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Dissertation

What Is a Dissertation? | Guide, Examples, & Template

A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program.

Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you’ve ever completed. It requires solid research, writing, and analysis skills, and it can be intimidating to know where to begin.

Your department likely has guidelines related to how your dissertation should be structured. When in doubt, consult with your supervisor.

You can also download our full dissertation template in the format of your choice below. The template includes a ready-made table of contents with notes on what to include in each chapter, easily adaptable to your department’s requirements.

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In the US, a dissertation generally refers to the collection of research you conducted to obtain a PhD.
In other countries (such as the UK), a dissertation often refers to the research you conduct to obtain your bachelor’s or master’s degree.

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Dissertation committee and prospectus process, how to write and structure a dissertation, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your dissertation, free checklist and lecture slides.

When you’ve finished your coursework, as well as any comprehensive exams or other requirements, you advance to “ABD” (All But Dissertation) status. This means you’ve completed everything except your dissertation.

Prior to starting to write, you must form your committee and write your prospectus or proposal . Your committee comprises your adviser and a few other faculty members. They can be from your own department, or, if your work is more interdisciplinary, from other departments. Your committee will guide you through the dissertation process, and ultimately decide whether you pass your dissertation defense and receive your PhD.

Your prospectus is a formal document presented to your committee, usually orally in a defense, outlining your research aims and objectives and showing why your topic is relevant . After passing your prospectus defense, you’re ready to start your research and writing.

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The structure of your dissertation depends on a variety of factors, such as your discipline, topic, and approach. Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies.

However, hard science and social science dissertations typically include a review of existing works, a methodology section, an analysis of your original research, and a presentation of your results , presented in different chapters.

Dissertation examples

We’ve compiled a list of dissertation examples to help you get started.

Example dissertation #1: Heat, Wildfire and Energy Demand: An Examination of Residential Buildings and Community Equity (a dissertation by C. A. Antonopoulos about the impact of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings and occupant exposure risks).
Example dissertation #2: Exploring Income Volatility and Financial Health Among Middle-Income Households (a dissertation by M. Addo about income volatility and declining economic security among middle-income households).
Example dissertation #3: The Use of Mindfulness Meditation to Increase the Efficacy of Mirror Visual Feedback for Reducing Phantom Limb Pain in Amputees (a dissertation by N. S. Mills about the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on the relationship between mirror visual feedback and the pain level in amputees with phantom limb pain).

The very first page of your document contains your dissertation title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. Sometimes it also includes your student number, your supervisor’s name, and the university’s logo.

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The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150 to 300 words long. Though this may seem very short, it’s one of the most important parts of your dissertation, because it introduces your work to your audience.

Your abstract should:

State your main topic and the aims of your research
Describe your methods
Summarize your main results
State your conclusions

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework. Here, you define and analyze the key theories, concepts, and models that frame your research.

Checklist: Dissertation

My title page includes all information required by my university.

I have included acknowledgements thanking those who helped me.

My abstract provides a concise summary of the dissertation, giving the reader a clear idea of my key results or arguments.

I have created a table of contents to help the reader navigate my dissertation. It includes all chapter titles, but excludes the title page, acknowledgements, and abstract.

My introduction leads into my topic in an engaging way and shows the relevance of my research.

My introduction clearly defines the focus of my research, stating my research questions and research objectives .

My introduction includes an overview of the dissertation’s structure (reading guide).

I have conducted a literature review in which I (1) critically engage with sources, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, (2) discuss patterns, themes, and debates in the literature, and (3) address a gap or show how my research contributes to existing research.

I have clearly outlined the theoretical framework of my research, explaining the theories and models that support my approach.

I have thoroughly described my methodology , explaining how I collected data and analyzed data.

I have concisely and objectively reported all relevant results .

I have (1) evaluated and interpreted the meaning of the results and (2) acknowledged any important limitations of the results in my discussion .

I have clearly stated the answer to my main research question in the conclusion .

I have clearly explained the implications of my conclusion, emphasizing what new insight my research has contributed.

I have provided relevant recommendations for further research or practice.

If relevant, I have included appendices with supplemental information.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

I have listed every source in a reference list at the end of my dissertation.

I have consistently followed the rules of my chosen citation style .

I have followed all formatting guidelines provided by my university.

Congratulations!

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If you’re an educator, feel free to download and adapt these slides to teach your students about structuring a dissertation.

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Notes From a Writer's Desk: Demystifying the Dissertation Finish Line

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As a doctoral candidate in your final year, you’re likely juggling various responsibilities—finishing the dissertation, navigating the job market, completing lab work, possibly teaching, and trying to maintain some semblance of a personal life. In these last few months of the dissertation process, the journey can range from feeling like a well-oiled machine to experiencing well-ordered chaos. Amidst this whirlwind, it is crucial to establish clear expectations with your committee and prioritize tasks to ensure success on the road to graduation. As you try to manage your academic and personal obligations, a primary step is to plot out your remaining time and strategize how to allocate that time effectively. Consider breaking down your time into reasonable chunks, dedicating specific periods to producing the final draft(s) and making revisions, preparing for the defense, and formatting your dissertation document for submission.

Final draft(s) and revisions

Take inventory of the revisions you still need to make for your dissertation. Prioritize tasks based on their importance and feasibility within your timeline. For example, you may need to incorporate additional critical literature into various chapters, clean up citations and your bibliography, build in transitions that move between chapters, alter the structure of a couple of sections within a chapter, and/or hone the framing of your goals and argument(s) in your introduction. Set aside specific time for each of these revisions, thinking about which ones will require the most attention and which you can accomplish when you are less focused. Furthermore, seek out feedback from your advisor and committee members to ensure that your work meets the prescribed standards. Remember that maintaining clear communication with your advisor is essential for a smoother final stretch, especially if you find yourself needing to make compromises in order to meet deadlines.

Preparing for the defense

Depending on your department’s requirements, the dissertation defense may take various forms. Many defenses will be public presentations, in which the candidate is given the chance to present their research to an audience of peers, members of the faculty, and their committee. Others might be a private final conversation with your committee. Reach out to the committee and to your department administrator to make sure that you are all on the same page. But no matter what kind of defense you have, preparation is key. Practice your presentation (perhaps with us at the FWC!), anticipate potential questions, identify areas you hope to improve upon or develop further in future iterations of the project, and ensure that you are well-versed in discussing and defending your research. Finally, make sure to schedule your defense with ample time before the submission deadline—ideally two or three weeks—to allow you to address any late-stage revisions, including crucial questions that might be brought up at the defense itself.

Submission process

Staggering the defense and submission dates will also provide sufficient time to format your dissertation according to the registrar’s guidelines . Familiarizing yourself with the formatting requirements early on in the process will help minimize stress during the brief post-defense period. Pay close attention to the guidelines regarding the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC) and the document’s front matter, including the title page, copyright page, abstract, table of contents, acknowledgements, and any lists of illustrations or figures you may require. Strive to submit your dissertation earlier than the deadline just in case you need to make minor adjustments based on feedback from the registrar.

Long-term considerations

Remember to think carefully about your long-term plans for the material in your dissertation. Are you planning to revise the entire dissertation for publication as a monograph? Or are you going to publish elements of it in a series of articles? Should you embargo your work, and if so, for how long? This should also prompt some reflection on how your dissertation will fit into your broader academic and professional goals.

As you approach the dissertation finish line, remember that it is not just about reaching the end and checking that last box. It should be a celebration of your academic journey and the achievements you have amassed along the way. By formulating a well-structured plan, you can navigate these last few months with confidence and alleviate at least some of the stresses of the home stretch. And trust me, once you hit the submit button and get that final confirmation email—after, of course, the inevitable email asking you to fix a formatting issue—you will feel an immense weight lifted from your shoulders.

Ready to book an appointment with FWC staff? Access the FWC intake form .

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How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
Find a unique and valuable research topic
Craft a convincing research proposal
Write up a strong introduction chapter
Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
Present the findings of your research
Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

A dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research, reflecting the standard four step academic research process.

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

A dissertation is not an opinion piece, nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position.

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

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Attribute #2: Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

The introduction chapter is where you set the scene for your research, detailing exactly what you’ll be researching and why it’s important.

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

The research philosophy is at the core of the methodology chapter

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

Your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions. It needs to answer the key questions you asked in your introduction.

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

In the final chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and the implications thereof.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
Find a unique (original) and important research topic
Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
Undertake your own research
Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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20 Tips to Help You Finish Your Dissertation

I haven’t met many Ph.D. students who don’t like to write. Some may like writing more than others, but most enjoy writing—or, at least, the satisfaction of having written. Wherever you find yourself on the love-for-writing spectrum, a dissertation awaits completion, and you must finish. Here are a few tips to help you.

1. Write sooner. The dissertation writing process can quickly become paralyzing because of its size and importance. It is a project that will be reviewed rigorously by your advisor and your committee, and your graduation depends on your successful completion and defense. Facing these realities can be daunting and tempt you to wait until you can determine that you’ve researched or thought enough about the topic. Yet, the longer you delay writing, the more difficult it will be to actually start the process. The answer to your paralysis is to start writing . Are you unsure of your argument or not fully convinced you have done the requisite research? You may be right: your argument may not be airtight, and you may need to do more reading; but you will be able to determine to what degree these problems need attention when you start writing. Productivity begets productivity, and you will be amazed at how arguments take shape and the direction of your research is forged as you write.

2. Write continually. So, don’t stop writing. Of course, you need to continue to read and study and take notes—I will talk about this more in a moment—but it is best if you keep the gears from grinding to a halt. Keep your mind working and your project moving. Your assignment is not to turn in a hundred pages of notes to your supervisor—you must produce a dissertation with complete sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Keep writing.

3. Write in order to rewrite. Writing sooner and writing continually can only happen if you aren’t consumed with perfection. Some of us are discouraged from writing because we think our first draft needs to be our final draft. But this is exactly the problem. Get your thoughts on paper and plan to go back and fix awkward sentences, poor word choices, and illogical or unsubstantiated arguments in your subsequent drafts. Knowing that rewriting is part of the writing process will free you to write persistently, make progress, and look forward to fixing things later.

4. Spend adequate time determining your thesis and methodology. This probably could fit in the number one slot, but I wanted to emphasize the importance writing right away. Besides, you might find that you modify your thesis and methodology slightly as you write and make progress in developing your overall argument. Nevertheless, the adage is true: form a solid thesis and methodology statement and your dissertation will “write itself.” Plan to spend some time writing and rewriting and rewriting (again) your thesis and methodology statements so that you will know where you are going and where you need to go.

5. If you get stuck, move to another section. Developing a clear thesis and methodology will allow you to move around in your dissertation when you get stuck. Granted, we should not make a habit of avoiding difficult tasks, but there are times when it will be a more effective use of time to move to sections that will write easy. As you continue to make progress in your project and get words on paper, you will also help mitigate the panic that so often looms over your project when you get stuck and your writing ceases.

6. Fight the urge to walk away from writing when it gets difficult. Having encouraged you to move to another section when you get stuck, it is also important to add a balancing comment to encourage you to fight through the tough spots in your project. I don’t mean that you should force writing when it is clear that you may need to make some structural changes or do a little more research on a given topic. But if you find yourself dreading a particular portion of your dissertation because it will require some mind-numbing, head-on-your-desk, prayer-producing rigor, then my advice is to face these tough sections head on and sit in your chair until you make some progress. You will be amazed at how momentum will grow out of your dogged persistence to hammer out these difficult portions of your project.

