lost my dissertation

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How I lost my dissertation files (despite 7 different backup plans)

This was originally posted on my blog, Notes from a Linguistic Mystic in 2015. See all posts

So, remember the dissertation I was working on ? That little thing that took two years, 170 pages, 50+ participants and thousands of lines of code? The crowning achievement of 12 years of higher education?

Well, a big chunk of the work I did is gone, because I made some bad decisions, and had some very bad luck. I’d like to share what I did wrong, and how to not be me.

“Huh, that’s weird”

In early June, my logic board in my Macbook Pro failed, and took the hard drive with it. I’d been having kernel panics, and a few periodic drive read errors, but I caught it early. When I brought it to the Genius bar, the diagnostic failed, and Apple replaced everything, as it was (barely) still under warranty. It came back to me with a new SSD and logic board.

I restored my data to the newly wiped computer from a two-day old backup, and I also took this is an opportunity to clean up a bit. I got rid of some programs I wasn’t really using anymore, threw out some files and bad music, and eventually, felt pretty good about my computing life. My computer was lean, fast, with brand new parts, and I thought I’d recovered from a dead hard drive with no issues. But I never opened the dissertation folder.

Two weeks ago, a colleague asked me for a script I used to create some of the stimuli for my dissertation. Easy, I said. I’ve got that in my “dissertation” folder. I opened the folder, knowing just where it would be, but it contained nothing but a corrupted PDF with comments from my committee. Whether it was lost to the data corruption, lost in a bad restore, or just lost, it was gone. Everything else was gone.

“OK, this is why I have backups.”

I’ve had a number of hard drive failures over my life, so, when it comes to data, I’ve had a hardcore backup schema. At any given moment, I have:

Three small portable backup drives using Apple’s “Time Machine”, which I swap out periodically
A USB hard drive playing “Time Capsule”, attached to my wireless router and automatically backing up using Time Machine every few minutes
Two “cold storage” time machine drives, one at home and one off site, which I only update every once in a while
An offsite internet backup service (Crashplan), keeping copies of deleted files as well as the past versions.

Theoretically speaking, in order to lose all of my data, I would have to experience 6 hard drive failures and lose access to the cloud.

Or, I’d just have to f*** up really badly.

How I f***ed up really badly, Part 1

I didn’t know when the data had disappeared, but it was gone, and I needed to get it back.

Over the next few hours, I went through every one of the backups above, and found that amazingly, each one had failed because of two really poor choices, and one bad stroke of luck.

Really poor choice #1 : I “refreshed” most of my backups when I got my computer back

After the clean install, I was feeling cocky. My computer was clean, decluttered, and running great, and everything looked fine. So, given that my backup drives were already starting to get full with all that old data (“Who needs old data!?”), and I needed to repartition them anyways, I decided to wipe and re-start every single backup drive except my offsite “cold storage” drive . I was confident enough that between Crashplan and the offsite storage, I’d be fine even if there was some missing data, even if there was a problem, and “starting fresh” would be a great idea.

This meant that my oldest backup on any of these drives was June 16th. The day after my “Clean” install. So, on every single drive, instead of 2+ years of backup data, the oldest one had the same corrupted folder as my hard drive.

This choice alone brought my data down from 7 backups, to just two. But that’s fine, two is enough. Unless I f***ed up really badly.

How I f***ed up really badly, Part 2

I’ve used Crashplan for a while now, and liked it a lot. There are reasonable privacy controls, it’s fast, easy, and reliable, and it even saves deleted files for a period you specify. It’s also much more reliable and faster than SpiderOak , my previous solution.

So, once I realized my backups didn’t have my back, I logged in to the Crashplan interface, hoping to restore my files that way. But they weren’t there, either. For that matter, my entire year of deleted file and revision history was gone too. I couldn’t figure out why, until I realized that:

Really poor choice #2 : I didn’t understand the nuances of how Crashplan worked

During that restore process, I changed my username on my Mac, to fix a long-standing error. This shouldn’t play a role, except for one minor detail: Crashplan doesn’t save deletion history for folders that are no longer being backed up, and the username of the home folder matters.

When I set Crashplan up again on the newly wiped machine, I selected my new home folder. It matched all the files to the old folder, and since the data had already been uploaded, it was just a matter of minutes before my backup was up to date, and my old home folder was “gone” to the system.

That evening, at 1am, Crashplan’s automated cleanup robots decided that since I no longer cared about the old username’s home folder (which no longer exists), it could delete all of the deleted file history for that old folder, and focus on the new username’s folder, which had no file history at all.

Just like that, at the whim of a bot doing its job properly, my deleted file history disappeared, leaving only the same corrupted folder that I had everywhere else.

At this point, the data existed in just one place: my “offsite” cold storage drive. But I still had a copy, so I’d be fine.

Unless I was really unlucky.

How I was really unlucky

Know the saying “Two is one, one is none”?

Stroke of bad luck #1: One was none.

When I plugged in my offsite drive, I wound up with a “Click-Click-Click” of death, and although my machine could see the drive, it couldn’t decrypt the backup data, no matter what I tried. Whether it was the heat in storage or just my luck running out after 4 years of using the drive, my “just in case” drive was dead, and my data with it.

Learn from me, damnit

Even though I did a lot of things right (by having many backups in a few different forms), I made a few bad choices, and it burned me. In the name of helping my readers avoid these errors, I have a few suggestions, many of which are obvious, but still escaped me:

1) Phase out old backups over time, not all at once

This whole issue would have been avoided had I just kept more old backups. My desire to “clean up” and “start fresh” here burned me bad. What I should have done, if I wanted a clean slate, was to wipe one drive at a time, every six months or so. That way, I’d have had at least one set of historical backups, even as I cleaned things out and repartitioned.

2) Know the Details of your Backup Service

After reading the documentation, Crashplan worked exactly as it was supposed to, here. I removed a folder from the scope of the backup, and it removed all old versions of that folder. This is the right behavior for privacy, for organization, and for minimizing space used. But because I didn’t understand how it worked with username changes, I thought I had old versions that I didn’t, and made bad decisions because of it.

3) Keep a couple of “cold” backups

It’s a very good idea to have data someplace that you simply don’t touch very often. Sure, the data will be a bit out of date, but I would pay good money for a copy of my dissertation files circa November. The purpose of this is not to recover gracefully from a recent failure, but to save your bacon in case “the big one” hits. Whether these are DVDs, a hard drive left with a family member, or even an old computer left unwiped in your closet, it’s important to have a copy of your data that’s safe, offline, and immune to viruses, data corruption, and bad decisions. Had I not had a hard drive failure, I’d have been just fine thanks to my offsite backup.

4) Don’t trust your “perfect system”

All of this would have been avoided had I, shortly after finishing the dissertation, just burned everything to a DVD for archiving. That way nothing could have wiped it out short of a house-fire. I even thought about doing this, but I had enough confidence in my redundant backup system that I didn’t think I needed to bother digging out the DVDs.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Redundancy doesn’t prevent stupidity

Although a lot was, all is not lost. I’d stored the sound file data in a different folder, and by searching lab computers, Google Drive backups, asking my advisor and colleagues for scripts I’d shared, and a few very lucky “emailed to myself” or “copied to my website” moments, over the following weeks, I was able to find copies of the text itself, and all the data I will need to reproduce my findings for publication, albeit with a fair amount of duplicated work. A few other folders were affected, but no others of them were as important. I can’t say I dodged the bullet, but I survived it.

Nevertheless, remember that no matter how redundant, well-formed, or multi-tiered your backup plan is, it can’t save you from yourself. My biggest problem here is that I didn’t fully understand the mechanisms I had in place, and I made a stupid decision using this bad information, and it cost me.

Don’t repeat my mistakes.

Dartmouth Libraries

Q. How can I get a copy of a dissertation that I need for my research?

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Answered By: Dartmouth Libraries Last Updated: Jun 19, 2024 Views: 14545

Try to find the dissertation online:

First, check the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database to see if it is available in full text. Dissertations from 1997 to present are available in full text from ProQuest. In addition, most Dartmouth dissertations from 1993 to the present will be available online in ProQuest. You may find some pre-1997 dissertations in ProQuest as well.

Dissertations may also be available at no cost from the issuing institution's website. In addition to checking their web site, try using search tools such as Google Scholar or the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations .

If you still haven't found the dissertation, try checking ROAR to see if the university where the dissertation was written has a digital repository. If it does, try searching the repository for the thesis or dissertation.

Find out if the dissertation was published:

Some dissertations are subsequently published by academic presses. A quick way to find out is by searching for the author in WorldCat . Remember, the title of the published book may be different than the dissertation.

Requesting Dissertations:

If the dissertation was submitted to one of the Ivies, try requesting it through Borrow Direct .

Foreign dissertations are often available at the Center for Research Libraries. If you find the dissertation you need in the CRL Dissertation Catalog , you can request it through Interlibrary Loan .

All other requests for dissertations should be made through Interlibrary Loan .

The Library will first try to borrow the dissertation directly from the holding institution.
If it is unavailable for loan, the Library will try to purchase an electronic copy from a commercial supplier, such as ProQuest.
The average cost for a dissertation is $32. Any costs exceeding $35 will be chargeable to you, provided that you agree to move forward with the purchase and pay the additional charges.

See also the Library's Research Guide for Dissertations & Theses.

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Q. How can I get a copy of a dissertation?

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Answer Last Updated: Jan 06, 2022 Views: 3929

The first place to look is Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global , which contains over a million full text dissertations from around the world.

If you do not find the dissertation through ProQuest, then for ...

UMass Boston theses are listed in UMBrella and are available on the 5th floor of the library . Search the UMBrella by author , title of thesis , or by typing into the search box exactly this: University of Massachusetts at Boston Theses.

non-UMass Boston theses & dissertations

Typically, masters' theses and PhD dissertations can be found at the college/university library where the graduate student (author) received his/her degree.

If the thesis/dissertation is affiliated with one of the BLC libraries , search UMass Boston WorldCat . In most cases you can request a copy through WorldCat's built-in Healey Library interlibrary loan feature.
If the thesis/dissertation is not affiliated with one of the BLC Libraries, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is your best bet. When requesting one, use the New Request - Loan function.
Occasionally requesting a thesis/dissertation via ILL is unsuccessful because it is against policy of the lending library to loan their theses/ dissertations. If that's the case, it may be possible to purchase a copy through Dissertation Express .

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11 quick fixes to get your thesis back on track

(Last updated: 21 December 2023)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

Struggles with a dissertation can begin at any phase in the process. From the earliest points in which you are just trying to generate a viable idea, to the end where there might be time-table or advisor issues.

If you feel like you're struggling, you are not alone.

For as much as the situation might feel unique to you, the truth of the matter is that it's not. You are one of hundreds of thousands of students who will have endured, and eventually triumphed, over a centuries-old process.

So, rest assured that any struggles or difficulties are completely and totally normal, and not likely to be insurmountable. Your goal to ace your thesis is certainly achievable.

