Welcome to the Academic Year of 2021-2022! Regardless of whether you are at the beginning stages of your thesis, the middle, or wrapping up, you’re probably feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety about jumping back into writing after a summer’s break. You will allay all that trepidation if you make a writing plan for the 2021-2022 academic year. Here at Dissertation Editor we have a (tried and true) calendar to Get Your Thesis Written in 2021-2022! Starting in September, each month we’ll walk you through the outline and writing chapter-by-chapter.
Dissertation Writing Goals
The Dissertation Outline
If your department and/or advisor has not yet provided you with a handy-dandy template, here’s the outline:
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Method
- Data Analysis & Results/Discussion
- Conclusion
Each month, starting in September, we'll be covering the nitty-gritty of each chapter
Chapter Outlines
Within this outline, each chapter has a (somewhat) agreed upon outline. But remember, month-by-month, we'll be holding your hand and walking you through all of it right here at our blog.
At this point, I realize I might only be adding to your nervous energy, so let me stop you right there and reassure you that this is doable, especially if you:
- Approach the thesis chapter-by-chapter rather than as a whole.
- Outline each section of one chapter, then add to it until each section of each chapter is complete.
- Once Written, submit each chapter to your advisor for feedback, then revise accordingly. If you don’t have that level of support from your advisor, however, then not to worry, the team at Dissertation Editor would be happy to review your chapters and provide you with detailed feedback.
Month-by-Month Plan for Writing
Each month we’ll present a blog post devoted to a chapter from the outline above. You'll follow a process of outline, write, submit, revise until your thesis is complete!
Look out for our September blog post:
Get Your Thesis Written in 2021-2022: The Literature Review
Thoughts on Survival During the Thesis Writing Process
When the worst happens, like writer’s block, failure to meet a deadline, the holidays....here are some other things to keep you on track and feeling productive:
Writer's Block:
- Research conferences on your topic/theoretical area/method of choice/discipline and submit a piece of your research. Academic conferences do include student presenters, so submit your literature review or, if it's a novel approach, your method section. Ask in your department about conferences in your discipline. They may even offer funding for travel and lodging!
- Focus on formatting. Did I forget to mention you don’t just have to write this thing, you have to format it to meet certain academic standards too? More on that to come in our monthly blog post Get Your Dissertation Written in 2021-2022, but if you just can't wait and need to know all about formatting your document right now, see Purdue Owl for some excellent tips on formatting for all kinds of styles, including APA, CMS, ASA, AMA, MLA, and beyond. If you want to get a jump start on formatting, you can also contact us at Dissertation Editor. We would be happy to help with formatting your entire thesis!
When you Don't Meet Your Writing Deadlines:
It will happen, so don’t beat yourself up! The completion of a thesis is dependent on so many factors, both internal (you might get sick, go through a break up with your girlfriend/boyfriend) and external factors (like getting stuck in holiday traffic, your mom showing up to surprise you, or a flood in your apartment caused by a neighbor who wandered away from running a bath and got distracted by Netflix). To use a personal example, external factors held me up for months while I was collecting my data for my dissertation research. Specifically, my data collection (a secondary analysis of historical print media) got stalled when a library that housed the documents I needed closed down for restoration of some 1500 of their priceless paintings. Conversely, I managed to write my entire methods chapter in less than two weeks; for some of you, it might take 2 weeks to collect your data and 3 months to write your methods chapter. The point is, expect and accept hiccups along the way to completing your dissertation.
Avoid Making Plans to Write during the festive season:
Note we'll be lightening up your writing schedule in December! We recommend you take that advice seriously.
Okay, now you're off. Get your (thesis) writing cap on and ready, set, go! Remember, if you get stuck, or lose your get-up-&-go, passion for your subject, or the feeling in your finger tips from the pressure of the keyboard, then please get in touch with us! The team at Dissertation Editor literally live for this stuff and we would be happy to chat with you about your work and see how we can help you move through the thesis writing process more efficiently (and happily).
Now Bookmark our Blog and get ready for a month-by-month guide to Get Your Thesis Written in 2021-2022.
