Here are the answers to common questions about dissertations and Honours projects.
If your question isn't answered here, check the other pages within this guide - there's lots of useful information on identifying sources, planning your search and managing the information you find.
If you have any more questions, contact us using the 'How we can help' page of this guide.
The Library holds a small selection of digitised dissertations which are available to view online (you may need to log in to GCULearn). Previous examples may also be available by contacting your department directly.
For help around format, structure and layout we recommend contacting the Learning Development Centre (LDC) within your School. They can also help with skills related to academic writing and critical analysis/thinking.
Books on undertaking and writing a dissertation/honours project are located on Level 2.
You can find books on undertaking a literature review on Level 4.
The Academic Librarians have created a Dissertation and Honours Project resource list.
If you are trying to define a research question for a dissertation or research project, using a framework can be a useful approach.
Research question frameworks can be used to help frame a question and plan for empirical research or structured literature review. They are widely used in the field of health to investigate practice-based questions but they are also useful in other fields of research such as social sciences.
You do not have to use a research question framework - it is just an option available to you. Visit our guide below for examples of research question frameworks.
Subject databases allow you to carry out a strategic search for journal articles. You can search using a combination of search terms, filter and narrow results (by date or subject area for example) and save your searches. There is some overlap between the databases but every database also has unique content.
Visit the 'Using databases' section of this guide to find relevant databases for your topic.
Not all databases will host the full text of the article you need. Here are some tips to help you locate the the fulltext article
Watch our short video for more help.
This video demonstrates how to find and access the full text of journal articles.
You can request a journal article or a book not available in our Library stock via our Inter-library loan (ILL) service. View our Inter-library loan webpages using the link below for more details on how to submit a request and contact details for ILL team.
Journal articles, conference papers and book chapters are supplied electronically where possible but some processing time is required for ILL requests so we recommend factoring this in to your time management for your assignment/dissertation or honours project.
Help and support on the ILL process including frequently asked questions are also available on our ILL webpages.
It is essential to document your search process. You should keep a record of where you've searched and what terms you have used.
You might also want to save results, especially articles or items which you intend to include in your literature review and to aid your referencing.
Databases provide the option to create a personal account. These require you to either sign in, create or register an account. These details may differ from your usual GCU username and password and will be unique to you.
Personal accounts provide access to more functionality: ability to create alerts, save searches and save individual or batches of results.
Results can also be exported from a database to reference management software such as RefWorks. These tools help you to create reference lists or manage duplicate results.
Find out more about using RefWorks, including our help video to get started.
Different sources will be relevant to help you research your chosen topic or area of interest. Archival material may be useful for certain topics.
GCU's Archive Centre may have material relevant to your topic - contact the Archive Centre team for advice.
There are other archives and special collections which you can visit, including:
Some archival material is also freely available online.
If you need advice identifying collections outside of GCU, contact us using the 'How we can help' page of this guide.
Need more help or have a question? Drop in to our dissertation clinics to get help with literature searching and reference management for your dissertation, honours project or proposal.
Find out more details or view other workshops available. There are options to attend on campus or online.