There is one book that you should have on your shelf and should have read. Umberto Eco’s 'How to Write a Thesis' (MIT Press, 2015) , was originally published in the late 70’s for his Italian students, and most of his analysis and advice rings true today.

It is, in essence, a guide on how to be productive and produce a large body of research writing, and it contains lots of really sound and useful advice.

"Help! I've only just started my dissertation and already I'm stuck."

For as weighty and profound as the final product might appear to be, the essence of a dissertation is quite simple: it is an answer to a question.

Dissertation writers often stumble over the same block. They try to find an answer without first asking themselves what question they are actually answering.

One of the greatest advances in physics was a result of a question so simple, it is almost child-like: ‘what would light look like if I ran alongside it?’. For those of you interested, have a read about Einstein’s thought experiment on chasing a light beam .

For many, a problem arises with a dissertation because after becoming accustomed, over several years of earlier education, to ‘spitting back’ and regurgitating information, you suddenly and largely – if not entirely – feel expected to say something original.

Try flipping your thesis statement on its head and see it as a question; what is a thesis statement but a question that has been turned into a declaration?

So just to recap, the first step in the early stages of your dissertation really should be identifying a research question.

In fact, for some advisors this is the first thing they want to see. Not, ‘what do you want to talk about?’ or, ‘what is your thesis statement?’ but, ‘what is your research question? What are you trying to answer?’.

What to do if you don't know where to start

One of the easiest ways to get started is by simply reading .

A professor we know often recommended this as a simple way of getting ideas flowing. He would have his students read about a dozen of the most recent articles pertaining to a particular topic.

Not broad topics, mind you, like twelve recent articles on Shakespeare or globalisation, but more focused, like ‘Shakespeare and travel’ or ‘globalisation and education’.

What is particularly useful about reading in this way is that most articles are part of some thread of academic discussion, and so will mention and account for previous research in some way.

By reading such articles, you’ll gain an idea of what has been and is being discussed in your area of interest and what the critical issues are. Usually, after just a handful of articles, some rough ideas and focus start to emerge.

What to do if you don’t have anything to say

Maybe you have found a general idea, that ‘question’, but you are still left without something to talk about. At this point, you just don’t have the data, or the material, to work up a dissertation. The answer is quite simple: you need to do research .

Have you ever considered what research is? Why the ‘re-‘? Why isn’t it just called ‘search’? This step requires you to look over and over and over again, for patterns, themes, arguments… You are looking at other people’s work to see what they have wrong and right, which will allow for plenty of discussion.

Follow your instincts

Not to make the process sound overly mystical, but at this point in your academic career there should be a gut response to what you read.

A noteworthy idea or a passage should make your academic antennae sit up and pay attention, without you necessarily even knowing why. Perhaps you are simply struck by the notion that what you just read was interesting, for some reason. This ‘reason’ is what we mean by ‘instincts’.

In fact, studies have shown that you can be right up to 90% of the time when trusting your gut .

We know many, many academics and the process is very much the same for them – something for some reason or other just catches their attention. As you go through your research – your reading, reading, and reading – you should always note these things that draw your eye.

Write (don't type) everything down

Now seems like a great time to tell you that here at Oxbridge Essays HQ, we are HUGE fans of the index card.

We’re not joking when we say that a few books or printed articles and a half-stack of index cards for jotting down notes and ideas is all you need to get going.

Index cards are easier to sort and move around than a notebook, and easier to lay out than a computer screen. In fact, outside of research and materials-gathering for which internet access is vital, for the first stages of your dissertation writing the humble index card might be all you need. After you’ve created a good-sized stack of index cards, a pattern (though maybe not the pattern) should start to develop.

And for the sake of all that is holy and dear, write everything down ! Do not trust your memory with even the smallest detail because there is little worse than spending hours trying to remember where you saw something that could have been helpful, and never finding it.

"Argh! I'm mid-way through my dissertation and suddenly, I've run out of steam."

There is a famous phrase; you probably know it: ‘Never a day without a line’.

You should never go a day without writing something, or rewriting something.

If the notion of working every day on your dissertation fills you with dread, consider this: a dissertation, as we just suggested; is merely a form of work. In life, there are few good reasons to not go to work, and so should there be few that mean you do not work on your dissertation.

Try using methods like The Pomodoro Technique to help you work more productively.

Some days will always be better than others, and some days you will feel more or less enthusiastic. But don’t trick yourself into thinking that your ‘feeling’ towards your work on any particular day may make what you produce better or worse.

Ultimately, the quality of your work should stem from the good habits that you have cultivated. Make working on your dissertation every day one of your good habits.

What to do if you feel like you've reached a dead end

This may not be what you want to hear, but even if you are struggling, you should work every day including weekends.

And try not to book any holidays that will mean you’ll be away from your computer – or tempted to be – whilst you’re doing your dissertation. It’s likely there will be at least one time when you’ll be forced to take time off (illness, for example, or a family bereavement), so if you work every day, it’ll help you stay on track should anything like this come up.

And work begets work . It’s far easier to pick up where you last left off if you only left off yesterday. But trying to do so when you haven’t worked for a week, or even a few days, can be a hard task.

Some people do complain of writer’s block, but this just doesn’t fly with us. First, you aren’t writing Ulysses . Second, and more important, there is always something to do. Have you read everything in your field? Updated your bibliography? Read over your notes?

Granted, sometimes you can get stuck. There may be times when paragraphs or sections just do not cooperate. This is not uncommon and it can take days or weeks to figure out what the problem is.

It can help, when you come to a dead-end in this way, to think about two things: is it necessary and, if so, is it right? If it’s neither necessary or right, it can and probably should be deleted.

You’ll have to get used to, particularly in the early stages of your dissertation, binning sections of work that just don’t fit or do your dissertation justice. Don’t be afraid to be ruthless; just quietly move the offending passage into a scraps file (do not delete it entirely) and move on. Maybe it will make more sense later.

If it helps, one academic who contributed to this blog post had, for their 100,000-word dissertation, a file of 40,000 useless scraps.

What to do if you are falling behind

Not to finger wag, but if you had planned well and worked every day, this statement should never be one you relate to.

But, sadly, sometimes it happens. Time can be remarkably fragile and unexpected life events can ruin what probably looked good and doable on paper. Setbacks do not mean you failed, nor do they mean you will fail. It might mean, however, that you have to take a different approach.

Any time you have a serious issue that jeopardises your ability to complete your thesis, the first place to go is your advisor to discuss options. There are also mentoring services on many campuses.

If you have fallen behind, you need to honestly assess how bad the situation is. Is this something that can be resolved by, say, putting in a few extra hours each day? Adding a half-day on the weekends? Neither of these situations are uncommon. Or will you perhaps require an extension? If the amount of time is serious enough to warrant taking it to an administrative level, be honest and frank with both yourself and the person you speak to.

"If you have fallen behind, you need to honestly assess how bad the situation is. Be honest and frank with both yourself and the person you speak to."

One of the most practical ways to avoid falling behind is not to let some of the smaller things get away from you. Reading, note-taking, data collection and bibliography building can all be tedious tasks left for another day.

But sitting down to read thousands of pages in one marathon go is unproductive. The best advice is still ‘read a little, write a little, every single day’.

The math favours you here. Reading a single article or a few chapters every day builds a nice familiarity with your field over the course of a year. And writing 500-1000 words every day yields enough content for two to three dissertations.

In fact, it has been shown that professional academics who write just that many words each day are more productive than colleagues who attempt marathon (and sometimes panicky and stressful) sessions.

"I'm so close to finishing my dissertation, but I'm having last-minute worries."

What to do if you think your idea is terrible.

If you work on something long enough, doubts are going to start creeping in. The further in you are, the less of an objective view you will be able to take on your work.

Some perspective can be helpful here.

There are two fairly common rules of thumb for dissertations and theses among academics. The first is that you are finished when your work is more right than wrong. The second is that it does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be finished.

You can waste time obsessing about how awful your idea is, or you can just finish the bloody thing. Examiners commonly disagree on the quality of your work, its merit and its value, and make suggestions for improvement. This will happen no matter how brilliant your idea might be.

It also helps to keep in mind that you are very unlikely to write anything with which examiners do not disagree.

What to do if your idea is no longer viable

This is the stuff of nightmares for dissertation writers. You spend oodles of time and effort coming up with a brilliant idea. Your advisor and/or committee are supportive and excited for you. You are certain that nothing of what you are talking about has been essayed by anyone else.

And yet, there is a lurking terror. A terror that you are going to be scooped and find research that is exactly like what you are doing. We speak from experience here, and we know people who have had this happen.

The scenario usually plays out in one of two ways.

More often than not you'll find that you and your new nemesis have taken two completely different approaches. This is actually great news for you. Now you have a discussion that you can incorporate into your work. You have something in which you can find and comment on positive aspects as well as shortcomings.

In the less likely event that you have, in fact, rewritten the work of another researcher then you will need to account for that work and perhaps try to develop another line of approach.

The most important point to bear in mind is that the vast majority of academic work exists in dialogue with other works. So it is often a good thing that someone else is researching the same problem you are. Indeed, you might even consider reaching out and contacting that person just to hone your ideas or solicit feedback. In general, if you do this politely and professionally, you will be warmly received.

What to do if you don’t have enough words

Everyone writes differently. Some people are amazingly concise writers. They can elegantly shoehorn into a single sentence what balloons into a paragraph for another. Most dissertation requirements have a set range.

Notably, some advisors can adjust that and add or subtract. The aforementioned academic who contributed to this blog post – his doctoral supervisor tacked on 20,000 words just because he felt it was necessary. The academic still disagrees with it to this day.

Our point is that the word limit is not arbitrarily set. It is generally agreed that this is the amount of words required to discuss a topic fully. Thus, if you're short of words then unfortunately you haven't discussed your topic as fully as you should have.

If this is the case, you need to look for where your gaps have settled in. The best way to do this will be to solicit outside readers – two or three, one of whom should be your supervisor .

But you don’t want to drop a stack of papers in front of someone and say, ‘can you read this and tell me what to do?’. The better approach will be to assemble a very thorough outline of 3-5 pages that shows the structure and ask if they will look this over. We can assure you, the response will be much more positive and their response time markedly shorter.

Another approach to increasing word count is to generate an indirectly related discussion and add it as an appendix.

What to do if you have too many words

Congratulations! You are probably in the minority, but cutting words is often much easier than finding them.

Still, the acceptable range rule stands for an excess of words just as it does for too few.

If you find yourself in this position, then quite likely you have academic bloat . It’s quite a common trap for dissertation writers as they develop what they perceive to be an academic style and tone in their writing.

But before you simply jettison whole sections of your thesis to bring the word count down, we would especially recommend, for later stage thesis and dissertation writing, a wonderful little book by Richard Lanham called 'Revising Prose' (Pearson, 2006).

When it was first introduced it was a welcome sensation. It’s a short and clear-cut guide to cutting the bloat and bull out of academic writing and making your prose more precise and refined at the sentence and paragraph level. This might sound overly simplistic but don’t sniff at the notion – the book is a potent little text and we wish it were read by every dissertation and thesis writer.

