noted in the House committee analysis but not the video. It fell to $76,330 in 2021, the year Joe Biden took office, and dropped to $74,580 in 2022, the most recent data available.

But other datasets show increases under Biden. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show full-time workers’ median weekly earnings rising from $983 at the end of 2020 to $1,142 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

RNC video claim: Credit card fees soared under Biden

“Credit card fees surged 50% since Biden became president.” -narration of a video played at RNC

The Financial Times reported in March that U.S. consumers paid nearly 50% more in credit card expenses in 2023 than in 2020, the year before Joe Biden became president.

Citing data provided by U.S. banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FT reported credit card interest and fees increased by $51 billion in that time, to $157 billion. The change amounts to about a 48% increase.

The Biden administration has tried to implement new rules to address what it characterizes as “junk fees,” such as late fees and overdraft fees, the Associated Press reported . A federal judge in May temporarily halted a plan by Biden’s administration to lower late fees on credit cards to $8 from the current average of $32, the AP reported .

Linda McMahon claim: Trump tariffs on China raised billions

“Donald Trump put tariffs on China that raised billions of dollars and protected American industries.”

The numbers here are accurate. Beginning in 2018, Trump levied tariffs on thousands of products being imported from China valued at approximately $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, according to the Tax Foundation . The intention of these tariffs was to protect American domestic production. The tariffs resulted in nearly $80 billion in taxes paid to the U.S. government, according to the foundation.

However, it is worth noting that much of the revenue generated from these tariffs was paid by American importers, not the Chinese, according to the foundation and the Council on Foreign Relations . Most economists agree the increased cost of business is typically passed on to the consumer. The Tax Foundation estimated the tariffs, most of which have been kept in place under the Biden administration, have had a negative impact on U.S. gross domestic product in the long run.

Mike Pompeo claim: No Chinese spy balloons during Trump’s presidency

“Not a single Chinese spy balloon flew across the United States of America, four years.”

This false claim came up for a second straight night . Multiple news outlets reported in 2023 that Chinese surveillance balloons flew over the U.S. at least three different times during former President Donald Trump's administration, but military officials didn’t know it at the time.

Those spy balloons went undetected because of what Gen. Glen D. VanHerck , the commander of the Pentagon’s Northern Command, described to The New York Times as an “awareness gap.” Objects originally classified as U.F.O.s were later reclassified as Chinese spy balloons.

That report came shortly after a Chinese balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina in February 2023 , during the Biden administration. Trump, for his part, called it “ fake disinformation .”

– Joedy McCreary and Kim Breen

RNC background: Rally shooting looms over Trump’s closing address

The assassination attempt that left Donald Trump with an injured ear dominated the headlines during the days leading up to the former president’s keynote speech tonight.

In the wake of the July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania that left one dead and two others seriously injured , Trump said he rewrote his closing remarks to “bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” he told the Washington Examiner.

The FBI identified the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania , and said Secret Service agents killed him at the scene . But officials have been unable to determine his motive, one of the key unanswered questions sparking a significant amount of misinformation.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims stemming from the assassination attempt.

• Fact check roundup: False claims about rally attack spread online
• Claim: Image shows Trump's suit jacket was pierced with a bullet during Pennsylvania rally shooting (False)
• Claim: Thomas Matthew Crooks is not the suspected Trump rally shooter (False)
• Claim: Image shows Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks (False)
• Claim: Alejandro Mayorkas denied requests for additional security at Trump rally (False)
• Claim: Butler, Pennsylvania, police identified Trump shooter as Mark Violets, arrested him at scene (False)
• Claim: Video shows Trump assassination attempt was 'staged,' there were 'no bullets flying’ (False)

RNC background: Trump faces election interference charges as he tries to reclaim White House

As former President Donald Trump wages his campaign for re-election, he continues to face criminal charges for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump is accused in a federal indictment of directing his supporters to march on the Capitol in an effort to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

The former president took to his Truth Social social media platform on July 15 – just two days after he was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania – to call for the case's dismissal, characterizing it as the “January 6th Hoax.”

