How long did it take you to write even one chapter for your dissertation?

I'm a third year Drama student, my dissertation focuses on one playwright and his work. I've been working on chapter one since the start of September, nothing seems coherent so I keep editing as I go along. I've got 10 Google Docs with different versions of Chapter One.

I'm now at a stage where I'm happy with chapter one, but I'm going to edit it later on once the entire dissertation is completed. How long did it take you to complete Chapter One? Do you have any advice?

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post

by communist-custom

I'm a third year Drama student, my dissertation focuses on one playwright and his work. I've been working on chapter one since the start of September, nothing seems coherent so I keep editing as I go along. I've got 10 Google Docs with different versions of Chapter One.
I'm now at a stage where I'm happy with chapter one, but I'm going to edit it later on once the entire dissertation is completed. How long did it take you to complete Chapter One? Do you have any advice?

Don't try and write it in a linear fashion. Usually Chapter one gets written by the other chapters. You have an outline idea, you make an outline Ch1, but then crack on withCh2, 3 and 4, because as they emerge and develop they will change Ch1.

Obvs the details vary by subject, method, word count, structure argument etc, but broadly a patter might be

Chapter 1 60%
Chapter 2 60%
Chapter 3 70%
Chapter 4 80%
Conclusion 20%
Chapter 1 30%
Chapter 2 remaining 40%
Chapter 3 remaining 30%
Chapter 4 remaining 20%
Conclusion 60%
Chapter 1 remaining 10%
Conclusion remaining 20%

A structure like that ensures that you keep your intro and conclusions aligned with your chapters and vice versa. The % aren't important, Im just showing the iterative way you develop a coherent paper.

Chapter 1 sets out all the basics, why you are making this argument, your resources, the context, methods etc. You can't expect to get that 100% right before you've actually done the research for the core chapters. So you write enough to set out your task in basic terms, then you move on, and as you hit problems etc, you overcome them, and adjust Ch1.

Reply 2

Kingston Zhi En

Official Rep

Original post

by communist-custom

I'm a third year Drama student, my dissertation focuses on one playwright and his work. I've been working on chapter one since the start of September, nothing seems coherent so I keep editing as I go along. I've got 10 Google Docs with different versions of Chapter One.
I'm now at a stage where I'm happy with chapter one, but I'm going to edit it later on once the entire dissertation is completed. How long did it take you to complete Chapter One? Do you have any advice?

Hiya @communist-custom ,
If you are really stuck and in need of assistance in regards to your structure, it's worth contacting your module tutor or dissertation supervisor.
Instead of editing and rewriting, it is important to plan out the entire outline and structure of your dissertation beforehand as It is easy to get lost in the writing and go off topic 😙
Everyone writes at a different pace, I personally like to write everything in bullet points first so that I can see the general flow and structure of the writing assignment before committing to what I am writing about 🙂
Wishing you the best of luck for your dissertation and final year at uni 🤗

Zhi En
(Kingston Student Rep.)

Reply 3

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post

by communist-custom

I'm a third year Drama student, my dissertation focuses on one playwright and his work. I've been working on chapter one since the start of September, nothing seems coherent so I keep editing as I go along. I've got 10 Google Docs with different versions of Chapter One.
I'm now at a stage where I'm happy with chapter one, but I'm going to edit it later on once the entire dissertation is completed. How long did it take you to complete Chapter One? Do you have any advice?

Hey @communist-custom,

My dissertation had four chapters, each consisting of about 1,300 words. Writing the first chapter took me approximately two weeks, chapter two and three took one week each and chapter four took a few days. Try to focus not on how long it takes you to write each chapter but instead on whether it makes the point/argument you need it to.

As mentioned above, if you're worried about the time frame/structure, reach out to your dissertation supervisor for a quick chat. They may be able to read a few paragraphs of what you've written so far and provide some feedback. 🙂

Hope this helps and best of luck with your dissertation,
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 4

Lillian Falmouth

Official Rep

Original post

by communist-custom

I'm a third year Drama student, my dissertation focuses on one playwright and his work. I've been working on chapter one since the start of September, nothing seems coherent so I keep editing as I go along. I've got 10 Google Docs with different versions of Chapter One.
I'm now at a stage where I'm happy with chapter one, but I'm going to edit it later on once the entire dissertation is completed. How long did it take you to complete Chapter One? Do you have any advice?

I had a similar issue when writing my own dissertation, where I would be so focused on perfecting the sections I was writing that I then struggled to move past those sections and stick to a suitable time plan. The advice that I received from my academic advisor was to focus on getting a strong outline and then just 'word vomit'. If you just get as much writing down as you can you can then go back and edit it later once you have a substantial body of writing, and the more that you have written the easier it will be to see the bigger picture and the main themes within your whole dissertation. Once this is done you can edit all of your chapters together and move bits around to see where they fit best. The things you're writing in chapter 1 may very well end up having to move around to different chapters so I would say it's best to not get too fixated on writing the perfect chapter before moving on.

Best of luck with everything!

Lillian :smile:

Reply 5

gjd800

About a week, I write the whole thing in a shade under 3 weeks but that's quite unusual. People do it at their own pace and it is subject to lots of factors. The advice here is good

Reply 6

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

Whenever I have an assignment to do, it's the research that takes the longest time, not the actual writing.
I can spend weeks and weeks researching, but write the thing in 3 days.