The Complete Guide on How to Write a Dissertation: From Topic Development to Defense

• What is a Dissertation?
  • Defining the Purpose of a Dissertation
  • Dissertation Vs. Thesis
• How to Start Your Dissertation
  • Choosing a Topic and How to Write Your Thesis
  • Choosing an Advisor
  • How to Write Your Dissertation Proposal
  • The Dissertation Committee
• Planning Your Dissertation Work
  • Start With an Outline
  • The Importance of Time Management
  • Combating Writer’s Block
  • Avoiding Procrastination
  • Try Writing Every Day
• Important Information to Consider With Your Dissertation
  • Prioritize Citing Sources to Avoid Plagiarism
  • Avoid Unprofessional Language and Proofread as You Work
  • Regularly Seek Guidance and Feedback From Your Advisor
• Completing and Defending Your Dissertation
  • Preparing Your Defense
  • Facing Your Committee

More than 50% of PhD students have been found to drop out of their programs during the ABD phase – All But Dissertation. This somewhat shocking statistic seems to correlate with the popular construction of the dissertation and the academic as an overburdened and under-resourced student, attempting the nearly impossible task of starting, writing, and completing a behemoth of an intellectually rigorous piece of work. In truth, writing a dissertation takes time, commitment, and a lot of support.

The following page offers tips and guidelines to help you — from formulating an idea all the way to defending your work.

What is a Dissertation?

A dissertation is grounded in original research that offers substantial contributions to your field of study. The point of this comprehensive piece of writing is to highlight your competences and capacity for research within your field, analysis of that research, and application to your chosen field of study, offering content that will help advance the knowledge of your academic community. Ultimately, the dissertation acts as the final academic product of your doctoral journey.

Defining the Purpose of a Dissertation

Your dissertation is an essential element of both your own graduate education and of the academic community in which you learn and participate. Planning, executing, and writing your dissertation aids in the development of vital research, writing, and critical thinking skills, advancing your abilities to synthesize complex information, while challenging your time management and organizational capabilities. Regardless of the career you choose, or are already in, the dissertation process helps to heighten and refine your reading, writing, and research techniques. Moreover, the dissertation allows you to join the ranks of other academics and researchers who contribute to their chosen scholarly field. In this way, the dissertation acts as a final assessment benchmark for your program and your university in your pursuit of your graduate degree.

Dissertation Vs. Thesis

In general, a thesis refers to the research paper that is required at a masters level, while the dissertation is the product of a doctoral-level program. Both papers involve original research based on a specific set of questions, but the difference is primarily in scope, with the master’s thesis typically requiring a smaller scale. However, it is important to note that some universities use the words thesis and dissertation interchangeably; be sure to check the specific requirements of your degree program.

Moreover, both a thesis and a dissertation are different from a thesis statement. The latter involves a succinct but complex argument that grounds any sort of argument-based paper; the former, on the other hand, may be based on a thesis statement, but has an entirely larger scope, including original research to prove such an argument.

How to Start Your Dissertation

The following section will help introduce you to the beginning stages of the dissertation process. It is important at each step of the way to take your time and consider the options and decisions that work best for you, your personal and professional life, as well as your academic timeline. Each of these stages will be different for every student, and there is never a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, consider how to apply our guidelines to work for you.

Choosing a Topic and How to Write Your Thesis

Perhaps the most important element of choosing a topic is picking something that you find appealing and significant. You will be spending a whole lot of time on this topic, so holding your interest is a great way to maintain your commitment to your dissertation project. First, think about topics that would fit with your current career or your career goals. What makes sense for where you see yourself going personally and professionally?

Next, you must consider whether your topic is meaningful to your chosen academic field, and if there is a gap in the literature. That is, you want to make sure your choice has intellectual significance and has not already been written about. During this phase, it may be useful to seek the advice of academic professionals who may help you identify gaps in research or discover a previously unknown problem that your research can address.

Your topic should be discussed with your chair or advisor, and will ultimately have to be approved by your committee, so allow yourself some flexibility in tweaking, altering, and slightly changing your ideas to best align with what your scholarly advisors have to say.

Once you have decided on your topic, you should start thinking about how to frame it as a problem that needs to be addressed, and the argument that you will be making about how to address such a problem. This requires not only research to situate your claims and your topic as a whole but also some analysis of how you will approach this problem through original research.

