How to Write Dissertation Appendices

What is an appendix?

An appendix is a section of the paper that is included at the end of a report or a dissertation. If there is more than one item being included in this section, the section plural is appendices.

Items that would usually be included as an appendix are relevant to the context of the study but may not be useful to have in the main body of the work. Each appendix should discuss a separate topic and should be listed separately.

When listing an appendix, it is common practice to list is as Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, etc. As each appendix will be evidence of a different topic or will be on a different topic, as with figures within the work, you will be required to title each individual appendix separately within the appendices section.

Make sure you refer to them in-text by the appropriate name. If you do not refer to your appendix in the main text, it does not need to be there!

Do I need an appendix?

Not every dissertation will require an appendix or appendices! It depends on the type of research you are doing, the subject you are studying and the requirements of your university.

What is included in an appendix?

Some examples of appendix items could include interview transcripts, full data sets (i.e., numerical data), a full breakdown of a company’s background or financial information, full PESTLE analysis, search strategy tables or an example of a survey or questionnaire, amongst many others.

Any work in the appendix does not usually count towards the overall word count of a piece of work. However, this rule is not the same with all universities and you must ensure that you check with your own university about their rules and regulations on appendices.

Even in the appendix, you must remember to reference! Ensure you include these references in your bibliography too.

Checklist for dissertation appendices

• Have I presented my appendices clearly?
• Have I labelled the appendices in order of appearance in the main body?
• Have I made certain that my appendix is suitably relevant to the text to be included?

For further help with writing your dissertation see our Dissertation Writing Service.