How To Write Your Dissertation
where i've been #19: ten tips to help you through diss season
Dissertation season is in full swing for most final year students at universities up and down the country. The libraries are packed, the coffee queues are lengthy and the sense of collective stress lingers in the air.
However, if you’ve studied a creative course like me, you might’ve already completed your lengthy essay and have received your mark. Therefore, I thought I’d share some of my top tips, which will hopefully be useful to any student at any stage of their education.
1. There is no set method in writing your dissertation.
It would be brilliant if there was a concrete structure in place for dissertation writing, but then it wouldn’t be original research. Even if you are investigating similar topics to your course mates, there’s a high chance that your essays will be structured differently. So, the best thing to do is not compare your work to your peers, and trust the advice from your supervisor.
2. Pick a topic you are genuinely interested in.
This dissertation will take up a massive amount of your time, so it will be a thousand times easier to tackle if you are passionate about your topic. Don’t just pick something you’re good at, or something that ‘looks’ good – go as niche as you’d like and your enthusiasm will elevate your writing.
3. Try to link your topic to your future plans.
This is a practical tip. If you’re applying for a master’s, job or graduate scheme, one way you can demonstrate your commitment to a particular field is by researching it through your dissertation. By the end of the writing process, you should be confident in explaining your topic, giving you something relevant to talk about with potential employers.
4. Write your topic somewhere you can see it.
It’s easy to wander off when writing your dissertation, ending up on irrelevant tangents. Therefore, to keep your focus, I recommend writing your topic on a piece of paper within your eyeline, which you can constantly refer back to. I pinned mine onto the noticeboard above my desk in my bedroom, but, if you study outside of the house, then you could always carry a post-it note with you and stick it to your laptop.
5. Don’t try to change your study patterns.
No matter how early I tried to write my dissertation, I knew that I was always going to revert to my pattern of submitting it the night before. I’ve done this for nearly every assignment during my education, as it gives me the most time to make any last-minute edits. Whatever your study pattern might be, my advice is to not beat yourself up over it. The most important thing is that you get it submitted.
6. Don’t be afraid to change your topic.
I don’t mean overhaul your entire topic one week before the deadline, but it makes total sense for your research focus to change over time. For example, my 5,000-word dissertation ended up covering only a decade, although I originally planned to explore more time periods. However, this decade was the most significant within my research, so it allowed me to focus on the most important information.
7. When in doubt, reference!
You’ve been at university for three years now. You should know how to use Harvard Referencing. You should (but probably don’t) use the wonderful Cite Them Right. The one golden rule I have for any university assignment is to just reference the hell out of any written work. If you are making any point, find the information to back it up. Even if it’s something obvious, throwing in a bit of evidence never hurts. In fact, it could make or break your grade.
8. Have a television series on-the-go for when you’re taking a study break.
Rewarding yourself after several hours of writing is a must, and I found that the best way to unwind is to find a television series to immerse yourself in. It’s a good distraction from your work, but still stimulates your brain. Watching a couple of episodes per night can relax you, whilst also giving you something to look forward to after studying. My go-to series was Apple TV’s Slow Horses (2022 – present).
9. Keep your acknowledgments short and sweet.
This might be a rather controversial one, but the shorter the acknowledgments, the better. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading others’ lengthy tributes on social media as much as the next student, but I found that writing just a sentence for both my supervisor and my parents was sufficient enough. Think about it: do you honestly want to dedicate the most important piece of academic literature you will ever write to your situationship or your dead dog?
10. Get your dissertation printed and bound.
After months and months of hard work, there is no better feeling than holding your dissertation in your hands. It’s how Olympians must feel holding their gold medals. You might have to pay a couple of pounds to your library, but it is absolutely worth getting a copy so that you can take photos with it outside of your university. You’ve earnt it, so you should show it off!
Those are my tips! You can take them with a pinch of salt, but I received a mark of 85, so you might want to listen to me…