#dissertation tips

Since writing my dissertation blog post, which you can read HERE, I wanted to share with you more tips that can help you write research projects while managing school work! Whether you’re in undergrad or doing post graduate research, these tips can help you to systematically work on projects that last over a longer period of time! 

Dedicate a notebook to your project. Like I mentioned in my dissertation blog post, I dedicated an entire notebook to jot down notes from relevant lectures, conference presentations, things I was reading at the time, meetings with my adviser, etc. You can also keep a research journal by making entries (add a date!) and writing everything that you did that day regarding your research project! It’s a great way to track progress too!  It helps to be organised, especially if you have to write up a report about it later.  

Have a plan. Having an outline of your project will help you to not get lost in the research forest of your topic! Yes, I’m using a tree metaphor to make a point... I know. During my dissertation writing process our thesis course instructor told us to look at our project topic like it’s a forest full of trees. Some of them are key in your research, i.e. you need to cover those theories, topics, etc. and some that are further away in the forest may relate to your topic but are not necessarily important! You will have to read a ton on your topic, so in order not to get lost, make an outline of key things you need to cover and then work from there. Having a plan/outline of your research project will help you focus to stay on track. It will also help break up the overwhelming project into smaller tasks that can be accomplished and you can adapt it along the way! 

Timelines. A timeline is easy to follow if you have a deadline of when your project is due. However, if you don’t have a set timeline, make one! You can break up all of the work that you need to do from your set up plan and set specific deadlines for tasks like gathering all of your reading resources one week, completing your background research and readings in two weeks, setting a deadline for when you would like your first draft to be done. Having these small deadlines will convince you to do work and make progress, it will also prevent you from procrastinating on Netflix. 

Just Google it. Sometimes if you get stuck on a question and you cannot find the necessary information in your reading materials, instead of bothering your professors/supervisors/advisers, just Google it! You can figure out a lot of things on your own by using Google. Particularly when it comes to statistics: how to report your data, how to use SPSS, which statistic to use when, etc. you can learn by Googling it and watching stats tutorials on YouTube! There are so many step-by-step guides out there and it takes only a couple of seconds to type out what you’re looking for in the Google search bar! 

Have the software/applications downloaded on your computer. There’s nothing more annoying than having to re-run a statistical analysis test on SPSS and realizing that you don’t have it with you and it’s after 10 pm and the computer labs on campus are closed until tomorrow... The solution is to have it downloaded on your computer so that you can access it whenever you need it! Google ways how you can get SPSS on your computer, I had it on mine and it was a life saver when I was writing my dissertation and needed to run a bunch of different statistical tests. For my master’s degree I will be using Python and MATLAB and I already have them downloaded on my mac! 

Schedule in time to do work. While planning out my week in my bullet journal, I would make sure that on days off I scheduled to work on my research projects. Having a weekly schedule helps you see when you have free time to work on your research projects, as often you will have to balance course work with research. 

Know when to ask for help. I would set up weekly meetings with my research adviser to check in and show my progress and also to have my questions answered! I would also ask for help if I was not able to find answers on Google! 

You will make mistakes. Looking back on my dissertation I already know the mistakes that I made. My experiment design was flawed but that’s ok. As humans our number one goal should be to learn and grow; therefore, the mistakes that we make during our research projects can turn out to be learned lessons and ensure that we will not make the same mistakes twice. 

Use an automatic citation program for references. There are programs out there that help you gather all of the research papers that you will use in your research project and automatically cite them for you. They also generate a bibliography/reference list and can cite in your preferred style (MLA, APA, etc.). They’re free to use and most popular ones are Zotero, Mendeley, Easybib, RefWorks, etc. 

Have some fire. The most important thing is that you’re passionate about your research project and have the motivation to sit down and do work. Make sure that the topic you’re researching is interesting to you. If you’re engaged with the content you’re reading about you will find the writing process a lot easier and more enjoyable! So have some fire and be unstoppable in your research endeavors! 

I hope these tips help you out and please keep in mind that I am not an expert researcher (at least not yet!). I’m looking forward to starting my research master’s in September and learning more about conducting research! My hands are already itching from excitement when I think about working on new research projects!  

Hi, guys, I talked about this on my main blog ( @queen-baelin ) and I said I’d post a google drive archive with tips about how to write a dissertation/argumentative essay. But I had some trouble with the archive and I also decided that it’d be better if I posted this on tumblr as a series - like, multiple posts and each one with a different tip. I thought this format was better because it resembles most what I’m doing with my students. I give them one new tip after each essay, so they don’t get overwhelmed by the tips and can take them and apply them slowly. 

I’m bringing the same idea to Tumblr. Each part/post is one tip, so you can focus better on each of them and go on in your own pace. 

At the moment I have 3 parts ready to post. I’ll post them all by the end of the next week (today is July 30th so, the first week of August will be the week I’ll finish posting the 1st 3 tips). 

One more important thing, I’ll give tips on how to write dissertations based on what ENEM demands. The ENEM stands for Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (High School National Exam), done in Brazil. The test is has a duration of 2 days and requires the students to write a dissertation, an argumentative essay about a theme - which is only revealed for the students on the day of the test when it begins. The ENEM is applied across the country every year and is used by most Brazilian universities as an entry - Brazilian universities require the students to pass a test called “vestibular”, you can use your ENEM score to replace the university’s vestibular. The tips were made specifically for ENEM. The dissertation demanded has a maximum of 30 lines and has to have a thesis, arguments, a conclusion, and propose a solution.

So, yeah, I hope the tips help you guys! 

This is a long awaited post that I have procrastinated writing. I would like to start with a dissclaimer that there are two types of students in their final year of college/university who will be writing their dissertations - those who care and those who do not. If you’re reading this post and researching advice for writing a dissertation it means that you care (at least enough to not fail it). I am sharing advice that I have learned last year, as I had 9 months to write my dissertation and ended up doing it pretty well. 

Before I begin, I would like you to pay attention to other advice posts on Tumblr that I found useful last year - HERE, HERE and HERE. 

1. START EARLY. The summer BEFORE your final year at university is the most crucial reading period for your dissertation. I’m not joking. You will have to read  A LOT of research articles, maybe even books, while trying to figure out your topic and then your methodology, etc. so you need to start reading ASAP. I made sure I looked at (at least) 2 research articles every day and once I found something useful, I would archive the necessary articles in RefWorks or Zotero. I also maintained a running Word Doc with links and APA citations for references that I used. You can use extensions like Zotero/RefWorks to make a reference list of all of your readings. They also help you reference authors/texts while writing your sections. 

2. DEDICATE A NOTEBOOK. I dedicated a SEPARATE notebook for ALL of my dissertation notes! I would include information learned during the dissertation lectures, meetings with my advisor, research notes, any questions I had and then when I started data collection (because I did an experiment). Yours might be different but it’s a great idea to store all of the necessary information in one place and have access to it whenever you need it. 

3. HAVE A SEPARATE FOLDER. In the same fashion, I bought a separate acordion file folder like THIS ONE to store the dissertation handbook, printed research articles, etc. in one place. As long as it is A4 size and doesn’t have annoying handles it will work fine. 

4. FIGURE OUT DEADLINES. Pay attention to your dissertation handbook/syllabus (depending on your school) for important deadlines. I liked color coding my lectures and assignments in my planner, so I assigned a color for all tasks/events/assignments/presentations, etc. regarding my dissertation and wrote them down in my planner. I also use a monthly printable calendar, that’s pinned next to my desk, for a monthly overview of important things I need to remember to do. THESE are great, I also used THESE. 