7. Strive for excellence but remember that this is not your magnum opus. A dissertation needs to be of publishable quality and it will need to past the muster of your supervisor and committee. But it is also a graduation requirement. Do the research. Make a contribution. Finish the project. And plan to write your five-volume theology when you have 30-40 more years of study, reflection, and teaching under your belt.

8. Take careful notes. Taking careful notes is essential for two reasons. First, keeping a meticulous record of the knowledge you glean from your research will save you time: there will be no need to later revisit your resources and chase bibliographic information, and you will find yourself less prone to the dreaded, “Where did I read that?” Second, and most importantly, you will avoid plagiarism. If you fail to take good notes and are not careful to accurately copy direct quotes and make proper citations, you will be liable to reproducing material in your dissertation that is not original with you. Pleading that your plagiarism was inadvertent will not help your cause. It is your responsibility to take careful notes and attribute all credit to whom it is due through proper citation.

9. Know when to read. Write sooner, write continually, and write in order to rewrite. But you need to know when you are churning an empty barrel. Reading and research should be a stimulus to write and you need to know when that stimulus is needed. Be willing to stop writing for a short period so that you can refresh your mind with new ideas and research.

10. Establish chunks of time to research and write. While it is important to keep writing and make the most of the time that you have, it is best for writing projects specifically to set aside large portions of time with which to write. Writing requires momentum, and momentum gathers over time. Personally, I have found that I need at least an hour to get things rolling, and that three to four hours is ideal.

11. Get exercise, adequate sleep, and eat well. Because our minds and bodies are meant to function in harmony, you will probably find that your productivity suffers to the degree that you are not giving attention to your exercise, sleep, and eating habits. Like it or not, our ability to maintain long periods of sustained concentration, think carefully over our subject matter, and find motivation to complete tasks is dependent in a significant sense upon how we are caring for our bodies. When we neglect exercise, fail to get adequate sleep, or constantly indulge in an unhealthy diet, we will find it increasingly difficult to muster the energy and clarity with which to complete our dissertation.

12. Stay on task. Completing a dissertation, in large measure, is not so much a feat of the intellect as it is the result of discipline. If you are able to set aside large chunks of time with which to research and write, make sure that you are not using that time for other tasks. This means that you must strive against multi-tasking. In truth, studies have shown that multi-tasking is a cognitive impossibility. Our brains can only concentrate on one thing at a time. When we think we are multitasking we are actually “switch-tasking;” rather than doing several things at once, our brains are constantly toggling from one task to the other (listening to a song on the radio to reading a book, back to the song, etc.). You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish if you give an undistracted 60-90 minutes to something. Stay on task.

13. Don’t get stuck on introductions. This is a basic writing principle, but one that bears repeating here: write the body of a given chapter or section and then return to the introductions. It is usually easier to introduce something that you have already written for the simple fact that you now know what you are introducing. You might be tempted to write the introduction first and labor to capture your reader with a gripping illustration or perfect quote while refusing to enter into the body of your paper until your preliminary remarks are flawless. This is a sure recipe for frustration. Wait until you have completed a particular section or chapter’s content until you write introductions. This practice will save you time and loads of trouble.

14. Use a legal pad. There’s nothing magic about a legal pad; my only aim here is to encourage you to push back from the keyboard occasionally and stimulate your mind by sketching your argument and writing your ideas by hand. I have found my way out of many dry spells by closing the laptop for a few minutes and writing on a piece of paper. I might bullet point a few key ideas, diagram my chapter outlines, or sketch the entire dissertation with boxes and arrows and notes scribbled over several pages.

15. Go on walks. It has been said recently that walking promotes creativity. I agree. Whether you like to walk among the trees or besides the small coffee shops along quaint side streets, I recommend that you go on walks and think specifically about your dissertation. You might find that the change of scenery, the stimulus of a bustling community, or the refreshing quiet of a park trail is just the help you need.

16. Make use of a capture journal. In order to make the most of your walks, you will need a place to “capture” your ideas. You may prefer to use the voice memo or notepad feature on your smartphone, or, if you’re like me, a small 2.5”x4” lined journal. Whatever your preference, find a method that allows you to store your ideas as they come to you during your walks or as you fall to sleep at night. I wonder how many useful ideas many of us have lost because we failed to write them down? Don’t let this happen to you. Resolve to be a good steward of your thinking time and seize those thoughts.

17. Talk about your ideas with others. When you are writing your dissertation, you might be tempted to lock away your ideas and avoid discussing them with others. This is unwise. Talking with others about your ideas helps you to refine and stimulate your thinking; it also creates opportunities for you to learn of important resources and how your contribution will affect other branches of scholarship. Also, as people ask questions about your project, you will begin to see where your argument is unclear or unsubstantiated.

18. Learn how to read. Writing a dissertation requires a massive amount of reading. You must become familiar with the arguments of several hundred resources—books, articles, reviews, and other dissertations. What will you do? You must learn how to read. Effective reading does not require that you read every book word-for-word, cover-to-cover. Indeed, sometimes very close reading of a given volume may actually impede your understanding of the author’s argument. In order to save time and cultivate a more effective approach to knowledge acquisition, you must learn how to use your resources. This means knowing when to read a book or article closely, and knowing when to skim. It means knowing how to read large books within a matter of an hour by carefully reviewing the table of contents, reading and rereading key chapters and paragraphs, and using the subject index. If you want to finish your dissertation, learn how to read.

19. Set deadlines. Depending on your project, you may have built in deadlines that force you to produce material at a steady clip. If you do not have built in deadlines, you must impose them on yourself. Deadlines produce results, and results lead to completed writing projects. Set realistic deadlines and stick to them. You will find that you are able to accomplish much more than you anticipated if you set and stick to deadlines.

20. Take productive breaks. Instead of turning to aimless entertainment to fill your break times, try doing something that will indirectly serve your writing process. We need breaks: they refresh us and help us stay on task. In fact, studies have shown that overall productivity diminishes if employees are not allowed to take regular, brief pauses from their work during the day. What is not often mentioned, however, is that a break does not necessarily have to be unrelated to our work in order to be refreshing; it needs only to be different from what we were just doing. So, for example, if you have been writing for 90 minutes, instead of turning on YouTube to watch another mountain biking video, you could get up, stretch, and pull that book off the shelf you’ve been wanting to read, or that article that has been sitting in Pocket for the past six weeks. Maybe reorganizing your desk or taking a walk (see above) around the library with your capture journal would be helpful. Whatever you choose, try to make your breaks productive.

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dissertation Strategies

What this handout is about.

This handout suggests strategies for developing healthy writing habits during your dissertation journey. These habits can help you maintain your writing momentum, overcome anxiety and procrastination, and foster wellbeing during one of the most challenging times in graduate school.

Tackling a giant project

Because dissertations are, of course, big projects, it’s no surprise that planning, writing, and revising one can pose some challenges! It can help to think of your dissertation as an expanded version of a long essay: at the end of the day, it is simply another piece of writing. You’ve written your way this far into your degree, so you’ve got the skills! You’ll develop a great deal of expertise on your topic, but you may still be a novice with this genre and writing at this length. Remember to give yourself some grace throughout the project. As you begin, it’s helpful to consider two overarching strategies throughout the process.

First, take stock of how you learn and your own writing processes. What strategies have worked and have not worked for you? Why? What kind of learner and writer are you? Capitalize on what’s working and experiment with new strategies when something’s not working. Keep in mind that trying out new strategies can take some trial-and-error, and it’s okay if a new strategy that you try doesn’t work for you. Consider why it may not have been the best for you, and use that reflection to consider other strategies that might be helpful to you.

Second, break the project into manageable chunks. At every stage of the process, try to identify specific tasks, set small, feasible goals, and have clear, concrete strategies for achieving each goal. Small victories can help you establish and maintain the momentum you need to keep yourself going.

Below, we discuss some possible strategies to keep you moving forward in the dissertation process.

Pre-dissertation planning strategies

Get familiar with the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Resources .

Create a template that’s properly formatted. The Grad School offers workshops on formatting in Word for PC and formatting in Word for Mac . There are online templates for LaTeX users, but if you use a template, save your work where you can recover it if the template has corrruption issues.

Learn how to use a citation-manager and a synthesis matrix to keep track of all of your source information.

Skim other dissertations from your department, program, and advisor. Enlist the help of a librarian or ask your advisor for a list of recent graduates whose work you can look up. Seeing what other people have done to earn their PhD can make the project much less abstract and daunting. A concrete sense of expectations will help you envision and plan. When you know what you’ll be doing, try to find a dissertation from your department that is similar enough that you can use it as a reference model when you run into concerns about formatting, structure, level of detail, etc.

Think carefully about your committee . Ideally, you’ll be able to select a group of people who work well with you and with each other. Consult with your advisor about who might be good collaborators for your project and who might not be the best fit. Consider what classes you’ve taken and how you “vibe” with those professors or those you’ve met outside of class. Try to learn what you can about how they’ve worked with other students. Ask about feedback style, turnaround time, level of involvement, etc., and imagine how that would work for you.

Sketch out a sensible drafting order for your project. Be open to writing chapters in “the wrong order” if it makes sense to start somewhere other than the beginning. You could begin with the section that seems easiest for you to write to gain momentum.

Design a productivity alliance with your advisor . Talk with them about potential projects and a reasonable timeline. Discuss how you’ll work together to keep your work moving forward. You might discuss having a standing meeting to discuss ideas or drafts or issues (bi-weekly? monthly?), your advisor’s preferences for drafts (rough? polished?), your preferences for what you’d like feedback on (early or late drafts?), reasonable turnaround time for feedback (a week? two?), and anything else you can think of to enter the collaboration mindfully.

Design a productivity alliance with your colleagues . Dissertation writing can be lonely, but writing with friends, meeting for updates over your beverage of choice, and scheduling non-working social times can help you maintain healthy energy. See our tips on accountability strategies for ideas to support each other.

Productivity strategies

Write when you’re most productive. When do you have the most energy? Focus? Creativity? When are you most able to concentrate, either because of your body rhythms or because there are fewer demands on your time? Once you determine the hours that are most productive for you (you may need to experiment at first), try to schedule those hours for dissertation work. See the collection of time management tools and planning calendars on the Learning Center’s Tips & Tools page to help you think through the possibilities. If at all possible, plan your work schedule, errands and chores so that you reserve your productive hours for the dissertation.

Put your writing time firmly on your calendar . Guard your writing time diligently. You’ll probably be invited to do other things during your productive writing times, but do your absolute best to say no and to offer alternatives. No one would hold it against you if you said no because you’re teaching a class at that time—and you wouldn’t feel guilty about saying no. Cultivating the same hard, guilt-free boundaries around your writing time will allow you preserve the time you need to get this thing done!

Develop habits that foster balance . You’ll have to work very hard to get this dissertation finished, but you can do that without sacrificing your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Think about how you can structure your work hours most efficiently so that you have time for a healthy non-work life. It can be something as small as limiting the time you spend chatting with fellow students to a few minutes instead of treating the office or lab as a space for extensive socializing. Also see above for protecting your time.