Choosing an Advisor

In large part, choosing an advisor (also called a chair or a mentor) can be just as important as selecting a topic. Your advisor should not only be a scholar in your field, but should also be someone with whom you have – or can have – an academic relationship. An advisor is there to guide you, to offer suggestions and advice on how to re-frame or re-think elements of your topic, research, and dissertation; an advisor also is there to help keep you on track through the dissertation phases – from choosing your topic to writing the proposal to writing your results to defending your dissertation. He or she should be an ally whom you can trust, but also someone who can motivate and critique you. Consider choosing a professor with whom you have had class before and have had a positive experience with; it can be more challenging to have an advisor with whom you have never worked.

How to Write Your Dissertation Proposal

Once your topic has been approved by your advisor and/or committee, you can move to the next phase in the dissertation process: writing the proposal. Establishing the importance of your topic, and the potential areas of research within that topic, will help you more easily write your introduction, literature review, and methodology (the three areas that most often comprise a dissertation proposal). The proposal should delineate the purpose of your dissertation, as well as outline how you propose to conduct your research. Having a detailed and comprehensive dissertation proposal will aid you in the long-term dissertation writing process, allowing you to stay focused and avoiding becoming overly ambitious in the scope of your research.

As you consider the three chapters that will most likely comprise your proposal – the introduction, the literature review, and the methodology – also consider the factors that contribute to that goal. This includes reading and researching, particularly literature within the last five years, collecting and analyzing information, organizing (and reorganizing) your arguments and analysis, drafting (and rewriting) each section of each chapter, and proofreading, possibly with the help of academic professionals.

The first part of your proposal is the first chapter. This will include an introduction to the topic, as well as background on the problem. Next, you will typically present the statement of the problem you hope to address with your study, as well as the purpose of the study. You will then delve into your research questions and design of your study (in a truncated form – the third chapter of your proposal will go more deeply into these areas).

The second part of your proposal is Chapter 2, which is your literature review. In this review, you will develop a synthesis of the extant literature around your topic. This will be based on studies from accredited scholars and researchers within the past five years. This chapter helps to identify the gaps in the literature, which you are proposing to fill with your study.

Finally, the proposal concludes with Chapter 3, the methodology. In this chapter, you will document how you propose to conduct the study with enough detail so that others would be able to replicate your process. This will include presenting and justifying your methodology and methods, as well as your population, sample size, data collection and analysis methods, and limitations.

The Dissertation Committee

When you begin to think seriously about your dissertation, as well as who your advisor will be (since this person also serves as the chair for your dissertation committee), you should also start to think about what other professors could serve as members of your committee.

Each committee has its own form, as well as its own set of expectations; however, there are some generalizations to consider when thinking about your committee. First, just like your advisor, your committee members will have an active role in helping shape your dissertation proposal, and will read your final dissertation in its entirety, offering recommendations, notes, and suggestions for changes. Indeed, your committee serves as your primary reading audience, a fact that should remain in the forefront of your thinking as you write your project.

Members should be chosen to create a balanced and comprehensive committee. Most often, this means that you should choose professors who will be able to provide methodological or discipline-related expertise. While one or some may be within your department, you may also choose committee members from complementary departments, particularly if your project is interdisciplinary in nature.

Planning Your Dissertation Work

Dissertations are daunting! They take time and effort, and planning can be your best ally in making sure that you have devoted the needed energy and time to write, re-write, and go through the revision process with your advisor and committee. The following sections will help you manage your workload down the dissertation-writing stretch, including how to outline, ways to combat writer’s block, and tips on time management.

Start With an Outline

With any sort of writing that includes complex thought, an outline is a lifesaver. For a dissertation, it is almost compulsory. First writing, and then keeping to, a dissertation outline will allow you to stay focused on your main argument and not go adrift of your primary claims. Most dissertations have a similar procedure, which you can follow below:

• Introduction with Thesis: In your introduction, you do exactly that – introduce the context of the issue that you will be focusing on, as well as situating the primary problems that arise from this context. This section sets the stage for the rest of the dissertation, arguing where there are gaps in the research, the consequences of those gaps, and how your study would be able to help fill those gaps. The introduction is essential in helping clarify the purpose of your research before diving into the deep-end of the dissertation pool.
• Definitions or Terminology: Since not everyone who will be reading your dissertation is an expert in your particular field, much less niche topic of interest, it is vital to explain terms that will be used throughout your project. This allows for an even playing field for you as a writer and the readers, ensuring an equal understanding of how you are using and applying certain terminology. Be sure to stick with the definition you give in this section throughout your dissertation to avoid confusion.

• Literature Review: The literature review is an essential – if not overwhelming – element to your dissertation. Often requiring over 75 sources, most of which should be from the last five years of academic research, the literature review not only does offers a justification for your particular focus of research by synthesizing the existing literature and identifying those gaps, but it also provides a rationale for your methodological approach. One of the more comprehensive elements of your project, the literature review requires that you both summarize and analyze the extant research in your field of study.

