Getting Ready for Dissertation Writing: a Simple Manual

Composing a dissertation is a difficult academic assignment that requires plenty of preparations. If you don’t manage your time and actions properly, you aren’t likely to complete this task on schedule which will have serious negative consequences. If you want to write a strong thesis that will satisfy your committee members, you should know how to get ready for composing your paper.

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How to Prepare for Writing a Dissertation

  1. Choose a good topic.
  2. Such a complex academic task will require you to pick a topic that is both important for the development of the field that you plan to get a degree in and can be researched based on the time and resources that you have. It’s also advisable to pick a study area that is genuinely interesting to you.

  3. Plan your work.
  4. You should distribute the time that you have for your project wisely. Plan how long it’ll take you to conduct your study, write your paper, and edit it. You should also think in advance about methods that you’ll choose to carry out your research. You may consult your professor during this step to optimize your plan as better as possible.

  5. Do your research.
  6. Depending on your topic, you’ll have to read and analyze particular literature. It’s also advisable to familiarize yourself with recent studies on similar topics. If you choose to carry out an empirical study, you’ll also need to conduct different tests, experiments, or interviews designed specifically for your project.

  7. Outline your thesis.
  8. To start composing your paper, you should plan what chapters and subchapters it’ll consist of. Take your time and create a thorough outline that will cover each point that you want to present in your paper. To make sure that your outline is adequate, you may bring it to your professor for detailed examination.

How to Structure Your Dissertation

No matter the field that you study and topic that you choose, the structure of your paper should meet the academic paper writing standards. The basic layout of your thesis should be the following:

  1. Title page.
  2. This is a page that includes the title of your project, your name, your professor’s name, information about your university and course, and the submission date.

  3. Abstract.
  4. This is a short summary of your entire thesis including the outcomes of your study. Abstracts are usually used for searching purposes.

  5. Contents page.
  6. Here, you should be able to see every chapter that your paper consists of and the page number that this chapter starts on.

  7. Introduction.
  8. This chapter should explain what topic you’re investigating, why you’ve chosen it, what the limits of your study are, and what to expect from the following chapters.

  9. Literature survey.
  10. Here, you should elaborate on the main literature sources and schools of thought that your research is based upon.

  11. Methodology.
  12. In this chapter, you should explain what strategy you’ve chosen to carry out your study and describe each action that you performed during your work.

  13. Results.
  14. This is where you present your actual findings and answer your main research question based on this data.

  15. Conclusion.
  16. In this chapter, you should summarize your work and offer a few ways for other students to continue it.

  17. Bibliography.
  18. This section should include a list of all books, articles, etc. used in your research organized in alphabetical order.

You should select a narrow study area, find the theoretical materials and previous studies to base your project upon, choose what methods you’ll use to achieve your goals, etc. Moreover, it’s important to make sure that you don’t spend too much time on some of these steps in order to complete your task on schedule.

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