planning your dissertation

Library Guides

Dissertations 1: getting started: planning.

• Starting Your Dissertation
• Choosing A Topic and Researching
• Devising An Approach/Method
• Thinking Of A Title
• Writing A Proposal

Planning Your Time

The dissertation is a large project, so it needs careful planning. To organise your time, you can try the following:  

Break down the dissertation into smaller stages to complete (e.g., literature search, read materials, data collection, write literature review section…). 

Create a schedule. Working backwards from your deadline, decide when you will complete each stage. 

Set aside time to regularly work on the dissertation. 

Consider what times of day you are most alert and what makes a suitable space to study. 

Identify a specific task to work on. 

If overwhelmed, try to identify one task that needs doing rather than focusing on the larger project. 

Leave time to redraft, proof-read, format, and complete the reference list. 

Gantt Charts

As the dissertation project involves certain processes to take place simultaneously, rather than in a sequence, you can use a Gantt chart to organise your time.  

A Gantt chart is a bar chart which shows the schedule for a project. The project is broken down into key tasks/elements to be completed. A start and finish date for each task/element of the project is given. Some tasks are scheduled at the same time or may overlap. Others will start when a task has been completed. 

To produce a Gantt chart, you can use Word, Excel (see example in the attachment) or an online planner.

• Tom's Planner . There's  an example  for you to use to complete your plan. 
• Excel:  example of Gantt Chart in Excel . This is an example of a Gantt chart which can be used to generate a plan of work (timeline) for your dissertation. You can download and edit it as you please. The chart has been created by the University of Leicester. 

Research Data Management

This video helps you to understand the importance of research data management and how you can plan, organise, store, preserve, and share your data.

• Link to video on Research Data Management
• Feedback Form Please give us feedback on our videos!
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• Last Updated: Aug 1, 2023 2:36 PM
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Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

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 ...

36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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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).

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Dissertations and major projects

• Introduction

What does a dissertation look like?

Finding a topic, going from a topic to a question, dissertation presentations.

• Researching your dissertation
• Managing your data
• Writing up your dissertation

Useful links for dissertations and major projects

• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and appointments.
• 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.

It's natural to feel slightly directionless at the start of any dissertation or major project because you are not sure what to research or how to find the information you need. Start early and allow yourself some time for reading around topics that interest you and scoping out the kinds of sources that are available. This initial reading, thinking and planning time is really valuable and will provide a good basis for focusing your ideas into a research question.

The guidance on this page gives strategies for identifying a topic, refining this into a clearer research question, and starting to plan how you will answer it.    

At one level all dissertations ask you to do broadly the same things:

• Formulate a clear question that your dissertation seeks to answer
• Review the relevant literature in your field
• Engage in independent thought and research
• Explain and justify whatever methods you use
• Present your findings clearly and demonstrate how they relate to your original question

Finding the topic and question for your dissertation can take longer than you think. You shouldn't feel worried if you don't hit on the ideal topic straight away… you have enough time to be creative and enjoy exploring your subject. At this stage no ideas are barred!

• Something you've always wondered about
• Lecture notes and old essays
• Flicking through current journals
• Media / news items
• Things you disagree with
• A hunch that you have… is it true?
• Controversies / new areas in your subject
• Talking with friends

Thinking outside your subject area may also help – are there any current affairs issues or controversies that you can apply your subject to?

It's never too early to start thinking of ideas. Keep them in one place -  start an ideas book or a box file to keep any notes or articles you find that might be useful.

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

A dissertation question is not the same as a topic…it has to be phrased so that it can be answered in a specific and focused way . There are various ways that you can get from your topic to a question:

• Do some reading around your topic – are there any gaps in current research that could provide a question?
• If you usually write too much – think smaller and focus on one narrow aspect of your topic.
• If you usually don't write enough – think bigger and link some related areas of your topic together.

It is a good idea before you make any final decisions to discuss your choice of question with your supervisor, as they will have the academic experience to know what kinds of questions will be manageable, and which will need more refining.

Before settling on a question – ask yourself:

• "Will it keep me interested for a long period?"
• "Can I answer it with the time and resources I have?"
• "Is there someone who can supervise me and can I get on with them?"
• "Do I have some idea of how to go about answering it?"

• Defining your research question (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Defining your research question (transcript) Read the transcript.

• explain why your chosen topic is interesting;
• show how it fits into the context of your course generally;
• try out your plan for how to tackle the research.

Remember that you're not presenting the end result of your research, but work-in-progress. Think about including some questions for your audience to encourage useful feedback.

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• Last Updated: Jul 23, 2024 2:41 PM
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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Thesis and Dissertation: Getting Started

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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The resources in this section are designed to provide guidance for the first steps of the thesis or dissertation writing process. They offer tools to support the planning and managing of your project, including writing out your weekly schedule, outlining your goals, and organzing the various working elements of your project.