Write in spaces where you can be productive. Figure out where you work well and plan to be there during your dissertation work hours. Do you get more done on campus or at home? Do you prefer quiet and solitude, like in a library carrel? Do you prefer the buzz of background noise, like in a coffee shop? Are you aware of the UNC Libraries’ list of places to study ? If you get “stuck,” don’t be afraid to try a change of scenery. The variety may be just enough to get your brain going again.

Work where you feel comfortable . Wherever you work, make sure you have whatever lighting, furniture, and accessories you need to keep your posture and health in good order. The University Health and Safety office offers guidelines for healthy computer work . You’re more likely to spend time working in a space that doesn’t physically hurt you. Also consider how you could make your work space as inviting as possible. Some people find that it helps to have pictures of family and friends on their desk—sort of a silent “cheering section.” Some people work well with neutral colors around them, and others prefer bright colors that perk up the space. Some people like to put inspirational quotations in their workspace or encouraging notes from friends and family. You might try reconfiguring your work space to find a décor that helps you be productive.

Elicit helpful feedback from various people at various stages . You might be tempted to keep your writing to yourself until you think it’s brilliant, but you can lower the stakes tremendously if you make eliciting feedback a regular part of your writing process. Your friends can feel like a safer audience for ideas or drafts in their early stages. Someone outside your department may provide interesting perspectives from their discipline that spark your own thinking. See this handout on getting feedback for productive moments for feedback, the value of different kinds of feedback providers, and strategies for eliciting what’s most helpful to you. Make this a recurring part of your writing process. Schedule it to help you hit deadlines.

Change the writing task . When you don’t feel like writing, you can do something different or you can do something differently. Make a list of all the little things you need to do for a given section of the dissertation, no matter how small. Choose a task based on your energy level. Work on Grad School requirements: reformat margins, work on bibliography, and all that. Work on your acknowledgements. Remember all the people who have helped you and the great ideas they’ve helped you develop. You may feel more like working afterward. Write a part of your dissertation as a letter or email to a good friend who would care. Sometimes setting aside the academic prose and just writing it to a buddy can be liberating and help you get the ideas out there. You can make it sound smart later. Free-write about why you’re stuck, and perhaps even about how sick and tired you are of your dissertation/advisor/committee/etc. Venting can sometimes get you past the emotions of writer’s block and move you toward creative solutions. Open a separate document and write your thoughts on various things you’ve read. These may or may note be coherent, connected ideas, and they may or may not make it into your dissertation. They’re just notes that allow you to think things through and/or note what you want to revisit later, so it’s perfectly fine to have mistakes, weird organization, etc. Just let your mind wander on paper.

Develop habits that foster productivity and may help you develop a productive writing model for post-dissertation writing . Since dissertations are very long projects, cultivating habits that will help support your work is important. You might check out Helen Sword’s work on behavioral, artisanal, social, and emotional habits to help you get a sense of where you are in your current habits. You might try developing “rituals” of work that could help you get more done. Lighting incense, brewing a pot of a particular kind of tea, pulling out a favorite pen, and other ritualistic behaviors can signal your brain that “it is time to get down to business.” You can critically think about your work methods—not only about what you like to do, but also what actually helps you be productive. You may LOVE to listen to your favorite band while you write, for example, but if you wind up playing air guitar half the time instead of writing, it isn’t a habit worth keeping.

The point is, figure out what works for you and try to do it consistently. Your productive habits will reinforce themselves over time. If you find yourself in a situation, however, that doesn’t match your preferences, don’t let it stop you from working on your dissertation. Try to be flexible and open to experimenting. You might find some new favorites!

Motivational strategies

Schedule a regular activity with other people that involves your dissertation. Set up a coworking date with your accountability buddies so you can sit and write together. Organize a chapter swap. Make regular appointments with your advisor. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that you’ll feel good about showing up for–and will make you feel good about showing up for others.

Try writing in sprints . Many writers have discovered that the “Pomodoro technique” (writing for 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break) boosts their productivity by helping them set small writing goals, focus intently for short periods, and give their brains frequent rests. See how one dissertation writer describes it in this blog post on the Pomodoro technique .

Quit while you’re ahead . Sometimes it helps to stop for the day when you’re on a roll. If you’ve got a great idea that you’re developing and you know where you want to go next, write “Next, I want to introduce x, y, and z and explain how they’re related—they all have the same characteristics of 1 and 2, and that clinches my theory of Q.” Then save the file and turn off the computer, or put down the notepad. When you come back tomorrow, you will already know what to say next–and all that will be left is to say it. Hopefully, the momentum will carry you forward.

Write your dissertation in single-space . When you need a boost, double space it and be impressed with how many pages you’ve written.

Set feasible goals–and celebrate the achievements! Setting and achieving smaller, more reasonable goals ( SMART goals ) gives you success, and that success can motivate you to focus on the next small step…and the next one.

Give yourself rewards along the way . When you meet a writing goal, reward yourself with something you normally wouldn’t have or do–this can be anything that will make you feel good about your accomplishment.

Make the act of writing be its own reward . For example, if you love a particular coffee drink from your favorite shop, save it as a special drink to enjoy during your writing time.

Try giving yourself “pre-wards” —positive experiences that help you feel refreshed and recharged for the next time you write. You don’t have to “earn” these with prior work, but you do have to commit to doing the work afterward.

Commit to doing something you don’t want to do if you don’t achieve your goal. Some people find themselves motivated to work harder when there’s a negative incentive. What would you most like to avoid? Watching a movie you hate? Donating to a cause you don’t support? Whatever it is, how can you ensure enforcement? Who can help you stay accountable?

Affective strategies

Build your confidence . It is not uncommon to feel “imposter phenomenon” during the course of writing your dissertation. If you start to feel this way, it can help to take a few minutes to remember every success you’ve had along the way. You’ve earned your place, and people have confidence in you for good reasons. It’s also helpful to remember that every one of the brilliant people around you is experiencing the same lack of confidence because you’re all in a new context with new tasks and new expectations. You’re not supposed to have it all figured out. You’re supposed to have uncertainties and questions and things to learn. Remember that they wouldn’t have accepted you to the program if they weren’t confident that you’d succeed. See our self-scripting handout for strategies to turn these affirmations into a self-script that you repeat whenever you’re experiencing doubts or other negative thoughts. You can do it!

Appreciate your successes . Not meeting a goal isn’t a failure–and it certainly doesn’t make you a failure. It’s an opportunity to figure out why you didn’t meet the goal. It might simply be that the goal wasn’t achievable in the first place. See the SMART goal handout and think through what you can adjust. Even if you meant to write 1500 words, focus on the success of writing 250 or 500 words that you didn’t have before.

Remember your “why.” There are a whole host of reasons why someone might decide to pursue a PhD, both personally and professionally. Reflecting on what is motivating to you can rekindle your sense of purpose and direction.

Get outside support . Sometimes it can be really helpful to get an outside perspective on your work and anxieties as a way of grounding yourself. Participating in groups like the Dissertation Support group through CAPS and the Dissertation Boot Camp can help you see that you’re not alone in the challenges. You might also choose to form your own writing support group with colleagues inside or outside your department.

Understand and manage your procrastination . When you’re writing a long dissertation, it can be easy to procrastinate! For instance, you might put off writing because the house “isn’t clean enough” or because you’re not in the right “space” (mentally or physically) to write, so you put off writing until the house is cleaned and everything is in its right place. You may have other ways of procrastinating. It can be helpful to be self-aware of when you’re procrastinating and to consider why you are procrastinating. It may be that you’re anxious about writing the perfect draft, for example, in which case you might consider: how can I focus on writing something that just makes progress as opposed to being “perfect”? There are lots of different ways of managing procrastination; one way is to make a schedule of all the things you already have to do (when you absolutely can’t write) to help you visualize those chunks of time when you can. See this handout on procrastination for more strategies and tools for managing procrastination.

Your topic, your advisor, and your committee: Making them work for you

By the time you’ve reached this stage, you have probably already defended a dissertation proposal, chosen an advisor, and begun working with a committee. Sometimes, however, those three elements can prove to be major external sources of frustration. So how can you manage them to help yourself be as productive as possible?

Managing your topic

Remember that your topic is not carved in stone . The research and writing plan suggested in your dissertation proposal was your best vision of the project at that time, but topics evolve as the research and writing progress. You might need to tweak your research question a bit to reduce or adjust the scope, you might pare down certain parts of the project or add others. You can discuss your thoughts on these adjustments with your advisor at your check ins.

Think about variables that could be cut down and how changes would affect the length, depth, breadth, and scholarly value of your study. Could you cut one or two experiments, case studies, regions, years, theorists, or chapters and still make a valuable contribution or, even more simply, just finish?

Talk to your advisor about any changes you might make . They may be quite sympathetic to your desire to shorten an unwieldy project and may offer suggestions.

Look at other dissertations from your department to get a sense of what the chapters should look like. Reverse-outline a few chapters so you can see if there’s a pattern of typical components and how information is sequenced. These can serve as models for your own dissertation. See this video on reverse outlining to see the technique.

Managing your advisor

Embrace your evolving status . At this stage in your graduate career, you should expect to assume some independence. By the time you finish your project, you will know more about your subject than your committee does. The student/teacher relationship you have with your advisor will necessarily change as you take this big step toward becoming their colleague.

Revisit the alliance . If the interaction with your advisor isn’t matching the original agreement or the original plan isn’t working as well as it could, schedule a conversation to revisit and redesign your working relationship in a way that could work for both of you.

Be specific in your feedback requests . Tell your advisor what kind of feedback would be most helpful to you. Sometimes an advisor can be giving unhelpful or discouraging feedback without realizing it. They might make extensive sentence-level edits when you really need conceptual feedback, or vice-versa, if you only ask generally for feedback. Letting your advisor know, very specifically, what kinds of responses will be helpful to you at different stages of the writing process can help your advisor know how to help you.

Don’t hide . Advisors can be most helpful if they know what you are working on, what problems you are experiencing, and what progress you have made. If you haven’t made the progress you were hoping for, it only makes it worse if you avoid talking to them. You rob yourself of their expertise and support, and you might start a spiral of guilt, shame, and avoidance. Even if it’s difficult, it may be better to be candid about your struggles.

Talk to other students who have the same advisor . You may find that they have developed strategies for working with your advisor that could help you communicate more effectively with them.

If you have recurring problems communicating with your advisor , you can make a change. You could change advisors completely, but a less dramatic option might be to find another committee member who might be willing to serve as a “secondary advisor” and give you the kinds of feedback and support that you may need.

Managing your committee

Design the alliance . Talk with your committee members about how much they’d like to be involved in your writing process, whether they’d like to see chapter drafts or the complete draft, how frequently they’d like to meet (or not), etc. Your advisor can guide you on how committees usually work, but think carefully about how you’d like the relationship to function too.

Keep in regular contact with your committee , even if they don’t want to see your work until it has been approved by your advisor. Let them know about fellowships you receive, fruitful research excursions, the directions your thinking is taking, and the plans you have for completion. In short, keep them aware that you are working hard and making progress. Also, look for other ways to get facetime with your committee even if it’s not a one-on-one meeting. Things like speaking with them at department events, going to colloquiums or other events they organize and/or attend regularly can help you develop a relationship that could lead to other introductions and collaborations as your career progresses.

