How to Write a Dissertation: Some Not-So-Preliminary Thoughts
As a Ph.D Candidate in the second semester of my fourth year of study with my admission scholarship quickly running out and my desire to finish my degree increasing exponentially, I’ve been working on developing a plan to write my dissertation. For the past 4-5 months, I’ve flip-flopped back and forth over which chapter to start with; I’ve also started reading for all of them and stopped, turning back to my data instead for inspiration. These months aren’t lost time by any means - among other things, I’ve come up with chapter titles, have a paper in progress because of a conference presentation that I did with my data set, and have figured out how I want to present my dissertation - but I recognize that continuing on without a solid plan won’t help me to make the progress that I want to make.
So… where to start?
A Google search for “How to Write a Dissertation” on April 8th, 2020 produced over 100 million results
I’m kidding! I did NOT start with a Google search. What I did start with was looking at what I already had - this was a good research proposal, a plan for the content that I wanted to explore (I had chapter titles with some general notes or key concepts that I wanted to look at listed under each of them) and a very good grasp on my data and data set (I’ve been reading the Anita Blake series since I was 13 years old and have been listening to the audiobooks at every opportunity over the past 7 months).
writing my chapter outlines
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
I started with my Introduction and worked down from there. It was only as I moved through the creation of my chapter outlines that I realized that someone reading my dissertation might need a roadmap to guide them, which is why I’ve added the Prologue section. This is especially true because I’ve decided to create three versions of my dissertation, with varying levels of interactivity. While I am writing my dissertation in real-time on my website, my supervisor will need a Word file to review and my committee members may also prefer some form of a hard copy file. How to read the dissertation and how it is presented will likely vary from platform to platform.
I haven’t included all of my chapter summaries below (you can find them all here), but, as an example, here is how the notes that I had on my first chapter were turned into a summary:
Chapter 1 - Monsters, Monsters Everywhere
[REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE ON MONSTERS]
History of monsters
Monsters as metaphors
How this is present in Anita Blake?
Monsters as medical metaphors
How this is present in Anita Blake?
The Problem with Monster Metaphors
Hopefully will find that no one has studied monsters + monstrous transformations as a vehicle for examining the stages of grief
Here is what the chapter outline looked like when it was all finished:
Chapter 1 - Monsters, Monsters Everywhere
This chapter examines the existing scholarly literature on monsters. A history of the study and interpretation of monsters (generally) is provided, as well as a discussion of the study and interpretation of specific types of monsters, with an emphasis on zombies, vampires and werewolves – the most common monsters in the Anita Blake series. This chapter focuses on the monster as metaphor, and as medicalized metaphors in particular, and discusses the arguments for and against the use of monster metaphors. This chapter will (hopefully) conclude that little to no work has been done on studying monsters and the monstrous as a vehicle for understanding the stages of grief. Key concepts defined in this chapter are monster, monstrous, othering, and fear.
Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
Developing timelines
Preparing the chapter outlines gave me an idea of the kind of research and writing I’ll need to do to move my project forward. It was an essential step to proposing a submission timeline that I could provide to my supervisor for each of my dissertation chapters.
My proposed chapter submission timelines
I’ve been hesitant to actually propose a timeline, and I think it was because I wasn’t sure where I was going. I now realize that this makes a lot of sense - if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s impossible to know how long it will take you to get there.
now… to the writing machine!
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
The next obvious step to hitting these timelines and completing my dissertation is to write! As I continue on in the final phase of my Ph.D, I’ll need to remember that:
My writing doesn’t have to be perfect the first time (these outlines definitely aren’t).
A draft is just a draft - I can always go back and delete, re-arrange, or add things.
Writing a little bit every day will move the whole project forward.
If nothing else, the outlines and timelines that I’ve just finished have got me excited about my research! That is more than half the battle.