Weekly Goals Sheet (a.k.a. Life Map) [Word Doc]

This editable handout provides a place for you to fill in available time blocks on a weekly chart that will help you visualize the amount of time you have available to write. By using this chart, you will be able to work your writing goals into your schedule and put these goals into perspective with your day-to-day plans and responsibilities each week. This handout also contains a formula to help you determine the minimum number of pages you would need to write per day in order to complete your writing on time.

Setting a Production Schedule (Word Doc)

This editable handout can help you make sense of the various steps involved in the production of your thesis or dissertation and determine how long each step might take. A large part of this process involves (1) seeking out the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding specific document formatting requirements, (2) understanding research protocol limitations, (3) making note of deadlines, and (4) understanding your personal writing habits.

Creating a Roadmap (PDF)

Part of organizing your writing involves having a clear sense of how the different working parts relate to one another. Creating a roadmap for your dissertation early on can help you determine what the final document will include and how all the pieces are connected. This resource offers guidance on several approaches to creating a roadmap, including creating lists, maps, nut-shells, visuals, and different methods for outlining. It is important to remember that you can create more than one roadmap (or more than one type of roadmap) depending on how the different approaches discussed here meet your needs.

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• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation

How to Write a Dissertation or Thesis Proposal

Published on September 21, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

When starting your thesis or dissertation process, one of the first requirements is a research proposal or a prospectus. It describes what or who you want to examine, delving into why, when, where, and how you will do so, stemming from your research question and a relevant topic .

The proposal or prospectus stage is crucial for the development of your research. It helps you choose a type of research to pursue, as well as whether to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

You can download our templates in the format of your choice below.

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Table of contents

What should your proposal contain, dissertation question examples, what should your proposal look like, dissertation prospectus examples, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about proposals.

Prior to jumping into the research for your thesis or dissertation, you first need to develop your research proposal and have it approved by your supervisor. It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives .

Depending on your department’s requirements, there may be a defense component involved, where you present your research plan in prospectus format to your committee for their approval.

Your proposal should answer the following questions:

• Why is your research necessary?
• What is already known about your topic?
• Where and when will your research be conducted?
• Who should be studied?
• How can the research best be done?

Ultimately, your proposal should persuade your supervisor or committee that your proposed project is worth pursuing.

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Strong research kicks off with a solid research question , and dissertations are no exception to this.

Dissertation research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly
• What are the main factors enticing people under 30 in suburban areas to engage in the gig economy?
• Which techniques prove most effective for 1st-grade teachers at local elementary schools in engaging students with special needs?
• Which communication streams are the most effective for getting those aged 18-30 to the polls on Election Day?

An easy rule of thumb is that your proposal will usually resemble a (much) shorter version of your thesis or dissertation. While of course it won’t include the results section , discussion section , or conclusion , it serves as a “mini” version or roadmap for what you eventually seek to write.

Be sure to include:

• A succinct introduction to your topic and problem statement
• A brief literature review situating your topic within existing research
• A basic outline of the research methods you think will best answer your research question
• The perceived implications for future research
• A reference list in the citation style of your choice

The length of your proposal varies quite a bit depending on your discipline and type of work you’re conducting. While a thesis proposal is often only 3-7 pages long, a prospectus for your dissertation is usually much longer, with more detailed analysis. Dissertation proposals can be up to 25-30 pages in length.

Writing a proposal or prospectus can be a challenge, but we’ve compiled some examples for you to get your started.

• Example #1: “Geographic Representations of the Planet Mars, 1867-1907” by Maria Lane
• Example #2: “Individuals and the State in Late Bronze Age Greece: Messenian Perspectives on Mycenaean Society” by Dimitri Nakassis
• Example #3: “Manhood Up in the Air: A Study of Male Flight Attendants, Queerness, and Corporate Capitalism during the Cold War Era” by Phil Tiemeyer

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The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

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A Guide to Dissertation Planning: Tips, Tools and Templates

Dissertations are a defining piece of academic research and writing for all students. To complete such a large research project while maintaining a good work-life balance, planning and organisation is essential. In this article, we’ll outline three categories for dissertation planning including project management, note-taking and information management, alongside tools and templates for planning and researching effectively.

For both undergraduates and postgraduates, a dissertation is an important piece of academic research and writing. A large research project often has many moving parts from managing information, meetings, and data to completing a lengthy write-up with drafts and edits. Although this can feel daunting, getting ahead with effective planning and organisation will make this process easier. By implementing project management techniques and tools, you can define a research and writing workflow that allows you to work systematically. This will enable you to engage in critical thinking and deep work, rather than worrying about organisation and deadlines. 