  The summary part of the literature review is not just a condensation of the individual studies that have been conducted in your area of study, but instead should be a cogent and focused explanation of the main issues, challenges, gaps, and germane findings of those studies. In this way, the summary of the current literature helps you to define the field of study as it exists in the last five years, as well as rationalize the need for your own study to contribute to that field.

  Critical analysis will be a vital part of that summary, as you as a researcher apply your own analytical lens to the studies, exploring their strengths and weaknesses, and applying those results to your study’s methodological approach. This element requires you to engage with the text, not as a passive reader, but as an active academic.

• Methodology: The methodology section is where you decide, and then rationalize, how to go about finding the answers your dissertation is seeking. This necessitates deciding not only on a qualitative or quantitative study, but then choosing a specific research design. You will also need to include a significant amount of detail about how you will conduct your study – enough so that someone else reading your dissertation would be able to replicate it. Often, this chapter will include the participants you will be using, the instruments (ways in which you will collect the data, such as interviews or specific surveys that have been used before), procedures for collecting the data, and the way in which you will be analyzing the data you have collected.
• Findings or Discussion Section: In this section, you will present the results of your analyses, typically in order of your research questions. Then, in the discussion segment, you will analyze the meanings that are created by these results. This includes the ways in which the results reinforce or subvert the existing literature, as well as the theoretical, practical, and social implications of your findings. Often, a discussion will also include specific limitations of your study, as well as recommendations for practice in your field (how the results of your study can be used practically). While the findings are an objective presentation of your results, the discussion is a critical analysis of those results.
• Conclusion: The conclusion is your last opportunity to connect the dots in your study; that is, this section allows you to summarize the study as a whole in addition to arguing the meaning of that study. Your conclusion often includes conclusions – what ideas and effects may come from your study, and how it may benefit the field as a whole.
• Conflict of Interest Statement and Further Research Recommendations: If required by your program or university, this section will explain any conflict of interest (or that none existed). This may also be a place to add any recommendations on further research, which can be linked to your limitations section from the discussion.
• Bibliographic Information (Sources): Using whichever guidelines are appropriate for your discipline, your sources should include full reference information for all the citations you have used throughout the dissertation.

The Importance of Time Management

Sometimes, the actual writing of the dissertation can be the hardest part. This stems, in part, from the sheer volume of writing you need to do, which can seem overpowering. To help calm those nerves, think of how you can best manage your time to write most efficiently and effectively. Consider giving yourself a weekly word count target – for instance, 1,000 words every week – to help you feel motivated. Or carve out the same day and time each week to work – Dissertation Wednesdays – which can make you feel accountable. The dissertation is a marathon, not a sprint, and you’ll want to take those 25 miles bit by bit, writing consistently each week. Everyone is different in what works and what stimulates. Try out different writing and time management strategies and see what’s best for you.

Combating Writer’s Block

Another challenge of the dissertation writing process – writer’s block. It’s inevitable. You, a blank screen, and a blinking cursor. Whether it is because you burned out from thinking and writing too much, or simply are on an unachievable timeline or deadline, writer’s block can (and almost always does) fell the most accomplished of writers one time or another.

The key to writer’s block is to not let it stop your progress. Instead, try these methods to help loosen you up and get the words flowing through your fingertips.

• Forget writing. Focus on other elements of your dissertation that need to get done and write those down. What elements need to be in a certain section or chapter? What citations need to be formatted? Margins? Maybe there are articles you need to print. You don’t have to write every single day (or every single writing session) to make progress on your dissertation.
• Free write. This is an oldie but goodie for all writers. Don’t get caught up in every word, every phrase, and every citation. Let yourself be free from expectations and write what’s on your mind. This may be dissertation-related, or may be screed about how much you are hating writing your dissertation today. Allowing yourself to write without judgment can often get you over the blockage.
• Work on a section out of order. While some people like to write in sequence, if you’re stuck (or even if you aren’t) there is no reason why you can’t jump around. Choose a section and chapter that seems conquerable. Even if that’s writing the acknowledgements and remembering all the people who have helped you along your dissertation journey.

Avoiding Procrastination

Everyone deals with procrastination, but how can you really make the best out of every opportunity? At the same time, when you’re absolutely worn out, how can you tell the difference between actual procrastination and burnout? Sometimes taking a break is important to reformulate your ideas or get a new perspective on your existing work.

First, consider taking inventory and checking to see if you are burned out or merely avoiding the work you need to do. If you do honestly feel that you’re postponing your work, rather than taking a much-needed break, they are several strategies you can employ. It can be helpful to figure out when you seem to procrastinate and what those behaviors often are. This will help you stop the behavior.

