How To Write Up Your Geography Dissertation

This step-by-step guide to the writing journey of a geography dissertation provides guidance and reassurance on the foundational aspects of the dissertation. This guide will also support students in focussing their time and energy on the substantive components and concerns of their individual work.

It is no surprise that the dissertation is often a cause of stress and anxiety for students. Much of this is linked to students’ struggles around questions and concerns about how to structure the work, what content should go in which chapter, the purpose, structure, and content of each chapter, how to meet the word limit, and other similar considerations. This text addresses in detail these common areas of concern, covering not only guidance on how to develop a writing strategy that suits the individual but also guidance on writing style to help students convey their breadth and depth of knowledge within the word limit of a dissertation, as well as providing a chapter-by-chapter guidance on purpose and content.

Written in a clear, accessible, and engaging style, this detailed guide will empower students to understand and deliver a successful dissertation. An invaluable resource for undergraduates, it will also reduce the burden on supervisors from commonly asked questions. In addition, the author presents advice on meeting the expectations of markers and how to use the dissertation in the job market.

Daniel Hammett is a senior lecturer in the School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield, UK, and a senior research associate in the Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He has over 20 years of national and international field research and field class teaching experience across numerous national contexts. His research focusses on questions of citizenship, nationalism, and geopolitics, and his research has been published in journals including Progress in Human Geography, Political Geography, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geography, as well as recent books with Routledge (Global Development: The Basics) and Bristol University Press (Humour and Politics in Africa: Beyond Resistance – with Laura S. Martin and Izuu Nwankwọ).