Basic Academic Research Structure and Format Guiding Principles for Students

Abstract

The main purpose of the guideline is to develop a basic academic research structure and format guiding principles for students with two specific objectives; to develop a coherent research structure and academic research format for the public universities in South Sudan. One hundred and seventeen dissertations were reviewed, and a total of 88 teaching staff were interviewed, giving 91% response rate. The dissertations were selected randomly, and teaching staff were selected purposively by virtue of their positions and availability. The validity and reliability of the instruments was ensured through pretesting, CVI, and triangulations. SPSS v22 was used to analyze data, both descriptive and thematic analysis were used. Permissions were sought from university administrations and one of the respondents before data collection. There is some significant variation on academic structure and format across the five universities in the republic of South Sudan. The research structural variations and inconsistencies were found in their contents and order of titles and subtitles of dissertations reviewed. In conclusion, this basic academic research guide is developed to set some standards and directions for students and their supervisors to complete the dissertation on time with less stress as it provides where to begin and the end. It will also enhance the objective grading of dissertations and evaluation levels of the university. The guideline will contribute to the development of consensus on academic research structure and format standards for students that will encourage young researchers to have an interest in research as a career.