Chapterisation
Chapter -Eight
Syllabus topic 7, "Preparation of the Research Design"
Pages 496 to 498 of 543
In one line
Chapterisation is the plan of the dissertation chapter by chapter, and MU prints the skeleton it expects, with a different one for the interdisciplinary project.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: chapterisation is the seventh research design component required by the University of Mumbai and consists of the plan of the dissertation set out chapter by chapter with the content of each stated; the University prescribes a structure of seven chapters for the dissertation, beginning with an Introduction and ending with Conclusion and Suggestions, and a structure of seven chapters for the interdisciplinary project whose sixth chapter is Analysis of data with findings.
MU's two prescribed structures
For the dissertation.
Chapter I Introduction. Chapter II to Chapter VI, left to the student. Chapter VII Conclusion and Suggestions.
For the interdisciplinary project.
Chapter I Introduction. Chapter II to Chapter V, left to the student. Chapter VI Analysis of data with findings. Chapter VII Conclusion and Suggestions.
The difference is one chapter and it is instruction, chapter 910. The project has a prescribed chapter for the analysis of data with findings and the dissertation does not, which tells a student that MU expects the interdisciplinary project to be empirical.
And a dissertation that is empirical should have such a chapter too, even though MU does not prescribe it, because the findings must live somewhere.
Filling chapters II to VI
The rule. They follow the objectives, one for one where possible, chapter 1270.
A conventional filling for a mixed method dissertation.
Chapter II. The legal framework: what the law is, doctrinally established. This is objective one.
Chapter III. The literature and the context, if the review is given its own chapter, chapter 1290.
Chapter IV. The methodology, if it is given its own chapter, chapter 1310.
Chapter V. The empirical work and the data.
Chapter VI. Analysis of the data with findings, and the testing of the hypotheses, chapter 1160.
And chapter VII. Conclusion and Suggestions, chapter 1420.
A conventional filling for a doctrinal dissertation.
Chapter II. The historical development. Chapter III. The present statutory position. Chapter IV. The judicial interpretation. Chapter V. The comparative position. Chapter VI. Critical analysis and the testing of the doctrinal hypothesis, chapter 1180. Chapter VII. Conclusion and Suggestions.
What the chapterisation component actually says
Not just a list of chapter titles. For each chapter, a short paragraph saying what it contains and why it is there.
A specimen entry. Chapter II states the content of the duty to inform an accused of the right to free legal services, tracing it from Article 39A through the decisions in Hoskot, Hussainara Khatoon, Khatri and Suk Das, and establishing the stage at which the duty arises and the consequence of its breach. This chapter delivers objective 1 and supplies the legal standard against which the empirical findings in chapters V and VI are measured.
Chapterisation
Two sentences per chapter, and the reader can see the whole architecture.
Rules for good chapterisation
Each chapter does one thing. A chapter that contains the law, the literature and the method is three chapters.
The order is the argument. Each chapter should depend on the one before it, and a reader should be able to see why chapter IV could not have come before chapter III.
Roughly comparable length, with the exception that the introduction and the conclusion are shorter.
No chapter that answers to no objective, chapter 1270's reverse test.
Findings in one place. Scattering findings through several chapters is the commonest structural failure in empirical dissertations, because a reader cannot then find the answer.
And the last chapter is not a summary. It concludes and it recommends, chapter 1420.
Chapterisation and the marks
MU marks the content of the chapterisation, in those words, chapter 120.
Which means the structure itself is assessed, not only what is inside the chapters.
Three things follow. The chapterisation component must actually describe the chapters and not merely list them. The chapters must deliver what it says they will. And the numbering must match MU's prescribed skeleton, with Introduction as chapter I and Conclusion and Suggestions as chapter VII.
A dissertation with five chapters, or with conclusions at chapter VI, has departed from a printed requirement for no reason, which is an avoidable loss.
A worked example
The remand study's chapterisation, as it would appear in the design.
Chapter I, Introduction. The subject, the constitutional and statutory background, the statement of the problem, the significance and the plan of the study. Chapter 1260.
Chapter II, The duty to inform: the legal position. Article 39A and Article 21; the four decisions in sequence; the content of the duty, the stage at which it arises and the consequence of breach. Delivers objective 1 and supplies the standard for chapters V and VI.
Chapter III, The machinery of legal aid at the pre-trial stage. The Legal Services Authorities Act's provisions and the 2010 Regulations, so far as they bear on how a lawyer is in fact assigned once an accused asks. Establishes what would have to happen after the information is given.
Chapter IV, Review of literature and methodology. What has been written, the gap, and the method, sample, instrument and definitions. Chapters 1290 and 1310.
Chapter V, The observations. The data as collected, tabulated.
Chapter VI, Analysis and findings. The proportion; the comparison by size of sitting; the testing of H1 and H2; and the limitations restated.
Chapterisation
Chapter VII, Conclusion and Suggestions. What the study establishes, what it does not, and the measures recommended, addressed to the bodies that can adopt them. Chapter 1420.
Seven chapters, MU's numbering, each answering to an objective, and the findings in one place.
Quick revision
MU's seventh component, and it prints two skeletons: for the dissertation, chapter I Introduction and chapter VII Conclusion and Suggestions with II to VI free; for the interdisciplinary project, the same with chapter VI Analysis of data with findings prescribed.
That difference is instruction: MU expects the project to be empirical.
Fill II to VI from the objectives, one for one where possible.
The component itself gives a short paragraph per chapter saying what it contains and why, not a list of titles.
Rules: one thing per chapter; the order is the argument; comparable lengths; no chapter answering to no objective; findings in one place; and the last chapter concludes and recommends rather than summarising.
MU marks the content of the chapterisation, so the structure is itself assessed and the numbering should follow the printed skeleton.
Test yourself
1. Set out MU's two prescribed chapter structures and say what the difference tells a student. For the dissertation: chapter I Introduction, chapters II to VI at the student's choice, and chapter VII Conclusion and Suggestions. For the interdisciplinary project: the same, except that chapter VI is prescribed as Analysis of data with findings. The difference tells a student that MU expects the interdisciplinary project to be empirical, since a chapter devoted to analysing data presupposes that data was collected.
2. What should the chapterisation component contain, as opposed to a list of chapter titles? A short paragraph for each chapter saying what it contains, why it is there, and which objective it delivers, so that a reader can see the whole architecture of the argument in two sentences per chapter.
3. Give four rules of good chapterisation. Each chapter does one thing; the order of the chapters is the order of the argument, so each depends on the one before; no chapter answers to no objective; and the findings appear in one place rather than being scattered, since a reader must be able to find the answer.
4. Why does the numbering matter? Because MU marks the content of the chapterisation and prints a skeleton with the Introduction as chapter I and Conclusion and Suggestions as chapter VII. A dissertation with a different number of chapters, or with its conclusions elsewhere, has departed from a printed requirement without reason.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.