Many PhD students are now in the final throes of writing their thesis. Turning years of research into a single, coherent piece of work can be tough, here are some tips from supervisors and recent PhD graduates:

1) Make sure you meet the PhD requirements for your institution

“PhD students and their supervisors often presume things without checking. One supervisor told his student that a PhD was about 300 pages long so he wrote 300 pages. Unfortunately the supervisor had meant double-spaced, and the student had written single-spaced. Getting rid of 40,000 extra words with two weeks to go is not recommended.”

2) Keep perspective

“Everyone wants their thesis to be amazing, their magnum opus. But your most important work will come later. Think of your PhD as an apprenticeship. Your peers are unlikely to read your thesis and judge you on it. They are more likely to read any papers (articles, chapters, books) that result from it.”

3) Write the introduction last

“Writing the introduction and conclusion together will help to tie up the thesis together, so save it for the end.”

4) Use apps

“Trello is a project management tool (available as a smartphone app) which allows you to create ‘boards’ on which to pin all of your outstanding tasks, deadlines, and ideas. It allows you to make checklists too so you know that all of your important stuff is listed and to-hand, meaning you can focus on one thing at a time. It’s satisfying to move notes into the ‘done’ column too.”

5) Address the unanswered questions

“There will always be unanswered questions – don’t try to ignore or, even worse, obfuscate them. On the contrary, actively draw attention to them; identify them in your conclusion as areas for further investigation. Your PhD viva will go badly if you’ve attempted to disregard or evade the unresolved issues that your thesis has inevitably opened up.”

6) Checking is important

“On days when your brain is too tired to write, check quotations, bibliography etc so you’re still making progress.”

7) Get feedback on the whole thesis

“We often get feedback on individual chapters but plan to get feedback from your supervisor on the PhD as a whole to make sure it all hangs together nicely. You can also get some help from Cheapest Essay for this, their professional writers can edit and proofread your thesis for better results.”

The maximum number of pages that allowed.

Dear.Dr. Mohannad Husain Al-Sherrawi

Thanks for comment and i agree with you about the number of thesis pages.

best regard,Dr.Saad

Comply with the format when your research is so extensive that it is difficult to comply with the format

Interesting question following

There is no limitation for no. of pages in thesis. It may be 20 to 2000 pages or even more than that. It depends on the content and format of the thesis.

Dear Dr. Jonnala Subba Reddy

Thanks for comment but I think it is too much (2000) and in our country not allow more than 250 pages .

Dear Dr. Catia Cillóniz

Thanks for interesting comment.

best regard

Dear Colleague Patrick Baiden

Thanks for comment.

Many PhD students are now in the final throes of writing their thesis. Turning years of research into a single, coherent piece of work can be tough, here are some tips from supervisors and recent PhD graduates:

1) Make sure you meet the PhD requirements for your institution

“PhD students and their supervisors often presume things without checking. One supervisor told his student that a PhD was about 300 pages long so he wrote 300 pages. Unfortunately the supervisor had meant double-spaced, and the student had written single-spaced. Getting rid of 40,000 extra words with two weeks to go is not recommended.”

2) Keep perspective

“Everyone wants their thesis to be amazing, their magnum opus. But your most important work will come later. Think of your PhD as an apprenticeship. Your peers are unlikely to read your thesis and judge you on it. They are more likely to read any papers (articles, chapters, books) that result from it.”

3) Write the introduction last

“Writing the introduction and conclusion together will help to tie up the thesis together, so save it for the end.”

4) Use apps

“Trello is a project management tool (available as a smartphone app) which allows you to create ‘boards’ on which to pin all of your outstanding tasks, deadlines, and ideas. It allows you to make checklists too so you know that all of your important stuff is listed and to-hand, meaning you can focus on one thing at a time. It’s satisfying to move notes into the ‘done’ column too.”

5) Address the unanswered questions

“There will always be unanswered questions – don’t try to ignore or, even worse, obfuscate them. On the contrary, actively draw attention to them; identify them in your conclusion as areas for further investigation. Your PhD viva will go badly if you’ve attempted to disregard or evade the unresolved issues that your thesis has inevitably opened up.”

6) Checking is important

“On days when your brain is too tired to write, check quotations, bibliography etc so you’re still making progress.”

7) Get feedback on the whole thesis

“We often get feedback on individual chapters but plan to get feedback from your supervisor on the PhD as a whole to make sure it all hangs together nicely. You can also get some help from Cheapest Essay for this, their professional writers can edit and proofread your thesis for better results.”

Dear Dr. Mohammed H. Musleh

Thanks for interesting and comprehensive comment.

Interesting question. The rephrasing was the most prominent problems I faced when I started writing the PhD thesis. However, it was overcome with time by God assistance.

Thanks my dear Dr. Mohammed Salah Nasr for comment.

Satisfying the doctoral committee and my doctoral advisor. My dissertation was over 500 pages long with many tables and figures before the time of personal computers made it very difficult.

Dear Dr. Amir W. Al-Khafaji

Thanks for comment , 500 pages is too much and difficult to read.

Informative question and answers thanks for sharing.

Collating results Is a major challenge with writing Phd thesis.

Dear Colleagues Ahmed Mahdi , Temitayo Samson Ogedengbe

Thanks for comments.

Writing my PhD thesis – which is likely to be the single biggest piece of written work you’ve done – presents many challenges. When you’re in the midst of a long academic paper, surrounded by people with opinions and feedback and under pressure to publish, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Dear Dr. Hind Basil Ali

Thanks for interesting comment.

best regard,Dr.Saad

Certainly the biggest limitation I faced (and I can say the same for all of the students I've worked with) was formatting. The research work was (at least should be!) done by that point, but getting everything in order with appropriate was the worst.

Cheers to all those finishing up!

Dear Dr. Colton Magnant

Thanks for comment.

I have started PhD recently. Answers of experienced scholars will be of great help for me.