To get prepared, you can do two things: First, start your preliminary readings and research to define a topic and methodology.  You can do this in summer or during the first few weeks of university but the sooner, the better. This gives you time to discuss things with your supervisor, and really choose a topic of interest. Second, begin preparing the tools and techniques you’ll be using for your research and writing workflow. You can use the preliminary research phase to test these out, and see what works for you. 

Below, we’ll cover three key aspects to consider when managing your dissertation, alongside some digital tools for planning, research and writing. 

The 3 Categories of Dissertation Planning

Project Management and Planning 

Your dissertation is a project that requires both long and short-term planning. For long-term planning, roadmaps are useful to break your work down into sections, chapters or stages. This will give you a clear outline of the steps you need to work through to complete your dissertation in a timely manner. 

Most likely, your roadmap will be a mixture of the stages in your research project and the sections of your write-up. For example, stage 1 might be defined as preliminary research and proposal writing. While stage 3 might be completing your literature review, while collecting data. 

This roadmap can be supplemented by a timeline of deadlines, this is when those stages or chapters need to be completed by. Your timeline will inform your short-term plans, and define the tasks that need completing on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This approach, using a roadmap and timeline, allows you to capture all the moving parts of your dissertation, and focus on small sub-sections at a time. A clear plan can make it easy to manage setbacks, such as data collection issues, or needing more time for editing. 

Note-taking 

Whether you use a notebook, or digital tool, it’s ideal to have a dedicated research space for taking general notes. This might include meeting notes from supervision, important information from informational dissertation lectures, or key reminders, ideas and thoughts. It can be your go-to place for miscellaneous to-do lists, or to map out your thought processes. It’s good to have something on hand that is easy to access, and keeps your notes together in one place. 

Beyond this, you’ll also need a dedicated space or system for literature and research notes. These notes are important for avoiding plagiarism, communicating your ideas, and connecting key findings together. A proper system or space can make it easier to manage this information, and find the appropriate reference material when writing. Within this system, you might also include templates or checklists, for example, a list of critical reading questions to work through when assessing a paper. 

Information Management 

It’s important to consider how you plan to organise your literature, important documents, and written work. Note-taking is a part of this, however, this goes a step further to carefully organise all aspects of your dissertation. For example, it’s ideal to keep track of your literature searches, the papers you’ve read, and their citations but also, your reading progress. Being able to keep track of how many passes a paper has been through, how relevant it is, or where it fits within your themes, or ideas, will provide a good foundation for writing a well-thought out dissertation. 

Likewise, editing is an important part of the write-up process. You’ll have multiple drafts, revisions and feedback to consider. It’s good to have some way of keeping track of all this, to ensure all changes and edits have been completed. You might also have checklists or procedures to follow when collecting data, or working through your research. A good information management process can reduce stress, making everything easy to access and keep track of, which then allows you to focus on getting the actual work complete. 

Digital Project Management and Research Tools for Dissertation Planning 

Trello is a project management tool that uses boards, lists and cards to help you manage all your tasks. In a board, you can create lists, and place cards within these lists. Cards contain a range of information such as notes, checklists, and due dates. Cards and lists can be used to implement a digital kanban board system , allowing you to move cards into a ‘to-do’, ‘in progress’ or ‘complete’ list. This gives a visual representation of your progress.

This is a flexible, easy to use and versatile tool that can help with project management of your dissertation. For example, cards and lists can be used to track your literature, each card can represent a paper and lists could be 1st pass, 2nd pass, or be divided into themes. Likewise, you can use this approach to organise the various chapters or stages of your dissertation, and break down tasks in a visual way. Students have used Trello to manage academic literature reviews , daily life as an academic , and collaborate with their supervisors for feedback and revisions on their write-up. 

Notion is an all-in-one note-taking and project management tool that is highly customisable. Using content blocks, pages, and databases, this tool allows you to build a workspace tailored to your needs. Databases are a key feature of Notion, this function allows you to organise and define pages using a range of properties such as tags, dates, numbers, categories and more. This database can then be displayed in a multitude of ways using different views, and filters. 

For example, you can create a table with each entry being a page of meeting notes with your supervisor, you can assign a date, person, and tags to each page. You can then filter this information by date, or view it in a board format. Likewise, you can use the calendar to add deadlines, within these deadlines, you can expand the page to add information, and switch to ‘timeline’ view . This is perfect for implementing project management techniques when planning your dissertation. 

Although this may sound complicated, there are many templates and resources to get you started . Notion is an ideal tool for covering all three aspects of dissertation planning from project and information management to note-taking of all kinds. Students have used Notion for literature reviews , thesis writing , long-term PhD planning , thesis management , and academic writing . The best part, these students not only share their systems, but have also created free templates to help you build your own system for research. 

