Being only a few weeks into my 3rd year and dissertation research here’s what I have learned so far, to help guide you along your research project.

Tip 1) Start early.
You never know what obstacles you may come across when undertaking your research, you may even find you have no interest in the topic or cannot find any data, and have to completely change your topic. You don’t want to do this when the deadline is close so leaving enough time to overcome any problems is essential

Which brings me onto my next tip 2) Be Flexible!
You my find that the topic you want to research is unrealistic or has inadequate data for you to be able to research. In this case you may have to let your old topic go and come up with a new research project, which isn’t he end of the world if you followed tip 1.

Tip 3) Have a question or an objective in mind when doing your research so you have something to focus your reading on, otherwise you may find yourself buried in articles with no progress made.

Tip 4) Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Being at uni there is bound to be somebody who is an expert in you field of research, don’t be afraid to visit them in their office hours or email them to see if they’re free, they can often be a great help in guiding you to focus your research, and point you in the right direction.

Tip 5) Set goals.
Giving yourself a realistic guideline to where you want to be at particular points along your journey will help you to set a good pace of work and manage your workload.

Hope this helps, and good luck!