More than 1,200 defendants have been charged in the attack on the Capitol. Trump’s case was overseen by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith . Trump has pleaded not guilty .

USA TODAY has debunked numerous claims about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

• Fact check roundup: What's real and not three years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
• Claim: Video shows comedian, not liberal Jan. 6 rioter, posing as Trump supporter
• Claim: No evidence January 6 committee destroyed records, contrary to online claims
• Claim: Image shows man later convicted for role in Jan. 6 riot, not federal agent
• Claim: Video shows a pro-Trump mob with floor plans inside Capitol building on Jan. 6

RNC background: Biden’s age, gaffes a frequent theme

Joe Biden’s fitness to serve as president became a frequent Republican talking point when he and Donald Trump first faced off in 2020, and recent events have only fed that narrative in their second matchup.

The specter of his age was elevated in February by a special counsel report describing the 81-year-old Biden  as an elderly man with "diminished capacities," including memory loss. His abominable performance in June’s presidential debate against Trump exacerbated the issue to the point where some leading Democrats are asking him to drop out of the race. Biden at one point chalking up the performance to exhaustion did not ease those concerns.

Biden insists he is fit to serve another term , but his actions and comments are being examined closely for clues about his capabilities – and sometimes they are misrepresented.

USA TODAY has debunked several false claims about Biden’s mental acuity and physical stamina:

• Claim : Joe Biden was declared 'mentally unfit' to stand trial
• Claim : Biden had a medical emergency on Air Force One on July 5
• Claim : Biden mistakenly read 'end of quote' prompt on teleprompter
• Claim : Video shows Biden talking about resigning as president in 2024
• Claim : Biden fell asleep during debate
• Claim : Biden said he’s running for president to 'reduce the prospect of war in Vietnam'

– Nate Trela

RNC background: Project 2025 stirs debate

Democratic lawmakers have in recent weeks sought to turn voters’ attention to Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project.

It’s an effort by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative organizations that resulted in a 900-page playbook for the next Republican president. A full implementation of the guidance in the document would effectively overhaul the federal government . 

A slew of Trump’s allies are involved in the project, though Trump has maintained that he is not. 

He wrote in a July 5 Truth Social post that “some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal,” though he did not specify what elements of Project 2025 he objected to.

His campaign has instead presented “Agenda47” as its policy plan in a second Trump presidency. It includes a day-one executive order ending automatic citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants who are born in the U.S. and closing the U.S. Department of Education . 

The Republican Party's 2024 policy platform echoes Trump’s vision for the country , calling for the “largest deportation program in American history” and penalizing school districts that expose children to what it deems “inappropriate racial, sexual or political content,” USA TODAY reported . 

USA TODAY has debunked claims about Project 2025:

• Claim: Project 2025 is an effort by the Heritage Foundation, not Donald Trump
• Claim: Claim of ‘period passports’ under Project 2025 is from satire 

-BrieAnna Frank

RNC background: Trump’s baseless claims of rigged 2020 election persist

With the 2024 election drawing near, former President Donald Trump continues to baselessly – but repeatedly – claim the one four years earlier was rigged against him .

He even dropped this claim in a video shown during Wednesday’s Republican National Convention.

His campaign and the Republican National Committee led by his daughter-in-law have said they will mobilize 100,000 people in battleground states to ensure “transparency and fairness” in a move that has drawn criticism from opponents saying it has the potential to lead to voter intimidation .

State-level recounts, reviews and audits of the 2022 midterm elections found no indication of systemic problems with voter fraud. 

That’s significant because the baseless allegations from Trump and his allies have penetrated the Republican Party and eroded confidence in the process. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and other top Republicans have refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the election.