Asana is a project management and to-do list tool that uses boards, lists, timelines and calendars. If you’re someone who prefers using lists to organise your life and projects, Asana is ideal for you. You can use this tool to manage deadlines, reading progress, or break down your work into projects and sub-tasks. Asana can integrate with your calendar, which is perfect if you already use other calendar tools for organisation. If something like Notion is too overwhelming, using a mixture of tools with different purposes can be a more comfortable approach. 

Genei is an AI-powered research tool for note-taking and literature management. Your research and reading material can be imported, and organised using projects and folders. For each file, genei produces an AI-powered summary, document outline, keyword list and overview. This tool also extracts key information such as tables, figures, and all the references mentioned. You can read through documents 70% faster but also, collect related articles by clicking on the items in the reference list. Genei can generate citations, and be used alongside other popular reference management tools, such as Zotero and Mendeley . 

This tool is ideal for navigating information management and literature notes for your dissertation. You can compile notes across single documents or folders of documents using the AI-generated summaries. These notes remain linked to their original source, which removes the need for you to keep track of this information. If you find it hard to reword content, there’s also summarising and paraphrasing tools to help get you started. Genei is a great tool to use alongside project management solutions, such as Trello and Asana, and note-taking tools like Notion. You can define an efficient research and writing workflow using these range of tools, and make it easier to stay on top of your dissertation. 

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/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="planning your dissertation"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Guide to writing your thesis/dissertation, definition of dissertation and thesis.

The dissertation or thesis is a scholarly treatise that substantiates a specific point of view as a result of original research that is conducted by students during their graduate study. At Cornell, the thesis is a requirement for the receipt of the M.A. and M.S. degrees and some professional master’s degrees. The dissertation is a requirement of the Ph.D. degree.

Formatting Requirement and Standards

The Graduate School sets the minimum format for your thesis or dissertation, while you, your special committee, and your advisor/chair decide upon the content and length. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other mechanical issues are your sole responsibility. Generally, the thesis and dissertation should conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field. The Graduate School does not monitor the thesis or dissertation for mechanics, content, or style.

“Papers Option” Dissertation or Thesis

A “papers option” is available only to students in certain fields, which are listed on the Fields Permitting the Use of Papers Option page , or by approved petition. If you choose the papers option, your dissertation or thesis is organized as a series of relatively independent chapters or papers that you have submitted or will be submitting to journals in the field. You must be the only author or the first author of the papers to be used in the dissertation. The papers-option dissertation or thesis must meet all format and submission requirements, and a singular referencing convention must be used throughout.

ProQuest Electronic Submissions

The dissertation and thesis become permanent records of your original research, and in the case of doctoral research, the Graduate School requires publication of the dissertation and abstract in its original form. All Cornell master’s theses and doctoral dissertations require an electronic submission through ProQuest, which fills orders for paper or digital copies of the thesis and dissertation and makes a digital version available online via their subscription database, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses . For master’s theses, only the abstract is available. ProQuest provides worldwide distribution of your work from the master copy. You retain control over your dissertation and are free to grant publishing rights as you see fit. The formatting requirements contained in this guide meet all ProQuest specifications.

Copies of Dissertation and Thesis

Copies of Ph.D. dissertations and master’s theses are also uploaded in PDF format to the Cornell Library Repository, eCommons . A print copy of each master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation is submitted to Cornell University Library by ProQuest.

Dissertations: Planning

• Choosing a topic
• Research Proposal
• Reviewing the literature
• Introductions & Conclusions
• Writing Chapters
• Wrapping Up
• Abstracts & Summaries
• Managing Expectations

Introduction

Planning your dissertation can be a daunting task, but it is a critical step in ensuring your research is focused, thorough, and well-executed. The dissertation is typically the culmination of a student's academic work and represents a significant contribution to the field. A well-planned dissertation helps to ensure that the research project is well-organized and the writing is structured in a logical and coherent manner. Additionally, a well-planned dissertation allows for efficient use of time and resources, reduces stress and anxiety, and increases the likelihood of producing a high-quality and impactful piece of research. In this guide, we will cover key steps to help you plan your dissertation and provide tips and strategies to make the process as smooth and successful as possible.

Planning Steps

• Step 1: Check what is required
• Step 2: Find inspiration
• Step 3: Draft outline
• Step 4: Plan your work

Before beginning to write your dissertation, make sure to check the exact requirements:

• What is the word limit ? Is there a minimum word count? Does the word limit include words within tables, the abstract, the reference list, and the appendices?
• What content is appropriate to place in the appendices rather than in the main text?
• Which chapters should be included, in which order, and what kind of content is expected in each? 
• Have you read and understood the guidelines and/or marking scheme ?

