How To Start Writing a Dissertation

A good beginning is half the battle

Writing a dissertation is a time-consuming process that greatly depends on your organisational abilities and analytical skills. Unquestionably, the dissertation is more complex than any of your prior essays and research papers; it is a serious and fully original research work that juxtaposes theory with practice. If you want to produce a well-balanced dissertation, you should conduct various field-works, gather credible information and present accurate findings. You should be ready to collide with unexpected results and contradictory data when writing a dissertation. But, above all, you should put forth an effort and start. You will immediately face with a problem of how to start writing a dissertation, but do not be afraid. There are some general recommendations that will give you the clues to this intricate yet exciting process. Reading much is a promising beginning for writing a dissertation; if you want to succeed in this multi-stage project, read approximately 15-20 pages of abstracts or full peer-reviewed articles each day and make notes. If you find a good foreign article that pertains to your area of research, translate it and use when writing a dissertation. In the process of reading you should analyse the acquired evidence and reveal the gaps in previous studies. Such a critical analysis will reinforce your understanding of the subject and help you to better cope with the burden of writing a dissertation.

How to organise the initial stages when writing a dissertation

The systematic start is the core concept of successful dissertation writing. Firstly, you should communicate with your supervisor and decide on a topic of the dissertation. Choose a profound topic that really interests you; in this case, nothing will hinder you from writing a dissertation. Once the topic is chosen, you should familiarise yourself with major requirements and determine the deadlines for the drafts. The further step is to look for samples and resources that will be essential for writing a dissertation. Scrutinise some high-quality dissertations, paying particular attention to such aspects as content, style, chapter headings, methodology, appendices and referencing. The best research materials for writing a dissertation are scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals and books that can be acquired in a library and on the Internet. Some useful Internet sites are Questia, ERIC, Medline, ACM Digital Library and MedPub; you should acquire a membership to get access to the majority of these resources. Free databases will be of little help to you, as they do not contain specific information that can be used for writing a dissertation. Sometimes it is necessary to use both primary and secondary sources to add more credibility to the dissertation. The fact is that secondary sources may be inaccurate or contradictory; hence, you should turn to primary source materials when writing a dissertation. Bear in mind that sources should be up-to-date and reflect the recent findings; however, if the dissertation is on linguistics, psychology or literature it is possible to use some outdated resources, drawing a parallel between classical and modern thinking.

During the third stage of writing a dissertation you should define the areas of your research; they should be manageable and utterly coherent with the topic of the dissertation. An inadequate choice of research areas may reduce the quality of the paper; this unpleasant situation may be avoided if you specify some prompting questions on the basis of the previous studies. Finally, you should plan your time and the structure of the dissertation. Actually, it is always difficult to rightfully manage your time when writing a dissertation, as you have a lot of affairs that should be solved urgently. Remember that you need some time to work over the supervisor’s feedback and make necessary corrections. It is usually recommended to spend at least 15-30 minutes a day on writing a dissertation; however, this time frame may be extended if a deep research is needed. You should take into account that there is a significant disparity between the quantitative and qualitative research. If you want to achieve the best results in writing a dissertation, create a weekly or monthly schedule and record your full-time and part-time work, appointments, obligations, private affairs, special events and other essentials. Identify time gaps and fill your schedule with hours that you will spend on writing a dissertation. Mark this activity as a priority and try to adhere to the written timetable. In light of this, a schedule will reduce your anxiety and help you submit your dissertation on time. When you finish planning your time, move on to devising the structure of the dissertation. Any dissertation should be divided into several chapters; the primary draft includes some general sections, but in the process of writing a dissertation the number of chapters is considerably increased. Once all these initial stages are fulfilled, the dissertation will be completed without any particular difficulties.

Individual strategies enhance the overall process of writing a dissertation

Although it is crucial to follow a fixed schedule, a definite time management strategy and specific planning when you start writing a dissertation, there is no common scenario. Research the topic in your own pace and write in your own order. It does not matter whether you start from the Literature Review Chapter, the Introduction Chapter or the Methodology Chapter; consistency and independence of thoughts are more important than certain norms and rules. The ideas may be written down on a separate list or in a specific journal and then inserted in the dissertation. These ideas should verify or refute hypotheses and theoretical implications of the conducted research. When you start writing a dissertation, the expression of thoughts will be rough, evasive and controversial; this is explained by the fact that you do not have all necessary data yet. You are engaged in freewriting that demonstrates your creative and intellectual abilities. But as you proceed with writing a dissertation, your ideas will be more refined. At the beginning you will be an amateur, at the end you will be a professional.