Share your struggles . Too often, we only talk to our professors when we’re making progress and hide from them the rest of the time. If you share your frustrations or setbacks with a knowledgeable committee member, they might offer some very helpful suggestions for overcoming the obstacles you face—after all, your committee members have all written major research projects before, and they have probably solved similar problems in their own work.

Stay true to yourself . Sometimes, you just don’t entirely gel with your committee, but that’s okay. It’s important not to get too hung up on how your committee does (or doesn’t) relate to you. Keep your eye on the finish line and keep moving forward.

Helpful websites:

Graduate School Diversity Initiatives : Groups and events to support the success of students identifying with an affinity group.

Graduate School Career Well : Extensive professional development resources related to writing, research, networking, job search, etc.

CAPS Therapy Groups : CAPS offers a variety of support groups, including a dissertation support group.

Advice on Research and Writing : Lots of links on writing, public speaking, dissertation management, burnout, and more.

How to be a Good Graduate Student: Marie DesJardins’ essay talks about several phases of the graduate experience, including the dissertation. She discusses some helpful hints for staying motivated and doing consistent work.

Preparing Future Faculty : This page, a joint project of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, explains the Preparing Future Faculty Programs and includes links and suggestions that may help graduate students and their advisors think constructively about the process of graduate education as a step toward faculty responsibilities.

Dissertation Tips : Kjell Erik Rudestam, Ph.D. and Rae Newton, Ph.D., authors of Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process.

The ABD Survival Guide Newsletter : Information about the ABD Survival Guide newsletter (which is free) and other services from E-Coach (many of which are not free).

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Career Advice

How to Finish Your Dissertation

By Kerry Ann Rockquemore

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Dear Kerry Ann,

I was hoping to finish my dissertation last year and graduate in May. But it’s August, I’m heading back for another year on campus and I’m nowhere near finishing the dissertation. The sad part is that it’s not the research that is holding up my progress (it is mostly complete) and it’s not my committee (they are supportive and want me to finish). The problem is that I’m not writing. I’m starting to think that I may never finish and will end up another A.B.D. who fades out of the program.

But I do want to finish my dissertation! And yet I’m not making any progress. I need help beyond your usual suggestion to start a daily writing habit (I tried that and it didn’t work).

Need Help Finishing

Dear Need Help,

I am so glad to hear that you are resolved to complete your dissertation, recognize that what you’re doing isn’t working and are open to new experiments for the upcoming academic year.

There’s an important reason that nearly half of graduate students who start doctoral programs don’t finish -- they never complete their dissertations. That means you’re not the only person who has struggled while A.B.D. Over the past year, I’ve worked with more than 400 dissertation writers , and I’ve seen over and over again that isolation, perfectionism and procrastination are the three biggest threats to completion.

So that leaves us with a very simple issue. If you have only one way to finish your dissertation (write it) and you know the three challenges you need to overcome to do the writing (isolation, perfectionism and procrastination), then the key question is: How can you create an environment and support systems this year that will enable you to write on a regular basis? In other words, how can you design your work time to ensure that you have everything you need to complete your dissertation this year? Only you can answer these questions, but I would like to share a few insights and gentle suggestions.

Get Real About Daily Writing

I know I sound like a broken record on this point, so I’ll be brief. You cannot binge write a dissertation over a weekend, over a weeklong writing retreat or even if you hide in a cave for a month. High-quality work takes time to produce. We know that the most productive academic writers don’t write in large uninterrupted blocks of time; they write every day (Monday through Friday) in small increments.

I also realize that it seems like everyone these days is telling dissertation writers to “ write your dissertation in 15 minutes a day ” or that “you should try 25-minute pomodoros .” And as you’ve noted, I regularly advise people to write for at least 30 minutes per day. In response, graduate students tell me “that’s pie in the sky,” “it’s impossible to write a dissertation in 15 minutes a day“ or (my personal favorite) “ Bolker really meant 15 hours a day -- the publisher made a mistake and never fixed it, sending an entire generation of graduate students into a tailspin of self-loathing and misery.”

So let me make two important distinctions. First and foremost, when I encourage you to write at least 30 minutes per day, the most important part of that phrase is “at least.” It doesn’t mean that you’re going to complete your dissertation in one semester by writing for only 30 minutes per day. It’s advice given to people like you, who are not writing at all. In fact, it literally means start with 30 minutes a day, boo. When you’ve got that locked down, work your way up to longer periods of writing.

The second distinction that’s important is about the expectation versus the reality of what constitutes writing. Many graduate students I’ve worked with imagine that writing means producing perfect prose on the first draft. I have observed students spend 30 minutes writing, revising, deleting and rewriting a single sentence. If that’s how you are spending your daily writing time, I understand why you might conclude that it doesn’t work.

Instead, consider that drafting and revising are two separate stages of the writing process. Those initial drafts are where you work out your existing ideas and generate new ones. For that reason, much of what you write is for you, for your own thought process, and may never be shared with your committee or make it to the final draft. This is why we often say “ writing is thinking !”

Win the Battle of the Moment

If you’re like the majority of dissertation writers I’ve worked with, your initial attempts at daily writing fail. Why? Because you experience a repeating and self-defeating pattern that looks like this: you set aside time in your calendar for dissertation writing and you fully intend to write during that scheduled time. Then when the time comes, you experience a subtle but powerful urge to do anything but write. It’s such a strong and seemingly harmless impulse (“Let me just answer one quick email!”) that you follow the urge where it leads you, whether it be email, Facebook, teaching prep, more reading or a snack. Pretty soon your writing time is over and you haven’t written a single word. You promise yourself that you’ll do better tomorrow, but the next day comes and goes with the same result. After a week, you decide the whole daily writing thing doesn’t really work for someone like you.

I call this daily struggle “the battle of the moment.” It’s the moment that it’s time to start writing -- the hardest moment to move through -- and if you can just get going you’ll be fine. It’s truly a battle between your future self and your resistance . One of you will win and one of you will lose. In other words, either your future will win and you’ll start writing your dissertation or your resistance will win and you’ll end up arguing with somebody on Facebook about the presidential election.

The best way to win the battle of the moment is to first understand that it’s normal for your resistance to show up every day when it’s time to write. I encourage you to become aware of it and accept it for what it is . Then set a timer for a small block of writing. ( Even 10 minutes will get you through the moment.) The goal is to win the moment each day. Once you can stack up enough daily wins, you’ll see that you’re making progress on your dissertation.

And it’s important to know that your resistance is strongest when you’re alone because it festers in isolation. But that also means that your resistance is weakest in the presence of other active daily writers. For that reason, I strongly encourage you to consider what type of writing support you can create for yourself this year. Be creative! Dissertation writers use many different types of support structures to overcome resistance: write on-sites , writing buddies, accountability groups, dissertation boot camp , Facebook groups, writing retreats and 14-day writing challenges , to name just a few.

Learn to Analyze Why You’re Not Writing and Design Work-Arounds

If you’ve tried daily writing in the past but were unable to maintain it, then ask yourself why ? What exactly kept you from the single most important activity that will allow you to complete the dissertation, finish your degree and move on with your professional life? What happened (be as specific as possible) when you sat down to write?

For most dissertation writers, the inability to develop and maintain a daily writing practice is due to one of three things: 1) technical errors, 2) psychological obstacles or 3) external realities. While I’ve written about those in detail elsewhere , let me provide a quick dissertation-specific overview so that you can diagnose why you’re not writing and then design a quick and effective work-around.

Technical Errors: Dissertation writers often struggle to establish a daily writing practice due to several technical errors. That simply means that you’re missing a skill or technique. As soon as you identify the error, the work-around is clear. Here are the most common technical errors I’ve observed in working with dissertation writers and a corresponding work-around:

You haven’t set aside a specific time to write. (A work-around is to designate time in your calendar for dissertation writing.)
You have been setting aside the wrong time for writing. (A work-around is experimenting with writing first thing in the morning.)
You struggle to get started writing each day. (A work-around is to develop a writing ritual.)
You have no idea how much time tasks take and keep grossly underestimating how long it takes to do them. (A work-around is to use a timer to collect data on how long it takes you to complete various writing tasks.)
You don’t have any way to measure progress because you just have “write dissertation” as your daily writing goal. (A work-around is to set SMART goals .)
You feel overwhelmed because you can’t figure out what you have to do. (A work-around is to make a dissertation plan that lays out the steps for completing each chapter.)
You keep writing and revising the same sentence. (A work-around is to try Write or Die to permanently separate the drafting stage from the revising stage.)

Psychological Obstacles: Technical errors can be fixed with changes in your writing habits, but psychological obstacles often underlie dissertation writers’ inability to write daily. The most common I’ve observed are impostor syndrome , perfectionism , disempowerment , inner critics on steroids , fear of failure and/or success and a lack of clarity about your future goals. Regrettably, a quick tip, trick or hack will not eliminate psychological obstacles, but we can loosen their grip by increasing our awareness of their existence, reframing them and experimenting with behavioral changes.

External Realities: Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not recognize that sometimes the inability to maintain a daily writing practice results from an external reality that is beyond your control. The truth is that life events occur that directly impact the amount of energy we have to write. For example, you have a baby, someone dies, you or someone you love becomes ill and you have unexpected recovery/caregiving, you get divorced, etc. These situations can’t be “fixed,” so they require patience, compassion toward yourself, adjusted expectations and the willingness to explicitly ask for the kind of support you need.

Change Your Peer Group

In my experience, people who don’t finish their dissertations have one of two problems with the people they surround themselves with: 1) they don’t have anyone who is actively writing a dissertation in their daily life (i.e., they remove themselves entirely from contact with other dissertation writers) or 2) they surround themselves with dissertation writers who are not writing and spend their time complaining about their advisers, their campus, the oppressive nature of graduate education and/or the abysmal state of the job market.

To state the painfully obvious, neither self-isolating nor surrounding yourself with negative peers will help you develop a consistent daily writing habit. What you need most is a positive community that supports you through the ups and downs of writing a dissertation and celebrates your successes every step of the way. Every small win builds momentum, and seeing other people succeed makes it seem possible for you, too. It’s sharing the daily grind while making personal progress that reduces the isolation, perfectionism and procrastination that got you to this point.

I hope it’s clear from these suggestions that finishing your dissertation is a realistic possibility. It won’t happen if you keep on doing the things that have kept you unproductive. But if you’re willing to get serious about writing, get into a relationship with your resistance and join a positive community of writers, you will quickly start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Peace and productivity,

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Ph.D.

President, National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

P.S. I love your questions, so keep posting them on my Facebook page or email me at [email protected] .

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Dissertations and major projects

Planning your dissertation
Researching your dissertation
Managing your data
Introduction

Managing your time

Structuring your dissertation, keeping going, finishing off and checking through, useful links for dissertations and major projects.

Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and one-to-one advice sessions.
Maths Support A guide to Maths Support resources which may help if you're finding any mathematical or statistical topic difficult during the transition to University study.
Academic writing LibGuide Expert guidance on punctuation, grammar, writing style and proof-reading.
Guide to citing references Includes guidance on why, when and how to use references correctly in your academic writing.
The Final Chapter An excellent guide from the University of Leeds on all aspects of research projects
Royal Literary Fund: Writing a Literature Review A guide to writing literature reviews from the Royal Literary Fund
Academic Phrasebank Use this site for examples of linking phrases and ways to refer to sources.