The structure of theses and dissertations is influenced by various factors such as the academic discipline, the research topic, the research methodology, the type of research (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods), and the specific requirements of the academic institution or department.

The traditional dissertation structure includes: introduction, review of the literature, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.

However, there are many other ways of structuring your dissertation . This kind of thesis typically commences with an introductory chapter which is then followed by a series of chapters which have titles based on sub-topics of the topic under investigation. The thesis then ends with a ‘conclusions’ chapter.

[Source: Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors ]

Look at tables of content from previous dissertations and/or theses from University of Suffolk students or other universities to get inspiration of which structure would be most appropriate for presenting the content of your dissertation. 

Click here to find out how you can access dissertations and theses.

Once you have an idea of what dissertation type would best suit your research, you can plan a rough outline for the entire dissertation by considering the following questions:

• What is the word count ?
• How many chapters is your dissertation divided into?
• Approximately how many pages/words would you used in each section?
• Is a numbering system used for sections and subsections?

The example below offers a suggested structure and approximate word count for a 20,000-words dissertation. However, bear in mind that all dissertations are different, and your supervisor is the best person to talk to about your specific requirements.

After you have planned at dissertation level and you have a rough idea of the structure of your thesis/dissertation, you can use the same strategy to plan at chapter level. For example:

Now it is time to plan your work!

Work from the deadline backwards to create a plan of key dates .

Download the template below to help you with your planning.

• Dissertation Planner - Key Dates

Further Reading

Journal of Suffolk Student Research

The Journal of Suffolk Student Research is an online academic journal, dedicated to the publication of high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate student research undertaken by University of Suffolk students. The journal will showcase the most outstanding student research undertaken at the University of Suffolk. It aims to promote and recognise this outstanding student research by offering valuable early experience of academic publishing and the peer review process. 

Find out more here

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• Last Updated: Feb 1, 2024 4:22 PM
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Planning Your Dissertation (Pocket Study Skills) 2013th Edition

Dissertations don’t have to be daunting. This essential guide takes students through the planning for each stage of their dissertation, from hatching an idea to handing in their finished project. Bite-size chapters cover everything from devising a research question and engaging with the literature to choosing a methodology and refining your writing style. It also includes nine sample dissertations, so students can better anticipate what lies ahead. Clear and concise, it provides practical advice at every step and action plans to help students to stay on track.

• ISBN-10 1137327944
• ISBN-13 978-1137327949
• Edition 2013th
• Publisher Red Globe Press
• Publication date August 16, 2013
• Language English
• Dimensions 4.3 x 0.4 x 5.4 inches
• Print length 176 pages
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Red Globe Press; 2013th edition (August 16, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
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Planning a dissertation: the dos and don’ts

(Last updated: 20 December 2023)

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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.

Your professor has told you that you must write a dissertation to complete your degree. At this point, you may begin to panic. What is a dissertation? It sounds difficult, or like a massive project that is going to require considerable organisation. For the typical undergraduate, who may be prone to procrastination, a dissertation requires not only the creation of a large piece of writing, but it also may require research to be conducted, data to be analysed, and an extensive bibliography to be compiled. That's why being thorough with your dissertation plan is essential. Starting with the initial phases of the dissertation and working through to the final stages of proofreading, this post should offer you a few tips and tricks for success along with some common mistakes to avoid.

Why do I need to do a dissertation?

The whole point of a dissertation is to convince your professor that you are a competent researcher. This can be challenging, because it is likely that this is your first real experience with research and the first time you will have to attempt a piece of research to this scale of magnitude. Becoming a competent researcher means you have to demonstrate proficiency in each of the phases of your dissertation. The following tale represents the typical path of the "Dissertation Life Cycle."

To complete the various stages of the Dissertation Life Cycle you are going to need to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in all of these skills. You should know that while on paper, this life cycle follows a straightforward path; such is rarely the case in real life. Although you may think your dissertation plan is thorough and comprehensive, you should be prepared to modify and change your plans as challenges arise. There will also be the need to go back and modify previous parts. For example, while you might write the literature review first, this will likely require modification after you complete the data analysis for your study.

Managing your time and staying organised

An essential component of producing a great dissertation plan is good time management. You must be able to manage your time effectively. This can be done through the adoption of two specific time management strategies: the macro-management of time, and the micro-management of time. Macro-management equates to the bigger picture; you should be able to make well-informed estimates about how long it is going to take you to complete each section. Basically, to do this, you need to work backwards from the final submission date, creating a time framework. No dissertation is the same, so the amount of time that you spend on each section will vary from that of your peers. This is contrasted with micro-management, which examines the finer details of the dissertation, for example through the division of a chapter into subsections. As an example, you might allow yourself four weeks to write the literature review using the macro approach to time management. The micro approach would mean that your literature review might be divided into four subsections, a week devoted to each of those.

