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Researching and Writing Dissertation: How Long?

I'm in desperate need of some advise. How long should one spend researching their dissertation before writing it up?

I have a terrible memory so I'm doing my research and write up chapter by chapter: i.e. research a chapter and write it up; then research the next chapter and write it up. The problem is I only just started researching my dissertation today (personal/medical problems), and I'm panicking big time. The dissertations due in April 25th; I'm doing a literature degree, and I've just started reading two new books for the dissertation as well (fiction primary texts) because I realised my other chosen ones were useless. So essentially I need to read those books and research the dissertation. I'm planning on getting the first chapter done by the end of the month. I'm just not sure if I have the time to research this and write it for a decent mark. Any advise would be hugely appreciated.
Reply 1
Original post by Subat
I'm in desperate need of some advise. How long should one spend researching their dissertation before writing it up?

I have a terrible memory so I'm doing my research and write up chapter by chapter: i.e. research a chapter and write it up; then research the next chapter and write it up. The problem is I only just started researching my dissertation today (personal/medical problems), and I'm panicking big time. The dissertations due in April 25th; I'm doing a literature degree, and I've just started reading two new books for the dissertation as well (fiction primary texts) because I realised my other chosen ones were useless. So essentially I need to read those books and research the dissertation. I'm planning on getting the first chapter done by the end of the month. I'm just not sure if I have the time to research this and write it for a decent mark. Any advise would be hugely appreciated.


Your best bet is to set yourself a timetable and stick to it. For example, spend a week reading and making good notes in the following way:

11/02 - primary text one
18/02 - primary text two
25/02 - secondary text one
04/03 - secondary text two
11/03 - secondary text three
18/03 - secondary text four
25/03 - secondary text five
01/04 - writing week one
08/04 - writing week two
15/04 - revision and completion
22/04 - printing and binding

The number of secondary sources should be bigger but you do not have enough time. This can work in your favour. Lecturers are impressed by the variety of your reading, but they will be marking your engagement with said reading. It is far better for you to read canonical texts cover to cover to get a better picture of critical opinion on your writers then to read lots of things mindlessly.

It does not have to be five books. It can be three books and you could spend two weeks reading relevant journal articles or chapters from Cambridge Companions etc., etc.. You just have to make sure the secondary sources are spot on. If you are writing about something close to your supervisor's interests then read whatever they have written on it too.

If you let me know which works you are dealing with then I might be able to help you.

Do not be tempted to overrun your research time. The only thing which will save your extended essay now is good clear writing. Most students do the opposite. They do far too much research and rush the writing (myself included). Your lecturers are not marking your researching, but your writing; what is on the page in front of them. Make it as easy for them as possible to understand your engagement with primary and secondary materials and you will get a good mark. Only at higher levels does it become an issue where you have to read a certain amount of critical opinion to know where your research fits in.
Original post by evantej
Your best bet is to set yourself a timetable and stick to it. For example, spend a week reading and making good notes in the following way:

11/02 - primary text one
18/02 - primary text two
25/02 - secondary text one
04/03 - secondary text two
11/03 - secondary text three
18/03 - secondary text four
25/03 - secondary text five
01/04 - writing week one
08/04 - writing week two
15/04 - revision and completion
22/04 - printing and binding

The number of secondary sources should be bigger but you do not have enough time. This can work in your favour. Lecturers are impressed by the variety of your reading, but they will be marking your engagement with said reading. It is far better for you to read canonical texts cover to cover to get a better picture of critical opinion on your writers then to read lots of things mindlessly.

It does not have to be five books. It can be three books and you could spend two weeks reading relevant journal articles or chapters from Cambridge Companions etc., etc.. You just have to make sure the secondary sources are spot on. If you are writing about something close to your supervisor's interests then read whatever they have written on it too.

If you let me know which works you are dealing with then I might be able to help you.

Do not be tempted to overrun your research time. The only thing which will save your extended essay now is good clear writing. Most students do the opposite. They do far too much research and rush the writing (myself included). Your lecturers are not marking your researching, but your writing; what is on the page in front of them. Make it as easy for them as possible to understand your engagement with primary and secondary materials and you will get a good mark. Only at higher levels does it become an issue where you have to read a certain amount of critical opinion to know where your research fits in.


Thank-You for the advise. I am feeling slightly better about the dissertation after last night, I'm going to see my supervisor on Tuesday as well so that should help sort some things out too.

My dissertation is on women's roles in 20th century India. My primary texts are The Home and the World, by Rabindranath Tagore; What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin; Cracking India by Bhapsi Sidhwa; The Nectar in the Sieve by Kamala Markandya.

I've found there isn't a lot of work on this topic, especially not on two of the primary texts, so hopefully that will work in my favour. I'm just not sure about secondary sources, would you be able to say what the usual (rough) average of secondary sources used for unergrad dissertations is? I'm trying to keep make sure everything is reigned in because I do have problems juggling loads of secondary sources, usually it ends up making my work seem clunky, and messy.

Thanx again for the help.
Reply 3
Original post by Subat
[...] My dissertation is on women's roles in 20th century India. My primary texts are The Home and the World, by Rabindranath Tagore; What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin; Cracking India by Bhapsi Sidhwa; The Nectar in the Sieve by Kamala Markandya.

I've found there isn't a lot of work on this topic, especially not on two of the primary texts, so hopefully that will work in my favour. I'm just not sure about secondary sources, would you be able to say what the usual (rough) average of secondary sources used for unergrad dissertations is? I'm trying to keep make sure everything is reigned in because I do have problems juggling loads of secondary sources, usually it ends up making my work seem clunky, and messy. [...]

Unfortunately, your extended essay is on something I have absolutely no knowledge of so there is very little I can suggest in terms of secondary reading or critical approach (Nikita Lalwani's Gifted [2008] is the only thing I have read close to what you are reading).

In terms of secondary sources, there is no magic number as it depends entirely on the topic. If you write on well-known works you will obviously have to read more secondary material to see where your opinions fit in. But in your case you often have to change what constitutes secondary material simply to find anything relevant to your primary sources. Generally you use broad theoretical works and see how contemporary literature works in this context (e.g. feminist or postcolonial in your case). You also widen the search of what kind of things you can use (e.g. autobiographies, newspaper articles, videos).

I had exactly the same problem when I had a contemporary fiction unit in my final year. I wrote an essay on Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003) and Colm Toibin's The Master (2004), discussing Derrida's concept of fictive institution (essay question) by referring to Bakhtin's carnivalesque. Some people find it liberating having a free voice, so to speak, but others feel it difficult to write about things when they cannot contextualise their views with existing critical work, which is only natural for a student. Nafisi was not so bad because it was semi-historical and she had also written an autobiography which I could look at, but Toibin's work was difficult to approach without wading through tons of research on Henry James.

If I were you I would play it safe. I would read a general history of India to give you some historical context of women's rights in the twentieth century, some theoretical work on feminism, and apply it to your works. If you can compare this to any similar works in the west then you will earn some browny points.

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