5. SET MEETINGS. During the first week of lectures, schedule a meeting with your advisor to discuss your summer research and topic. Your advisor will be the most important person regarding your dissertation work, as they will be able to offer you advise, challenge you to think of better arguments regarding your topic, scold you when you will be procrastinating, praise you for when you will be doing well and most importantly read your drafts. And trust me, you will have a lot of drafts. That first meeting is crucial to start off work well, as your advisor may have more than one student to supervise. You want to make a good + lasting impression. 

6. WORK IN SECTIONS. If you’re worried about writing a big + long paper, this will help you out the most. Our professors emphasized working on sections before putting the whole paper together and this tip helped us keep sane. We started working on writing our literature review first, which included all of our references that we collected + read throughout the summer. We then moved onto writing an introduction, followed by methodology. These three sections were the most important for us to pass our research proposal and the course for the fall semester. During the spring semester, we worked on data collection and results, discussion and conclusion sections (in that order). Yes, work in sections is very detailed, but during the spring semester it was nice to know that I have already written half of my dissertation and needed to finish writing it. 

7. EDITING, EDITING + MORE EDITING. I have mentioned earlier that writing your dissertation will include of A LOT of drafts. I had at least 30 (I’m not joking). When finishing writing a draft take a break before editing your writing. You will constantly be thinking of ways to improve your paragraphs and arguments, so don’t worry about it not being perfect the first time around. For extra writing help, check out THIS and THIS blog post. 

8. PROPOSAL. Don’t worry too much about it, as by now you’re the expert on your topic, so make a strong power point and slay the presentation. I made sure I had a good visual presentation (it was important for my topic), but I had to fit a lot of information in about 7 minutes (and it felt impossible). So I talked very fast and this was the only critique that I received from most of the professors in my department. Proposals are great for receiving comments about your dissertation and any improvements you can make regarding methods, etc. So think of it as a helpful step for you to better your dissertation to receive a good final grade. 

9. DATA COLLECTION. If you need to collect and analyze data, make sure you dedicate enough time for it! I needed to have 90 participants in my study and I struggled to collect data, because my campus consisted of only a couple hundred students. I ended up collecting data for a month, so make sure you have that extra time in case you will need it. Same goes for statisical analyses if you need to do them. For stats, a great resource is Laerd Statistics. 

10. DEFENSE. This is the most important step regarding your dissertation, so stay consistent for ultimate success. I’m not going to pretend that I was not nervous before my defense, we ALL were, but we could not really change anything about it. We just had to do it and knowing that other students have survived it made me feel better. I also listened to A LOT of Beyonce to calm my nerves beforehand, as I was the first one to present. Safe to say that my presentation was a horror story, because the professors on my judging pannel did not understand my topic, no matter how slowly and clearly I tried to explain everything (yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it)... So I genuinely thought I was DONE. My potential career as a researcher was ruined... However, I still ended up getting one of the highest grades for my year and this was all in the past, so now I feel much better about my first dissertation experience. But I have to admit that on the day I was not happy about it AT ALL. I should also mention that I was given the opportunity to present my research at an academic conference and I did really well there + other professors and professionals understood my topic well, so I did feel confident going into my defense and it ended up being a disaster 😂😂😂 

11. IT’S HARD. This is a bonus warning that the whole dissertation writing process is very lonely and stressful. Yes, your peers will be writing their dissertations as well, but we like to internalize the struggles and not care about our friends as much, even if we are all going through the same thing. People will also have different attitudes about writing their dissertations, as I have mentioned in the disclaimer, so stay focused on your work and DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Think of it as an adventure and a learning experience! I definitely learned a lot about what it is like to write a full research project and present it to other academics and learned that it is something I would like to continue doing in the future.😊 ALSO let’s not ignore how stressful last year was for me personally, so I would recommend scheduling a holiday after your dissertation defense/graduation, so that you have something nice to look forward to!

I hope these tips help some of you out! I wish you ALL THE BEST if you’re writing your dissertation/thesis this year! If I did it, you CAN TOO! Just believe + trust yourself! 

Tips to Write a Good Dissertation Paper?

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HOW TO WRITE A DISSERTATION CONCLUSION