Time management goes hand in hand with organisation and you are going to require excellent organisational skills as you work to complete your dissertation. Organisation is not just about the writing. You are initially going to need to organise a number of meetings with your supervisor as you begin the dissertation process. As your dissertation is going to be different than that of your peers, it is your responsibility to come to the meeting with a plan in mind so that you can use the time you have effectively and efficiently.

"You must be able to manage your time effectively. But if you do fall behind schedule, do not despair. At the undergraduate level there are usually ample opportunities for you to make up time."

In addition to meetings with your supervisor, you are also going to have to arrange meetings and/or other activities with your participants. This might include the scheduling of interviews , the arrangement of observations, etc. You may also need to account for time that you will spend attending the library, searching for sources, and reading key materials. All of this requires you to be organised and to act in a methodical way.

If you do fall behind schedule, do not despair. At the undergraduate level there are usually ample opportunities for you to make up time. The project is rarely long enough for you to go completely off the rails. If you know that you are not a particularly organised person or that you struggle with time management skills, you may benefit from the use of a professional project management tool such as Trello or Asana.

Listen up: be social

To produce the best dissertation plan possible, there are other key skills that you are going to need to employ. Two that are going to be essential at the start are your listening and social skills. Listening skills come into play as you begin to work with your supervisor. At the undergraduate level, they are likely going to be somehow involved in the assessment of your written work, so if you can identify what exactly they are expecting of you, you are going to be in a better position to succeed. This includes making sure that you not only understand the directions, but that you take into consideration any feedback they are providing you as you progress throughout your project.

When your professor makes a suggestion about your work, they are typically expecting you to change it to align with their requests. You should attempt to do this in all possible cases, and if you want to disagree, you must have an appropriate justification as to why you wish to do so. In addition to listening, you need to be able to get on well with others. This means that you will need to employ appropriate strategies during both email and oral communication. This is a skill that is not only necessary when speaking with your professor, but also relates to working with other students, with your participants, and with administrators.

What other skills will I need?

Below is a list of skills and qualities that you might need to adopt in order to complete your dissertation well:

Meetings with your supervisor

Now that you have a basic understanding of the skills you need, we can consider the finer points of your dissertation. One of these is understanding how to take advantage of the meetings you have with your supervisor.

Preparing for the meetings

Meetings that are well crafted generally offer better opportunities for you to advance with your dissertation. It is very common (and something you want to avoid) for students to arrive at the first meeting with the supervisor with no real idea about what they want to study. Instead, they ask the supervisor for ideas or inspiration on what they might do. This generally sets a bad impression; your supervisor can help you shape your initial ideas, but ultimately you want the ideas to be yours. In some instances, your supervisor may provide you with a topic or title, but this approach (which you may like in the beginning) can be difficult at later stages when you realise that your understanding of the topic is limited. Going back to the skills and qualities described above, if you fail to understand the topic, you are less likely to be motivated and confident when completing the work.

"Take advantage of the meetings you have with your supervisor. Meetings that are well crafted generally offer better opportunities for you to advance with your dissertation."

After you have scheduled your first meeting with your supervisor, ensure that you attend the meeting well equipped with both questions and a means to record the responses (e.g. laptop or pen & paper). In this initial meeting, you should be able to clearly state your area of study, overall aim, your objectives (related to the aim), and a rationale for the topic you have selected. You may also wish to call up some preliminary research studies related to your topic in order to demonstrate that you have taken the notion of this research project seriously and truly understand what it is you want to do.

During this first meeting, your supervisor is looking for the intended focus of your research, clarity of your objectives and that the objectives are achievable within the timescale. You should be posing these questions to your supervisor (e.g. are my objectives clear?).

This is also true for future meetings. It is important that you send your supervisor your work in progress prior to the meeting that you have scheduled. You can do this by email. Ensure that your email is properly formatted with detailed information and instructions that you would like your supervisor to consider. Make sure that you identify who you are, what the new work is that you are submitting, and what you would like the supervisor to do with it. Avoid sending the work at the last minute. Your supervisor is likely to have many different things on the go and so sending them work only 24 hours in advance is not appropriate. If you are unsure about how much in advance to send the information, you should clarify this with your supervisor.

Maximising the benefits of the meetings

A supervisory session should be more than just a question and answer session where your supervisor asks you questions and you answer them. This would constitute two monologues, but does not achieve the dialogue that is needed for effective communication. Your supervisor is looking to determine how your work is moving forward and to address any issues that s/he thinks are arising as a result of your project. It may be helpful for you to begin with a summary of what you have achieved followed by any issues that are currently concerning you. These meetings should be seen as opportunities to gauge how your supervisor is feeling about your work and as a way to seek corrective action when necessary. Any feedback that you get from your supervisor can be turned into additional marks and grades. Building a rapport with your supervisor is essential and is best achieved when you arrive prepared.

