Now Start Writing the Dissertation

Ok, you chose a topic, you did some research, changed the topic, chatted to your supervisor, changed it a bit more, made a plan, rejigged the plan after looking at a calendar, did more research and started to gather data (if applicable). Now you really need to start writing. Really. I mean it. Start writing. 

Stuck on this? It’s ok. You’re not alone. 

Loads of people, writers, students, even just people writing the odd business letter, find it difficult to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). And one of the big issues is perhaps how much we build it up. This may be a particular problem with the dissertation as you have spent so long thinking about and planning this. So the process of actually writing has become increasingly daunting. 

Well let’s begin with one important fact. Unless you’re writing the night before submission, which I wouldn’t suggest, there’s always time. Putting words down does not commit you to those words. On the contrary, it gives you words to play with. If the words aren’t great, no problem, that is what editing and redrafting is for.

If you’re really stuck, I’d suggest working your way through the nerves by writing increasingly detailed plans. These plans can contain detailed breakdowns of what each part will do, clear focus on the direction and, if inspiration strikes, actual chunks of writing that can later be lifted into the finished work. You’ll find that the more detail and usable quotes you put into the plan, the less daunting the writing process becomes.

So let’s start at the start. And by this I mean the introduction. Abstracts, contents lists, cover pages and acknowledgements should all be left until the end of the process. None of them form part of the main body of the work. At this point, they’re basically just procrastination.

Writing an Introduction

(Note: this is guidance for an introduction to a dissertation that will have a separate literature review. If you are doing a literature review dissertation, the two stages — introduction and literature review — are usually combined. In this case stages one and two below will be expanded to include a literature review.)

An introduction should do three things:

• One: Introduce

The introduction should, naturally, introduce the topic. Present some opening statements about the topic that fairly quickly focus in on the main issue you will be discussing. This is a balancing act; we want an introduction that goes sufficiently broad so as to engage the reader, but we also do not want to go too general in these statements. Some examples of general statements that I have seen a lot are: 

‘The world is increasingly globalised…’ 

‘Technology is on the rise…’ 

These statements are too vague (and are also often used to introduce work that is nothing to do with either technology or globalisation). If you were writing about these topics, such statements might do, but with a bit of refinement:

‘In the last few decades the levels of globalisation around the world, particularly in terms of connectedness via trade and technology, have been increasingly growing…’

‘The growth of technology in the last few decades has meant that the pace of life has increased exponentially, but this may have come at a cost…’

See how, by adding more detail and preciseness, I immediately guide my reader in the direction that I’m writing and, within one sentence, I have got them on topic, if not down to the meat of the matter yet.

• Two: Investigate the Question

Most academic pieces of writing have a ‘question’ of some sort that they are responding to. This may be a statement, or an actual question, but for the sake of this article, I am calling it a question. We could, after all, always imagine that your lecturer or whoever set the topic(s) is asking you to write about this area.

In writing a dissertation, you may have set your own question/statement, but there is, or there should be, one to address. It is possible that you have only chosen a more general topic and plan to formulate a question/title later. Nonetheless, there are still aspects you know you are going to address. For example:

Covid-19 will change the way we think about mental and physical health. Discuss.

This is a relatively simple example in that it doesn’t have too many theoretical points to consider. Nonetheless, there are always aspects to clarify. What is Covid-19? What constitutes physical and mental health? It is likely that some of your opening statements covered some of this, probably a brief background of Covid-19, so that doesn’t need to be repeated. Instead you might give us a WHO definition of what constitutes mental and physical health. 

If we consider a rather more theoretical question, this point becomes even clearer. For example:

What is culture? Discuss why culture provides a taken-for-granted orientation to life and explain how this relates to ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

So, my opening statements may have addressed the concept of ‘culture’, but when I investigate the question, I also clarify the terminology in the question. So, in brief, tell us what ‘ethnocentrism’ and ‘cultural relativism’ are. 

Essentially, it is impossible to discuss a point if we are not first clear on what all aspects of that point mean. So terminology, theory or complexities in the question should be briefly addressed, perhaps also with a note that this will be discussed further below if this complexity is key to your discussion. 

Some people like to use a dictionary definition here, and this can be relevant, but it is equally useful and often more rewarding to refer to theoretical understandings of terms, perhaps balancing countering definitions, and clarifying for the reader what definition you will adopt for the purpose of the work. 

• Three: Tell Us What You’re Going To Do

This is essential and often people go to extremes with this part — either making this all that their introduction does, or failing to include this part at all. Instead, consider it in balance to your entire work. If you are writing a 3,000 word essay, for example, this part will be one or two sentences. For a 15,000 word dissertation, it may be a paragraph. 

Tell us what each part of the dissertation will do, the purpose of each section or chapter. Consider this part as a guide to the reader. This gives them direction and allows them to easily dip in or come back here to find out where certain parts of the work appear. ‘The introduction has…, the literature review will…, then the methodology… etc.’

You may wish to tell us what you are going to argue, but really that should be saved for the end of the literature review, when you will have shown the reader what needs to be argued.

So, you have an idea of what you are going to write. Perhaps try — right now — to do some writing. Just a little bit. Don’t think about it too much, just bash on. Don’t worry if it’s not great, editing can change this. Don’t worry if you don’t feel like enough of an expert yet to start writing. (Nobody is enough of an expert.) You can always leave gaps and fill them in later. 

Writing a dissertation can be a bit like doing a big workout. It’s overwhelming beforehand, but the more short sections you complete and the further you get in, the more you’ll realise this can be done. Focus on the little sections, not the whole piece. The dissertation will come.

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