Tips for Preparing the Proposal for your Postgraduate Dissertation

A postgraduate dissertation is an integral part of the coursework and requires the student to participate in intensive research activity. While the process of making it does not run as long as that of a Ph.D. thesis, it is a laborious task in itself. You generally have a semester to a year to complete a dissertation followed by an equally exhausting period of presentation preparation. So, you must engage in this process sincerely and smartly. The question is how to do that.

When I was writing my dissertation, I went through a series of trials and run and found that there are a few things that can actually make it less challenging to complete the task. Drawing from the experience, I have compiled a few tips for my readers that primarily focus on effective time management. Apply these tips in the making of a dissertation and you will get the right results in a very timely fashion. So, let us take a look at what they are.

1. Know the structure of the dissertation
   You will first have to determine the structure of the dissertation. Generally, the format of a typical dissertation is in the form of a book divided into multiple chapters. The number of chapters is tentatively proposed in the research proposal that is a precursor to the dissertation. In your dissertation, therefore, you will have the cover page that includes the title and other relevant information concerning your supervisor and institution, abstract, contents, chapters, bibliography, and annexures. Now, this is not the final format and is subject to variations. For example, I had to write an additional page containing an acknowledgment and a guide’s certificate of originality of the research.

2. Do not delay the process after proposal submission
   Once your research proposal is submitted and accepted, you should not waste time and get on with research. Pick up the materials from your literature review and build upon them. Generally, you are given four to five months to finish the dissertation and many students to start at the last minute. Don’t do that. By the time you reach the deadline, you will be flooded with a lot of material to compile and edit and you cannot afford to lose time in such a case.

3. Chapter-wise evaluation is better
   Every supervisor has their own way of supervising the process of dissertation-making. However, what I feel, and many around me support my opinion, is that you should have your supervisor go through your dissertation chapter-wise. Basically, what I mean to say is that you need not submit the entire draft of the dissertation at first instance. Rather, take every chapter you finish to the supervisor; they will go through it and offer changes that you implement. The benefit of this approach is that it lets you understand suggestions properly. You will be spared from having to edit the entirety of the dissertation in one go. Every time you have had your chapter reviewed you develop a better idea of how to go about the following chapter.

4. Don’t skip citations for later
   Despite knowing how cumbersome the task could become, I used to not cite sources while writing. I would go like, Oh! I will do it all at the end, and when the end came, boy, the whole task looked like finding a needle in a haystack. By the time you reach the end of the dissertation, you will have hundreds of citations to make and the task will take longer because you will have to explore from a deluge of sources that you didn’t cite when they were referred to. I am not asking you to cite these sources in proper format when you are writing; just mention the necessary details or the web link so that you can conveniently cite them whenever you have to.

5. Use credible reference managers
   This is the 21st century. We are the participants in an era that boasts of its technological feats so we must make use of them while we can. The process of making a dissertation is tiresome, prolonged, and very bulky. You have so much data to read, collect, save, and review from time to time. If you fail to organize them properly, it will surely become hectic for you in the future. Hence, use reference managers. I generally suggest Zotero and Mendeley. They are freely available and offer you a perfect solution to all your problems. To name a few, you can save data directly from the web, get access to proper citations that can be automatically generated, create a bibliography, make notes, and access your account from wherever you are.