Written by Silje Undlien, Third Year War Studies undergraduate at King’s College London & Student Enquiries Officer at King’s Careers & Employability.
The dissertation. Whether you’re an undergraduate or postgraduate student at King’s, it’s something you have to go through as part of your degree. You might consider it one of the most important challenges of your academic career. Or it’s just one of those things you know you have to get done. Most students start off with a great deal of enthusiasm about their dissertation, but the scale of the project can easily throw them to despair. Whatever you might be feeling about writing your dissertation, it’s important that you discover how to devise and stick to a work schedule. Often, it’s the sticking to that will create problems. So how do I go about creating a dissertation timeline or work schedule, and why should I have a timeline at all?
The short answer is that I can’t really give you an answer. No single way of creating a dissertation timeline or work schedule will satisfy the needs and methods of every student. Everyone has their own way of doing things! But being organised is still key. You need to be realistic about your deadline and, more importantly, your time management skills. So, to get started, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What type of dissertation am I writing?
- Am I an undergraduate or postgraduate student?
- How much time do I have to write my dissertation?
- How is my course organised? Am I doing my dissertation alongside other modules and commitments?
- Am I choosing my own topic? Or is my department choosing the project for me? Perhaps it’s a module-based project?
- What am I expecting from myself?
All of this will impact on how your dissertation research might progress. Especially important is realising just how much time you really have to get your project done. If you’re an undergraduate student with modules and coursework to do alongside your dissertation, it’s easy to get lost in the idea that you have a full year to write your dissertation. (Trust me, I’ve been there!) Realistically, however, you will only have a few months. Your full year is actually just an academic year. And from this academic year you’ll need to factor in time off, holidays, illness, part-time work, and all the other commitments you might have going on in and alongside your course. It might be the most general tip I can give you, but it’s an important one: Get started ASAP!
The first step is to learn your methods. One of our Marketing Assistants, currently writing her postgraduate dissertation, recently said: “You really do need to learn your methods. I’m still getting to know mine.” So ask yourself: How do I normally organise my work? What are my habits, good or bad? Your dissertation is probably going to be your biggest project yet, and, though you might be telling yourself that you’ll get rid of all your bad work habits, chances are you’ll fall into a similar routine or pattern of organising and doing your work to what you’ve done before. Have you normally been the last-minute essay writer? Establishing your own methods of studying is the first step to getting organised. I’m not saying that you should write your dissertation last minute, even if that’s your established method of getting work done. All I’m trying to point out is that you’ll be better-equipped to deal with the big task of writing your dissertation if you know yourself, and, importantly, if you create a work schedule which accommodates this knowledge about yourself, your work ethic, and your time management skills. It’s all about realistic planning…
So, how can I get organised? You’ll need to find a system that works for you. The most important thing is to find a way to write down a list of tasks or action points. Some people might prefer to set vague deadlines, while others will create a ‘Study Matrix’ (see example below) with detailed information abut how and when things are going to get done. Point is, it can be as detailed (or not detailed) as you like. It might be a good idea to plan out when you’ll have your meetings with your supervisor, and to pin-point what you’d like to discuss in each meeting. Ask your supervisor to help you create a set of action points after each meeting, so that you have a rough idea of what you need to do before the next one. If you feel like your supervisor is not pushing you enough; ask them to! (Stay tuned for a more detailed blog post about how to communicate with your supervisor!)
I mentioned before that finding a system can often be less problematic than making yourself stick to it. (Cheers to you, fellow procrastinators!) So what can I do to stay organised? First of all, you should identify and deal with procrastination. Find out why you procrastinate and what you might do to avoid it. You might want to minimize distractions, ask someone to check up on you, or create a reward system. You should also find out in what kind of environment you work best. How, when, and where do I best stay focused? You can also try using Tomato Timer, a time management technique created for a more productive way to work and study. Secondly, it’s important to have emergency plans. What happens and what will I do if I experience unexpected delays? Staying organised is also about understanding that things are not going to go just the way you planned it to, and to find ways to deal with this without losing sight of the end goal.
On a final note, remember to schedule enough time for proof-reading and touch-ups, to edit with fresh eyes, and to make lots of backups as you go! It will also be useful to locate any departmental information or guidelines for dissertation-writing. So there you have it! It’s dissertation time!