The Ultimate Dissertation Survival Guide

The mention of the word ‘dissertation’ alone is enough to drive fear and dread into the hearts of any final-year student studying at university level. With the depth of research required to effectively write a dissertation, as well as the often very high word count and number of references needed, it is understandable that many students will find this to be one of the most daunting assignments they will write and complete during their university career. It can essentially be defined and seen as an extended essay and detailed research project exploring a specific and often niche subject or area of research within academia. Fear not – we have compiled a short-but-sweet dissertation survival guide for all undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students. This will include some brief advice and useful links to academic guidelines regarding how to structure, write and add references to your dissertation as well as tips on how to look after your own wellbeing and manage stress whilst working on such a significant and often challenging piece of work.

How to Structure, Write and Add References

The structure and references used in your dissertation hold just as much importance as the information, analysis and arguments written and included in it as well. The structure of any dissertation can often vary, but a standard structure usually consists of the following:

  1. Table of Contents
  2. Introduction
  3. Literature Review
  4. Methodology
  5. Results
  6. Discussion
  7. Conclusion
  8. Reference List
  9. Appendices

Sections

Each section of your dissertation will normally be divided into chapters rather than short paragraphs. You can find recorded tutorials in our Workshops page on our My Napier webpages. These go into much more detail about what you should do and what is recommended to include in each chapter and section. Our LibGuide also has more information, useful tips, and guidelines on critical thinking, literature review, and APA 7th edition referencing. Effective referencing is also a fundamental part of writing a good dissertation. This is not just measured by the quantity of references but also the quality and variety used as well. Using a wide range of credible and varied sources and sources of evidence to back up your main arguments and points will definitely get you some bonus points later on!

References

For dissertations, the number of references and variety of material you will be expected to reference will far exceed what you are expected to in a standard essay. This can sometimes mean that managing and ensuring that you include all of those references can be a very overwhelming task when writing up and annotating your dissertation. Reference Management software such as EndNote and Mendeley can help you with this – these reference management systems allow you to import, organise and store references in a reference library for you to automatically extract and input references into your work as well as generate a bibliography or reference list as well. More information and guidelines can be found in our Reference Management LibGuide webpages as well as our Training and Events Calendar, where upcoming tutorials and workshops regarding how to use both reference management systems are advertised frequently. You can also sign up for these sessions through our Libcal as well.

Managing Stress and Wellbeing…

One of the most difficult parts of writing or working on any significant and lengthy piece of work is starting. It can be very easy to feel overwhelmed by the big word count or extensive volume of work required to write a dissertation. Nevertheless, here are some useful hints and tips below which may help you with managing stress and your wellbeing whilst conducting research for and writing your dissertation:

  • Start early: The earlier the better if possible! It will save you a lot of stress later – even if it means just starting to conduct all the research and planning in advance.
  • Do a little bit every day: Breaking it down into small, manageable tasks each day makes it feel a lot less daunting and, in this case, off-putting. For example, tell yourself you are going to write one chapter of your dissertation today and focus solely on finishing this chapter alone. You might find as well that once you get into the flow of writing this chapter, you may even end up finishing up another in the process! Psychologically, it often makes writing your dissertation feel a lot less overwhelming to do it this way too!
  • Choose a topic you are passionate about: The last thing you want when writing a huge research project about a specific subject area is to find it boring and a chore to write about. This can often end up reflecting in your work as well if it is a topic which you are not passionate about at all.
  • Take regular breaks and days off: Make time for fun, leisure and relaxation when you can. Go out with friends, spend an evening watching your favourite movie or series, go to the gym or for a run or walk every so often as well. Set some time aside to focus on your hobbies outside of education. Your brain will often still be thinking about and working on your dissertation in the background. You may even find inspiration and new ideas outside of a computer screen, pen and paper.

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By Rachel Downie

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