What to avoid

There are a few things that you are going to want to avoid during supervisions. The first is missing the meeting entirely. If you cannot make a meeting with your supervisor, make sure that you email them as soon as you can. In that email make sure that you include a reason and request to make another appointment immediately. Your reasoning for cancelling a meeting should not be due to the fact that you are considerably behind. Putting off the inevitable is never a good thing and you are better off facing the music. Obviously all of this is just considered good manners, so keep this in mind.

Finally, you are going to want to avoid walking into a meeting and uttering the phrase “I can’t find anything on this subject!” The first thing that your professor is likely to do is to plug your topic into Google and come back with thousands of hits on what you just said did not exist. Professors hear this phrase every year, and generally they tend to equate it with laziness on the part of the student and a lack of serious commitment.

"You become the content expert, while your supervisor becomes a guide to keep you on the right track. It requires effort on both parties, but it puts you in the driving seat."

Most students, at least upon first encounter with their supervisor, lack the ability to focus and to ‘run’ the meeting. Remember that your supervisor may not be as passionate about the topic as you are and thus, you may have done more reading than they have on your topic. Through this, you become the content expert, while your supervisor becomes a guide to keep you on the right track. It requires effort on both parties, but it puts you in the driving seat. This might be a new feeling for you, as you may have always felt like the supervisor is the one in charge. Making this transition will better prepare you for graduate school or any future research work that you may wish to undertake.

Where do I find resources and what is considered scholarly?

Finding the literature to become that content expert can be a challenge, especially if you don’t know where to look. It is in your best interest to use your school library to its full advantage. This includes not only borrowing books, but also using the ample online resources that are provided to you through your institution. The material you require is not simply going to appear in front of you. You are going to have to look for it . It may be easier for you to begin with a more random or general search. This can be done using sites such as Google Scholar (scholar.google.com). Remember, however that not everything that Google Scholar finds is of the same quality and if you choose to use this site, you must consider what is scholarly and what is not.

Defining scholarly is, perhaps, a somewhat challenging thing to do, as it is a sort of grey area. Generally, in an academic sense, if an article is published in a peer-reviewed journal, it is typically considered to be scholarly. That does not mean that anything else is ‘not scholarly’, but you must use your own judgement to make that determination. In addition, you must be able to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. While both types of sources are likely to be appropriate at the undergraduate level, you are better off to use more primary than secondary sources. Primary sources are classified as original documents with first hand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Things you read in a scholarly book or journal article directly would be primary, as are interviews, fieldwork, communications by email, and empirical studies. Secondary sources describe or discuss the primary sources. Typically, these include things like newspaper articles, popular magazines, book reviews, or articles in journals that discuss someone else’s work. While both are useful, it is up to you to decide which are most appropriate.

Think critically and consider all your options

Finding sources is sort of like being a detective. In this case, you begin with some questions (in this case research questions or research objectives) that you want answered. You then search for clues as to how to answer these questions within the literature. You then get rid of any information that is irrelevant and use the information that you do find to lead you to other sources. This can be done by using the references of one article to lead you to the next one. Once you have enough ‘clues’ you can then construct a case based on evidence and explain the points as you see them. One way that you can get help with this whole process is by utilising your school librarian. Often there are librarians within the institution that specialise in the subject matter that you are studying. By approaching these librarians, you can often find better ways to search or strategies to locate sources that end up being key components in your research. Check out what your library has to offer and what resources are available.

How many sources should I use?

There is no corresponding number of sources that should appear in your dissertation. Obviously, your list will be extensive, but it also must be balanced. If you use too few sources, your argument may not appear convincing; if you use too many, your argument may be lost because there is no room for you to insert any of your own thoughts or demonstration of criticality. It is up to you to find that balance. In addition, the quality of the sources that you use matters. Using research from decades ago may not be beneficial in the current times, especially if you are focusing on an area that has rapidly changed (e.g. technology, education, etc.).

The literature review

It’s important to consider your reader as you craft your literature review . It may be beneficial for you to start by reminding the audience of your research objectives. That way, the reader is then better able to understand how it relates to your project. One common mistake that students often make is just jumping from one study they have read to the next - without warning. Providing your reader with an outline at the beginning of the chapter and including your own critical thought shows the reader that you are on the right track and gives them an idea about what to expect.

The common mistake described above often occurs because there has been a lack of planning. Students typically just sit down to write the literature review and find the material as they go. This then offers a very fragmented chapter. While creating a detailed outline is essential, so is the organisation of the literature. As suggested above, perhaps you have a literature review with four sections. You may, in a separate document want to collate and keep track of the useful sources you have found for each section. In these notes, you should maintain the citation of the source, a few notes on the summary, and how it might be useful.