USA TODAY has debunked numerous false claims about the integrity of the elections:

• Fact check roundup: False claims about election fraud, candidates swirl amid 2022 midterms
• Claim: 105% of Michigan’s population is registered to vote (False)
• Claim: A software company's contract allows officials to override election results (False)
• Claim: Malware, remote access caused printer problems; 200,000 'ejected' ballots in Arizona (False)
• Claim: A chart shows election fraud in the Michigan AG’s race (False)
• Claim: Blackout in live stream in Nevada points to election theft (False)
• Claim: Fraud due to Texas voting machine adding voters as polls close (False)
• Claim: Photo showing ballots from 2022 midterms in the trash is evidence of fraud (False)
• Claim: Democrats used 47 million mail-in ballots to steal every election (False)
• Claim: Joe Biden did not legally win the presidential election (False)

Fact check : Facts about Trump assassination attempt: What's real, what's not and how we know

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here .

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta .

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Takeaways from J.D. Vance’s first date with America

Domenico Montanaro

J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, stands at a podium during a walkthrough for the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milkwaukee this week. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

For more updates from the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, head to the  NPR Network's live updates page .

MILWAUKEE — Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, has gained a reputation in Washington as one of Trump’s staunchest and hardest-charging defenders.

Look no further than in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump’s life Saturday. Vance quickly took to social media to lay the blame squarely on President Biden and called a top Democrat on Capitol Hill a “scumbag” for having introduced legislation some months ago to remove Secret Service protection from convicted felons.

J.D. Vance addresses the RNC, and America, with a focus on Rustbelt roots

The MAGA warrior, though, is not who America met Wednesday night when he took to the stage at the Republican National Convention for his keynote speech as Trump’s running mate. The Marine veteran, instead, showed a decidedly softer side.

Here are four takeaways from Vance’s speech and the rest of Night 3 in Milwaukee:

1. This was Vance’s first date with America.

When you first meet someone — go on a date, interview for a job — you’re trying to put the best, friendliest, most amenable version of you forward. No one wants to see flashes of anger, name-calling and the like.

That’s especially true when you’re running for vice president, and nearly half the country doesn’t have an opinion about you yet. An Economist/YouGov poll out this week found 48% haven’t formed an opinion on Vance — just 22% have a positive one, while 31% view him unfavorably.

Signs read "Make America Strong Again!" on the third night of the Republican National Convention. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

So in this speech, Vance stressed his more personal side — telling his kids to go to sleep, talking about his love for his mom and grandma. There were only a couple moments early on in his speech when he hinted at his outrage toward the left, saying that Trump had endured “abuse, slander and persecution,” that “lies” have been told about him and “then think of him with that fist raised,” and how the left has called him a “tyrant, who must be stopped at all costs” and yet, he “called for calm” and “national unity.”

In that speech, Vance didn’t make the hard pivot to blaming Democrats and the president. That side of Vance will surface again in this campaign, but it didn’t during his introduction to America. Instead, what the country saw was a smiling, relatively young man of 39 with a wife who loves him in awe of the moment — and clearly subordinate to the man at the top of the ticket.

2. This is still all about Donald Trump.

It was true coming into this convention and whoever the pick would be, but it’s perhaps even truer after this speech — perhaps at no time in history has a vice-presidential pick mattered less.

Sure, Trump being 78 could, in theory, raise the stakes for this kind of pick, and Trump selected someone literally half his age for the ticket. But this convention has been less the Republican National Convention than the Trump National Convention, and the attendees are here for one man and one man alone.

Vance made clear he has no intention of outshining Trump, the way Sarah Palin upstaged the late Sen. John McCain at the 2008 convention, for example. Her barnburner of a speech had people ripping the “McCain” off the McCain-Palin bumper stickers.

That’s not happening this time around — and that’s exactly how Trump wants it.

Former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

3. Vance’s speech was targeted at a general-election audience.

The strong subtext of this week’s Republican convention has been a blue-collar appeal – more in tone than in policy, however.

