{"id":890,"date":"2020-11-23T11:13:11","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T11:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school\/?p=890"},"modified":"2020-11-30T08:32:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T08:32:20","slug":"preparing-to-run-a-writing-marathon-dissertation-advice-and-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/business-school\/2020\/11\/23\/preparing-to-run-a-writing-marathon-dissertation-advice-and-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing to run a writing marathon: Dissertation advice and resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By<\/em> Business School alumna Vivian Kwan (BSc Marketing and Management, 2018)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you\u2019ve never written a dissertation before and don\u2019t know where to start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No worries, I was there once, so I completely understand how you feel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With some hard-work and structure, I passed with a high mark and achieved the Best Research Project Award<\/em>. I hope this blog will help show you how to approach writing your dissertation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What is a dissertation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A dissertation is an independent project to present your findings on a topic, teaching you various transferable skills, including critical thinking, data collection and analysis, report writing and communication, and time management skills. It is a useful and unique experience. Read the University\u2019s suggested dissertation structure<\/a> on SkillsHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to choose your dissertation topic?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a basic idea of the subject I was interested in, and having chosen a supervising professor whose expertise aligned with my area of interest, I wrote a list of more specific topics within that subject, and tried to narrow it down to one or two choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate that some of you may have absolutely no idea what topic to base an 8000 word dissertation on, so I\u2019d recommend doing some research to find inspiration. You could discuss areas which are currently under research, or have a high level of interest, with your chosen supervisor. You may also try to get some inspiration from the future study <\/em>section in articles. Alternatively, dive into the research community and skim-read some titles and abstracts to get a feel on what areas interest you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important tip<\/strong> here is to choose a topic that you are interested in because you will need to work on it for a whole academic year. If you don\u2019t like the topic, then you will find it hard to motivate yourself to research or analyse it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d also recommend choosing a topic which is under-researched or niche, as it provides room for discussion and future research. There is plenty of room to exercise creativity here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is important that you schedule your tasks and make sure you are on track, because no one will force you to complete the work – not even your assigned professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I prefer to structure my activities weekly because I find it easier to manage. Below are some examples of activities this could include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n