Effective Instructions For Those Who Are Writing A Dissertation Or A Thesis
Planning has to be the key word to enable you to produce a dissertation or thesis.
- Once you know that you need to produce a dissertation or thesis you need to start thinking about what you may use as your focus . At this stage don't go too far down the planning route. Just make a few notes and highlight ideas as they come to you.
- Think about the practicalities of your choices . It may be a good idea at this stage to just run some of your ideas past your professor. If they approve then you can start thinking about background reading and targeting research documents.
- Make sure that you have a research or project diary that you use as your go-to book where you store all your handwritten notes, calendar and ideas. This is going to be invaluable as you work your way through the process.
- Proposal . You will need to give your professor some form of written proposal that outlines how you are going to deal with the dissertation or thesis, identify what you are going to cover in your literature search and the depth of your study . The more information and thought that you can put in your proposal the easier your job will be later when you are writing the final document.
- Workout a realistic timetable for your work. Don’t leave it all until a week before the cut-of date. It may be a good idea at this point to identify a proof-reader and book their services for around a week or two before the work needs to be handed in.
- At this stage before you start actually writing, it may be an idea to get some examples . This will help you to target the style of writing that you need and the format you need to adhere to.
- Starting your first draft for the document can be daunting. Go back to the instructions for the work. Identify the total word count; referencing format and layout of headings. Now using a blank document add all the headings you will need and start adding information using bullet points to begin with.
- Break up the work into chunks . Do not expect to write the whole of the draft in one sitting. Remember to leave the Abstract until last (this will need to go through a few drafts in order to get concise language that stays within the word limit.
- As you work through the draft make sure that you pay attention to the basics such as using well-constructed paragraphs, established grammar and punctuation. When your draft has been approved you can then start finalizing your document.
- Hand in the document knowing that you have worked hard and have completed the process.