Read Other Dissertations

A common reason graduate students struggle to be productive is that they have little sense of what a dissertation is actually supposed to look like.

Reading defended dissertations from your own department can be an effective way to develop a realistic understanding of structure, scope, and expectations.

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Why Reading Other Dissertations Helps

Reviewing completed dissertations can help you:

  • See how chapters are organized

  • Understand what is typically included in each section

  • Develop a general sense of departmental expectations

  • Reduce uncertainty about what you need to produce

You can obtain dissertations by:

  • Asking former students for copies

  • Visiting your university library

  • Checking whether your department keeps bound copies on file

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How This Strategy Helped Me

When I was working on my master’s thesis (a qualitative study), I found it extremely helpful to read a former student’s qualitative dissertation, particularly the method section.

Although that dissertation was quite different from my project, it gave me:

  • A concrete example to learn from

  • A clearer idea of what I needed to write

  • Enough structure to help me get started

Seeing an example made the task feel more approachable.

 

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Use This Strategy With Care

When reading someone else’s dissertation, it is important to remember that you are seeing the final product.

Most dissertations:

  • Go through many rounds of revision

  • Receive extensive feedback from advisors and committees

  • Take considerable time, effort, and struggle to complete

If you notice yourself feeling anxious or wondering how you could ever produce work at that level, remind yourself that this dissertation was not written in a day—or even in a month.

 

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Recalibrate Your Expectations

Interestingly, some students have the opposite reaction when reading dissertations. They may find it reassuring to see that:

  • Most dissertations are not prize-winning

  • Many are not publication-ready

  • The goal is competence, not perfection

Reading other dissertations can help you recalibrate your expectations and recognize that your dissertation does not need to be a magnum opus. It needs to be a solid, defensible piece of scholarly work that demonstrates your ability to conduct research and think critically.

 

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This article was written by Alison Miller, PhD, founder of The Dissertation Coach, a business dedicated to helping doctoral and master’s students successfully earn their graduate degrees.

 

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