What to do if your supervisor isn’t helpful

This is a problem that can actually present itself at any stage of the dissertation or thesis writing process. It can be one of the most frustrating matters with which you might have to contend.

One thing that you must understand is that the university wants and needs to see you complete your project.

That is not to say that they’ll be pleased with shoddy work. But the more graduates, the more vital the department appears, and the more funding they can request and be allocated.

So there is a vested interest in your success, even if there are points at which it doesn’t feel this way. At some universities, one of the ways in which these conflicts are avoided is through a general contract of expectations. This is done at the outset and lays out the basics of the working relationship (when and how often you will meet, for instance). Hopefully you will have formally or informally handled this early and can identify where a fault might lay.

It can also help to arrange at the outset for a co-supervisor. This person can be invaluable. Often a co-supervisor will practically take over a project, especially if the co-supervisor is young and eager to build credibility and experience as a supervisor (the best sort, really).

Read more about how to make your relationship with your dissertation supervisor productive, rewarding, and enjoyable.

If you have an unproductive working relationship with your supervisor, consider seriously the nature and expectations of it from both sides.

Not to shift the fault to you, but sometimes supervisees can have unrealistic expectations of their supervisor. The truth is that very few supervisors have the time or inclination to pal around with their supervisees, drinking cognac into the wee hours and talking about high enlightened matters.

The reality is that the better and more capable students are often regarded to be the ones who come in, write their projects, and move on. Supervisors have other obligations (e.g. teaching, their own research, other students writing projects). They expect supervisees to be able to work independently and not need too much hand-holding.

There is, nevertheless, tremendous anxiety that surrounds one’s relationship with their supervisor. This is largely due to the extremely imbalanced power relationship. Your supervisor is, after all, someone on whom you will depend for letters, vetting, and generally someone on whom you will rely professionally.

It is not a relationship you want to sour. But you should also consider that the relationship has to be professional and nothing should be taken personally. Think about what you need from your advisor, not what you want . If your professional needs are not being met than you should consider mediation, provided you have discussed these needs with your advisor and they remain unmet.

A final thought...

Throughout the months or years that you are preparing your dissertation or thesis you should keep in mind two helpful words: don’t panic.

It is extremely unlikely that anything you are experiencing hasn’t been experienced by someone else. Or that it presents an obstacle with which your supervisors or the university is unfamiliar.

There are few obstacles that are insurmountable, so try to remember this if you ever feel panic rising. Remember to keep your advisor in the loop and deal with any problems that arise promptly; don’t let them fester.

Also, the more prepared you are to begin with the easier it will be to deal with problems and frustrations down the road.

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Q. I've lost my own copy of my University thesis. Where can I get another one?

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Answered By: Steve Powell Last Updated: Mar 06, 2024 Views: 1692

DISCOVER and the Library Catalogue have been replaced by Library Search . We're busy updating all of our links, but in the meantime, please use Library Search when searching for resources or managing your Library Account.

For a replacement digital copy of your thesis, submit a digitisation request through EThOS (Electronic Theses Online). Prior registration is necessary before you make your request.

For further information or assistance please contact Inter-Library Loans, tel. 0151 794 5414 or e-mail at [email protected] .

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A lost thesis is terrifying: Ontrack to the rescue!

Written By: Ontrack

Date Published: 04 June 2013 00:00:00 EDT

04 June 2013 00:00:00 EDT

By: Ontrack

Help! I’ve lost my dissertation…Imagine for a moment university life before the widespread adoption of personal computing. Writing a dissertation required access to a library and a small fortune to pay someone to type up your handwritten 10,000 words into a spiral-bound document. Then imagine that you leave your only copy on the bus – and have to start all over again.

Students that don’t back up, print or make a copy of the dissertation that they’re writing on their laptop face a similar nightmare scenario. The deadline is approaching fast and their laptop dies. It could be due to a virus downloaded along with files via BitTorrent or simple hardware failure, but access to the all-important dissertation text is denied.

So what should you do if it happens to you? The first thing is not to panic. Chances are, your files will be recoverable, but you need to take certain steps to make sure you don’t turn a drama into a crisis.

Scenario A – your computer is not working at all

Step 1: Turn your computer off

Step 2: Remove all power sources

Step 3: Contact a data recovery company that will help you assess the situation and options for how to retrieve your data. The engineers at Ontrack advise that users contact a recovery professional immediately in the case of a storage media failure. This is because inadvertent additional damage can be caused to media that results in data being permanently irretrievable.

Scenario B – your computer is working, but your file has disappeared or accidentally been deleted or overwritten

Step 1: Check backups to determine whether any of the data can be retrieved from backups

Step 2: data recovery software can be used to recover files deleted from a recycle bin or overwritten files / damaged devices

Step 3: free trial of Ontrack EasyRecovery and receive a discount of 15% using the code ‘ STUDENT-15 ’, bringing the price down to £58.65.

Boring backups?

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the last thing you want to hear when you've lost data is: ‘you should have made a back-up’. But for all students reading this who have not experienced the pain of losing important files from their computers, it pays to remember that prevention is better than cure.

It may sound dull, but the advice that we give over and over again to students for whom we help to recover data is to make regular back-ups to multiple locations , such as USB drives. Print your document out when you've reached certain milestones, as retyping is less arduous than recreating from scratch. You can also save your document on cloud-based services or send it to yourself using a file sharing programme such as Dropbox .

Whichever method you use to back up your data, ensure backups are done regularly, so that you don’t get caught out with a very early draft of a now complete dissertation. After all, you never know when you might inadvertently lose your document on the 21 st century equivalent of the Number 9 bus.

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I've lost my original thesis, can you send me a digital copy?

If your thesis is currently only available in print and we hold the hard copy in our collection, we are able to make a digital copy of your own work which you could download from our institutional repository (please note we are unable to digitse the work of others as permission is required).

We would like to add the digital version of your thesis to our institutional repository , meaning that your thesis would be available online for other researchers to find, read, and use. Once your thesis is available via the repository, it will also be added to EThOS , the British Library’s national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses.

It can take a minimum of four weeks for your digitised thesis to appear in the repository, due to the time consuming nature of scanning each individual page. Please be aware that this can take longer during busier times of the year, but every effort will be made to complete the scan as soon as possible.

For us to digitise your thesis you will need to agree to having it added to the institutional repository and EThOS , and have read the Thesis Deposit Agreement attached.

If you are happy with this please contact us at [email protected] to make your request.

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Home · Article · 20 Tips to help you finish your dissertation

20 Tips to help you finish your dissertation

i haven’t met many ph.d. students who don’t like to write. some may like writing more than others, but most enjoy writing—or, at least, the satisfaction of having written. wherever you find yourself on the love-for-writing spectrum, a dissertation awaits completion, and you must finish. here are a few tips to help you. 1. write sooner. the….

I haven’t met many Ph.D. students who don’t like to write. Some may like writing more than others, but most enjoy writing—or, at least, the satisfaction of having written. Wherever you find yourself on the love-for-writing spectrum, a dissertation awaits completion, and you must finish. Here are a few tips to help you.

1. Write sooner. The dissertation writing process can quickly become paralyzing because of its size and importance. It is a project that will be reviewed rigorously by your advisor and your committee, and your graduation depends on your successful completion and defense. Facing these realities can be daunting and tempt you to wait until you can determine that you’ve researched or thought enough about the topic. Yet, the longer you delay writing, the more difficult it will be to actually start the process. The answer to your paralysis is to start writing . Are you unsure of your argument or not fully convinced you have done the requisite research? You may be right: your argument may not be airtight, and you may need to do more reading; but you will be able to determine to what degree these problems need attention when you start writing. Productivity begets productivity, and you will be amazed at how arguments take shape and the direction of your research is forged as you write.

2. Write continually. So, don’t stop writing. Of course, you need to continue to read and study and take notes—I will talk about this more in a moment—but it is best if you keep the gears from grinding to a halt. Keep your mind working and your project moving. Your assignment is not to turn in a hundred pages of notes to your supervisor—you must produce a dissertation with complete sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Keep writing.

3. Write in order to rewrite. Writing sooner and writing continually can only happen if you aren’t consumed with perfection. Some of us are discouraged from writing because we think our first draft needs to be our final draft. But this is exactly the problem. Get your thoughts on paper and plan to go back and fix awkward sentences, poor word choices, and illogical or unsubstantiated arguments in your subsequent drafts. Knowing that rewriting is part of the writing process will free you to write persistently, make progress, and look forward to fixing things later.

4. Spend adequate time determining your thesis and methodology. This probably could fit in the number one slot, but I wanted to emphasize the importance writing right away. Besides, you might find that you modify your thesis and methodology slightly as you write and make progress in developing your overall argument. Nevertheless, the adage is true: form a solid thesis and methodology statement and your dissertation will “write itself.” Plan to spend some time writing and rewriting and rewriting (again) your thesis and methodology statements so that you will know where you are going and where you need to go.

5. If you get stuck, move to another section. Developing a clear thesis and methodology will allow you to move around in your dissertation when you get stuck. Granted, we should not make a habit of avoiding difficult tasks, but there are times when it will be a more effective use of time to move to sections that will write easy. As you continue to make progress in your project and get words on paper, you will also help mitigate the panic that so often looms over your project when you get stuck and your writing ceases.

6. Fight the urge to walk away from writing when it gets difficult. Having encouraged you to move to another section when you get stuck, it is also important to add a balancing comment to encourage you to fight through the tough spots in your project. I don’t mean that you should force writing when it is clear that you may need to make some structural changes or do a little more research on a given topic. But if you find yourself dreading a particular portion of your dissertation because it will require some mind-numbing, head-on-your-desk, prayer-producing rigor, then my advice is to face these tough sections head on and sit in your chair until you make some progress. You will be amazed at how momentum will grow out of your dogged persistence to hammer out these difficult portions of your project.

7. Strive for excellence but remember that this is not your magnum opus. A dissertation needs to be of publishable quality and it will need to past the muster of your supervisor and committee. But it is also a graduation requirement. Do the research. Make a contribution. Finish the project. And plan to write your five-volume theology when you have 30-40 more years of study, reflection, and teaching under your belt.

8. Take careful notes. Taking careful notes is essential for two reasons. First, keeping a meticulous record of the knowledge you glean from your research will save you time: there will be no need to later revisit your resources and chase bibliographic information, and you will find yourself less prone to the dreaded, “Where did I read that?” Second, and most importantly, you will avoid plagiarism. If you fail to take good notes and are not careful to accurately copy direct quotes and make proper citations, you will be liable to reproducing material in your dissertation that is not original with you. Pleading that your plagiarism was inadvertent will not help your cause. It is your responsibility to take careful notes and attribute all credit to whom it is due through proper citation.