It may also be useful to consider why you are procrastinating. Sometimes there are psychological barriers that are stopping you from working – a fear of failure, or conversely, fear of success. Naming what is behind your avoidance can also be invaluable to getting past your stoppage.

Try creating a productive work environment, if you still find yourself procrastinating. Working with the television on or with roommates around might not aid in your writing process. Constantly checking email or watching cute animal videos may have the same effect. Find a space where you have a chance at getting your best work done.

Try Writing Every Day

The best way to write your dissertation is…to write your dissertation. It sounds silly, but that is exactly what you need to do: fortify your willpower and write – even a little bit – every single day. Treat writing your dissertation like any other part of your daily routine – taking your vitamins, brushing your teeth, eating your vegetables. Not only will it make it easier to write every day, but you also won’t fall behind in your research, your writing, or even your dissertation defense.

Be rational in your daily goals. You shouldn’t try to kill yourself with writing eight or ten hours a day – that’s just not doable. Instead, start with an achievable amount of time, perhaps 15 minutes to start, and work your way up. Schedule breaks and allow yourself to turn your brain off every now and then. The same goes for writing goals. Don’t try to accomplish everything in one seating. Allow yourself to work incrementally by working day-by-day.

Important Information to Consider for Your Dissertation

Once you have decided on a topic and have started your writing routine, you still want to make sure that you remain on track to completing your dissertation. This means not only on how much and when you write, but what you write and how you write. The next few sections are a good reminder on what to check in on when you’re knee-deep in the writing process.

Prioritize Citing Sources to Avoid Plagiarism

In case it wasn’t drummed into your head enough in high school or in your undergraduate years, plagiarism can ruin you. It can ruin your grades, it can ruin your standing in a post-graduate program, and it can ruin your career. Don’t do it.

More than just avoiding deliberate plagiarism, you also want to make sure you aren’t committing inadvertent plagiarism. That means you want to cite every source you use, and every idea that is not your own. Here are some general rules to follow to make sure you aren’t plagiarizing.

• Words and phrases: If you are using an author’s exact words, you have to use quotations around those words and credit the source.
• Ideas: Even when you paraphrase – use your own words – if the information is not common knowledge, and it is someone else’s idea/conclusion/concept/theory, you have to cite the source.
• Know your sources: You always want to make sure the sources you are using are credible and, for the most part, academic. This will help ensure that the source from which you are paraphrasing has not used plagiarism itself.
• Cite and Cite and then Cite: When in doubt, cite it. It is always easier in the editing process to take out superfluous citations than add them back in. Make sure you are citing correctly – that is, according to your field’s style guidelines. There are a handful of different citation methods (APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, IEEE), so double-check which is used in your field, and then check out Purdue’s Writing Center, a treasure trove of citation guideline information.

Avoid Unprofessional Language and Proofread as You Work

A dissertation is the highest academic level of writing, and you want your language and your content to reflect that. While you may not suppress your writing style in the first draft, revisions and edits are the time to make sure you have taken out stylistic elements that are inconsistent with dissertation-level writing. Aren’t sure about your stylistic choices? Ask your advisor or go to your university’s writing center, where experts are there to help you.

• Voice, Tense, and Tone: Avoid any form of slang or informal language. Your dissertation should employ a scholarly tone to help uphold its objectivity. This often includes a lack of contractions (aren’t, isn’t, shouldn’t) as well as any vernacular that you would use in an informal conversation. Remember, your audience is a scholarly one – first, your advisor and dissertation committee, and then, the larger academic community. Your voice and tone should reflect this. Additionally, most dissertations should be written in active voice and present tense.
• Indecisive Language: You are making an argument in your dissertation – claims about how to understand or comprehend certain phenomenon. In order to augment your credibility, avoid indecisive language like “maybe,” “probably,” and the like. While you do not want to make outrageous claims that you are unable to back up, you equally do not want to appear to be vacillating in your arguments.
• Definitions and Terminology: As discussed in the previous section, you will want to define your terminology in the first chapter to allow for all readers to have a uniform understanding of your definitions. Such definitions must remain consistent throughout the entirety of your dissertation.
• Formatting and Style Requirements: Be sure to follow whatever formatting/style guidelines (APA, MLA, etc.) are required by the university, the committee, or your advisor. If you are not certain what those guidelines are, do not hesitate to ask your advisor.

• Common Terms or Phrases to Avoid: Here is a short (and not exhaustive) list of terms and phrases that you want to avoid when writing your scholarly work of research.

