Dissertation or PhD Thesis - How to Write It?

Producing an effective PhD thesis or dissertation involves spending a lot of hours on training, writing and research because it will always be a long-term representation of a student. A dissertation allows a pupil to address a technical audience and provide proof or evidence of their theses. It is often presented as a critical presentation or analysis, the end result of which will earn a candidate a PhD. Nonetheless, writing a dissertation or PhD thesis can be less stressful for students who make use of the best practices available when working on their projects. Such best practices include proper planning, constant engagement with the supervisors as well as proper structuring of the dissertation paper.

Proper planning for dissertation or PhD thesis entails developing a timetable on how the whole exercise will be handled. Students should choose a topic area as early as possible and narrow it down before the proposal stage. This enables them to formulate a dissertation paper within the given period. During this stage, they should also develop a clear statement for the research question and identify the scope of the project. It is also imperative to select a chair or mentor for the dissertation project who - preferably - suits the student’s work style as well as temperament. Once the writing of the dissertation gets into top gear, PhD candidates should bypass other projects such as teaching. They should reflect this in their dissertation schedule by cancelling such projects while developing a timeline for the dissertation, which may change with time.

Writing a dissertation or thesis is easier if students constantly engage their supervisors. Meetings with the supervisors or mentors provide ample opportunity to seek any clarifications that a student may have about his or her project. For the candidate, it is beneficial to prepare questions beforehand, which the professor-cum-supervisor can clarify and steer him or her in the right direction (Yale Graduate Writing Center). A written agreement between the student and the supervisor will be integral in developing a harmonious relationship between the two as it contains details of negotiated expectations of the project. Apart from the dissertation supervisor, candidates ought to engage regularly with their peers who can offer encouragement and provide useful insights on the project. Through peer dissertation support groups, students can gain valuable ideas that they can incorporate in their dissertation activities.

A dissertation can never be called so if it is not properly structured. Usually, it contains four to six chapters, which usually contain the Introduction, Abstract Model, Validation of Model, Measurements/Data, Additional Results and Conclusion. The Introduction enlightens readers of the terminologies used in the dissertation and cites background work by briefly referring to related work that has previously covered the problem. The Abstract Model outlines what a student is trying to prove in the dissertation, while the chapter on Validation of Model discusses the model to be utilized in data collection. The next chapter - Measurement/Data - requires the dissertation to provide data collated and includes an analysis of the data in a bid to reinforce the thesis. An “Additional Results” chapter is reserved for secondary confirmation studies in which additional results that are crucial to proving the hypothesis are collected. Such data are often presented in this chapter. At the end of the dissertation, a pupil has to provide a conclusion, which also refers to future work in the scope of his project.

Considering the enormous task associated with the dissertation or PhD thesis writing, credit goes to students who come out of this exercise triumphantly. Such learners make use of the best practices in dissertation, which guides them on the path to success. Writing a dissertation need not be difficult because most candidates already possess the skills needed to conduct this exercise successfully.