Vance leaned hard into that and his biography and his family roots in Appalachia. Before becoming a U.S. senator, he wrote a New York Times -best selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis . Vance even referred to himself on the stage Wednesday night as a “Hillbilly.”

Women headline a night at the RNC that framed Trump as compassionate, not combative

Wisconsin, the site of the RNC this year, is a swing state with a strong, blue-collar voter base. Vance is from a Midwestern state with a similar profile. Even though his home state of Ohio is not a swing state anymore, with its lurch toward the GOP, Trump is hoping Vance can appeal to voters in the so-called Blue Wall states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, which also have large white, working-class populations.

Vance hinted toward how important those states are early on in his speech when the Ohio delegation began cheering loudly for their state.

He cut them off and said, “We’ve got to chill with the Ohio love, we’ve got to win Michigan, too.”

4. Tone is one thing, but policy is another.

Vance said that the country needs a “leader who fights for the workers in this country,” that it needs someone to “fight for working men, union and non-union alike.” He added that under a Trump-Vance administration, they would no longer fight for Wall Street, but for the working man — even as Trump told Bloomberg News he would consider JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon his Treasury secretary.

Over the course of his presidency, Trump gained a reputation as having very anti-union policies . Vance, for his part, with his blue-collar roots, earned a 0% rating from the AFL-CIO in 2023.

With his choice of Vance as VP, Trump doubles down on his version of isolationism

And yet, the president of the Teamsters spoke at the RNC Tuesday night. He didn’t endorse, but his presence spoke volumes. It was a clear indication of the pressure he feels from some within his union. That has far more to do with culture than it does pro-union policies.

“To court workers is very different than being pro-labor,” Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told NPR’s Don Gonyea . “The rhetoric comes easy, and the rhetoric can sometimes be appealing. But when there's no follow-through, it's very damaging.”

At the heart of that cultural appeal is one policy area Republicans talked quite a bit about Wednesday: immigration and the fear of job losses because of it.

The hard line the party has on that issue is like the glue to its working-class appeal. That’s a similar story with right-wing populism across the globe.

Of course, the man who sets the tone — and policies — in this party is Trump, and everyone will finally hear from him Thursday night, his first major address since the shooting Saturday.

Watch CBS News

Trump shot at rally in failed assassination attempt. Here's what we know so far.

By Olivia Rinaldi , Scott MacFarlane , Jacob Rosen , Nicole Sganga

Updated on: July 16, 2024 / 4:45 PM EDT / CBS News

Former President Donald Trump was shot and injured in an assassination attempt on Saturday night that also killed a spectator and critically injured two others. Snipers killed the shooter, a 20-year-old man, after he fired eight rounds at the rally in Butler , Pennsylvania.

The former president could be seen touching his ear as the shooting unfolded  before he was shielded by Secret Service and whisked offstage — with blood on his face — and into an SUV to safety. Trump said in a social media post that a bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear.

"I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," he said. "Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening."

The Secret Service later said Trump was safe, and that he went to a local hospital and left hours later. 

The gunman was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper, authorities said. 

FBI officials said the shooter appeared to be a lone actor, and the incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt and as a potential case of domestic terrorism.

Who shot Donald Trump?

The FBI identified the shooter early Sunday as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The town in Allegheny County, just outside Pittsburgh, is home to about 30,000 people.

Law enforcement officials say he was armed with a semiautomatic AR-style rifle.  Law enforcement sources say  the gun was legally purchased in 2013 and registered to the shooter's father, Matthew Crooks. 

Crooks was a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School  School officials pledged to work with law enforcement investigating the shooting, and offered condolences to those affected by the attack.

Former classmate  Jameson Myers, a member of the school's varsity rifle team, told CBS News that Crooks had tried out for the team freshman year but did not make the junior varsity roster and did not return to try out for the team in subsequent years.  

He called Crooks a "nice kid who never talked poorly of anyone," adding, "I never have thought him capable of anything I've seen him do in the last few days."  