  • Universal moral judgements: “Bad,” “Terrible,” “Amazing,” “Stupid.” You are not in the role of critic or moral moderator. You are in the role of assessing facts.
  • Colloquialisms, clichés, and informal language: “Something like,” “Kind of,” “A bit,” “Stuff, “Thing,” “Think outside the box,” “At the end of the day.”
  • Exaggerated language: “Universally,” “Throughout time,” “Always,” “Never.”
  • Gendered language: “Firemen” (instead firefighter), “Mankind” (instead, humankind).
  • Slang: “Cops,” “Awesome,” “Ripped off.”

Editing for these words and phrases can be difficult when you are used to hearing and writing in your own voice. We are often not objective editors of our own words and ideas. It’s often a vital step to let another pair of eyes proofread your dissertation – whether that’s someone in a writing group, at your university’s writing center, or a dissertation editing or dissertation editing services. This will ensure that your writing is up to the scholarly level it should be.

Regularly Seek Guidance and Feedback From Your Advisor

Regularly Seek Guidance and Feedback From Your Advisor”: “Your advisor is the main point of contact for you, and you want to think of your advisor as a friend and mentor. He or she is there not only to guide you but to also help you – if you are having writer’s block, if you want to brainstorm, if you need a second opinion on an argument. Your advisor is most helpful when you keep them informed – offering progress reports is one way to make not only yourself accountable, but also let your advisor check in on what you may need help with. Don’t be nervous about communicating with your advisor – he or she most likely has been in this position many times before, and come with a set of experiences and vast field of knowledge to help you with this process.

Completing and Defending Your Dissertation

So, you’ve finally finished that labor of love, sweat, and tears you call a dissertation? Congratulations! Savor and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that you have worked for and earned. And then get ready for the final portion of your dissertation journey: the defense. While many a knee has knocked and oceans of sweat have been poured in fear of this last hurdle, the defense of your dissertation should actually be one of the most invigorating and rewarding steps in your journey – you get to share and show off this milestone research project.

Here are a few guidelines on the steps you should be taking when preparing your defense, and advice on how to do so, as you reach the final leg of your dissertation travels.

Preparing Your Defense

The best way to make yourself feel confident and go into your dissertation ready to take on the academic world is to be prepared. There are a number of different ways to do this:

• Visual Aids: As with nearly any presentation given in today’s society, a visual component is highly useful. Generally, this can be a Powerpoint or Prezi. You want to consider your visual to be a way to engage your committee but also a way for you to summarize your main point. Your slides should not contain more than four to five points, and should often have a visual component. This will allow your committee, and anyone else sitting in on your defense (like a spouse or significant other, family members, or colleagues) to follow along with what you are presenting. Remember, the slides are secondary to your own verbal presentation.
• Know Your Material: You know your work. You’ve spent years on your work. But remember that over those years your content has shifted and transformed, and that first chapter you wrote back three years ago may need a good dusting off. Re-read your dissertation. Every line, every chapter. Familiarize yourself with every component, not just your thesis or your results. Each and every element should and will be on the table. You don’t need to memorize your entire dissertation but you do want to feel confident in what you have written.
• Prepare for Questions: After you present your dissertation through an oral and visual presentation, your committee will ask you questions. That’s the defense part of the defense of your dissertation. While they won’t tell you the questions beforehand, you may have some indication to what they will be asking by the questions and comments they made in your review process. Either way, you want to be prepared for the questions they will ask. How? By knowing your material: the literature surrounding your topic, the results of your study, and the conclusions and implications of those results. If you know your work, you will feel comfortable answering any questions thrown at you.
• Practice Makes Perfect: Just like with anything else in life, practice makes your task easier. You will feel more comfortable, you will speak more confidently, and you will give a more polished and perfected presentation. Speak in front of a mirror, a dog, a friend or a loved one; actually read your presentation aloud and make sure you make eye contact with your practice audience. Side benefit of this practice: it will help calm your nerves when your defense begins.

Facing Your Committee

On your big day, make sure you are prepared. Get as much sleep as your nerves allow the night before. Do your morning ritual that helps calm you – exercise, have a cup of coffee (just one!), take a long, hot shower. Then, dress the part. You are presenting at the pinnacle of your academic career and you want to look like it. Make sure you have your visual presentation in at least two places, just in case (for instance, email yourself and have it on a thumb drive). Arrive at least 30 minutes early to make sure you find the room, and check if the technology is working. Invite your family and friends to the defense – having a friendly face can help you make it through your sweaty palms. Remember, nerves are normal. This is an important day! But if you have prepared, at the end of your defense, you’ll be able to go and celebrate the end of this long journey.