ABSTRACT
While this tip may appear trivial and common sensible, I can honestly say that it helped me complete my dissertation on time. The tip is simple: Schedule blocks of time during which you do nothing but dissertation work. This work can include researching, writing, typing, copyediting, checking references, inputting data, analyzing data, and thinking/reflecting. Because of my busy schedule in graduate school, I allotted three days per week solely for dissertation work. This does not mean that I spent only three days a week on the dissertation—it means that there were three days that could be used for nothing but dissertation work. For example, during my last year in graduate school, I segmented my activities into specific days so that I could get the most use out of my time. Tuesdays and Thursdays were spent fulfilling my assistantship duties; Wednesdays were devoted to fulfilling my duties as an officer of the Graduate Student Senate. This left Monday, Friday, and Saturday as my designated “dissertation days.” On each of these days, I would spend from 8:00 A.M. -5:00 P.M. working on some aspect of the dissertation. Regardless of the stage of the dissertation at which I was, I would fill this time block by working on something, or anything, related to the dissertation. If I finished my delegated tasks for the day and had time left, I did something else related to the dissertation. For instance, if copyediting one of the chapters took only six hours, then I would spend the rest of the time typing these changes. Rather than putting tasks off, I plunged in 77immediately. And when the clock read 5 P.M., I stopped my task—regardless of what still needed to be finished. In addition, during these “dissertation days,” I did not allow myself to get involved in other tasks. For example, any class prep or grading for the course I taught as a graduate assistant had to be done on either Tuesday, Thursday, or in the evening, but never during the time block designated as a “dissertation day.” By sticking to this rigid time schedule, I finished my dissertation on time (actually, I finished ahead of schedule.) I also used this time management schedule for my thesis work and ended up completing my thesis in February—months ahead of my May graduation date.