9. Know when to read. Write sooner, write continually, and write in order to rewrite. But you need to know when you are churning an empty barrel. Reading and research should be a stimulus to write and you need to know when that stimulus is needed. Be willing to stop writing for a short period so that you can refresh your mind with new ideas and research.

10. Establish chunks of time to research and write. While it is important to keep writing and make the most of the time that you have, it is best for writing projects specifically to set aside large portions of time with which to write. Writing requires momentum, and momentum gathers over time. Personally, I have found that I need at least an hour to get things rolling, and that three to four hours is ideal.

Related: Learn more about our Research Doctoral Studies Degrees ( D.Miss., Ed.D., Th.M., Ph.D). See also the Doctoral Studies viewbook .

11. Get exercise, adequate sleep, and eat well. Because our minds and bodies are meant to function in harmony, you will probably find that your productivity suffers to the degree that you are not giving attention to your exercise, sleep, and eating habits. Like it or not, our ability to maintain long periods of sustained concentration, think carefully over our subject matter, and find motivation to complete tasks is dependent in a significant sense upon how we are caring for our bodies. When we neglect exercise, fail to get adequate sleep, or constantly indulge in an unhealthy diet, we will find it increasingly difficult to muster the energy and clarity with which to complete our dissertation.

12. Stay on task. Completing a dissertation, in large measure, is not so much a feat of the intellect as it is the result of discipline. If you are able to set aside large chunks of time with which to research and write, make sure that you are not using that time for other tasks. This means that you must strive against multi-tasking. In truth, studies have shown that multi-tasking is a cognitive impossibility. Our brains can only concentrate on one thing at a time. When we think we are multitasking we are actually “switch-tasking;” rather than doing several things at once, our brains are constantly toggling from one task to the other (listening to a song on the radio to reading a book, back to the song, etc.). You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish if you give an undistracted 60-90 minutes to something. Stay on task.

13. Don’t get stuck on introductions. This is a basic writing principle, but one that bears repeating here: write the body of a given chapter or section and then return to the introductions. It is usually easier to introduce something that you have already written for the simple fact that you now know what you are introducing. You might be tempted to write the introduction first and labor to capture your reader with a gripping illustration or perfect quote while refusing to enter into the body of your paper until your preliminary remarks are flawless. This is a sure recipe for frustration. Wait until you have completed a particular section or chapter’s content until you write introductions. This practice will save you time and loads of trouble.

14. Use a legal pad. There’s nothing magic about a legal pad; my only aim here is to encourage you to push back from the keyboard occasionally and stimulate your mind by sketching your argument and writing your ideas by hand. I have found my way out of many dry spells by closing the laptop for a few minutes and writing on a piece of paper. I might bullet point a few key ideas, diagram my chapter outlines, or sketch the entire dissertation with boxes and arrows and notes scribbled over several pages.

15. Go on walks. It has been said recently that walking promotes creativity . I agree. Whether you like to walk among the trees or besides the small coffee shops along quaint side streets, I recommend that you go on walks and think specifically about your dissertation. You might find that the change of scenery, the stimulus of a bustling community, or the refreshing quiet of a park trail is just the help you need.

16. Make use of a capture journal. In order to make the most of your walks, you will need a place to “capture” your ideas. You may prefer to use the voice memo or notepad feature on your smartphone, or, if you’re like me, a small 2.5”x4” lined journal . Whatever your preference, find a method that allows you to store your ideas as they come to you during your walks or as you fall to sleep at night. I wonder how many useful ideas many of us have lost because we failed to write them down? Don’t let this happen to you. Resolve to be a good steward of your thinking time and seize those thoughts.

17. Talk about your ideas with others. When you are writing your dissertation, you might be tempted to lock away your ideas and avoid discussing them with others. This is unwise. Talking with others about your ideas helps you to refine and stimulate your thinking; it also creates opportunities for you to learn of important resources and how your contribution will affect other branches of scholarship. Also, as people ask questions about your project, you will begin to see where your argument is unclear or unsubstantiated.

18. Learn how to read. Writing a dissertation requires a massive amount of reading. You must become familiar with the arguments of several hundred resources—books, articles, reviews, and other dissertations. What will you do? You must learn how to read. Effective reading does not require that you read every book word-for-word, cover-to-cover. Indeed, sometimes very close reading of a given volume may actually impede your understanding of the author’s argument. In order to save time and cultivate a more effective approach to knowledge acquisition, you must learn how to use your resources. This means knowing when to read a book or article closely, and knowing when to skim. It means knowing how to read large books within a matter of an hour by carefully reviewing the table of contents, reading and rereading key chapters and paragraphs, and using the subject index. If you want to finish your dissertation, learn how to read.

19. Set deadlines. Depending on your project, you may have built in deadlines that force you to produce material at a steady clip. If you do not have built in deadlines, you must impose them on yourself. Deadlines produce results, and results lead to completed writing projects. Set realistic deadlines and stick to them. You will find that you are able to accomplish much more than you anticipated if you set and stick to deadlines.

20. Take productive breaks. Instead of turning to aimless entertainment to fill your break times, try doing something that will indirectly serve your writing process. We need breaks: they refresh us and help us stay on task. In fact, studies have shown that overall productivity diminishes if employees are not allowed to take regular, brief pauses from their work during the day. What is not often mentioned, however, is that a break does not necessarily have to be unrelated to our work in order to be refreshing; it needs only to be different from what we were just doing. So, for example, if you have been writing for 90 minutes, instead of turning on YouTube to watch another mountain biking video, you could get up, stretch, and pull that book off the shelf you’ve been wanting to read, or that article that has been sitting in Pocket for the past six weeks. Maybe reorganizing your desk or taking a walk (see above) around the library with your capture journal would be helpful. Whatever you choose, try to make your breaks productive.

Derek J. Brown is an M.Div and Ph.D graduate of Southern Seminary and is currently serving as pastoral assistant at Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley overseeing their young adult ministry, Grace Campus Ministries , mid-week Bible studies, website, and social media. He is also an adjunct professor of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary. This article was originally published on his blog www.derekjamesbrown.com . Follow Derek on twitter at @DerekBrown24 .

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Q. I wanted to cite an article (or book) in my paper, but I've lost it! How can I find it again?

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Answered By: Priscilla Coulter Last Updated: Jul 29, 2022 Views: 11117

First, an ounce of prevention: as you're doing your research , keep careful track of the sources that you think you'll want to use in your paper . A research journal and citation management tool can be a big help.

When you've lost that perfect article or book, don't panic. Try these steps to recover it:

If you can remember all or part of the title or an exact quote from the text , search for it in quotation marks in the database where you found it originally (or, if you can't remember where you were searching, try Google Scholar ).
If you can remember an author or editor , try searching by author name .
If you remember what keywords you were using when you found it, try them again (in the same database, if possible). If you can remember the author, add the name to your keywords, too (for example: time management AND Smith).

You might find the full text again when you try the steps above. But, if all you find is a complete citation , that's a good place to start. The FAQs below will show you how to track down an article or book with a citation:

How can I find the full text of a specific article?

I'm trying to find a specific book. How can I find out if our library has it?

Still can't find it? Email the librarians with as much information as you can, and we'll see what we can dig up for you.

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How to Pull Yourself Out of a Thesis-Writing Slump

We’ve all been there. We all know what it feels like to take a break⁠—whether it’s on purpose or by accident⁠—from a lengthy paper; it can be overwhelming when you realize that you messed up your writing process timeline. Personally, I recently took a looooong break (think: three weeks, give or take) from writing my thesis. Part of it was by accident; due to COVID-19, all Princeton students were told to move out and head back home for the remainder of the semester. The stress of packing, saying goodbye to my friends and the campus, and moving out caused my thesis to take a backseat in terms of priorities. Once I arrived home, I purposefully decided to extend my break from writing my thesis in order to unpack, get settled, and get used to online classes. One day lead to the next, and suddenly, I had spent three weeks away from my thesis.

It’s important to note that taking a break is different for everyone. In my case, I was already pretty advanced in my writing process and had close to a finished full draft. Because of that, the effects of taking a break weren’t too drastic for me. However, I recognize that different situations would merit different reactions; for example, if I had very little of my thesis written prior to taking my break, I probably would have been much more panicked and stressed out.

Regardless of the situation, pulling yourself out of that slump is important, and the process deserves to be highlighted. Of course, what works for me may not work with everybody, but here are some tips that helped me get back on track:

Figure out your new timeline. I’m a very visual person, and I love planning things out on a small whiteboard or a piece of paper so I can easily see what my goals are. Decide how much progress you want to accomplish per day⁠—time spent writing per day, pages added per day, etc.⁠⁠—in order to meet your deadlines.
Communicate with your adviser. Your adviser is there to⁠—you guessed it⁠—advise you! So, make sure you communicate your new plans to your adviser so that he or she can support you accordingly. When I was choosing my adviser (see this post for tips on finding a thesis adviser), I purposefully looked for one that would be very active and hands-on with my writing process. I wanted an adviser that would check in on me and hold me accountable for the goals and deadlines we had set together⁠—not because I wouldn’t meet those goals and deadlines otherwise, but instead, because I wanted to feel like my adviser is really involved and supportive throughout my writing process. So, for me, communicating my new plans and expectations for myself to my adviser after concluding my break allowed my adviser to better support me during that time. Moreover, especially with COVID-19, advisers are understanding to everyone’s circumstances, and they won’t hold it against students if you haven’t gotten much progress done recently. Don’t be scared to reach out!
Hold yourself accountable. Make it as easy as possible to reach your goals. Maybe block out some time in your schedule each day to write. Perhaps you could even establish benchmarks and incentives for yourself as motivation (I like rewarding myself with Netflix). Whatever works for you! Independent work can be difficult, since everything depends on you and your own initiative. Make sure you hold yourself accountable to the timeline you’ve set for yourself!

The first two tips can, of course, be switched around! Again: these tips may not be helpful for everybody, but they have definitely worked for me! It’s important to remember that independent work naturally comes with ups and downs, and the writing process is rarely perfect. Sometimes, outside factors that are out of your control put a temporary hold on your writing, and that’s natural! It’s crucial to keep a level head and make a clear-cut plan to get yourself back on track and pull yourself out of your thesis-writing slump. Good luck!

⎯ Andrea Reino, Social Sciences Correspondent

Theses held in UCL Library

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University of London theses

The Library holds a copy of most research degree theses completed by students registered at UCL and awarded by the UoL, including many from students at Schools and Institutes prior to merger with UCL. Theses are listed by author on the Library catalogue, Explore : they are shelved in our off-campus Store and may be retrieved for consultation (24-hour notice required) by completing the store request form or via the request link on Explore. Theses are not available for loan, either to individuals or via interlibrary loan.

Some UoL research degree theses submitted by UCL students in the areas of classical, Germanic, Latin American studies; history and law are not held: check the UoL School of Advanced Study catalogue for availability.

UCL started to award its own degrees to students registering from 2007/2008. Print copies of research theses are catalogued by author in Explore and shelved in Store; electronic versions are in many cases available on open access in UCL Discovery .

