Writing A Problem Statement

Do you think your dissertation problem statement has become a big problem for you?

Owing to the immense pressure of writing a thorough problem statement, students often fail to attain the required standards. Seldom does anyone achieve the milestone of writing the best problem statement.

For the solution of above problem of most of students; first, there should be a clear understanding of problem statement.

Problem Statement:

During a research, the researcher or the student, after selecting the topic, describes the scope of their work. It leads to the writing of problem statement. The problem statement in its nature is quite a thesis because it provides the impetus for any research. Without the writing a problem statement, the reader as well as researcher would fail to recognize the real purpose of the work.

HOW TO WRITE A PROBLEM STATEMENT – TIPS

Identifying a problem is equivalent to the half solution. But recognition of problem takes a complete examination of the overall situation. Likewise, in dissertation, problem statement is the main concern of the writer, for the statements clears the scope of the work. Unless the required statement is formed, the dissertation cannot proceed. Therefore, in order to write a comprehensive problem statement, it is necessary to follow the given steps.

Expressing the Exact Nature:

The problem statement must exactly express the nature of your dissertation. The focus of the statement must be centered on the core purpose of the dissertation. For example, if one is writing dissertation on global warming than one must make sure that the statement is as per the context of the dissertation.

Expressing the Way of Carrying the Dissertation:

The statement must give the complete understanding as to how one is going to conduct the research. It must be structured in a way that the reader understands the procedure of the research. For example, if a person is conducting a research on illiteracy than there should be clarity that the dissertation would be based on survey.

Giving the Hypothesis:

The statement must have a clear indication regarding your hypothesis that you are going to prove in your research. For example, if one wants to write a dissertation on the fallacy of the current economic system, one must give a hypothesis stating: is the economic system of the current time is an utter failure, leading the world to a great collapse?

Expressing the Kind of Research:

The statement must give the reader the clear picture regarding the type of research work that you are going to do. Is it an empirical research or is it a theoretical research? These questions must not come in the mind of a reader as it must be clear from the statement.

Giving a Tentative Idea Regarding the Duration of Research:

The statement must be a good indication of provisional or tentative duration of the research.

After reading the above components of the problem statement, one would be screeching one’s face as how it can be managed to put all the essentials in couple of sentences. It would be a great challenge to manage all these things in the statement. However, this all is important to do. Otherwise, the whole dissertation can lose its worth in the eyes of an examiner and turn to be untenable and shaky.

None the less, the following characteristics must be kept in mind while writing the problem statement.

• There should be clarity in the statement.
• The statement must focus on a particular point.
• The element of brevity has to be maintained in the statement.
• The appropriate details can be included in the statement.
• The style of writing should be as clear as possible and must hit the main purpose of the dissertation.

It is as important as the writing of rest of the dissertation. Hence all the attention should be paid to the process of writing a problem statement. The above mentioned characteristics and components – tips – should be incorporated in the problem statement to make sure that it is serving the purpose.