A Personal Journey Through Dissertation Writing

Choose something you love

It is easy to forget why you chose your degree two thirds of the way through it, but try and remember what sparked your interest in the first place.  What did you want to achieve from it?  What would it let you explore?  You will be dedicating the best part of a year to this piece of work, so make sure it’s something you care about.  It may be worth revisiting your course application or personal statement to find inspiration for an original idea.
Be topical

Your dissertation topic, as your advisers will tell you, must be pertinent.  Don’t re-hash someone else’s ideas, but don’t be afraid of saying the wrong thing.  Remember this is meant to be about your slant and insight into the subject at hand.  Why do YOU care about this?  If you find this a little daunting, set aside a day to browse through relevant news articles on the web – googling keywords won’t feel like hard work, but it is valuable initial research, which will help you slide into a long-term study.
Read read read! 

Don’t stop at your institute’s library.  Inspiration, evidence, and sources can be found anywhere – interview people, watch a film, read a blog, visit another place.  If you study away from home, you can use your student card to get into most other university libraries during the break.  Take advantage of everything at your disposal, and be open to the possibility that your key text may be in that local museum or charity shop.
Pace yourself!

Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can cram-write your dissertation.  Well-formed discourse and unique insight does not come from consuming as much information as possible.  Leave that to your exams.  Instead, chew over chapters, quantify quotations, and mull over minute details to find fresh perspectives and responses to your chosen topic.  You needn’t read the entire works of a scholar.  Half-reading a chapter during Eastenders will prove far more effective than scanning a whole library’s worth in a week.  Who knows, Dot Cotton may even provide you with the supporting argument you’ve been looking for!
Know when to stop reading! 

Believe it or not, this is one of the big hurdles during the dissertation process.  You will get into the swing of soaking up a wealth of knowledge, and as one text will reference ten others, your reading list has the potential to become never ending.  Learn where to curb your topics at this stage, and you’ll prevent yourself from meandering down irrelevant trails of thought when it comes to writing.
Draft!  You have a mass of notes, now what?  Collate them all in one place – your computer, a series of post it notes across a wall, anywhere that will help you organise your thoughts.  Good writing is helpful, but if you don’t have a solid argumentative structure beneath it you will struggle to prove yourself to the Evaluators.
 
And importantly….
Don’t forget to live your life!  Again, this may be some of the most vital dissertation research you undergo.  With such a complex and nuanced piece of work, it is important that you get away from your computer/textbook and do something completely different once a day.  A drink out with friends, trip to the cinema, or night on the town will do your dissertation just as much good – allowing you to be open to new perspectives – as it will your sanity.