Dissertation Plan

The first goal of the dissertation plan should be to complete the introduction. The introduction outlines the student’s research objectives and provides background on the dissertation topic. It is likely that most of this information has been included in the student’s dissertation proposal; therefore, the student should attempt to complete the introduction in a fairly short amount of time. Once completed, the student should submit the chapter to the dissertation advisor. Students should always wait to submit the next chapter until receiving feedback from the advisor, as it is likely that the advisor will suggest many changes that will affect subsequent chapters. Students should therefore build extra time into their dissertation plans to account for the time it will take the advisor to respond.

The remaining chapters of the dissertation plans will explain the student’s research and research method. The organization and number of these chapters will vary depending on what type of dissertation the student is writing. No matter how many chapters there are, however, each should be a separate goal in the dissertation plan and should be completed only after the student has received previous chapters from his or her advisor.