Another classmate, Jason Koehler, had a somewhat different view, telling KDKA's Megan Schiller that Crooks was a loner who was bullied for his appearance and wore camo/hunting outfits in class. He said Crooks would often sit in the cafeteria alone before class. He also said Crooks was very COVID-conscious and wore a surgical mask long after they were required. 

But Mark Sigafoos, who graduated with Crooks and had two classes with him senior year, said he never saw him bullied. He described Crooks as super smart and approachable, engaged in class and always volunteering answers. 

"This is one of the things that is being misconstrued — he was not some type of loner trenchcoat wearer. And I will say he was definitely nerdy, for sure, but he never gave off that he was creepy or like a school shooter," Sigafoos said. "He seemed like he wouldn't hurt a fly."

Crooks' political leanings were not immediately clear. He was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania but Federal Election Commission records show he previously made a $15 donation to a Democratic-aligned group.

There was no indication that Crooks had a connection to any military branch, officials confirmed to CBS News. 

Crooks had a membership at a nearby gun club for at least a year. Bill Sellitto, the president of the Clairton Sportsmen's Club in Clairton, Pennsylvania, told CBS News that Crooks was a member.

A law enforcement official said early Sunday that the Secret Service and the FBI are investigating the suspect's background and speaking with his family. The FBI has secured his home and federal law enforcement is searching his family's residence in suburban Pittsburgh, the law enforcement official said. His family is cooperating with investigators, an FBI official said.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News on Sunday that suspicious devices were found in the gunman's vehicle. The gunman also had with him a piece of commercially available equipment that appeared capable of initiating the devices. Bomb technicians called to the scene were involved in securing and investigating the devices.

Do we know the motive for the assassination attempt?

In a news conference late Saturday night, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh office, refused to speculate on a possible motive.

"Right now, we're tracking down all leads, and doing all interviews, and tracking anything that we can regarding suspicious locations, vehicles ... that's all related to this event, but I can't confirm or deny anything beyond that," Rojek said.  

A law enforcement official said no foreign terrorism ties were known and the suspect was not on the radar of law enforcement.

The FBI says investigators are combing through his social media postings and emails, but that so far they have found nothing to lead them to a motive. They said are not seeing anything threatening in his postings so far. 

Investigators also have accessed his cellphone, which was sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

The FBI is leading the investigation, with assistance from the Secret Service and state and local agencies. 

How is Trump now?

The Trump campaign said in a statement Saturday night that the former president was 'fine." He was taken to a local hospital and left a few hours later.

In a post on Truth Social Saturday night, Trump described his injuries: "I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

He thanked the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies for their rapid response, and extended condolences to the family of the man who was killed.

He posted on Truth Social early Sunday that Americans need to "remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness."

"In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win," Trump wrote. "I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin," where the Republican National Convention begins Monday.

Video  posted  by a Trump aide to social media early Sunday morning showed him walking down the steps of his plane unaided after landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.   

The following day, he made an appearance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, with his right ear bandaged, and was greeted with rousing cheers from the crowd.

Where was the Trump rally and how far away was the shooter?

The rally was in Butler, Pennsylvania, which is north of Pittsburgh and is the county seat of Butler County.

The gunman was on the roof of a building, outside the rally's security perimeter set up by the Secret Service, and opened fire from about 410 feet away from the stage where Trump was speaking, law enforcement sources said. 

Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that the shooter was spotted outside the security perimeter as people were filing into the rally, and he was reported by a bystander to the Butler County Sheriff's Office. He was identified as a suspicious person by police, the sources said. Multiple attendees also said they saw the gunman and alerted officers shortly before the shooting.

An armed municipal officer with Butler Township encountered the gunman before the shooting, Butler County Sheriff Michael Sloupe confirmed to CBS News. The officer and others had been previously alerted to a suspicious person and began searching for him right away, Sloupe told CBS Pittsburgh reporter Jen Borrasso.

