Compiling Your Work into a Dissertation

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss writing the dissertation. The first topic deals with planning the writing of a dissertation. We discuss how to estimate the amount of time that you need for your writing, and how you can spread out the writing so that you can move forward slowly but surely, without needing to pull all-nighters or other forms of writing sprints. A second topic deals with structuring a dissertation: you have all your material ready, or you are at a point where you have a good grasp of your work and what remains to be done – how do you now bring everything together into a coherent dissertation? A third topic deals with self-care during the writing of a dissertation. Writing a document of 100,000 words takes time, and often PhD students burn out before finishing their writing. To avoid this pitfall, we stress the importance of a good planning that allows sufficient time for writing, and the importance of routines and other activities that keep your mind balanced. A fourth topic deals with the practicalities of writing the introduction and conclusions chapters of your dissertation. We also touch upon the topic of future work, and how to identify additional elements for future research. The fifth topic deals with the defense committee. We talk about how to compile a balanced committee, for those who have a voice in the selection of their committee members. Then, we look at how to implement the comments of the committee members. The final part of this chapter talks about the thesis defense. To prepare for a defense we outline some standard questions.