Getting Your Dissertation Started

By Author: Amelie Taylor
Total Articles: 14

It is the task of your dissertation to evaluate those ideas critically as well as identify the problems that remain in your area of research.

Once your outline is ready and you’ve accumulated your research notes, it’s time to start writing your dissertation. It is not mandatory to start from the beginning. Introductions are, in fact, much easier to write when the argument has developed by the end.

It is preferable to start with the parts that are going to be easy, and then use the outline created to string them in the right order. There will be areas that require further research, so one must be prepared to keep looking for information as dissertation comes along. Your writing style has a lot of significance in communicating your ideas efficiently. A researched and well-planned dissertation can fail to impress if the ideas are poorly expressed and the phrasing is unclear. Plenty of time should be taken for writing to avoid this. You must be prepared to work through about three to four drafts, further refining your work with each one before being happy with the final one.

Finding the right style

While conducting research you will go through plenty of scholarly articles. It is important to select an academic text that is enjoyable and easy to read. Work out the presentation of the arguments and study the structures. It is also advisable to collect good examples of punctuation and vocabulary. Considering how the author has used the techniques to convince the reader about the argument will make it easier to apply them to your own dissertation.

As the essay is of long length, subheadings should be used to break up the text and signal the reader of every stage that has been reached. These should be tweaked after each draft so that they provide an appropriate overview of every section. Repetition should be avoided and you must look out for phrases or words that have been implied or stated elsewhere in the sentence. Reading what you’ve written out loud helps in spotting clumsy sentence structure.

Structuring of Sentences

As you proceed with your essay, you must distinguish the less important supporting ideas from the key points of your essay. You should aim to put full weight on your key points by writing them in sentences of their own. Detail and elaborations can be added in the sentences that follow.
Thinking that long sentences sound clever is a common mistake. You must remember that each word conveys meaning on its own, no matter how small. Thus, more the number of words, harder it is for the reader to understand its meaning. You should also introduce new points in separate sentences, instead of adding clauses. Connective phrases and words, however, should be placed at the start of the sentence, in case needed.
Acknowledgement of ideas

Even though a dissertation should consist of original thoughts, it is important to refer to ideas that other writers have written on the topic.