If you wish to access a thesis recorded in UCL Discovery for which the full text is subject to an access restriction or not present, it is best to contact the author directly to request a copy privately. If this is not possible, please contact the UCL Open Access Team .

If a thesis is not available via UCL Discovery or EThOS (see below) then it might be possible to obtain a copy from our interlibrary loan service via your home university interlibrary loan department. Please contact your university library and ask them to enquire about this service with UCL's Interlibrary Loan service; e-mail [email protected] for more information.

The Library does not normally hold print copies of any theses in the following categories:

MA, MSc, MRes, LLM theses.
Diploma theses.
Undergraduate dissertations.
Theses submitted at other universities or colleges.

Further information is available in the Support for dissertations and research projects LibGuide .

A growing number of open access thesis repositories is becoming available including:

ProQuest , holds many full text theses. You can search for dissertations and theses there.
UCL Discovery , UCL's open access research repository, includes theses alongside other UCL publications. You can search for theses, or browse a list.
EThOS , a database run by the British Library that aims to record all UK doctoral theses, with links to access an electronic version of the full text where available. The digitisation of theses that only exist in print form can often be requested, depending on the awarding institution and for a fee: UCL supports this process for UCL-held theses.
The DART-Europe E-theses Portal , holds details of open access electronic theses stored in repositories across Europe.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations , includes links to a number of international search tools and portals.

Video - Using PhD theses in research: EThOS

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Indexes of completed theses (access available to members of UCL only)

Proquest dissertations & theses global (pqdt global).

PQDT Global contains over a million full-text dissertations and theses from 1861 onwards that are available for download in PDF format. The collection includes PQDT UK and Ireland content.

Many UK universities now decline to lend research theses. You may visit the awarding university or, increasingly, obtain an electronic version either from the university itself or from EThOS (see above).

Theses awarded by universities worldwide may be requested via UCL Library Services Interlending and Document Supply service . The normal charge for this service applies. Please note that theses are never available for loan: they must be consulted on Library premises only.

Open access for theses: how to deposit

Candidates for UCL research degrees are required to deposit an electronic copy of their final thesis in UCL's Research Publications Service (RPS), to be made open access in UCL's institutional repository, UCL Discovery . Theses are amongst the most highly-downloaded items in UCL Discovery . Making your thesis open access will mean that it is accessible worldwide, to anyone who wants to read it.

It is also possible, but not mandatory, to submit a print copy of your thesis to the Library for storage and preservation if you wish. We recommend submitting the print copy in cases where the electronic copy cannot be made openly available online in UCL Discovery, but you wish the print copy to be accessible to members of the Library.

Please refer to our guidance on how to deposit for further information on the submission procedures.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dissertation

By Stephanie Hedge

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This is a GradHacker post by Stephanie Hedge, a PhD candidate at Ball State University in Rhetoric and Composition, @slhedge

I have a confession to make.

I don’t love writing my dissertation.

In fact, there are days when I open documents on my computer and start to cry. I am, at times, filled with an overwhelming anxiety, and there are moments when even thinking about my dissertation makes me want to throw my computer out the window and join the circus.

But every day, I do a little work, and I come a little closer to finishing.

Despite my anxiety, my frustration, I am able to keep writing because of a list of advice to myself that I have printed out and stuck to my wall. It helps me keep going when all I want to do is give up.

And I am sharing this list with you.

This advice has been collected slowly, throughout the past year or so, from a number of diverse sources. I hope that it might help you as you work through any long-form project, from theses to dissertations, from articles to books. Print it out, stick it on a wall, and get writing.

1. You are not alone.

Nothing I am feeling is unique to my situation. Almost every academic has felt anxiety over their projects, and many people before me have felt the urge to quit. It is perfectly normal to hate my dissertation at some point, and to feel hopeless. It doesn’t make my frustration any less real, but it does acknowledge that the feelings are normal, and that they will pass.

2. You are not alone.  

This one bears repeating because it is true in another sense. Writing can be horribly isolating, and it is easy to lose sight of all the people and support you have around you. My director and committee are never farther than an email away, many of my colleagues are feeling the same frustrations, and I am surrounded by people who are willing to commiserate, to listen to me whine, to read my work, and to buy me a beer when I need it. Even if I write by myself, I am never alone.

3. It’s just half an hour.

Following the advice of many different academics, I got myself a small egg timer, and I work for half an hour each day. Even when I feel like setting fire to my research, I know that all I have to do is work for half an hour. That’s an episode of The Simpsons . I tell myself that I can stop when the buzzer goes. There are days when I do stop, I close my computer and walk away. But many days, I get lost in the work and keep going. All I have to do is half an hour. I can do that. I can.

4. Doing anything is better than doing nothing.

It doesn’t matter what I get done, how big or how small, as long as I have done something that day. Even if all I do is edit one page, or write three words, or fix a citation, I have done something, which is always better than nothing. Which leads me to my next point:

5. Write just one sentence. Just one.

This advice comes from Karl Stolley, who says that “You don’t need to write your dissertation, or that chapter. You just need to write something toward your degree today”. (As an aside, his whole article is full of fantastic advice, and should be read immediately if you haven’t already). I have a tendency to focus on the big picture, to think about writing a whole chapter at once, and I get overwhelmed. Reminding myself that I just have to write something helps keep me from thinking too big. I can write a sentence. And when that is done, I can probably write another one. I don’t need to write a whole chapter. Just a sentence.

6. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done.

My director has said this to me over and over again, and I am still trying to get this to sink in. The only good dissertation, he says, is a finished dissertation. I tend to get stuck on phrasing, or working through a single paragraph, willing it to be perfect before I move on and write more. I get trapped in a quagmire of language, and it holds me back from finishing. I just have to keep reminding myself that perfect can come later—I can edit to my hearts content after I have written the prose.

7. It’s not a race.

I tend to focus on the end goal, DISSERTATION written in red flashing lights in my brain, and I want to “win”, to cross the finish line of writing and get my degree as the prize. I have to remind myself to slow down, that I am not competing against anyone, and that working a little bit each day will get me to the end. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

8. Focus on today.

One of the problems of being thisclose to finishing my degree is that I have to start thinking about the future. I have to prepare for the job market, for moving, for starting the next phase of my life, and it is so easy to get caught up in what will be that I lose sight of what I am doing now. I need to remind myself to take things one day at a time, to think about what I can do right now, today, and to focus on what is immediately in front of me. Write that one sentence.

9. Stop talking and WRITE.

Like many procrastinators, I spend much of my time talking about writing instead of actually doing writing (this phenomenon is mentioned in this Chronicle article ). I have to remind myself that telling everyone I am writing a dissertation means nothing without a final product to back it up.

10. You can do this.

I’ve made it this far. I can keep going. I can do it.

So can you.

This post is written with grateful thanks to Drs. Brian McNely and Jackie Grutsch McKinney for patiently providing me with much of the advice above.

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One Year After Massive Cuts, West Virginia Is Still Bleeding Faculty, Administrators

The university courted controversy by slashing programs and laying off both tenured and nontenured faculty members.

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Dissertating Like a Distance Runner: Ten Tips for Finishing Your PhD

The above photo is of Sir Mo Farah running past Buckingham Palace into the home stretch of the London Marathon. I took the photo two days after my viva, in which I defended my PhD dissertation. Farah become a British hero when he and his training partner, Galen Rupp, won the gold and silver medals in the 10k at the London Olympic Games.

I had the honor of racing against Rupp at Nike’s Boarder Clash meet between the fastest high school distance runners in my home state of Washington and Rupp’s home state of Oregon. I’m happy to provide a link to the results and photos of our teenage selves since I beat Galen and Washington won the meet. (Note: In the results, ‘Owen’ is misspelled with the commonly added s , which I, as a fan of Jesse Owens, feel is an honor.) By the time we were running in college—Rupp for the University of Oregon and myself for the University of Washington—he was on an entirely different level. I never achieved anything close to the kind of running success Rupp has had. Yet, for most of us mortals, the real value in athletics is the character traits and principles that sports instill in us, and how those principles carry over to other aspects of life. Here I want to share ten principles that the sport of distance running teaches, which I found to be quite transferrable to writing my doctoral dissertation.

To provide some personal context, I began as a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham in 2014. At that time my grandparents, who helped my single father raise my sister and me, continued their ongoing struggle with my Grandfather’s Alzheimer’s. It was becoming increasingly apparent that they would benefit from having my wife and I nearby. So, in 2015 we moved to my hometown of Yakima, Washington. That fall I began a 2/2 teaching load at a small university on the Yakama Nation Reservation as I continued to write my dissertation. Since finishing my PhD four years ago, in 2018, I have published one book , five research articles , and two edited volume chapters related in various ways to my dissertation. As someone living in rural Eastern Washington, who is a first-gen college grad, I had to find ways to stay self-motivated and to keep chipping away at my academic work. I found the following principles that I learned through distance running very helpful.

(1) Establish community . There are various explanations, some of which border on superstitious, for why Kenyan distance runners have been so dominant. Yet one factor is certainly the running community great Kenyan distance runners benefit from at their elite training camps, as discussed in Train Hard, Win Easy: The Kenyan Way . Having a community that values distance running can compel each member of the community to pursue athletic excellence over a long period of time. The same can be said for academic work. Many doctoral researchers have built-in community in their university departments, but for various reasons this is not true for everyone. Thankfully, alternative ways to establish community have never been easier, predominantly due to technology.

Since my dissertation applied Aristotelian causation and neo-Thomistic hylomorphism to mental causation and neural correlates of consciousness, I found it immensely helpful to meet consistently with neuroscientist, Christof Koch, and philosopher of mind, Mihretu Guta. Mihretu does work on the philosophy of consciousness and Christof propelled the dawn of the neurobiology of consciousness with Francis Crick . Though Mihretu lives in Southern California, we met monthly through Skype, and I would drive over the Cascade Mountains once a month to meet with Christof in Seattle. As my dissertation examiner, Anna Marmodoro, once reminded me: the world is small—it’s easier than ever before to connect with other researchers.

It can also be helpful to keep in mind that your community can be large or small. As some athletes train in large camps consisting of many runners, others have small training groups, such as the three Ingebrigtsen brothers . Likewise, your community could be a whole philosophy department or several close friends. You can also mix it up. As an introvert, I enjoyed my relatively small consistent community, but I also benefitted from attending annual regional philosophy conferences where I could see the same folks each year. And I especially enjoyed developing relationships with other international researchers interested in Aristotelian philosophy of mind at a summer school hosted by the University of Oxford in Naples, which Marmodoro directed. For a brief period, we all stayed in a small villa and talked about hylomorphism all day, each day, while enjoying delicious Italian food.

Whatever your community looks like, whatever shape it takes, what matters is that you’re encouraged toward accomplishing your academic goal.