Writing up your dissertation makes it sound like this is the last big step that you do, but it is a good idea to start writing as you go along, as the writing process will help clarify your thinking. It is also reassuring to have some words down on the page. You may have other coursework due so it is important to protect your dissertation writing time.

The guidance on this page takes you through the whole writing process from managing your time to those crucial mark-gaining final checks.

Plan an overall work schedule

Break down your dissertation into stages and plan backwards from your deadline to fit them all in.

Start with your literature review
Think about your methodology
Identify primary sources
Identify secondary sources, if appropriate
Write as you go along
Organise and analyse your material
Redraft / check / proofread

Do a little bit on a regular basis

Decide in advance when you're going to work on your dissertation – set aside time each week or have a particular day to work on it
Give yourself a specific task to do in that time
Do difficult tasks at the times of day you work best
Do easy tasks when you're tired / less motivated

No one ever sticks to their plan perfectly, and you can't predict all the things that might intervene, so build in some extra time for "catching-up".

Also be aware that mechanical tasks like sorting the bibliography and proofreading will take longer than you think. Computers and printers know when you're in a hurry and will scheme to break down at the most inconvenient moment!

Managing time for your dissertation (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
Managing time for your dissertation (transcript) Read the transcript.

Dissertations based on qualitative or quantitative research are usually organised as follows:

Other dissertations may be based around discussions of themes or texts:

This kind of structure often can't be finalised until you've done some research and found out what themes or texts you want to focus on as your chapter titles will depend on this.

It's a good idea to write an overall plan outlining what you need to cover in each chapter.

Think of a dissertation like a series of linked essays; each chapter is self-contained and has its own purpose, but they all connect together to contribute to the argument of your dissertation.

The chapters don't have to all be the same length – some can be longer because they are more detailed (like the literature review) and others can be shorter because they are summarising and finalising information (like the conclusion).

Structuring your dissertation (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
Structuring your dissertation (transcript) Read the transcript.

Write up as you go along . It is much easier to keep track of how your ideas develop and writing helps clarify your thinking. It also saves having to churn out 1000s of words at the end.

You don't have to start with the introduction – start at the chapter that seems the easiest to write – this could be the literature review or methodology, for example. Alternatively you may prefer to write the introduction first, so you can get your ideas straight. Decide what will suit your ways of working best - then do it.

Think of each chapter as an essay in itself – it should have a clear introduction and conclusion. Use the conclusion to link back to the overall research question.

Think of the main argument of your dissertation as a river , and each chapter is a tributary feeding into this. The individual chapters will contain their own arguments, and go their own way, but they all contribute to the main flow.

Write a chapter, read it and do a redraft - then move on. This stops you from getting bogged down in one chapter.

Write your references properly and in full from the beginning. Consider using a reference management tool such as EndNote or Mendeley to store the details of the materials you will want to use and to add them to your text.

Keep your word count in mind – be ruthless and don't write anything that isn't relevant. It's often easier to add information, than have to cut down a long chapter that you've slaved over for hours.

Save your work! Remember to save your work frequently to somewhere you can access it easily. It's a good idea to at least save a copy to a cloud-based service like Google Docs or Dropbox so that you can access it from any computer - if you only save to your own PC, laptop or tablet, you could lose everything if you lose or break your device.

Writing up your dissertation (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
Writing up your dissertation (transcript) Read the transcript.
Literature reviews LibGuide Expert guidance on researching and writing your literature review.
Doing your literature review (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
Doing your literature review (transcript) Read the transcript.
Managing references An overview of different systems for managing your references.

After the initial enthusiasm wears off, it can be hard to keep motivated – it's also natural to feel confused and overwhelmed at points throughout your dissertation; this is all part of sustaining a longer project. Here are some suggestions to keep you going:

Break down large, unappealing tasks into smaller bearable ones. Molehills are always easier to climb than mountains!

Give yourself rewards when you've completed tasks - these might range from a cup of coffee, to an exercise session, or a night out.

If you're not in a good thinking mood, do more straightforward tasks like compiling the bibliography or doing the title page.

If you're feeling confused about what you're doing, try writing a short paragraph summarising what your research is about. This can help you find a focus again.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, try identifying the one thing that you need to do next ; often this will logically lead to further steps, and you'll be able to get started again.

Talk to friends or your supervisor about what you're doing ; explaining where you are in your project and how it's going can help clarify your thinking.

General principles are:

Double-space your writing, do not have narrow margins, and print on one side of the page only.
Use a font that is legible and looks professional (Comic Sans is not appropriate!).
Check what should be included in cover pages and headers and footers (e.g. page numbers).
Have a clear Table of Contents to help your reader, and a separate List of Illustrations or tables if appropriate.
Consider what information should be put in Appendices and check that you have referred to the appropriate appendix in your text.

If you're trying to track down that missing reference for your bibliography, you can always ask your Academic Liaison Librarian for help finding it.

Undergraduate dissertations are usually 'soft bound'. This means having a soft card cover, with the pages joined together with comb, spiral, or thermal binding. You can get this done at many print shops, often while you wait.

If you choose to get your work hard bound, it can take a few days (more at busy times), so check with the printers / stationers beforehand.

Check your course or dissertation handbook for your department's preferences on:

If possible, look at dissertations from previous years to see how they have been presented.

Finishing your dissertation (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
Finishing your dissertation (transcript) Read the transcript.
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Last Updated: May 14, 2024 8:59 AM
URL: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/dissertations

Finish Your Dissertation: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of Productivity

August 3, 2019

Wooden bridge crossing stream surrounded by multi-colored forest

BY ALISON MILLER, PHD, & KATHRYN PETERSON, PHD, DISSERTATION COACHES Finishing a dissertation requires that you complete thousands of tasks. While you only need to complete one task at a time, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of all the work that lies ahead. At The Dissertation Coach, we use the metaphor of crossing bridges as a way to help our clients think about the work they need to complete task by task. We frequently remind graduate students that they just need to cross one bridge at a time. For example, a bridge might consist of defining and developing a rough draft of your research questions or brainstorming your methodological approach.

You may need to read a series of articles on a specific topic, code an interview, integrate feedback from your advisor on a section of your literature review or a specific chapter, or complete a regression analysis. Each of these discrete tasks is another “bridge to cross” and if you keep crossing over them, one at a time, you will eventually cross that final bridge where your dissertation will be defended, filed, and officially completed. There won’t be any more “dissertation bridges” to cross. But until then, there are many, many bridges to cross, some short and some long, some simple and some complex. A key intention of how we coach our clients is to help them become more effective at getting across each of these bridges, one at a time. So what can help you become better at bridge crossing?

One key way to improve your approach to your work is to be conscious of what we call the “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Productivity.” Basically, this is an approach where you ask yourself a series of questions to help you be more focused and productive on a given day. You ask yourself who it is who is doing the work (hint: You), what it is that you are specifically doing, and when, where, how and why you’re going to do the work. It may seem a bit strange, but asking yourself even a few of these questions can really help you define your working strategy and be better adept at crossing those dissertation bridges.

WHO IS DOING THE WORK?

First, we find it is quite powerful to ask “Who is going to do the work?” Now, we know the answer to that question is pretty obvious. You are going to do the work! But there is a strange power in asking yourself (even asking out loud if you dare and if you’re not in a public place): Who is going to do the work? Then you answer “ I am !” Try saying it out loud right now if you can. Go ahead!

Who is going to do the work?

I am going to do the work!

Now, say it like you mean it. Say it with your whole body. Say it with purpose.

I AM GOING TO DO THE WORK!

There is a remarkable power that comes from making this declaration. You are communicating to yourself that you are the CEO of your dissertation and that you are in charge of directing your energy across the next bridge.

WHAT WORK ARE YOU DOING?

Once you are clear that YOU are the one doing the work, it’s important to be identify what specific tasks you will seek to accomplish. It can be helpful to take the time to create a list of concrete, specific tasks you plan to complete for the upcoming day. For example, if you are writing your literature review, it is probably not best to say “I’m writing my literature review,” even though it is true to some degree.

It is much better to break that big long bridge down into shorter, more easily crossed bridges, such as “read and take notes on three articles” or “Skim five articles and choose one to focus on.” Or if you are in the drafting process, a task might be to “outline the chapter,” and then to go deeper and “choose one section and outline that section,” and then eventually go even smaller and say something like “draft one paragraph on Piaget’s approach” or “write what it means to flip the college classroom in a community college setting.” By defining your agenda, you are declaring what bridges you will cross.

When you create this list of “what” you will be doing that day, make sure that the plan is realistic. When we feel anxious or pressured, there is a tendency to convince ourselves that we can do more work than is actually achievable in a given day. You want to be able to truly imagine yourself completing the “what” you declare you are going to do.

WHERE ARE YOU DOING THE WORK?

The environment where you work is likely to have a significant impact on your ability to be focused and productive. As part of the process of readying yourself to step over the next bridge, we highly recommend that you declare where you will work. Consider what environment is most conducive to you being able to concentrate and stay on task.

Is it better to work at home, a coffee shop, a library, or some other environment? Will you be likely to talk to others if you’re in a coffee shop? Will you be too distracted by the many things you need to do around the house? Declaring where you will “cross each bridge” can increase the odds that you make it to the other side. (You can read more about creating a positive work environment here .)

WHEN ARE YOU DOING THE WORK?

Knowing what time of day (or night) you plan to cross each bridge can also increase the odds that you will actually complete the specific work you proclaimed you would do. Take some time to really be honest with yourself about when you will tackle each “what” on your list. What time will you start working on each task? When will you take breaks? How long can you realistically work without being interrupted?

We encourage you to pad some extra time in your schedule as we all know that dissertation tasks often take longer than we imagine. It is often better to plan conservatively where you plan a little less work than you think you can do that day. A good rule of thumb is to think about what you want to accomplish and then divide it in half and plan to accomplish only half. Then, if you happen to finish early, you can always work ahead and complete tasks planned for a future day, or even reward yourself by stopping early and doing something fun. Having a realistic and clear sense of when you will cross each bridge can set you up for a truly productive day.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THE WORK?

It’s very easy in graduate school to get so caught up in doing the work itself that we forget why we are doing the work. Taking even a brief moment to get in touch with the reason we got into the field in the first place can help propel us across the next bridge, especially when we resist working and have a tendency to procrastinate. Reconnecting with our “why” is about being in touch with the deeper intentions we have within ourselves. This way we are in touch with why this work matters to us. Knowing your why allows you to have clarity and push through and take bold action even when the next bridge ahead is challenging.

HOW ARE YOU DOING THE WORK?

Finally, as you contemplate how you can support yourself to be effective at crossing the day’s dissertation bridges, it can make a difference to consider “how” you will do the work. When we say “how” we mean it is important to think about the approach, attitude, mindset, or version of yourself that is needed to cross the next bridge. How do you need to operate and move through your day so you can stay focused, concentrate, and make real progress? One simple way we support our clients is to encourage them to choose a word for the day as an aspiration for who they want to be. For example, do you want to be focused, committed, courageous, disciplined, loyal, or devoted? Do you want to be original? Thorough? What word is the most helpful for your current stage of the research and writing process? Maybe when you’re writing your first draft, you want to be inventive or creative, but when you’re revising, you may want to be attentive and decisive. Different words may fit different writing tasks or different moments in your research process. As the owner of The Dissertation Coach, Alison loves to invoke the word loyal or devoted, because being loyal is creating a consistent and supportive alliance with another person or institution. Being devoted is to give all or a large part of one’s time or resources to a person, activity, or cause. She finds she is much better able to cross each new bridge and meet each new challenge when she aspires to be loyal and devoted to herself and her work.