It may also be beneficial to colour code these citations to the section to which they pertain. An example might look like:

Organising your notes and research

How you organise your notes is completely up to you. It really depends on what type of person you are. Some people like to organise their notes in a linear way; others want to organise by colour. Some people write detailed notes, others write very scarce notes and go back to the original article. Regardless of the type of person you are, some sort of organisation is going to be essential. Try a few different strategies to begin and see what works best for you.

Organisation of your sources and good citation is going to be important in the note taking process because you will need to cite these sources within your paper. Learn (if you do not know already) which referencing style is expected within your academic discipline. The above example uses APA, but there are many other referencing styles. You should apply this style throughout your paper. In the actual paper, you are usually going to require page numbers when you employ direct quotes, and sometimes when you paraphrase/summarize. Keep this in mind as you are taking your notes. For example, you could write ‘particularly useful quote on p. 166 about student mistakes in the dissertation.’ Then, you would know where to look in the original article to find the quote. Remember that quotes are only useful in moderation - you don’t want a dissertation filled with them. It is also essential that you provide critical insight into the quote you are using, so quotes should never appear at the end of a paragraph.

Research Strategy

At the same time that you are writing about your literature, or possibly just after you have finished, you are going to need to consider planning for your primary research . The dissertation is usually under a fairly tight timeline and so getting these aspects organised early on can save you some struggles as you progress through the dissertation.

You are initially going to need to come up with a research strategy. This strategy is a description of how you are going to implement the research within your own study. It's an essential component of your project, but not something that is going to require a detailed review of general research strategies. This is a common mistake by students who often spend a lot of time discussing all research strategies, rather than focusing on the one that they have chosen and the justification for this choice.

Research instruments

Once you have established a research strategy, you are going to need to consider what types of research instruments you are going to need to use - and how those research instruments are going to come about (i.e. are you going to create one, or are you going to use one that has been used in previous research). If you are creating a questionnaire for example, and you decide to create your own, you are likely going to need to pilot the questionnaire to determine whether or not your questions make sense. This can add additional time to the dissertation process, and so should be factored into your plan. Questionnaires, while a common tool among students, are generally not enough to stand alone as a research instrument. Quite commonly, students will use two or more research instruments.

Another common instrument is the interview. Planning for interviews has several challenges:

First, you must find a time and a location to hold the interview. Generally, this space is a quiet one, like an office or library study room. As an undergraduate student, you may not have access to these spaces at all times and so coordinating your interview participant with time available can be logistically challenging. Once you have secured a location and time for your interview, you must also be aware that other challenges may arise. Interviewees may cancel at the last minute or they may run late. It is your job, as a researcher, to try your best to accommodate their situations, as it is likely they are volunteering to participate in your study. You want to set your interviews up well in advance, but perhaps not too far in advance that people will forget. A reminder email or phone call to your interview subjects can be particularly beneficial in getting them there on time and to the correct location.

The home straight: editing and proofreading

The logistics of planning your research can be challenging; from finding the right sources to scheduling interviews, there are many things to consider. One aspect of the writing process that students often fail to consider is the editing and proofreading process. Editing occurs when you need to make considerable changes to parts of your dissertation because they are no longer relevant, or because you need to add/remove words. Sometimes, when students write, the editing process can be a real challenge because it is difficult to cut out words that you have spent considerable time writing. Remember, however, that it is the final mark that counts and having irrelevant information in the dissertation is going to harm you more than it is going to benefit you.

Proofreading is also essential. This is the final stage in your dissertation and considers aspects of grammar, spelling and punctuation. It often takes much longer than you initially anticipate because it is best to do it in short chunks, so you don’t get distracted. There are also additional difficulties with the proofreading process; often because you are so familiar with the work itself, you skip over errors. For example, errors such as using ‘form’ instead of ‘from’ or using the wrong version of ‘there/their/they’re’ can make your work seem unpolished, but it is easy to do.

For some students, it is better to get someone else to proofread your work . Not only can a third party comment on spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but they can also identify areas that come across as unclear. You may need to pay for a proofreading service - that is unless you have a parent or friend who is willing and able to help you out. When selecting a proofreading service, ensure that you pick one that is reputable - this is your final opportunity to make changes and you want the best possible outcome.

To summarise

Remember that dissertation writing is a challenging part of your undergraduate degree but with the right planning and strategies, you can be very successful. It is essential that you select a topic that is interesting to you from the outset, as long as it is related to your academic discipline. Further, you must ensure that you make a good first impression with your supervisor and that you utilize all the resources that you have available to you.

By reading this post, you are starting out well. Learn to develop the time-management, organisational and confidence-based skills for dissertation writing in your quest for success!

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