(2) Know your goal. Like writing a dissertation, becoming a good distance runner requires a lot of tedious and monotonous work. If you don’t have a clear goal of what you want to achieve, you won’t get up early, lace up your running shoes, and enter the frosty morning air as you take the first of many steps in your morning run. There are, after all, more enticing and perhaps even more pressing things to do. Similarly, if you don’t have a clear goal of when you want to finish your dissertation, it is easy to put off your daily writing for another day, which can easily become more distant into the future.

(3) Be realistic about your goal . While it is important to have a clear goal as a distance runner and as a doctoral researcher, it is important for your goal to be realistic. This means your goal should take into account the fact that you are human and therefore have both particular strengths and limitations. Everyone enters the sport of distance running with different strengths and weaknesses. When Diddy ran the city it would have been unrealistic for him to try to break the two-hour barrier in the marathon, as Eliud Kipchoge did . If Diddy made that his goal, he probably would have lost all hope in the first mile of the marathon and never finished. Because he set a more realistic goal of breaking four hours, not two hours, he paced himself accordingly and actually finished.

The parent of two young children who is teaching part-time can certainly finish a dissertation. But the parent will have a greater likelihood of doing so with a reasonable goal that fits that individual’s strengths and limitations. If the parent expects to finish on the same timescale as someone who is single with no children nor teaching responsibilities, this will likely lead to disappointment and less motivation in the middle of the process. Motivation will remain higher, and correspondingly so will productivity that is fueled by motivation, if one’s goal is realistic and achievable.

Another element of having a realistic goal is being willing to adapt the goal as your circumstances change. Sometimes a runner might enter a race expecting to place in the top five and midway through the race realize that she has a great chance of winning (consider, for example, Des Linden’s victory at the Boston Marathon ). At that point, it would be wise to revise one’s goal to be ‘win the race’ rather than simply placing in the top five. At other times, a runner might expect to win the race or be on the podium and midway realize that is no longer possible. Yet, if she is nevertheless within striking distance of placing in the top five, then she can make that her new goal, which is realistic given her current situation and will therefore sustain her motivation to the finish line. Sara Hall, who could have and wanted to crack the top three, held on for fifth at the World Championships marathon because she adjusted her goal midrace.

The PhD candidate who initially plans to finish her dissertation in three years but then finds herself in the midst of a pandemic or dealing with a medical issue or a family crisis may not need to give up on her goal of finishing her dissertation. Perhaps, she only needs to revise her goal so that it allows more time, so she finishes in five years rather than three. A PhD finished in five years is certainly more valuable than no PhD.

(4) Know why you want to achieve your goal . My high school cross-country coach, Mr. Steiner, once gave me a book about distance running entitled “Motivation is the Name of the Game.” It is one of those books you don’t really need to read because the main takeaway is in the title. Distance running requires much-delayed gratification—you must do many things that are not intrinsically enjoyable (such as running itself, ice baths, going to bed early, etc.) in order to achieve success. If you don’t have a solid reason for why you want to achieve your running goal, you won’t do the numerous things you do not want to do but must do to achieve your goal. The same is true for finishing a PhD. Therefore, it is important to know the reason(s) why you want to finish your dissertation and why you want a PhD.

As a side note, it can also be immensely helpful to choose a dissertation topic that you are personally very interested in, rather than a topic that will simply make you more employable. Of course, being employable is something many of us must consider. Yet, if you pick a topic that is so boring to you that you have significant difficulty finding the motivation to finish your dissertation, then picking an “employable dissertation topic” will be anything but employable.

(5) Prioritize your goal . “Be selfish” were the words of exhortation my college cross-country team heard from our coaches before we returned home for Christmas break. As someone who teaches ethics courses, I feel compelled to clarify that “be selfish” is not typically good advice. However, to be fair to my coaches, the realistic point they were trying to convey was that at home we would be surrounded by family and friends who may not fully understand our running goals and what it takes to accomplish them. For example, during my first Christmas break home from college, I was trying to run eighty miles per week. Because I was trying to fit these miles into my social schedule without much compromise, many of these miles were run in freezing temps, in the dark, on concrete sidewalks with streetlights, rather than dirt trails. After returning to campus following the holidays, I raced my first indoor track race with a terribly sore groin, which an MRI scan soon revealed was due to a stress fracture in my femur. I learned the hard way that I have limits to what I can do, which entails I must say “no thanks” to some invitations, even though that may appear selfish to some.

A PhD researcher writing a dissertation has a substantial goal before her. Yet, many people writing a dissertation have additional responsibilities, such as teaching, being a loving spouse, a faithful friend, or a present parent. As I was teaching while writing my dissertation, I often heard the mantra “put students first.” Yet, I knew if I prioritized my current students over and above finishing my dissertation, I would, like many, never finish my dissertation. However, I knew it would be best for my future students to be taught by an expert who has earned a PhD. So, I put my future students first by prioritizing finishing my PhD . This meant that I had to limit the teaching responsibilities I took on. Now, my current students are benefitting from my decision, as they are taught by an expert in my field.

While prioritizing your dissertation can mean putting it above some things in life, it also means putting it below other things. A friend once told me he would fail in a lot of areas in life before he fails as a father, which is often what it means to practically prioritize one goal above another. Prioritizing family and close friendships need not mean that you say ‘yes’ to every request, but that you intentionally build consistent time into your schedule to foster relationships with the people closest to you. For me, this practically meant not working past 6:00pm on weekdays and taking weekends off to hang out with family and friends. This relieved pressure, because I knew that if something went eschew with my plan to finish my PhD, I would still have the people in my life who I care most about. I could then work toward my goal without undue anxiety about the possibility of failing and the loss that would entail. I was positively motivated by the likely prospect that I would, in time, finish my PhD, and be able to celebrate it with others who supported me along the way.

(6) Just start writing . Yesterday morning, it was five degrees below freezing when I did my morning run. I wanted to skip my run and go straight to my heated office. So, I employed a veteran distance running trick to successfully finish my run. I went out the door and just started running. That is the hardest part, and once I do it, 99.9% of the time I finish my run.

You may not know what exactly you think about a specific topic in the chapter you need to write, nor what you are going to write each day. But perhaps the most simple and helpful dissertation advice I ever received was from David Horner, who earned his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He told me: “just start writing.” Sometimes PhD researchers think they must have all their ideas solidified in their mind before they start writing their dissertation. In fact, writing your dissertation can actually help clarify what you think. So “just start writing” is not only simple but also sage advice.

(7) Never write a dissertation . No great marathoner focuses on running 26.2 miles. Great distance runners are masters of breaking up major goals into smaller goals and then focusing on accomplishing one small goal at a time, until they have achieved the major goal. Philosophers can understand this easily, as we take small, calculated steps through minor premises that support major premises to arrive at an overall conclusion in an argument.

Contained within each chapter of a dissertation is a premise(s) in an overall argument and individual sections can contain sub-premises supporting the major premise of each chapter. When you first start out as a doctoral researcher working on your dissertation, you have to construct an outline of your dissertation that maps out the various chapters and how they will relate to your overall conclusion. Once you have that outline in place, keep it in the back of your mind. But do not focus on writing the whole, which would be overwhelming and discouraging. Rather, focus on writing whichever chapter you are working on. The fastest American marathoner, Ryan Hall, wrote a book that sums up the only way to run long distances in the title Run the Mile You’re In . And Galen Rupp discusses in this interview how he mentally breaks up a marathon into segments and focuses on just finishing one segment at a time. Whatever chapter you’re writing, make it your goal to write that chapter. Once you’ve accomplished that goal, set a new goal: write the next chapter. Repeat that process several times and you will be halfway through your dissertation. Repeat the process a few more times, and you will be done.

By the time you have finished a master’s degree, you have written many chapter-length papers. To finish a dissertation, you essentially write about eight interconnected papers, one at a time, just as you have done many times before. If you just write the chapter (which you could call a “paper” if that feels like a lighter load) you’re writing, before you know it, you will have written a dissertation.

(8) Harness the power of habits . Becoming a great distance runner requires running an inordinate number of miles, which no one has the willpower to do. The best marathoners in the world regularly run well over one hundred miles a week, in addition to stretching, lifting weights, taking ice baths, and eating healthy. Not even the most tough-minded distance runner has the gumption to make all the individual decisions that would be required in order to get out the door for every run and climb into every ice bath apart from the development of habits. The most reliable way around each distance runner’s weakness of will, or akrasia , is developing and employing habits. The same can be true for writing.

If you simply try to write a little bit each weekday around the same time, you will develop a habit of writing at that time each day. Once you have that habit, the decision to write each weekday at that time will require less and less willpower over time. Eventually, it will take some willpower to not write at that time. I have found it helpful to develop the routine of freewriting for a few minutes just before starting my daily writing session of thirty minutes during which I write new content, before working on editing or revising existing content for about thirty minutes. My routine helped me develop the daily habit of writing, which removes the daily decision to write, as I “just do it” (to use Nike’s famous line) each day.

I have also found it helpful to divide my days up according to routines. As a morning person, I do well writing and researching in the morning, doing teaching prep and teaching during the middle of the day, and then doing mundane tasks such as email at the end of the day.

(9) Write for today and for tomorrow . Successful distance runners train for two reasons. One reason—to win upcoming races—is obvious. However, in addition to training for upcoming races, the successful distance runner trains today for the training that they want to be capable of months and years ahead. You cannot simply jump into running eighty, ninety, or one-hundred-mile weeks. It takes time to condition your body to sustain the stress of running high mileage weeks. A runner must have a long-term perspective and plan ahead as she works toward her immediate goals on the way to achieving her long-term goals. Similarly, for the PhD researcher, writing a dissertation lays the groundwork for future success.

For one, if the PhD candidate develops healthy, sustainable, productive habits while writing a dissertation, these habits can be continued once they land an academic job. It is no secret that the initial years on the job market, or in a new academic position, can be just as (or more) challenging than finishing a PhD. Effective habits developed while writing a dissertation can be invaluable during such seasons, allowing one to continue researching and writing even with more responsibilities and less time.

It is also worth noting that there is a sense in which research writing becomes easier, as one becomes accustomed to the work. A distance runner who has been running for decades, logging thousands of miles throughout their career, can run relatively fast without much effort. For example, my college roommate, Travis Boyd, decided to set the world record for running a half marathon pushing a baby stroller nearly a decade after we ran for the University of Washington. His training was no longer what it once was during our collegiate days. Nevertheless, his past training made it much easier for him to set the record, even though his focus had shifted to his full-time business career and being a present husband and father of two. I once asked my doctoral supervisors, Nikk Effingham and Jussi Suikkanen, how they were able to publish so much. They basically said it gets easier, as the work you have done in the past contributes to your future publications. Granted, not everyone is going to finish their PhD and then become a research super human like Liz Jackson , who finished her PhD in 2019, and published four articles that same year, three the next, and six the following year. Nevertheless, writing and publishing does become easier as you gain years of experience.

(10) Go running . As Cal Newport discusses in Deep Work , having solid boundaries around the time we work is conducive for highly effective academic work. And there is nothing more refreshing while dissertating than an athletic hobby with cognitive benefits . So, perhaps the best way to dissertate like a distance runner is to stop writing and go for a run.

