Wednesday, January 04, 2012

How I'm Writing the Dissertation

People may be interested to know how I intend to go about writing my dissertation this year. My topic is medieval English literature, and I will write a software program to do a special sort of parsing for several texts in the corpus. I have three different types of parsing I want to do, and most of the dissertation will concern recording and analyzing the results generated by the program.

The project is pretty exciting, which is not an unimportant point because one reason I didn't finish my first dissertation back in 2001 was that I fell out of love with the topic. Back then, I had written two decent chapters but couldn't do the research or find a focus for the remaining chapters. My prospectus and plan were hardly helpful and I eventually had to resign myself to the idea that the project was untenable.

As I see it, once the software program is sufficiently developed, the dissertation itself should be relatively easy to complete. Of course, herein lies the major technical challenge: my ability to write the program. Software developing has been much more difficult than I imagined, but I'm working it. My hope is to have the program ready for trial by the end of this month or middle of next month.

Another challenge is my lifestyle. After all, I am a professional with a full-time salaried position. I'm not a graduate student with a few classes to teach and chunks of time that can be dedicated to library work and writing. I also have a household to care for, which means my family and my home. My kids want attention from me. My wife needs me to help out around the house. Bills need to be paid, errands need to be run, neighbors and friends need to be connected with. Finally, I need to manage my health and fitness.

Given my technical and time constraints, here is how I have game-planned the dissertation:
  • At least 15 minutes per day learning and doing software development.
  • At least 15 minutes per day planning dissertation content.
Fifteen minutes may not sound like a lot of time, but it can be. Besides, I often work for much longer than that. The main thing is to dedicate some time every day to being productive on the main elements of the project. In this way, I'm approaching the project similarly to how I conduct an exercise program or business project.

Indeed, the formal 15 minutes are "executive sessions" and not necessarily the execution work of programming or writing. These execution activities can take place throughout the day, even while I'm at my day job. Although I am at work during the day and have a full schedule of meetings and tasks, I also have pockets of time where I can focus exclusively on some part of the dissertation. What's more, I often have opportunities to work the dissertation as part of a multi-task scenario. In fact, that's how I blog as much as I do. Beyond the execution work, the 15-minute executive sessions will allow me to develop and refine the big picture of the dissertation, its important arguments, lines of support and evidence, critical background and objections, and paths forward.

The innovation (for me) of my approach lies in how I'll actually write the chapters. In short: I won't write. Instead, I am going to spend most of my time, at least in the early stage, using a storyboard process. Storyboarding is a technique I use in my job to help our technical teams develop proposal content. It's like a very robust outline that accounts for what information customers have asked for, what knowledge we bring to the subject, and what features and benefits distinguish our offering from other companies competing for the same business.

The advantage of storyboarding for the dissertation is that it allows for capturing a lot of data in individual sections while also making it possible to find places in the large-scale outline for new information and arguments. My dissertation writing plan, to make it basic, is to storyboard the dissertation so completely that it's practically written when I put everything together.

I have a high degree of confidence in this process because I've used it dozens of times at work. Nevertheless, it doesn't make completing the dissertation any easier or less labor intensive. But it will help me work on all of the dissertation instead of on individual chapters in sequence.

I'm excited about the project and about how I intend to conduct it. All that's left is to do it!

26 comments:

  1. Can any one give me the tip how can i get training of Dissertation

    Writing
    I will be really thankful for your kindness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. you have a great blog, valuable information, keep up the good work about Dissertation Editing Services

    ReplyDelete
  3. this is awesome topic about best dissertation writing service thanks for shearing such a wonderful and informative thing

    ReplyDelete
  4. this is the very helpful post for those interested write dissertation writing service in this post author say about How I'm Writing the Dissertation
    Literature Review

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello! I do no use writing service very often, only when I really have problems. But this one, I like best of all. The team of writers operates very quickly. It's called Evolution Writers Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the post and great tips..even I also think that hard work is the most important aspect of getting success.
    pay for cheap dissertation

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are a number of very important skills and techniques required to be an outstanding manager of people and projects. One of the most important is mastering how to create speed of execution when managing a project or assignment. my blog

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have nice blog thanks for sharing the valuable information
    about PhD dissertation writing services

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think this is a really good article. You make this information interesting and engaging. You give readers a lot to think about and I appreciate that kind of writing. Dissertation Writing Services

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very good written article. It will be supportive to anyone who utilizes it, including me. Keep doing what you are doing – can’r wait to read more posts. Dissertation Writing Services

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am agree with this way writing dissertation. I just follow this information. I am agree with this way. You told to give time 15 minutes for development and 15 minutes for dissertation content. I also want to know about cheap dissertation assistant service.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You left me wowed, I feel luck I found your website. Keep producing the great content Affordable Dissertation Writing

    ReplyDelete
  15. What an amazing post.Your efforts are really nice.You guys can read more about it in details on internet.Thanks for posting.Its great effort.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Exactly what a fantastic publish here. Your time and efforts are actually good. A person men may study much more about this within precisely web. Many thanks with regard to publishing. It's excellent work.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous6:47 AM

    I have read your blog it is very helpful for me. I want to say thanks to you. I have bookmark your site for future updates. dissertation writing help

    ReplyDelete
  18. This blog is about well being and eating routine care. So the general population who are thinking to have great eating routine with legitimate well being should read this blog. this blog can likewise be connected with https://www.litreview.net/doing-a-literature-review-for-you/ work. I should state this is a vital and inventive blog for the understudies and other individuals moreover.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Informative post, I'm sure it will attract various others. So I'd get a kick out of the opportunity to offer thanks toward for showing this site article and even this is one the epic schools in showing such web diaries.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Writing a dissertation is the hectic and stressful period. They need full attention and concentration. Here is our link https://www.litreview.net/best-literature-review-example-mla/

    ReplyDelete
  21. Writing Dissertation is a important thinks for a writer and a client https://www.comprehensiveexam.org/13-common-tips-for-your-master-exam/. if your client give you a Writing Dissertation then your task will be easy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous3:27 AM

    Hello, You have posted such precious and informative article which gave me lot of information. I hope that you will keep it up and we will have more informative and helping news from you. Thanks PhD Thesis Writing Services in India

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ducat digital marketing training institute in noida as per the current industry standards. Our training programs will enable professionals to secure placements in MNCs. We are providing our world-class training facilities for all the students who want to become professional.
    ethical hacking training in noida

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for this grand post, I am glad I detected this internet site on yahoo. Dissertation Writing. Services

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment if you have something substantial and substantiated to say.