Each day when you seek to cross new dissertation bridges, it can make a significant difference if you take the time to ask and answer the questions listed above. You don’t need to answer all of them everyday. Choose the questions that feel most relevant given the bridges ahead of you. Even answering a few can make a big difference and support you to get to work, focus and make tangible progress on your dissertation one day, one bridge at a time.

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College education , life on campus, the dissertation finishing mindset: how to complete your study on time.

Writing a dissertation is literally the most difficult, challenging, and time-consuming academic requirement both Master’s and PhD students face in their academic careers. Some of us have the time and resources to approach our dissertation as a passion project and complete it on time. The rest of us are not so lucky due to various reasons, starting from procrastinating and the need to read more before writing to outside responsibilities that make the completion of a dissertation daunting, and even close to impossible.

While research is not easy by any means and dissertations seem to actively resist your planning attempts, there is only one major thing that distinguishes a productive and effective researcher from one who misses their deadlines. And this thing is a mindset or, let us put it this way, a dissertation-finishing mindset.

Students with this kind of mindset take a pragmatic approach to writing a dissertation. You know the sort: those students who can abandon a line of inquiry without hesitation if it does not add value to their writing or is going somewhere unproductive. Their dissertations get approved because they strictly follow their university’s content, formatting, structure, and ethical requirements. No more and no less. A successful dissertation writer is not precious about their point of view or ‘voice’, which makes them effective. All that matters for these people is that the job must be done efficiently.

One might say that experience is the best teacher and the more you write academic papers, the more you become effective and efficient in doing it. However, how could you possibly plan and complete your dissertation on time if this is the first time you face such a huge task? Indeed, few of us as students write more than one dissertation. But let’s face it: writing a dissertation is not much different from writing your ordinary essay. Of course, a dissertation is a much more complex piece of research and academic writing but your academic career has been developing up to this particular point where you need to apply the skills and competencies you have been developing since your admission. Thus, it’s not something completely new, it’s just another level of complexity.

So what do you need to develop a dissertation-finishing mindset? Well, there are several tips we can give that will help you stop procrastinating and become a more effective and efficient writer.

Other people’s opinions can be unhelpful noise

If you want to finish your dissertation on time, you should make it a priority. However, some students’ definitions of priority may differ drastically. When we say your dissertation comes first, we mean above all commitments. Some people may be resistant to this idea and that is ok.

Your family members and friends might not get why you are so committed to your dissertation, so spending some time explaining your reasons might be a good idea to keep your relationships healthy. You should also take other people’s opinions about your study with caution. Sure, it is helpful to get some advice from recognised experts and supervisors on how to improve your thesis. However, all these people have their own pet methods and theories, so hearing how they would do it is largely pointless. Remember that they are not writing your dissertation – you are.

Finishing your dissertation ‘properly’ is a mirage

Dissertations, especially at a PhD level, open as many research issues and problems as they solve. That is why you should find a way to draw a narrow line between arriving at a useful and meaningful conclusion and a willingness to invest more resources in the study. The truth is that no dissertation is ‘complete’ in terms of its data-gathering exercise, meaning every academic study could benefit from more time, effort, and money. Developing the ability to identify this line, even if it is uncomfortable, is a useful skill that would help you become a more effective and efficient writer and complete your dissertation on time.

Do not see mistakes as a path to perfection

Making mistakes in research and academic writing is a reality we all have to bear with. Believe us when we tell you that literary every academic writer has had the experience of throwing out a piece of writing or a data set and starting all over again. One could argue that without mistakes it is impossible to learn how to become better. There is even a popular quote by Samuel Beckett who said “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”.

However, there is no point in spending too much time dwelling on your mistakes because you can end up thinking you are dumb and you will never get your dissertation done on time. Still, sometimes we can make the same mistake over and over again, and this is something you must deal with to become an efficient writer. To do that, you should identify what went wrong. Afterwards, do what you can to rectify your mistake and move on. If the same mistake happens again, think about how you could avoid it next time.

Take care of your health and wellbeing

Sure, your dissertation should take priority over many things if you want to complete it on time. However, one thing that is more important than your dissertation is your health because it will significantly affect your research and writing abilities. Do not forsake eating organic food, drinking plenty of fluids, and exercising to keep your body healthy and your mind active. Sleep well and give yourself some rest from time to time to avoid burnout , maintain a high level of motivation and engagement.

There is a myriad of circumstances that can hinder students’ ability to finish their dissertations on time. While we all have outside commitments and responsibilities, it is crucial to have the right mindset to complete your study according to the schedule. We believe that the tips outlined in this article can help you cross the dissertation finish line without flying past the deadline.

Author Bio: Anna is Marketing Manager for online essay writing service 15 Writers. She is an expert in digital marketing and enjoys writing articles on Business, Marketing and Technology.

SEE ALSO: Dissertation Writing Techniques for College Students

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Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis

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Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis Paperback – August 15, 1998

Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion

Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.

Print length 184 pages
Language English
Publication date August 15, 1998
Dimensions 5.5 x 0.52 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10 080504891X
ISBN-13 978-0805048919
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com review.

While some of the book's advice is of interest only to dissertation writers, much of the information--on battling writer's block, for instance--is valuable to anybody engaged in writing. Rather than being filled with rules defining how to become a great writer, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day is about finding the process by which you can be the most productive--it's a set of exercises that you can use to find out more about you and the way you write. Along the way, you'll do a bit of writing. And that's what matters, especially when you experience writer's block--as Bolker says, "Write anything, because writing is writing." With its helpful advice and supportive tone, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day should be required reading for anyone considering writing a dissertation. --C.B. Delaney

About the Author

Editor of the best-selling The Writers Home Companion , Joan Bolker, Ed.D ., has taught writing at Harvard, Wellesley, Brandeis, and Bard colleges. She is currently a psychotherapist whose speciality is working with struggling writers. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Owl Books; First Edition (August 15, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 080504891X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805048919
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.52 x 8.25 inches
#41 in Research Reference Books
#192 in Writing Skill Reference (Books)
#291 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)

About the author

Joan bolker.

Joan Bolker, Ed.D., has taught and counseled writers at Harvard, where she cofounded the Writing Center; at University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she began The Language Place; and at Wellesley, Brandeis, and M.I.T., where she was a psyco-therapist and writing consultant. She has coached the authors of more than one hundred doctoral dissertations and is currently a clinical psychologist who works with many writers in her private practice. She is the author of Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day.

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How to finish and format your dissertation

(Last updated: 12 May 2021)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

Hooray. You have now officially finished writing your dissertation. The challenges of determining what to write and how to organise it are behind you. Now, the task in hand is paying attention to the finishing touches, to make your dissertation writing reader-friendly.

Much of the discussion below is a general overview for a paper-based black and white printed dissertation. If you are submitting electronically, there may be other things you need to consider that are technology-based. These might include formatting of graphs and tables when converting to PDF, the inclusion of hyperlinks, and an interactive Table of Contents.

Correctly format your work

Dissertation formatting guidelines vary from university to university and even from department to department. Knowing the requirements for your institution and department are essential as you prepare to submit your dissertation.

Usually every dissertation has an abstract, acknowledgements, and a Table of Contents at the beginning with additional lists for abbreviations, tables, and figures being included if necessary.

You want to ensure that you include page numbers which actually correspond to your Table of Contents. Other than that, it is really about ensuring that you each chapter starts at the beginning of a new page, that headings/subheadings do not end up being at the very bottom of a page (if this is the case, just move them over to the next page), and that your bibliography is appropriately formatted to meet the referencing requirements outlined by your department (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

It is essential to take the time you need in the formatting process because you want your document to be easy to read and to navigate.

Get your dissertation proofread

Having someone proofread your work can be particularly influential. When we write, and we proofread our own writing, it is easy to skip over the mistakes. An outsider is not likely to have the same issue and so they can catch those errors that you have missed.

If you are a native speaker of English, inevitably, there are going to be minor mistakes with language that can be addressed by another individual. If you are a non-native speaker of English, getting your document proofread is almost an essential part of the writing process.

Proofreading is different than feedback (described below). With proofreading, the reviewer is looking for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, though some proofreaders will also comment on areas that generally seem unclear.

Get feedback from your tutor

Your tutor is going to be one of the main resources for you as you complete your dissertation. If you have a supervisor who is willing to read and make comments on your entire dissertation you should jump at the chance, as they will likely have the most insight into how your dissertation will be marked. But the final read of your dissertation should not be the first time that your tutor is seeing your work. You should have had feedback on each of the chapters – though this assumes that you finished your dissertation in a timely matter and gave your supervisor ample time to read your dissertation.

During this time, remember that your supervisor is only human and they probably have competing priorities. Asking them to read a 200+ page dissertation and make comments in a relatively short period of time is going to make for a very cranky tutor. Instead, ensure that your supervisor has enough time to provide useful feedback. Make sure you ask them about their availability well in advance of providing them with a copy.

You should also remember that you are the expert in your field. While your supervisor might make comments, it is not necessary for you to amend your dissertation exactly to fall in line with the comments made. Usually, these suggestions are simply that – suggestions. Only you know the details of your specific topic area and you are the one that has done the research in this area. If you feel strongly that your supervisor is taking you off track, you should make sure that you maintain the integrity of your work.

Get feedback from your peers

There may be times when your supervisor is simply not available to provide feedback within the timeframe that you need. In this instance, you have to find alternative resources to ensure that you are making the most of your dissertation.

One of these resources may be your peers. Recognise however, that peers are generally at the same level as you are, so their comments may not be as valuable or appropriate as the ones you would receive from your tutor. If you choose to have your peers read your work, make sure that any significant changes are carefully thought about prior to implementation.

Remember also that your peers may be equally as busy as you are, and so the amount of time that they are willing to spend reading your work may not be what you need. In addition, your peers are likely unfamiliar with the subject area you are studying. As a result, they are not going to be able to provide advice on your research, but they may be a valuable resource as an outsider. If there are areas of your dissertation that they do not understand, this may be a sign that you need to clarify these sections in some way.

It may also be useful to check your university guidelines prior to working with your peers. Some universities may classify peer to peer work as collusion, and this can have implications for academic integrity.

As a general rule, it is usually best to obtain either feedback from your tutor or external feedback when completing your dissertation, as these generally offer the most useful comments which can then be implemented (or at least considered) within your work.

Buying feedback

For many students, there are inevitably times when feedback from your tutor is not enough. This may be because you were not able to submit your work on time or because the feedback you received was too vague. Regardless, there are always benefits to having your work read by an external third party.

A third party, and someone who is hopefully within your academic discipline, could offer you feedback that can be useful for either amending your dissertation or preparing for questions that might be thrown your way in the defence of your thesis. Before discussing these two types of feedback, it is first important that we highlight the importance of feedback from a reputable source.

