5 Common Dissertation Mistakes to Avoid

The dissertation is one of the most difficult endeavors that most graduate students will take in their academic careers. The demands of writing a dissertation can cause some students to become overwhelmed, stressed, and ready to give up. Students who prepare well and look at writing the dissertation as a process, which will have an occasional bump in the road, will fare better than those who rush into writing the dissertation. The key to writing a dissertation without becoming lost in the process, is to avoid the following most common dissertation mistakes.

1. Rushing into Writing the Dissertation

Students who look at writing the dissertation as a race, often find that they will spend more time revising and editing their dissertation than those who chose a more thoughtful approach before beginning writing a single page. Even though writing will eventually require hours of time, the most basic first steps involving the dissertation process focus more on the thought process and development of a relevant and worthy topic and research design. Take the time to think over the topic and try to view potential research designs from at least a few different perspectives before beginning the writing of the dissertation.

A second reason to avoid writing chapters of the dissertation prematurely, is to prevent your dissertation chair and committee members from being underwhelmed with your work. Fast writing often shows up in hastily written dissertation proposals, and most dissertation committee members value their time. Turning in work that is not done well will possibly delay moving forward in the dissertation process. Advisors and dissertation committee members will look more favorably on work that has been carefully written and revised before sending it forward for them to read and critique.

2. Choosing an Unfamiliar or Uninteresting Topic

Graduate students who choose topics of interest to them are far more likely to survive the long research process involved in writing the dissertation. Choosing an unfamiliar topic can lead to delays and a lack of expertise in the subject area will show in how the dissertation is written. Students should take the time to research topics that may be of interest to them, well ahead of the time when they decide to propose that topic for the dissertation. Many students choose topics for their dissertations which they have already acquired at least some basic research or practical experience with.

Uninteresting topics are often chosen by students who feel pressured by others to choose a topic that is not in their area of interest. Overzealous professors may want a student to choose a topic that is of interest to their own academic research, simply because they are more familiar with it. This can be a catch-22 for students, however, when the topic does not hold the same interest to them. While it is wise to enlist professors who are interested in the same general topic area as the chosen dissertation topic, it is not necessary to choose a topic based on a professor's interest alone.

3. Too Much Ambition

One of the classic mistakes of all doctoral students is being overly ambitious when choosing a research project for the dissertation. Most students want the dissertation to be a groundbreaking research event, yet in reality, few are. In fact, many advisors discourage students from embarking on complicated research projects for the dissertation. The dissertation is meant to provide students with an opportunity to show their research expertise in the field, before obtaining the Ph.D. Further research can be done, once the dissertation is completed, but most dissertations are best when the level of complication is not over the student's own ability.

Long and complicated research projects will often lead to more difficult results to explain, and in the worst cases, the results can be negatively impacted by too many research questions or variables. Keeping it simple will prevent problems when it comes time to analyze the results.

4. Choosing the Wrong Committee Members

The dissertation process often requires an extended period of time working with professors who will read, critique, and support student dissertation efforts. Personality and work styles can greatly influence how smooth the dissertation process goes, as well as the comfort level between student and committee members. Familiarity with the work styles and personalities of potential dissertation committee members can prevent student-committee mismatches. If a professor is known to take a long time to return student work, it is likely that your dissertation drafts will be among the pile of papers to read on their desk. Take the time to ask other students about potential committee members before asking a professor to join your dissertation committee.

5. Procrastination

Procrastination is often a common trait among highly educated doctoral students, who tend to find a million other distractions to put off starting or continuing their dissertations. Many times, procrastination is due to the other life demands that graduate students may have, as well as the sense of being overwhelmed by the academic demands of completing a dissertation. The bottom line is that most doctoral students do eventually complete their dissertations. To avoid extension requests in the future or undue stress, students should find ways to work on small segments of the dissertation as often as possible. This can prevent the procrastination of not doing any dissertation work at all, which often comes when students feel overwhelmed by the length or intensity of writing the dissertation. Small steps will go a long way toward productivity, and lead to a completed dissertation.

The dissertation process is rarely an easy one to begin for most graduate students, but all students who have made it so far academically, have the potential for a successful dissertation. Students who avoid making the five most common dissertation mistakes from the start will be better prepared to handle the demands ahead.