One of the hardest things (to me anyway) during my academic career is being motivated to sit down and put words on the paper (aka writing up my research). As with any degree, and mainly postgraduate degree, one of the most critical aspects to finalising that you have enough to graduate is your dissertation/thesis. The dissertation is your defence that you have done enough to prove you know what you are talking about and that at the end your research had a 'valuable' contribution to society (or the academic world).



As for me, my biggest challenge for my masters was producing the 104-page document, better known as my thesis. It was a challenge that included multiple revisions, edited content, continually doubting my self-worth as a student, and finally, the thing that stood between me and starting my PhD.

 At the end of my thesis defence, I still had revisions to do, but my committee felt confident that I had done enough and presented my research in a manner which made sense. The hard part was done, words were on the paper, chapters were formed, and my story worked. 

Now I am at the point in my PhD where I need to start thinking about the writing portion. My research is still not finished, but I need to start forming 'the story' (aka the dissertation). This is the hardest part of the whole postgraduate degree to me, I love research, and I love looking into new theories, but I HATE writing it all up.

Writing is the pain in my ass, the one reason why keeping up the whole student forever situation is a doubt in my mind. Unfortunately is the one thing that you can't say 'screw it'. You have to write research reports, you need to write publications, and you most defiantly get to write a dissertation before you get to wear any fancy academic regalia and call yourself a doctor.

So starting today, I am going to really focus on writing up my research, getting words on the paper, chapters drafted out and forming my story. Along with this goal, I want to share my tips and tricks that I am using to get the dissertation drafts done, reviewed and hopefully in a little over a year submitted for review.

Dissertation Writing Guide -

 A new series to help anyone who struggles writing up their thesis/dissertation/research!