While all feedback serves a purpose, you are the ultimate person who can decide how useful the feedback is. Just like with your peers, not all feedback is equally regarded. If you are going to pay money for feedback, you want to make sure that you are getting the actual feedback that you want. There are many ways to achieve this.

First, you should always look for a company that is able to provide you with feedback from a reputable source. This usually means that they can provide someone who is an expert in your academic discipline . This person will have insider knowledge as to what a dissertation is supposed to ‘look like’ and can provide tips that are probably going to be much more relevant to you.

Second, you want to be as specific as possible when requesting feedback. You are likely going to know areas of your dissertation that are weak. So when paying for feedback , you might want to highlight the weak spots and ask the reviewer to suggest ways that these sections could be made better. You are also going to want to make sure that, if possible, you provide the rubric on which you are going to be marked. If the reviewer knows what to look out for, they are more likely to provide relevant and appropriate critique. The more information that you can provide about your work, the better. A reviewer is going to want to know what you had to do, how it is being assessed, and what type of feedback you are looking for.

This brings us to the two types of feedback that can be provided to you. The first form is specific to your dissertation – the reviewer reads your writing and offers suggestions on how the writing can be improved. This can be provided in a range of different ways, depending on the level of in-depth feedback you are looking for. A more basic response might be: “This section seems a bit unclear. Can you revise the topic sentence to active voice to provide a clearer context?”. A more detailed example is: “This section seems a bit unclear. I would recommend changing your first sentence to the active voice. One way you could do this would be to write [insert example sentence for author]”. Here, the reviewer offers an example phrase to help explain the issue with clarity.

In both of these examples, the reviewer is working specifically on the document, making it better prior to submission. However, this is not the only type of feedback that is useful for improving your dissertation. You may want to also consider paying for feedback that looks at and critiques your dissertation as a whole, in preparation for defending your thesis in the viva.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a head’s up about the weaknesses that exist within your dissertation. Inevitably, every research project has areas of limitations, but knowing the ones related to your dissertation can be helpful when you have to speak to others about it. It is also possible to get feedback on this. In this instance, the reviewer would read your writing and offer up potential weak points in your project and how these might be addressed.

Do be mindful though, that not all students are required to do a viva, so this point may not apply to you.

Nevertheless, when you are buying feedback, you typically get what you pay for. Companies that are reputable and whom work with a wide variety of professional academics are going to be the best option, but likely also the priciest. If you feel that you need this type of support, choosing the right service is essential.

How to do your appendices

Appendices are documents that come at the end of your dissertation. They should be organised in a logical way that mirrors the order in which they exist in your dissertation.

Usually, in the submission criteria for your dissertation, the presentation of your appendices will be outlined. Typically, they must be numbered in sequence using either numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3) or letters (e.g. A, B, C) and must have a corresponding title (this title will also appear in your Table of Contents). If you are presenting graphs, figures, or tables in your appendices, you want to strive to make sure that the formatting is appropriate so that these inclusions do not span multiple pages. You also want to ensure that the font is consistent with the rest of your dissertation. Ideally, you want the reader to be able to easily scan your appendices and figure out what is going on.

One common mistake made by students is to include items in the appendices that do not appear in the actual dissertation. If you have not referenced the document in your dissertation, it should not appear as an appendix.

In summary...

Finishing and formatting your dissertation can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Being meticulous about how ‘pretty’ your dissertation looks for the reader will often sap any remaining fragments of unspent energy left after the mammoth dissertation writing process .

But despite a lack of energy and enthusiasm at this stage in the game, it's important you don't overlook this process. Getting it right can be the difference between appeasing – or really aggravating – your marker, and therefore scraping or losing a few extra marks.

Essentially, you want to make your dissertation as easy as possible to read so that the marker has a clear path as they navigate your work. There are many things you can do to make this process easier. Get your document proofread. Seek internal or external feedback on the dissertation. Make sure you take into consideration the requirements outlined by your university in terms of formatting and presentation. Keeping this in mind is going to put you in a great position for success.

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Book details

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day

A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis

Author: Joan Bolker

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day

1 Beginning IF YOU ENJOY RESEARCH and writing, some of the greatest gifts life can offer you are time, space, and a good rationalization for devoting yourself to a project that truly interests you. But there are many other stances from which to approach writing a doctoral dissertation. Most of the students I meet in my work don't often think of their dissertation projects with joyful anticipation. Instead, they're overwhelmed by the size of the task, or they don't consider themselves scholars, or they are scared that they're not up to it, or they don't even know how to begin. But even if you're not a true scholar yet (whatever that is) or are feeling frightened, you can still write a good dissertation, using a process that minimizes pain and increases your chances of feeling engaged and satisfied with your work. And the first step is to imagine your dissertation. The best way to begin a dissertation is not by positioning yourself in a library and writing "Chapter 1" on the top of a blank piece of paper. The best way to begin is by approaching your dissertation in your imagination, preparing to write in and about this thesis at every stage, and to become the researcher of your own work process. Imagining your dissertation allows you to develop passion, curiosity, and questions about your topic, as well as to think of yourself as someone who can make a commitment to scholarship. You may be given a topic. You may be so terrified you can't imagine "passion" or "pleasure" as words with any relevance to your undertaking. You may be writing a thesis for strictly instrumental reasons. Nevertheless, it's still worth imagining—choosing and playing with different topics and different types of theses, giving yourself some leeway to explore before you commit to a particular topic in a specific format. You can take time at this point to speculate about how it will feel to have done this work, to own a doctorate. Or you can think about the process by which you hope to research and write, and where you'll try to do your writing. You can imagine how much company you'd like or will need—friends, coworkers, the active presence of your committee—during this project, and whom you'll ask to be your advisor and your committee members. You may even want to consider seriously how you would feel, what might happen, if you were to choose not to write a dissertation. People write dissertations for many different reasons. For some of you the goal is to meet a professional necessity, to accomplish an instrumental task: you want to spend your professional life teaching at a college or university, and you know that a doctorate is a prerequisite. Others want to learn the process of producing a major scholarly work, to begin a life of serious research and writing. Still others, before they go on to the next phase of life, want to finish a process they began some time back when they entered graduate school. And then there are the lucky ones who have a burning question that they want to spend time answering. One of the ways to begin, no matter which of these agendas is yours, is by learning to write your way in. Writing Your Way In Writing is at the center of producing a dissertation. This book will teach you how not to talk away your ideas or lose them in mental gymnastics. You will learn to write in order to think, to encourage thought, to tease thought out of chaos or out of fright. You will write constantly, and continuously, at every stage, to name your topic and to find your way into it. You will learn to write past certainty, past prejudice, through contradiction, and into complexity. You will come to write out of your own self, and, eventually, even though you may be afraid of what your reader will say, you will learn to write in a way that will allow you to be heard. If you're to do all of this, you need to write every day, even if it's only for fifteen minutes a day. If you commit yourself to writing at every stage, the process will look something like this: Early on, even before you've chosen a topic, you might make daily, dated journal entries, all of them in a thesis book (which might be separate pages on a pad that then go into a folder, or a bound notebook, or a computer file) about your thoughts, worries, interest in various topics. For example, 12/16/95: Today I'm thinking about how intrigued I've always been by the question of the use of model systems in studying biological development. I've always been aware that there are real disadvantages that come along with the advantages of this method—I wonder if I could do something with this for my dissertation. . . . When you first choose a topic, you'll spell out your preliminary hunches, ideas, questions: 1/15/96: What difference might it make if we were to use not rats, but elephants, as the model? What are the qualities of model system animals that have made us choose them so readily for much of our developmental research? As you start to accumulate data you'll not only take notes, but also begin to work with the data—talk back to it in writing, ask it questions, let the material suggest questions to you, and then you'll try to summarize your current understanding of it: 2/18/96: Organisms that share the desirable characteristic of having rapid embryonic development may share embryonic adaptations and constraints related to this trait—what difference does this make? As you go through, you'll take some trial runs at writing some bits of the dissertation: 4/2/96: The model systems approach, clearly an extraordinarily powerful way to analyze animal development, is based on certain assumptions. One is that we can extrapolate what we learn from a few model species to many other organisms. . . . You'll keep track of the flashes of insight you have that are spurred by your reading, as well as any serious misgivings you have: 2/3/96: What am I really trying to say here, and does it make sense? At first you'll write in short stretches, and a bit farther on you may produce up to five pages a day (I'll teach you how to do this in chapter 3). Developing Your Own Work Process Each of you reading this book is unique, and no single prescription is going to be useful for all of you. I want to help you figure out how to devise the strategies that best suit who you are and how you work. The only rules there are in the dissertation-writing process are the useful ones you make up for yourself. You own this dissertation, and you are the one responsible for getting it from conception to birth; you can get there by whatever process works for you. You begin by learning to pay attention to yourself as a writer, by writing at every possible stage of your work process. You'll note each day how your work has gone: how it felt, what you did and didn't accomplish; you'll ask yourself, in an internal dialogue that you record, what you think might have gotten in your way, what nagging question you've been trying to ignore, what you need to work on next, how you might have to change your work space, whether you like or hate your topic on this particular day. You will take your own work habits as seriously as you take the material you're working on, and you will scrutinize them frequently to see if they need revamping. If you get stuck (you discover you don't like composing on the computer, but you don't know what to do instead; or you are having trouble making time to work; or your writing is coming very, very slowly—too slowly to make your deadline), you'll seek consultation, first with yourself, in writing: 1/14/96 What is going on with my work? I'm having a terrible time clearing out my schedule. I'm doing favors for all my friends, and if I don't stop giving myself these excuses for not working, I'm never going to finish my dissertation! How can I make sure that I write before I talk on the phone, before I meet Harry for tea, before I comb the dogs? After that, you'll consult with your advisor, or with a friend who has lived through the process successfully, or perhaps with a counselor whom your university provides for such times. But first you'll confront the stuck place you're in by writing about it, researching it, asking yourself when it began (was it after you had a disappointing meeting with your advisor, or after you drank too much, or after you heard about that article that you're terrified will scoop your idea but haven't gotten up the courage to read yet?). You'll try varying your routine to see if another time, another place, another mode of writing works better. You'll think about whether it's time to make yourself a detailed outline or to play with another chapter for a while and give this one some time to rest. You may decide to consider the worrisome thought that you're barking up the wrong tree with a particular idea. All of these issues are food not only for thought, but for writing. And writing about them, as well as about whatever static you are experiencing in your head, will serve to resolve most of the issues that are bothering you. Writing will also be an essential tool in choosing the topic of your dissertation. Choosing a Topic What do you want from a thesis topic? Writing a dissertation is very much like being in a long-term relationship: there are likely to be some very good times and some perfectly dreadful ones, and it's a big help if you like what you've chosen. This particular relationship asks you to give up a lot of the other pieces of your life, to work like a dog, and to postpone gratification. There are people out there who seem to be able to make such sacrifices for a subject they're not particularly thrilled by, people for whom dissertation writing is the means to an end, to getting a degree. I admire your grit, if you're among them. If you choose your topic wholeheartedly, the writing process can be a wonderful opportunity for pleasure; if you don't, it's still possible to produce a good piece of work, and you may even surprise yourself and enjoy parts of the process. Some people seem always to have known what they want to write their dissertations about. They are the lucky ones. They still need to find an advisor who will support their enterprise, but this is perhaps the easier task. Some, like me, have written their way through the same topic in various guises often enough so they know it's theirs for life. Some of you may have topics handed to you. Some of the most fortunate thesis writers are driven to investigate and try to answer a question that is both professionally and personally compelling. To begin, stay with, and bring to completion a project this large, it's ideal to choose a topic that's really going to matter to you, enough to keep it going even on the dark days that are an inevitable part of the thesis process. How do you do this choosing? You follow your curiosity, and, if you're lucky, your passion. One person's passion may look strange to others, but for now you only have to please yourself. I've known writers who were entranced by the relative proportions of seeds in an archaeological dig, because they could read from those data how agriculture was carried out thousands of years ago. I was once so captivated by the possible sources for Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Prologue" that I read in medieval Latin some of the most misogynistic literature in existence. These two projects would not necessarily turn on other people, but that doesn't matter. You want to try to find what it is that you get excited thinking about, the academic subject for which you have substantial curiosity. As I've noted above, you can do this through writing. There may also be important clues in your academic career. Here's an example: As an undergraduate I was fascinated by questions of voice and authority; the subject of my senior thesis was the Fool in King Lear. As a graduate student in English I became interested in the sources of authority in Chaucer's work. The more general theme of authority gradually joined again in my work with the subject of voice—questions about who's the speaker, who gets to speak, what does it mean to have a voice, how does one grow one? Over the next fifteen years, my obsession with these issues led to a finished essay called "A Room of One's Own Is Not Enough," to work on memory, and to a dissertation on teaching writing in such a way as to promote the development of voice. All of this is visible, of course, only in retrospect: If you'd asked me twenty, or fifteen years ago, why I was writing on any of these topics, I wouldn't have known how to answer. I'm not recommending that you necessarily try to understand your own pattern before you choose your thesis topic, or even that you necessarily have one; I'm suggesting you consider that such a pattern may exist, and allow yourself to go on a fishing expedition. This is how you will find out where your interest lies, where your curiosity leads you. How do you do this? You think and write about the work you've done over the course of your academic career, and you remember which particular projects best held your interest, or excited you, or allowed you to have fun. See if these projects have anything in common. Even if you don't find such a pattern, you may still unearth some useful data. You may find out, for example, that your best papers were surveys—say, of all the novels by a particular author, rather than an analysis of a single work; or that you did your best thinking in papers that were comparative studies; or that you were strongest in heavily theoretical work; or that the lab projects that required the greatest attention to detail were the ones in which you had the greatest success. Look not only at the subjects, but at the type of project—defined in a variety of ways—that you've succeeded at and enjoyed. My own dissertation, for example, is complicated organizationally, weaving together theoretical material from three different fields, but it is anchored by quite concrete case studies; my mind works best when I can continuously tie my theories to data. I've consulted with some people whose dissertations ranged from thoroughly grounded, in-depth studies of a single question and with others whose work involved multifaceted, theoretical explorations that cut across fields. You need to figure out which sort of undertaking best suits how you like to work. Another good way to narrow your choice is to ask yourself what kind of writing and research by other people you find most interesting and enjoyable to read. You may like highly detailed work or more general treatments, or inductive versus deductive presentations; you may prefer many examples, or none, when you read theory; or you may opt for short chapters or long ones, a terse writing style or a more expansive one. All of these preferences are useful clues to the sort of dissertation you want to produce. And works by other people are also potentially useful models. My thesis advisor knew how helpful a good model could be. One of her most useful suggestions was to point me toward a dissertation in an area related to mine that was a model of a doable thesis. This dissertation was mercifully short; it was also fascinating and well written. I knew that it was shorter and denser than my own would be, but throughout my own writing two essential things about that work stayed with me: I'd read an accepted thesis that was only 144 pages long, and it felt possible for me to produce that number of pages; and, quite as important, I could enjoy reading that dissertation. Ask your advisor to suggest some models; you'll probably learn something from them, and you'll also discover that some people not so different from you have managed to write dissertations. Your advisor can also help you choose your topic by acting as a sounding board, limiting your grandiosity ("Do you really want to take on all of Henry James's novels in your thesis?"), helping you to clarify your main question, and talking with you about the politics of choosing a topic. Why do I use a word like "politics" here? Because your choice of topic can be central in determining your professional future, beginning with whether or not you'll get a job in the current market. I'm not suggesting that you choose your topic solely, or even primarily, on this basis. If you do, at the worst you could wind up feeling like you've prostituted yourself, and you may not produce a good piece of work. But you also risk ending up with neither a piece of work you can be proud of nor a job.