Acknowledgments : Thanks are due to Aryn Owen and Jaden Anderson for their constructive feedback on a prior draft of this post.

Matthew Owen

Matthew Owen (PhD, University of Birmingham) is a faculty member in the philosophy department at Yakima Valley College in Washington State. He is also an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan. Matthew’s latest book is Measuring the Immeasurable Mind: Where Contemporary Neuroscience Meets the Aristotelian Tradition .

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Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

Dissertation structure and layout - the basics

The Caveat

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

Acknowledgements page
Abstract (or executive summary)
Table of contents , list of figures and tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Results
Chapter 5: Discussion
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

A dissertation's structure reflect the research process

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
How does your research contribute something original?
How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the Grad Coach Blog .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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Jason Kelce ’s wife, Kylie Kelce , is mourning the loss of her Irish wolfhound Winnie.

Kylie Kelce on Thursday shared with her Instagram followers a slideshow of photos of Winnie over the years, including one picture of Jason Kelce patting Winnie’s head and another of herself in her wedding gown looking down at her dog.

“When I was in high school I had a folder on my desktop labeled ‘Gods gift to earth’. It was images of Irish Wolfhouds that I had collected from Google. I had fallen in love with the breed when I was a young and never let my fascination with them fade,” she captioned her post. “It all lead me to Winnie and holy s--t did she live up to the hype. She was everything I had hoped for in a wolfie and more.”

“I lost part of my soul today, but I know she is at peace,” Kylie Kelce added. “I love you, Winn. You will always be my first born child.”

Jason Kelce’s brother, Travis Kelce , commented with two pleading face emojis and said his sister-in-law gave “Winn an amazing life.”

Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole also added, “Winnie girl. What a sweet life she lived. ❤.”

The Kelces also have a separate Instagram account dedicated to their dogs . In addition to Winn, they are pet parents to another Irish wolfhound named Baloo.

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One week to go in the final PhD submission and I have lost the will to work on it. Help!

I have less than a week left in my PhD submission - it's due by 9th of December. This is almost the end of my fourth year and I have been able to edit it several times since I completed the first draft.

So I planned out my week to read each chapter a day and finalise everything. But, I am tired sitting in my room watching TV instead of following my plan. It's been two days I haven't looked at it. I have completely lost the will to work on it and have no motivation to work on it whatsoever. In fact I am rather planning what I need to do after submission rather really working through it now till the submission date. My neck is in pain and I just feel drained out.

I can't believe what happened to me suddenly. I worked on it well in the past almost four years.

Has it happened to anyone else here? How I can bounce back to get advantage from this last few days that I have left in my submission? How I can motivate myself again to work on it?

16 See Strategies to overcome “academic-apathy” in the final stages of the PhD? – ff524 Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 20:48
6 Go party and get drunk. Hopefully next day your blockage goes away. – BЈовић Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 13:10
10 See if you can do only 15 minutes. That's not that hard, right? Then do it again. – RemcoGerlich Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 14:35
1 Plan something sinfully fun for when you're finished. Plan on spending weeks celebrating the holidays without thinking about research, put together a full weekend of activities with friends, splurge and buy yourself a new TV or video game console or a lot of an indulgent desert you love but don't get often - something that will last several days at least and is nothing but pure joy for you. You will have absolutely earned it when you're finished, and knowing that you have something incredible coming up will make it easier to soldier through for just a few more short days. – Kevin Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 17:15
2 Alternate between going for a walk around the block and working for 15-30 minutes until 9:30 tonight. (don't forget to eat a well balanced meal for dinner with very little sugar/carbs) sleep for a minimum of 6 hours before getting up and repeating the cycle. It NEVER fails. – dalearn Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 18:34

9 Answers 9

I agree with lostsoul29, but I will add a couple of additional thoughts as that answer did not address all aspects of your question.

For your neck pain, I recommend using Tiger Balm (specifically, the patches rather than the goop which can be messy). After writing much of my master's thesis on a laptop while sitting on a couch, I developed "military neck," or a loss of the natural curvature in my neck. The pain made it so hard to sit at the computer b/c that's what aggravated it most. I get chiropractic care for that and have had success there, but for you, you need an immediate solution and, as I said, Tiger Balm.
Remove your TV. Sounds like this is your crutch. It's easy, it's there and when the volume is loud enough you can momentarily ignore the stress you're feeling. Maybe you can simply unplug it to make turning it on a more conscious decision, but I would go so far as to ask a friend to store it at their apartment for the time being. This may sound dramatic, but it's extremely effective.
Go for a run, or some sort of vigorous cardiac exercise. Take just 1/10th of the time you've been watching TV and exercise instead (that is, you clearly have the time so that is not an excuse). Not only is this a great way to increase blood flow to your brain and help clear the fog, it will help with your neck pain as well. That was the only other thing that helped mine (besides Tiger Balm and, eventually, getting treatment).
Be kind to yourself. So you took a couple days off? Big deal. Do not be mean or self degrading. Move on. Do not think about how much there is to get done, just do the next thing. And then after that, do the next thing. Rinse and repeat. When you start that negative inner dialogue try stopping it quickly. My mantra is something like, "that thought doesn't serve me well, let's move on." When I start thinking of the next 5 things I have to do, I think, "just do the next thing," repeatedly as a way of focusing me on the task at hand. These might seem cheesy, but I find them effective, and you may need them if you follow through on step 3 and no longer have your TV to drown out your inner dialogue.

This answer is based on my own experiences being in your position. I am terrible procrastinator so, sadly, I have lots of experience in this department. Wishing you the best of luck!

15 If anyone hasn't clicked that link, then I would advise you to do so right now, especially if you are a procrastinator. – user61733 Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 6:06
15 As a CS guy (who spends large amounts of time in front of a computer and has older colleagues who've been at it for decades) I wouldn't so much recommend tiger balm for issue #1 but a complete change of habits in the future. Do long amounts of work at a real desk with a monitor and keyboard that are correctly configured for your height and make regular breaks. Otherwise you'll have big health problems later in life! Ahem, otherwise good answer, although I think I'll have to stop procrastinating now :( – Voo Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 8:36
1 For future reference, Stephen Pressfield wrote a great book named 'The War of Art' about how crazy procrastination can get, writer's block and some tactics at to how to overcome both. I'd advice OP against reading it now since it's quite a book and he has little time, but perhaps for future readers with more time on their hands. Also available in audio book for easier combining with actually doing useful stuff. No affiliation. – Mast Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 10:13
1 You forgot sleep! Eat, Sleep, and Exercise is the answer here. – dalearn Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 18:38
1 No, I do not actually believe in subluxation. I was treated with active release technique (ART), not adjustments. Still I wouldn't consider ART a legitimate science. But, that doesn’t actually matter. I also have a copper IUD, and it's very effective, but scientists have no idea why. More importantly, academia is a community of people in the pursuit of scholarship and, yes, scientific research. At its core it is about discussing ideas and pursuing knowledge with respect and integrity. In this case, @Davor, I would argue that you are the one that is out of line. – kindredChords Commented Dec 7, 2016 at 1:11

Well, first of all, I don't really know whether additional work will result in an improved thesis. Maybe your subconscious just knows when to stop!

However... IF there are a few last things to fill in, loose threads to tie up, etc., then you need the following:

A to-do list . Jot down the tasks that remain, and prioritize them. You might not have the oomph to do all of them.

A change of scenery . Pack up the things you need and go work somewhere else, such as a quiet library. At this point, you might find it helpful to get off campus and go to a public library frequented by children and non-academics. Perhaps a window with a nice view would be helpful, to try to get some work done, despite your feeling of burn-out.

Inspiration . Re-read some piece of scientific writing whose style gives you a real kick.

Encouragement . Show or send some favorite bits to a friend, someone who will appreciate them and enthuse. Pre-write some stubborn bit by explaining what you want to write to your friend.

Pain relief for your neck . Consider: heating pad, hot water bottle, hot bath with epsom salts, ibuprofen, Tylenol, chiropractor, physical therapy, massage.

A really fun reward . Promise yourself something fun for the end of each day, and then follow through.

1 Plus 1 for change in scene. Go 'live' in a cafe for a couple of days. With headphones. You can't watch TV, do cleaning chores, sorting out closets, etc. if you aren't actually there. Makes being productive easier due to less alternatives. – Michael Durrant Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 14:07
1 Yep, going to the public library works for me. I like to find one of those cubicle desk things and just camp out for the rest of the day. If possible, I don't bring my computer or my phone, since my Instant Gratification monkey will just cause me to read Stack Exchange or watch YouTube instead, but that's not always possible. – user61733 Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 14:31
1 @FighterJet Yes! Stack Exchange is the worst! The most moral thing we could do would be to stop making it such an interesting place to spend time! :D – msouth Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 14:59
1 Hi this really helped. I made a to-do-list and stuck to it. Cheers for a helpful answer. – Ahmad Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 19:07
@Ahmad - I've been there, brother. Happy editing! – aparente001 Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 19:16

I'm in a similar boat. My Masters thesis is due in three days, and I've completed most of the revisions suggested by my advisor. However, until two days ago, I had lost the motivation to complete the final set of major revisions. I motivated myself by:

Telling myself that I've spent the last two years working on this, and although I could spend a lot more time working on what I love, I need to move on to bigger things.
Although writing is stressful and a drain of energy, I love how every single revision makes my work better. Years later when I look back on these days, do I want to see a passionate, hungry perfectionist at work, or a big whining crybaby who barely got through?
Drink coffee, lots of it. Its not healthy to drink a lot of it, but it gets the job done.

7 Be careful with coffee if you're not accustomed to drinking it. A large, sudden increase in coffee consumption might give you a stomach pain to accompany your neck pain. – Andreas Blass Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 5:31
2 @Andreas To emphasize the legitimacy of you concerns: You may also experience Nervousness, Jitters, Sweating, Nausea... That's what happened to me in a similar situation. These symptoms lasted for several hours and were severe enough that I had to stop working, lay down and wait for it to be over before returning to my desk. So, overdosing on caffeine may actually cost you valuable, productive time instead of earning you some. – Stefan Mesken Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 10:38

Indulge in the feeling, temporarily.

The anxiety produced by fighting the lack of motivation and feeling like it's wrong to feel that way, is far more detrimental than understanding that it's ok to be a little burned out and take a short break.

Take a day or two, be a bum and put it off, but make sure that when you get done with that day or two that you understand the importance of getting back to the grindstone.

Most importantly, congratulations on your achievement.

So I planed out my week to read each chapter a day and finalise everything. But, I am tired... Its been two days I haven't looked at it.

So I gather that you're at the stage where you're doing minor clean-up, and you're finding it nearly impossible to concentrate on reading your thesis. I'm not surprised! You're probably seeing most of the text for the fourth or fifth time. Your eyes may be looking at the page, but what you "see" is what you think you wrote, not what's actually there.

