The Foolproof Strategy For Writing A Dissertation In English Literature
The graduate dissertation project will likely be the last major written work you complete on your way towards earning a degree in English Literature. For many students, it’s an accomplishment that culminates years of hard work in a specific field and is the study that will form the foundation of their future academic endeavors. Most people only do this project once in their lifetime, and because of this don’t really get in enough practice or preparation. So here is a foolproof strategy for writing a dissertation in English Literature:
- Develop a Plan Early
- Start Your Research
- Identify the Sections
- Begin the Writing Process
- Revise the Content
- Edit and Proofread
It’ll be easier to tackle your English Literature dissertation if you develop a plan early in the process. Create a calendar that shows all of the larger milestones. Then create tasks that need to be completed in between. Remember to give yourself a few days of rest every now and then to recover from the hard work.
All of your research should be done at the library. Utilize the reference librarian to identify resources held in the library’s collection or ones that can be requested through inter-library loan. Keep detailed notes so that you don’t have to come back and check the same resources when making citations.
Next, you should create an outline which includes all of the necessary sections of your work. You should always double-check with your advisor, but generally English Literature dissertations include the following: The introduction, the literature review, the methodology, the findings, the conclusions, the discussions, the recommendations, and the bibliography.
Stay on top of your work plan and schedule and start writing that first draft. When doing this, try to do so as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Try to get all of your ideas down without being distracted by things in your environment or by having the urge to make corrections as you go. You will have plenty of chances to fix things later, so for now just keep writing.
A document of this size and scope will require a lot of revising. This may take longer than the time you spent writing the first draft, but it’s important that you slow down and do this very carefully and attentively. Look for every opportunity to improve on your work by rearranging content, adding content and removing content.
Assuming you have set your work aside for some time, you should be able to fully edit and proofread your work feeling refreshed from the last time you worked on the project. Edit for proper sentence structure and word choice. Proofread to ensure you have caught all mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation.