Things to Remember While Working on a Postgraduate Dissertation

Working on your postgraduate dissertation is a great undertaking that can seem impossible to complete at times. It’s sort of like running a marathon, where you need to confront and overcome several obstacles. Here are some things to remember while working on your postgraduate dissertation:

• Structuring your postgraduate dissertation

A conventional and fairly easy way of structuring your dissertation is in the form of a book. This means using chapters to break up each specific section of your research. For instance, chapter 1 should be all of your background information, chapter 2 should be a review of the literature in support of your project, chapter 3 is your methodology and so forth.

• Planning the start of writing your dissertation

In most cases, you will need to start drafting your dissertation while you are conducting your research. It’s best to break up your research in several sections over the course of the school year and write each draft of that section as you gather content. Leave at least one month at the end so that you have plenty of time to revise, proofread and edit before submitting your final copy.

• Work on your writing as write each draft

The best way of making sure your writing is good is to submit each draft for peer review (friends, fellow students, etc.) before submitting them to your advisor for advice. Knowing early on if you are having trouble with transition sentences, topic sentences, examples, word choice, etc. will give you plenty of time to revise and will make you aware of trouble stops as move further along the process.

• Keep track of your bibliography as you go

Many students have a hard time organizing and keeping track of their bibliography, so it’s a good idea you get a handle of a system before starting your research. Be sure to keep all complete citation information in a notebook, file cards, or whatever system you prefer, but more importantly make sure you make each entry as soon as you’ve taken a note, piece of date, quotation or any ideas. This will keep you organized and help you from committing accidental plagiarism.

• Be sure you don’t plagiarize

By the time you begin writing your postgraduate dissertation you should know well that plagiarism will greatly cost your academic career. It’s always a good idea to review what may or may not be considered – even slightly – plagiarism. Don’t take grey areas for granted and be sure to consult your advisor if you think something might fall into the gray area. Though you may not like hearing that you need to remove that portion, it could save your career.