Managing your dissertation

Time management: Don't let your dissertation take over your life.

Writing a dissertation is a challenge, and I have been inspired to write this post by my own experience and my dealings with a number of students who have either: missed deadlines; written considerably more than needed; done enough research to write a PhD thesis and not known what to include and what to leave out; collected data from groups of people through interview or observation with no clear idea of what they are trying to prove; and then (my own personal problem) changed their minds numerous times about what angle they are going to follow (and as a result spent countless hours researching areas that will never make it into the finished work). Here, I will make some simple suggestions to avoid these problems happening to you.

Firstly - manage your time. This does not mean just your study time - write a schedule that accounts for all your commitments and leisure time (relaxing walks in the countryside included). This is important as it can give you a feeling of control over the project and allow you to scale your planning sensibly. Once you identify how much time remains between now and your deadline you should find it easier to scale down tasks based on this - there is a reason why every Masters (and PhD) dissertation has a sentence in it pertaining to the 'limitation of time allowed'.

Secondly - manage your planning. Planning keeps your work on track, allows you to approach long pieces in manageable chunks, and (perhaps most importantly) helps you avoid wasted hours researching peripheral areas that will (or at least should) never make it into the final work. Planning for your dissertation should ideally be done with a title in mind and stated aims and objectives that have been agreed with your tutor. Assuming these are all in place a plan should be easy to write and should be your guide when deciding what to read and what not to read and in determining what evidence to gather.

Thirdly - manage your reading. Knowing when to stop reading and start writing is a skill in itself. I know from personal experience that it is possible to become so enamoured with wandering round library stacks collecting relevant articles and taking notes on them that it is possible to forget that the aim of the exercise is to actually write something of one's own. The point at which you decide you have gathered enough data should ideally arise naturally around the time your Gantt Chart in your research proposal said it would! If it doesn't, some signs that you are ready to start writing are: 1) You feel suitably informed enough to start writing either your literature review or your introduction (this would not be your final version - but feeling the urge to get started is a great indicator of being ready to); 2) Everything you are reading now makes you feel more confused rather than less confused (start now or you might never); 3) You are starting to feel your excitement for your project waning (enthusiasm shows in your writing - don't let it burn out before you get started); 4) You are increasingly fearful of the approaching deadline (often combined with classmates proudly discussing how much they have already written).

Fourthly - manage your expectations. It is likely (although not guaranteed) that when you first wrote your dissertation proposal and discussed it with your supervisor/classmates/anyone that would listen that you had high hopes for what you could cram into 15000ish words - I know I did - I pretty much planned my MSc and PhD over the same weekend hoping it would all come to around 14000 words not the final total of 96000. This is why I include this issue here. It is important to be realistic about how much information you can present in a dissertation - a good portion of academic writing is filler, i.e. introducing, linking, signposting, concluding, supporting and illustrating; so, the amount of 'unique to you' material that it provides scope to present is very limited. This of course works the other way too (padding can only go so far); don't expect hyperbolic smoke and mirrors to deliver you a fantastic, full length dissertation either!

Finally manage your communications. By this I mean check any and all concerns with your tutor as they arise; practice full-disclosure with any participants in the project (either assistants or respondents/trial subjects); book your proof reader well in advance to ensure that they can do the work for you and assist you in meeting your deadline (by 'proof reader' - clearly I mean me!).

Hope all this helps in your quest for the perfect dissertation experience.