How to Write a Dissertation

Writing dissertations can be a lot of work; however, a few simple steps will put you on the right track to successfully completing your dissertation. First, make certain that you gather all the information that is provided about completing your dissertation. Many students will start the dissertation much later in their degree program than the school intends – by then, a lot of the materials the student needs is missing. If you are one of these students, no worries – you will not be the first student to approach the instructor and ask for the materials again. You must do that, or completing the dissertation correctly will be a lot of work.

Second, many colleges, universities, and educational institutions provide online sources for more information – such as dissertation templates, suggestions for dissertation topics, and even information on the best approaches to conducting research. Check with your advisor to see if this is the case with your university. A little guidance goes a long way.

Third, schedule enough time to complete your work. This is often the hardest part for all students. If you plan to read at least one article a day (with two days a week off) you can complete an annotated bibliography in about a month. That is great for the two-year degree programs. However, if you cannot do that, you should set aside at least three weeks for research before you even begin writing a dissertation.

Final note for today – stay organized! Save pdf files to folders so you can refer back to them without digging through the online databases. Copy and paste articles to MSWord files and save those as well. You can have all your information readily available when you save the files to your hard drive.