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Most people who can write graduate level assignments have grasped the general outline expectations, thereby making the research and perfection of their grammar the only immediate concern which we addressed above. Since many people consult online graduate writing help guide for assistance in perfecting their papers, it should come as little surprise these same individuals who find their assistance are always performing well in their remaining studies.

A Good Outline Helps Keep a Coherent Flow Throughout Your Dissertation

There’s nothing worse than getting lost in the midst of a lengthy writing assignment. It can be hard enough to keep your paper well-organized and laid out when it’s just a five page paper; when it’s a term paper or a dissertation, keeping a coherent flow may seem downright impossible!

The truth is, this sensation of being lost and not knowing what to write and how to structure your paper can be avoided entirely. The trick is to plan your paper out before you ever being writing it. A strong, thought-out outline can make certain that your dissertation flows clearly and make sense to your readers. Even better, a good outline ensures you never get lost during the writing process! Here are some factors to keep in mind when planning your dissertation.

Begin with the Required Structure

If you are writing a dissertation, you should be aware of the structure and general outline that your readers and your adviser expect. Every dissertation has a few mandatory sections or chapters, which flow in an expected order: Introduction, Hypothesis/Thesis, Methods, Results, Discussion, References. Consult your committee and your program’s handbook to make sure this is the case. As you plan out your paper, always think in terms of this structure.

Read Other Dissertations

The secret to learning how to write an excellent and well-organized dissertation is to simply read and review a large number of successful dissertations from students in the past. Ask your committee members and your department chair to direct you to copies of old dissertations from recent graduates. If you know any recent graduates, seek them out as well. Many universities also keep electronic copies of all recent students’ dissertations on databases that are readily accessible, as well.

Pay attention to how each of these old dissertations are structured, and look for parallels to your own work. Are you doing a two-study paper? See how other people who have done similar projects have organized their dissertations. Are you conducting a meta-analysis? Pay attention to how similar dissertations are laid out.

Plan Every Paragraph

Many students who are working on dissertations make the mistake of thinking a broad outline is sufficient for planning their paper. This simply isn’t the case. The more you have your paper plotted and planned out, the easier writing the document will be. Instead of just writing a Methods section in one long series of paragraphs, divide what you’ll be discussing into numerous subsections. Describe the materials you will be using in one section, then describe your proposed methods of analysis. If possible, get even more specific than that, so you know what every paragraph of the document will contain. This will make writing go much more smoothly, and it will result in a highly organized structure readers will deeply appreciate.