5 Steps to Take to Prepare for Your Dissertation Early
A dissertation is a challenging work that opens the door to academia. Some students finish their doctoral courses without completing the dissertation. Of course, you have years of training and experience as well as many essays, lab reports, research papers, and scientific articles done. But writing a 200-page paper is quite different. If writing your thesis does seem to be a real challenge, you can always find the right service, you can contact the essay writer service, which will always write the right paper for you.
That’s why to complete it, one needs to prepare themselves for this challenge. Time management, discipline, and collaboration with colleagues will make this year much easier for you. Here are several steps to take to prepare for your dissertation early.
1. Acknowledge That It Will Be a Huge Part of Your Life
A dissertation is a commitment and for a year or two, it will be one thing you always think about. And it is also going to influence all other parts of your life. You’ll have to devote at least one day a week to writing and researching.
Some students prefer working in smaller portions, but they still have to set a particular time that is given only to academic work. It is a great idea to find help and support in your partner that will take care of other everyday tasks during writing time. Also, get in touch with your boss about it. This way, you can figure out how you can combine work with studies effectively.
2. Prepare Resources
Before you even start researching, it is a great advantage to know where to look. Have all your resources managed. Take a look at what the college library has to offer on the subject, consult with your supervisor or professor. Also, do not underestimate online resources, like Study Help that can offer valuable advice and Google Scholar search engine that shows only peer-reviewed results.
Another vital thing is to have the formatting guidelines nailed. Have an APA or MLA (depending on your specialty) guidelines in a place where you can access them anytime.
When you find an interesting source, save it in a designated folder. It is essential to know where all of your materials are, so you can access them quickly. Make a document with links, names, and pages that you are interested in. Even if a particular article might not seem crucial now, it can come in handy later.
3. Create a Dissertation Timeline
A huge part of a successful writing process is time management. It is impossible to stress this enough – time management is the main key to completing a dissertation. Choose the medium you like – timeline on the wall, calendar, or on your phone. It should be graphic and precise. First of all, put in the graduate school’s deadlines on defense notification, abstract, application for graduation, defense, submitting the paper for formatting review, etc. There are lots of deadlines and you have to mind them all.
Secondly, put in your own deadlines for each section of work you need to finish before a particular date. Always put in more time just in case something goes wrong. Even if you think that you’ve done all the research before writing, it might so happen that you’ll need additional research later. Be realistic about it and do not burn out. Consider that you’ll have a life too, not only studies.
4. Cut off Perfectionism
A lot of times the main difficulty in completing this work is writing anxiety. It is a pretty common problem among doctoral students. Even though they’ve been in academia for years and know how to write papers, they still feel a lot of pressure. Remember that the only real obstacle on your way is your perfectionism, so try to get rid of that. Your first draft will be terrible, like any other first draft, and it is fine. Trust the process, do not be afraid to re-do, re-read, and edit viciously.
Establish professional relations with the supervisor and committee, so that you can always ask them for help and advice. Be sure to listen to what they say and take notes. Also, implement successful study strategies that work for you. And be sure that you can do it; it is just another paper, which just happens to be bigger in volume.
Another important thing to do is to break the process into small portions of work. This way, dissertation will not look overwhelming and you’ll always know where to start. Focus on one task at a time. If you procrastinate, just start with the small and easy task so you remain productive.
5. Start on Your Topic Early
Choosing a topic for a dissertation is one of the biggest decisions one will make on this journey. After all, you’ll be preoccupied with it for a year, so it needs to be exciting for you. There are probably some fields in the subject you’re specializing in and that also have gaps in knowledge. The topic also needs to have value for further research and give insight on some issues.
It should be not too broad as a paper is limited in volume. And if one chooses not a very specific angle, it won’t be possible to cover everything in this paper.
You do not have to choose right away. Start from researching the field and potential topics you might be interested in. Look at what previous research has been done and what can be added. Narrow your search down to 3-4 options. Discuss them with your supervisor, staff member, and fellow student. Look at what they have to say. Your supervisor might guide you and give valuable advice on what perspective to choose.
In Summary
A dissertation requires dedication, hard work, and strong time management skills. But at the same time, it is an exciting opportunity to prove your knowledge and create useful research for future scientists. It is essential to start early and do a lot of planning. One also needs to work in close cooperation with their supervisor. Create a timeline, manage your sources, ask for help, and never forget about deadlines. Trust the process and do not be a perfectionist about it.
Print this Article