So my trick is to read the thesis out loud . It's much easier to concentrate because you're taking a more active role, and you'll catch all sorts of things you would never notice otherwise. Don't try to do it all at once; break it up into short sections or you will strain your voice. And if you do strain your voice, you can get almost as good results by reading silently but moving your lips while you read . Yes, you'll look funny, but it will help you to concentrate.

It's pretty common. If you know you're not up to working on it on one particular day, decide to do twice as much work the next day--- provided that you're confident you can actually hold yourself to it. It's like trying to fall asleep at night: If you're just not tired, then lying awake in the dark is not helpful; get up, do something productive or at least enjoyable, and try again when you're ready. If you're finishing up a PhD, you have the time-management skills to finish up on time; just be honest about what you can actually finish in a day, and don't push yourself past the point where it becomes counterproductive. If it helps to motivate you, schedule some sort of reward (vacation, dinner at a nice restaurant, etc.) after you're done.

Hi very effective tips - thanks. Yes London holidays have been booked next week 😊 – Ahmad Commented Dec 7, 2016 at 20:29
@Ahmad: Enjoy the trip! – anomaly Commented Dec 7, 2016 at 23:58

Consider this a completely separate challenge. You are going to hit walls like this in your life. You are clearly burned out on motivating yourself to work on your PhD; so make this into a meta-challenge-- motivate yourself to figure out the answer to this question: "What works for me when I've hit a wall on a big project?"

This is a psychological self-hack. Get your brain out of the "I must motivate myself to work on my PhD" rut, and work on this new challenge. You will know, going forward, what to do with a wall when you hit it. This gives you something positive to look forward to, namely, having something in your personal toolkit to overcome future challenges.

best of luck! If you havent lost the will to work on it by the end - then you havent had the proper PhD experience.

I am with the guy who tells you to get drunk. Just get drunk, go party (make sure you keep hydrated - dont end up hung over) and then finish it off.

Also - dont try to sit and work on it for too long. 20 minute bursts, 10 minutes off, and set a goal as to what you want to achieve every time you sit down.

P.S. I did the same as you [ reddit.com/user/_pantsparty_/] - I started a reddit acount ant started complaining on the internet. – Dave Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 21:01
Thank you much. Its going well and Friday is coming very soon. – Ahmad Commented Dec 7, 2016 at 20:27

I know this is old, but I am in a similar situation right now with just a few weeks to go and a "preliminary deadline" before the official submission in a weeks time.

What has worked for me in the last days was this:

Get a professional relaxation massage Everything hurt. The massage did not completely cure that, I am just too tense. But it was a difference like day and night that I felt in my ability to focus after that massage. I instantly booked another one for the morning after my "preliminary deadline".
Find your personal cheerleader I did not actively search for one, but my boyfriend has put it upon himself to cheer me on, every evening and occasionally throughout the day. It might sound cheesy, but a short "You're doing awesome!"-type message on the phone can set free the energy you need to do even better.
Retreat Explain to your friends that you are crazy stressed right now and tell them when the deadline is and that you will be back to chat and do outings at that time. I just asked for people to understand that I suffer from being interrupted and that if I feel the need to socialize I would reach out to them. But also that this would be temporary and of course I am always there if it's important.
Do not indulge in taking time off Contrary to what others have said and what I would normally say for a stressful time, when it is this close to the deadline, indulging and taking a day off or so might be a problem, because a day is not enough if it is that bad, but enough time off will make you miss your deadline. So now is the time to power through. Having to pick up yourself from slacking off takes time and strength we do not have right now.
Plan Mak a short list of the days you still have and what you would like to get done (roughly) on each day. At the end of each day, make a more detailed list for the next one. And then go ticking off. Usually, the achievement of ticking something off the list gives me a feeling of accomplishment and a short energy boost, just enough to start on another item. And of course, if you can reach a flow of working you can always do more (and reward yourself with a buffer day of nothing at the end in the best case).

See it that way: There is a dreaded deadline ahead. But ahead of that is the time after the deadline... when you are done.

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COMMENTS

How I lost my dissertation files (despite 7 different backup plans)
Easy, I said. I've got that in my "dissertation" folder. I opened the folder, knowing just where it would be, but it contained nothing but a corrupted PDF with comments from my committee. Whether it was lost to the data corruption, lost in a bad restore, or just lost, it was gone. Everything else was gone. "OK, this is why I have ...
How can I get a copy of a dissertation that I need for my research
The Library will first try to borrow the dissertation directly from the holding institution. If it is unavailable for loan, the Library will try to purchase an electronic copy from a commercial supplier, such as ProQuest. The average cost for a dissertation is $32. Any costs exceeding $35 will be chargeable to you, provided that you agree to ...
Q. How can I get a copy of a dissertation?
In most cases you can request a copy through WorldCat's built-in Healey Library interlibrary loan feature. If the thesis/dissertation is not affiliated with one of the BLC Libraries, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is your best bet. When requesting one, use the New Request - Loan function. Occasionally requesting a thesis/dissertation via ILL is ...
Re-Starting: Strategies for Returning to Your Dissertation
Instead, take it easy for a week or so. Stretch your legs and walk a bit before you run. 5. Re-plan Your Completion Schedule: It is important, even before you start writing again, to have a clear, articulated path to completing your dissertation, because it keeps you focused on your goal: graduation. Since my schedule was more than a couple of ...
11 quick fixes to get your thesis back on track
The best advice is still 'read a little, write a little, every single day'. The math favours you here. Reading a single article or a few chapters every day builds a nice familiarity with your field over the course of a year. And writing 500-1000 words every day yields enough content for two to three dissertations.
I've lost my own copy of my University thesis. Where can I get another
Mar 06, 2024 1678. For a replacement digital copy of your thesis, submit a digitisation request through EThOS (Electronic Theses Online). Prior registration is necessary before you make your request. For further information or assistance please contact Inter-Library Loans, tel. 0151 794 5414 or e-mail at [email protected].
Stuck completing master's thesis, how to overcome poor choice of topic
I'm in the second year of a master's program, working on a thesis. I am not getting enough help from my supervisor because he has a different methodological background from me. I am also not finding enough evidence to complete the thesis, and the topic has been very difficult to research because almost nothing is written about it.
A lost thesis is terrifying: Ontrack to the rescue!
Help! I've lost my dissertation…Imagine for a moment university life before the widespread adoption of personal computing. Writing a dissertation required access to a library and a small fortune to pay someone to type up your handwritten 10,000 words into a spiral-bound document. Then imagine that you leave your only copy on the bus - and have to start all over again.
I've lost my original thesis, can you send me a digital copy?
Answer. If your thesis is currently only available in print and we hold the hard copy in our collection, we are able to make a digital copy of your own work which you could download from our institutional repository (please note we are unable to digitse the work of others as permission is required).
How may I find my dissertation or thesis online?
The 7-digit number is the UMI Publication Number. Simply substitute your own Number for the one in the example, and you have a permanent link to your online citation in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database. Once your dissertation or thesis has been published, there is an easy way to point your colleagues, friends, and family ...
20 Tips to help you finish your dissertation
Here are a few tips to help you. 1. Write sooner. The dissertation writing process can quickly become paralyzing because of its size and importance. It is a project that will be reviewed rigorously by your advisor and your committee, and your graduation depends on your successful completion and defense.
I wanted to cite an article (or book) in my paper, but I've lost it
First, an ounce of prevention: as you're doing your research, keep careful track of the sources that you think you'll want to use in your paper. A research journal and citation management tool can be a big help.. When you've lost that perfect article or book, don't panic. Try these steps to recover it: If you can remember all or part of the title or an exact quote from the text, search for it ...
How to Pull Yourself Out of a Thesis-Writing Slump
The stress of packing, saying goodbye to my friends and the campus, and moving out caused my thesis to take a backseat in terms of priorities. Once I arrived home, I purposefully decided to extend my break from writing my thesis in order to unpack, get settled, and get used to online classes. One day lead to the next, and suddenly, I had spent ...
Theses
Please contact your university library and ask them to enquire about this service with UCL's Interlibrary Loan service; e-mail [email protected] for more information. The Library does not normally hold print copies of any theses in the following categories: MA, MSc, MRes, LLM theses. Diploma theses. Undergraduate dissertations.
Advice for graduate students having difficulty finishing their
In my experience, people who don't finish their dissertations have one of two problems with the people they surround themselves with: 1) they don't have anyone who is actively writing a dissertation in their daily life (i.e., they remove themselves entirely from contact with other dissertation writers) or 2) they surround themselves with ...
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dissertation
Print it out, stick it on a wall, and get writing. 1. You are not alone. Nothing I am feeling is unique to my situation. Almost every academic has felt anxiety over their projects, and many people before me have felt the urge to quit. It is perfectly normal to hate my dissertation at some point, and to feel hopeless.
How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis
Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal. Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter. Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review. Undertake your own research. Present and interpret your findings. Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications.
Dissertating Like a Distance Runner: Ten Tips for Finishing Your PhD
That fall I began a 2/2 teaching load at a small university on the Yakama Nation Reservation as I continued to write my dissertation. Since finishing my PhD four years ago, in 2018, I have published one book, five research articles, and two edited volume chapters related in various ways to my dissertation. As someone living in rural Eastern ...
Stuck without progress working on thesis
Posting my concerns over here was the best thing I had thought in last 2 months. I think my line is already efficient. But there is always a possibility of optimization. I will surely write and complete my thesis on time. I will complete my first draft of the thesis till end of this month.
Dissertation Structure & Layout 101 (+ Examples)
Time to recap…. And there you have it - the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows: Title page. Acknowledgments page. Abstract (or executive summary) Table of contents, list of figures and tables.
Kylie Kelce announces her and Jason's dog died: 'I lost part of my soul
"I lost part of my soul today, but I know she is at peace," Kylie Kelce added. "I love you, Winn. You will always be my first born child." ...
One week to go in the final PhD submission and I have lost the will to
My Masters thesis is due in three days, and I've completed most of the revisions suggested by my advisor. However, until two days ago, I had lost the motivation to complete the final set of major revisions. ... Lost in my life plan at the beginning of PhD thesis. Hot Network Questions Asked to suggest referees 9 months after submission: what to do?

How I lost my dissertation files (despite 7 different backup plans)

“Huh, that’s weird”

“OK, this is why I have backups.”

How I f***ed up really badly, Part 1

How I f***ed up really badly, Part 2

How I was really unlucky

Learn from me, damnit

Redundancy doesn’t prevent stupidity

Q. How can I get a copy of a dissertation that I need for my research?

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Q. How can I get a copy of a dissertation?

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Q. I've lost my own copy of my University thesis. Where can I get another one?

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A lost thesis is terrifying: Ontrack to the rescue!

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20 Tips to help you finish your dissertation

Related: Learn more about our Research Doctoral Studies Degrees ( D.Miss., Ed.D., Th.M., Ph.D). See also the Doctoral Studies viewbook .

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Q. I wanted to cite an article (or book) in my paper, but I've lost it! How can I find it again?

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Dissertating Like a Distance Runner: Ten Tips for Finishing Your PhD

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