Writing A Postgraduate Dissertation: Basic Tips For Dummies

To graduate from a doctoral program, students must finish and defend a dissertation. This single essay essentially encompasses two decades of time spent in classrooms. For the best grades on a postgraduate dissertation, students should use some of the following tips.

Grab a Pen and Paper

The first step in writing a dissertation is to begin brainstorming. Many topics have already been written about extensively, so students should try to find a topic that no one else has written about in the past. Often, these are narrow subject areas or relatively unknown subjects. Once the student has a general idea of what they want to focus on, they should begin brainstorming.

Create a Schedule

The dissertation will take months or years to write. To stay on track, students should always create a schedule for their project. They should break down the entire writing process into milestones and set smaller goals for every week. By doing this, the student can make sure that they stay on track.

Research, Research, Research

Writing is actually surprisingly easy once the student sits down and begins. One of the harder parts is research. Reading books, flipping through decades of magazines or conducting a scientific experiment takes time. As soon as the student knows exactly what they want to write about, they need to begin researching the topic. The quality of the research is one of the most important factors in determining the student's grade, so it needs to be started immediately. Additionally, students need to make sure that they are keeping track of all of their sources. Otherwise, the student may get in trouble for unintentionally plagiarizing their writing.

Go to Office Hours

When writing a dissertation, students are paired up with an academic adviser who can help them with their paper. This adviser is there for a reason: to help. Students should make sure that they take advantage of their professor's knowledge and experience. Often, the professor can offer some insight that helps to reduce the amount of time spent researching or writing.

Read Through Examples

Dissertations are not particularly fun or enjoyable to read, so few people read them as a hobby. Due to this, many students are unaware of the exact formatting and writing requirements that exist within this form of academic writing. Before writing a dissertation, students should always read through several examples first. These examples can be found in the campus library or online.