Dissertations are important parts of academic writing. Every student at a doctorate or master’s level is expected at one point to submit their dissertation. A dissertation is tedious to structure because a lot of work is put in the compilation and writing. It is a piece of writing that summarizes research work done on a particular topic.

Dissertation writing requires a lot of discipline throughout your research work. Procrastination is highly discouraged as the process may require intensive data collection, data analysis, and large-scale data compilation. You need a plan to go through your dissertation. In this article, we will look at the do’s and don’ts while writing a dissertation.

Basic Things In Dissertation Writing

A dissertation is significant as it is a test that you use to prove to your lecturer/professor your skills to conduct good research. If you demonstrate proficiency in your research skills, you will score high grades.

The first step you need to establish while composing a dissertation is coming up with a plan that will suit you. You need to organize yourself and break down the process into manageable bits to reduce the bulk in the writing process. The plan should be comprehensive and flexible.

Your time management skills should be at its “A” game; you need to manage time effectively. You need to create a big picture of how long it is going to take to accomplish/finish a section of your dissertation and work towards it. You might also need to subdivide these sections into bits. Have in mind the time it will take to complete the sections and manage your time. In that, you beat your expected goal.

Be organized/systematic

You need to be able to plan your activities efficiently. Time management goes in line with the organization. You need to organize a meeting with your supervisors, schedule interviews if need be, for you to obtain some information from a particular person or group of people. One needs to set aside time to spend at the library for research purposes. Being systematic requires self-discipline.

Be Communicative

To achieve the maximum from people with skills such as library assistants or colleagues, you need to be amicable and ready to grasp all the knowledge they are willing to give. You also need to have excellent listening skills. Take into consideration their feedback and put them to practice.

Meeting up with your supervisors during this process is essential. You should maximize the benefits of these meetings as they are very knowledgeable in this field.

Missing these meetings is very rude. In case of emergency, you should communicate before that you will not make it formally through an email. You should know about your topic before the meeting. It shows that you are a serious student. You should also engage your supervisor with questions on unclear parts. Remember to maximize the benefits of the meeting.

When you set future meetings, it is important to send your work to the supervisor before the meeting so that he/she knows what they are coming to discuss.

You should have a research strategy

The research strategy should involve the methodology of the research resources to be used. You will need research resources such as books, journals, and other print articles. You can obtain all these from the library.

There is no limit to the resources that you should use, but be careful not to use a lot of materials and leave no space for your thoughts.

Once you complete the research, you should proofread your work and present it to a second party to do the same. It helps in assuring that there are no grammatical errors such as spellings and improper use of words.