With the dissertation planning chart laid out, you can now make the tentative entries. Turn first to the aspect of “administration.” This is where you will schedule all the administrative steps you have to take and the institutional deadlines you have to meet, such as selecting a chair, scheduling a proposal hearing, submitting your study for approval, and registering for graduation. It seems to work best if you start this part of the planning by beginning at the end. You should, therefore, decide tentatively when you would like to defend your dissertation. This is the key date that will affect all others. Consider how much time you will need to do the research and write the dissertation, and determine when you can most likely graduate. Then check university policies and calendars for the deadline for defences, being sure to allow yourself some slippage. Thus, if you want to receive your doctorate in the May commencement and the university deadline for the defence of dissertations is three weeks prior, tentatively aim for a dissertation defence in the first week of April. Enter that notation in the appropriate cell. With this key date established, you can now tentatively plan for the rest of the administration steps. Also, note any major examinations you must pass. Check the university catalogue for the important deadlines.

Obviously, the entries you make in your dissertation planning chart will be influenced by the policies and calendars of your institution and your preferences for the amount of detail you include in a planning chart. Just remember to block in all the key meetings, deadlines, and forms to be filed. Now complete the “coursework” strand by noting all the courses you still must take and when you will complete them. Then turn to the “literature review.” Indicate when you will start or have started the broad scan; then note when you have finished or will finish it. Do the same for the focused review and the comprehensive critique. Now turn to the “writing” strand. In this strand, you enter all the dates for writing the prospectus, the proposal, and the dissertation chapters and for submitting the manuscript to your chair and the committee. Again, it makes sense to do some backwards planning, setting the final target first. Check your entry for the dissertation defence and decide when you should submit to your chair what you hope is the final revision of the last chapter. Ordinarily, this should occur no later than seven or eight weeks prior to the date for the defence. Here is the rationale for such a time lag: (a) Your chair needs two weeks to read the final revision; (b) your chair needs a few days to notify you and the other committee members that the final chapter is now approved and the defence can go forward; (c) you or the person you have hired to do your word processing needs two weeks to make final changes in the entire dissertation; (d) you need one week to prepare copies of the dissertation for your committee; and (e) your committee should have at least two weeks to read the dissertation before the defence. Obviously, this time period can be reduced by putting more pressure on yourself and your committee, but increasing the pressure at the end is a foolish thing to do. You become harried, and your committee feels annoyed. With that final writing target established, tentatively block in the rest of the writing deadlines, allowing yourself ample time to revise and revise again. In making these writing entries, remember that you do not have to write the chapters in the sequence in which they will appear in the dissertation. Some students prefer to get a quick start on the research and write the “results” chapter as soon as the data have been analysed; they then write the “methodology” chapter, then the earlier chapters, and then the final chapter. Check with your chair to see if he or she has any preferences about this matter. #research #dissertation #proposal #thesis #researchproject #Writing #Administration #coursework #literature

Now block in the important steps in the “research” strand, beginning with when you will identify the research topic and research problem. Then note when you will decide about the methodology. The other steps you enter will depend on the methodology you have chosen. Again, allow yourself ample time and provide for some slippage.

Finally, step back and review the whole chart. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Have I entered all important university deadlines?

2. Have I allowed ample time for the chair and the committee to read chapters?

3. Have I provided for slippage and delays?

4. Have I planned realistically, allowing myself some breaks?

5. Have I taken into account any special demands of my employer that will affect my schedule?

6. Are the strands of the chart coordinated? Do they dovetail with each other in a synergistic fashion?

Once you have revised your planning schedule, you should review it with your chair, who can give you some helpful input based on his or her experience working with other students and other dissertation committees.

#research #dissertation #proposal #thesis #researchproject #Writing #Administration #coursework #literature