At some point, the officer was hoisted by another officer onto the roof of the building where the shooter was in position. The shooter focused his rifle towards the officer, who let go and fell off the roof. Then the shooter began firing into the crowd, according to Sloupe.

The gunman fired 6 to 8 rounds using a semiautomatic AR-style rifle from his position approximately 400 feet from the podium, before he was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper team.

Rojek, with the FBI, called it "surprising" that the gunman was able to fire multiple shots. 

"It is incredibly difficult to have a venue open to the public, and to secure that against any possible threat, against a very determined attacker," Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said of the Secret Service. "That's a huge lift to try and do it." 

Who was the victim who was fatally shot?

The spectator who was killed has been identified as Corey Comperatore , a 50-year-old man who was shot while attempting to shield his family from the gunfire, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Sunday.

"Corey was the very best of us," Shapiro said. "Corey died a hero. Corey dove on his family to protect them last night. Corey was a 'girl dad.' Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community."

Pennsylvania State Rep. Marci Mustello called Comperatore "a devoted public servant, having served as the fire chief for Buffalo Township Fire Company, and he was a cherished member of our community in Butler County."

"His commitment to his wife and two daughters, and his unwavering dedication to his role as a fire chief exemplified his remarkable character," Mustello said. "My heart breaks for his loved ones during this incredibly difficult time, and I join the community in mourning his loss. A true American hero, Corey sacrificed his life to protect his family."

"May Corey Comperatore's memory be a blessing and a reminder of the selfless service he provided to us all."

The two spectators who were wounded have been identified as 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Both were listed in critical but stable condition Sunday.

What did Biden say about the shooting?

President Biden first responded to the shooting in a statement saying he was grateful to hear that Trump was safe and doing well. 

"Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety," he said. "There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."

He then addressed the nation  shortly after 8 p.m. ET Saturday, saying "there is no place for this kind of violence in America."

"It's sick. It's sick," Mr. Biden said. "It's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this."

On Sunday, Biden made  brief remarks  at the White House, saying he was "sincerely grateful" that Trump is doing well, adding that he spoke with the former president on Saturday night. He characterized the call as a "short, good" conversation.

The president has been getting briefed by top officials and said he has ordered an independent review of the security and events at the Pennsylvania rally to determine what went wrong. 

Mr. Biden also called for unity in the wake of the assassination attempt and denounced political violence.

"There's no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence for that matter," the president said. "An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. It's not who we are as a nation."

The president said unity is the "most elusive goal of all" and added that "nothing is more important than that right now. Unity."

A Biden campaign official said Saturday that the campaign was pausing all outbound communications and working to take down their television ads as quickly as possible.

–Robert Costa, Pat Milton, Andy Triay, Arden Farhi, Fin Gomez, Aaron Navarro, Sara Cook   and other CBS News staff contributed reporting.

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Reporting by Nathan Layne, Gabriella Borter and Soren Larson in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson, Sarah N. Lynch, Richard Cowan, Caitlin Webber, Nandita Bose, Ismail Shakil, Joseph Ax, Andrew Hay and Kanishka Singh; Writing by Frank McGurty, Scott Malone and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Howard Goller and Lincoln Feast.

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Thomson Reuters

Washington-based correspondent covering campaigns and Congress. Previously posted in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago, Chile, and has reported extensively throughout Latin America. Co-winner of the 2021 Reuters Journalist of the Year Award in the business coverage category for a series on corruption and fraud in the oil industry. He was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College.

Helen Coster is a U.S. Presidential Election Correspondent at Reuters, where she writes a mix of spot news, enterprise and analysis stories, with a focus on the Republican Party and conservative media. Prior to 2024 she covered the media industry for Reuters, and was also a Senior Editor on Reuters’ Commentary team. A graduate of Princeton University, she has reported from six countries, including Pakistan, India, and Greece.

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