Dissertation planner template
Skip to content. Skip to navigation. It aims to help you develop a clear sense of direction early on in the project, and to support you in organising, planning, and monitoring your project. The companion guide Writing a dissertation focuses on the preparation of the written report or thesis. A dissertation is a particular kind of academic task.
How to plan your dissertation
It's probably the most important piece of research and writing you will undertake during your undergraduate career — so the thought of writing your dissertation can be daunting.
Starting out with a robust plan will focus your research, use your time efficiently and keep the task manageable. First things first: what topics have you most enjoyed on your course? Investigating a subject you genuinely enjoy will make dissertation research less overwhelming.
Do as much preliminary reading around the subject area as you can to make sure there is plenty of literature out there to support your initial ideas. Take a good look at the most recent writings in your areas of interest.
They will help you to identify the best angle to take and could highlight the gaps in current inquiry that you can address.
What will your line of inquiry be? You may, for example, wish to extend a study that has already been carried out, apply a theory to some practical experience and critique how successful it is, or closely analyse an idea or object using a particular approach.
Your approach will inform your title. The title should clearly present the line of inquiry your dissertation will take. If you're unsure, make up a working title. You could even compose a few different titles each with a slightly different emphasis, and keep them all in mind as you do your research.
Remember to run your title by your dissertation tutor. They will be able to give you advice, help you refine any grey areas and suggest reading for research. You can break down each of these three areas further. In the introduction, your subheadings could include:. When you're planning your sections, include the full names of books and page numbers wherever you can to help you retrieve information quickly as you write your draft.
It is also useful to begin to compile you bibliography during the planning stage. Even the best laid plans go astray — so don't worry! As you read and research around your key areas, the structure and direction of your initial plan may shift. This is the beauty of having a plan. As a potential new focus arises, you can adjust your title, section headings and content notes to encompass your new ideas before your draft writing begins. A good plan means you will not lose focus on the end result.
Thanks to Goldsmiths University for supplying this content. Select your field of interest First things first: what topics have you most enjoyed on your course?
Choose an approach and a title What will your line of inquiry be? Start a list of sources When you're planning your sections, include the full names of books and page numbers wherever you can to help you retrieve information quickly as you write your draft. Review and adjust your plan as you go Even the best laid plans go astray — so don't worry! Topics Students Dissertation dos and don'ts. Higher education Advice for students resources.
Reuse this content. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Most popular.
A dissertation requires organisational skills and effective time management format can be a time consuming task at the end of a dissertation. Tom's Planner dissertation template, an example of how to use our tool when planning a research project.
It's probably the most important piece of research and writing you will undertake during your undergraduate career — so the thought of writing your dissertation can be daunting. Starting out with a robust plan will focus your research, use your time efficiently and keep the task manageable. First things first: what topics have you most enjoyed on your course? Investigating a subject you genuinely enjoy will make dissertation research less overwhelming.
Before you even get near your research proposal , you need to have a topic in mind.
You can download these planners and forms below. This Completion Planner allows you to work out the timeline for the major tasks of the final year.. Use this form to plan out your day and identify when the important jobs are going to get done..
OUR TEMPLATES ENABLE YOU TO START PLANNING STRAIGHT AWAY AND HELP YOU GET THINGS DONE
Completing your dissertation can be overwhelming and stressful. It is a critical period of time to manage time effectively and execute your well-thought-out plans. In this section, we aim to provide some checkpoints or milestones that help you to complete your dissertation in a timely manner:. Please read the Duke Wordpress Policies. Contact the Duke WordPress team. Skip to content Completing your dissertation can be overwhelming and stressful.
Dissertation plan
By Carrie Winstanley. Outlining your dissertation involves two main aspects: a practical list of what you need to do and a sketch of what you want to say. First, there is a list of 31 items that you can use as the basis of your own to-do list. Writing your to-do list is the easiest part of your dissertation, being just a list of tasks. This helps you to write a dissertation with a clear, tight structure and avoiding repetition and confusion. A well-structured outline leads to a coherent dissertation. When using linear planning for your dissertation outline you list your tasks in order of doing them, starting with your first dissertation task through to the end. For your linear plan you can use the chapter headings recommended by your supervisor or the headings in the following list:. Pros and cons of different methods, for example questionnaire, interview, observation.
Covid Update: We've taken precautionary measures to enable all staff to work away from the office. These changes have already rolled out with no interruptions, and will allow us to continue offering the same great service at your busiest time in the year.
Writing and planning a research project such as a dissertation paper, especially for a first-timer can be a real pain in the neck to get started with. Our advice? Keep calm as they would say on 9gag and think of the whole thing as a series of tasks, like in any other project.