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Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them...

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Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.

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'Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and
The Ultimate Guide To Finishing Your Dissertation Before Time
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Writing a Dissertation: A Complete Guide
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5 Tips for Finishing Your Dissertation! Things to Remember While Writing a Dissertation or a Thesis
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Why graduate students struggle with anxiety and depression (and what to do about it)

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Advice for successfully finishing your dissertation
You can increase your odds of finishing your dissertation by following these four steps. No. 1. Practice time management, be organized and meet deadlines. Time management is essential. Make two-week deadlines for every part of the dissertation process, including reading, writing, edits and meetings.
How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Conclusion
Step 1: Answer your research question. Step 2: Summarize and reflect on your research. Step 3: Make future recommendations. Step 4: Emphasize your contributions to your field. Step 5: Wrap up your thesis or dissertation. Full conclusion example. Conclusion checklist. Other interesting articles.
How to Write a Dissertation: Step-by-Step Guide
Most dissertations run a minimum of 100-200 pages, with some hitting 300 pages or more. When editing your dissertation, break it down chapter by chapter. Go beyond grammar and spelling to make sure you communicate clearly and efficiently. Identify repetitive areas and shore up weaknesses in your argument.
What Is a Dissertation?
A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program. Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you've ever completed. It requires solid research, writing, and analysis skills, and it can be intimidating ...
Notes From a Writer's Desk: Demystifying the Dissertation Finish Line
Consider breaking down your time into reasonable chunks, dedicating specific periods to producing the final draft(s) and making revisions, preparing for the defense, and formatting your dissertation document for submission. Final draft(s) and revisions. Take inventory of the revisions you still need to make for your dissertation.
How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis
Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal. Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter. Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review. Undertake your own research. Present and interpret your findings. Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications.
20 Tips to Help You Finish Your Dissertation
Keep your mind working and your project moving. Your assignment is not to turn in a hundred pages of notes to your supervisor—you must produce a dissertation with complete sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Keep writing. 3. Write in order to rewrite.
Dissertating Like a Distance Runner: Ten Tips for Finishing Your PhD
Therefore, it is important to know the reason(s) why you want to finish your dissertation and why you want a PhD. As a side note, it can also be immensely helpful to choose a dissertation topic that you are personally very interested in, rather than a topic that will simply make you more employable. Of course, being employable is something many ...
Advice for Writing -- and Finishing -- Your Dissertation
Your work will, too. Don't let someone else's finished product or the enormity of the project deter you from creating and finishing your own. Find a motivation for writing. Going into the second year of dissertation writing, I had a job talk in an Africana studies department at a highly ranked liberal arts college in the Northeast.
Dissertation Strategies
Learn how to plan, write, and revise your dissertation with tips and tools from the Writing Center. Find out how to manage your time, energy, and wellbeing during this challenging project.
How to Finish Your Dissertation
First and foremost, when I encourage you to write at least 30 minutes per day, the most important part of that phrase is "at least.". It doesn't mean that you're going to complete your dissertation in one semester by writing for only 30 minutes per day. It's advice given to people like you, who are not writing at all.
Writing up your dissertation
Plan an overall work schedule. Break down your dissertation into stages and plan backwards from your deadline to fit them all in. Start with your literature review. Think about your methodology. Identify primary sources. Identify secondary sources, if appropriate. Write as you go along. Organise and analyse your material. Write up.
Finish Your Dissertation Once and for All! How to Overcome
If so, it is unlikely that your cognitive abilities are to blame. More likely, the culprits are anxiety, self-doubt, procrastination, perfectionism, and the thoughts, feelings, and behavior that accompany these difficulties. This book was written to help you overcome these problems and finish your dissertation once and for all.
Finish Your Dissertation Once and For All
3. Write as you go and be effective in presenting data. To finish your dissertation once and for all, we suggest writing your dissertation as you go instead of simply taking a series of notes. This is will not only help you understand what you are doing, but it will also add up and feel less daunting.
Finish Your Dissertation: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of
Finish Your Dissertation: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of Productivity. August 3, 2019. BY ALISON MILLER, PHD, & KATHRYN PETERSON, PHD, DISSERTATION COACHES Finishing a dissertation requires that you complete thousands of tasks. While you only need to complete one task at a time, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of all ...
The Dissertation Finishing Mindset: How to Complete Your Study on Time
Finishing your dissertation 'properly' is a mirage. Dissertations, especially at a PhD level, open as many research issues and problems as they solve. That is why you should find a way to draw a narrow line between arriving at a useful and meaningful conclusion and a willingness to invest more resources in the study. The truth is that no ...
Advice for Writing
Your work will, too. Don't let someone else's finished product or the enormity of the project deter you from creating and finishing your own. Find a motivation for writing. Going into the second year of dissertation writing, I had a job talk in an Africana studies department at a highly ranked liberal arts college in the Northeast. Even ...
What Are the Steps to the Dissertation Process?
The Dissertation Guidebook is one of the essential navigation tools Walden provides to its doctoral candidates. A vital portion of the document details the 15 required steps that take a dissertation from start to finish. Read along with Walden students to learn more about that process: Premise. The dissertation premise is a short document that ...
Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting
This item: Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis . $20.08 $ 20. 08. Get it as soon as Thursday, Jun 13. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. + The Dissertation Journey: A Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Planning, Writing, and Defending Your Dissertation.
How to finish and format your dissertation
They should be organised in a logical way that mirrors the order in which they exist in your dissertation. Usually, in the submission criteria for your dissertation, the presentation of your appendices will be outlined. Typically, they must be numbered in sequence using either numbers (e.g. 1, 2, 3) or letters (e.g.
Six Things To Do After Finishing Your Dissertation
6 Things You Should Do After Finishing Your Dissertation Before You Turn It Into a Book. Laura Portwood-Stacer. Writing & Revising Your Book. This post is for recent PhDs who have just finished a dissertation. If that's you, congratulations! You've just accomplished something incredibly difficult and you should be proud.
Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day
Book Details. Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins ...
How to Write a Conclusion, With Examples
Restate your thesis: remind readers of your main point; Reiterate your supporting points: remind readers of your evidence or arguments; Wrap everything up by tying it all together; Write a clincher: with the last sentence, leave your reader with something to think about; For many, the conclusion is the most dreaded part of essay writing ...
Eight Dogs, or Hakkenden, Part Two—His Master's Blade
Students of Japanese literature often run into a certain impossible choice: finish Hakkenden, or finish their dissertation. Glynne Walley is the fortunate scholar who has reconciled pleasure readin... Students of Japanese literature often run into a certain impossible choice: finish Hakkenden, or finish their dissertation. Glynne Walley is the ...
20 Tips to help you finish your dissertation
Your assignment is not to turn in a hundred pages of notes to your supervisor—you must produce a dissertation with complete sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Keep writing. 3. Write in order to rewrite. Writing sooner and writing continually can only happen if you aren't consumed with perfection.