Time Management for Dissertation Writing

Time Management for Dissertation Writing

You have the next 12-18 months to create the most major academic work of your life – your dissertation. If you have already submitted your proposal, you have submitted a timeline for completion, and that will be your general guideline, as you go through this process. Make no mistake about it – dissertation cannot be accomplished without a big-picture plan, and you have to start with that, knowing that your plan will be modified along the way. Dissertation writing services by trustedDissertations.com are there to help you.

Effective Time Management Begins With a Calendar

And this does not mean that you use you smart phone and a calendar app. It means that you print out large actual calendars on actual paper, and that you put those calendars up on your wall. You have to see the entire picture at once. This “decorative wall hanging” will let you see how many weeks you have to complete each task and to cross those weeks and tasks off as they go by. It helps you to see that you are either on-schedule or not, and when you will have to meet with your advisor to modify your schedule.

Use of Time Management Tools – You are the Best One

There are some amazing time management tools and apps that you can use for your dissertation production, and many of them are free. However, the most important things about time management are the following:

1. Set a schedule that involves research and/or writing every day. It is a good idea to have the same time every day. If you are a morning person do it first thing and get it over with. Then you have your afternoon and evening for other things. If you are an “owl” then that’s when you work – everyone is different.
2. Make sure you schedule at least monthly meetings with your advisor. When you arrive, take the rough draft of what you have completed since the last visit, for his/her feedback. Be prepared that feedback may not come until the next meeting, so keep working on the next section or chapter while waiting.
3.  Line up your proofreader early on. (No, you may not proofread your own dissertation – you will never catch what someone else will.) The reasons for this is once your advisor has returned a section or chapter, you will want to type it up again, if you are going to incorporate any of the suggestions that were made (and, no, you do not have to take every suggestion – this is your dissertation), and ten turn it over to your proofreader. This is really important. Otherwise, you are at the very end, the proofreader has to complete the entire job at one time, and then you will be re-typing your final draft all at once. Better to do it in chunks.
4. Do not take a lengthy hiatus from work on your dissertation. Many have done this before you, and many have not returned for many months; some never return at all. Don’t let this happen to you.

You will undoubtedly discover your own time management techniques as you go along. Just remember the goal – a great dissertation. And a great dissertation is a finished dissertation.