Main Task: It’s tempting to skip this step; however, understanding and organizing the administrative requirements for your dissertation process will set you up for success!

Time-Saving Hacks: 

• Bookmark graduate school deadlines, critical dates, and links for paperwork. Add these to your calendar.
• Understand UTK requirements, such as:
  • The appropriate dissertation templates required by UTK 
  • UTK’s TRACE website, where you’ll upload dissertation drafts. 
  • TRACE guidelines/policies
• Meet with your advisor to discuss topics and get started.

Tools:

• The Contact “TRACE” webpage
• Dissertation format chats offered twice a semester by the Graduate School
• An OIT self-paced MS Word for Theses and Dissertations online course
• Make and attend appointments for graduate writing help at the Herbert Writing Center.

(This step should take 5% of your project time.)

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Main Task: Identify your topic and research question(s) (RQ) through preliminary research–that is, a lot of reading about your topic! Refine your RQ based on your discoveries.

Time-saving Hacks:

• Meet with one of the UT Libraries subject librarians and specialists. 
• Access Boston University’s “The Scope of Research Questions & Conversations” flipped learning module. Scroll down to the three videos; each offers expert advice on establishing a productive research question.

Tools:

• Keep a list of sources and effective notes. Consider using a tool such as PowerNotes, Zotero, or Endnote.
• While there are many avenues for settling on an area of study, UTK’s “Identify Research Question” diagram identifies possible methods for finding inspiration.

Deep-dive Opportunity:

• Read through the Herbert Writing Center’s dissertation-specific Crafting Research Questions guide for additional details, guidance, and resources. 

(This step should take 10% of your project time.)

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Main Task:

Build upon the initial research you did in Step 2. Continue to read, take notes, and organize sources, then draft your literature review, considering the following resources:  

• Your advisor/chair to discuss key researchers and sources. 
• PowerNotes, Zotero, or Endnote.
• UT Libraries’s  Subject Librarians and Specialists. 
• UTK’s “A Good Lit Review” Poster.
• Ithenticate to avoid any issues with plagiarism.
• The University of Manchester Academic Phrasebank’s “Referring to Sources” guide.
• The Hume Center for Writing and Speaking’s guide, titled: “How to Research, Write, and Survive a Literature Review.”
• The University of Southampton Libraries’s “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Literature Review” webpage. 
• UT Libraries’s  “Literature Reviews” webpage. 
• The Southampton Academic Skills Service’s Writing the Dissertation – The Literature Review video.

Draft the introductory components for your dissertation, whether these are part of your literature review or make up their own separate introduction chapter/section. For either, make sure you include: 

• The opening section – introduces the reader to your research.
• The study background – explains the context of your project.
• The research problem – the “gap” that exists in the current scholarship. 
• The research aims, objectives, and questions –  what your research will aim to achieve. 
• The significance (or justification) – why your research is worth doing and the value it will provide to your field and beyond. 
• The limitations –  the potential limitations of your project and approach. 
• The structure – a brief outline of the structure of your dissertation or thesis.

Deep-dive Opportunity:

Read through the Herbert Writing Center’s dissertation-specific Writing the Literature Review guide for more details and resources.

Step 3b: If required, write your proposal/prospectus and be prepared to present to your committee. 

Main Task:

At this stage, some departments require a dissertation proposal/prospectus, which should include: 

• A description of your dissertation, the central problem you’re examining, and your research question(s) and sub-question(s).
• The existing literature (via a literature review) and how your project adds to existing literature. 

(Adapted from the University of Utah Library’s “Writing a Prospectus” Guide)

When drafting your prospectus or plan for your dissertation, you’ll want to:

• Use PowerPoint, Canva, or another slide deck programs to present your prospectus.
• Set up a meeting with your dissertation chair to clarify field-specific expectations.
• Make and attend appointments for Graduate Writing Help at The Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center.

(This step should take 15% of your project time.)
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Main Task: Begin drafting your research design or overarching plan for your research, and your research methodology, the detailed methods you’ll be applying within your research:

• Ensure both are aligned with the expectations of your field, department, and committee. 
• Ask your dissertation chair/committee for suggested methodologies/scholars’ works. 
• Use UTK Libraries to research methodologies. Consider chatting with a librarian or scheduling a consultation request.
• Look through books, articles, and other dissertations (via TRACE’s “Doctoral Dissertations” webpage) for possible methodologies. 
• Identify the foundational theoretical framework for your project.

If you’re doing research with people, it’s important to thoroughly consider the ethics involved. 

• Check out UTK’s Human Research Protection Program’s (HRPP), which houses the UTK’s IRB. Apply for the IRB to approve your dissertation early (after discussing with your committee).  
• Familiarize yourself with the HRPP officials’ office hours (on the HRPP page). They’re happy to answer any questions.
• Your chair needs to fill out part of your IRB application, so keep them informed of dates/progress.

Tools: 

• Check out the University of Southampton Library’s  “Writing the Dissertation – Guides for Success: Methodology” webpage. Explore any helpful Methodology tabs at the top of the page.
• Get feedback on your methodology chapter from your dissertation chair.
• Make an appointment with a graduate consultant in the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• Make sure you’re using the appropriate Dissertation Template required by UTK.

Deep-dive Opportunity:

• Read through the Herbert Writing Center’s dissertation-specific Developing the Research Design and Methodology guide for more guidance and resources.
• Use Mahesh B. Tengli’s (2020) article “Research Onion: A Systematic Approach to Designing Research Methodology” to help you develop a strong theoretical view for methodology.

Housekeeping Notes: 

• Go ahead and do the formatting review that the Graduate School requires, to check you’re on the right track.
  • After you’ve completed at least one chapter in the required template, go ahead and submit your draft to meet that formatting review requirement.
• Double-check your required deadlines through the Graduate School to make sure you’re meeting them. 

(This step should take 15% of your project time.)
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Note: Like other stages of the dissertation, data collection and analysis may not occur in the linear way presented in this step. It can occur at many different stages in the process and take varying amounts of time for each researcher/project. Therefore, we have assigned a baseline time percentage that you may have to increase or decrease depending on your specific project needs. Regardless of how/when your data are collected and analyzed, we hope this step can still serve as a useful guide you can adapt to your specific research. 

Main Task:

Once you’ve passed your prospectus and received approval from your committee, you can implement your research plan.

Put your research methodology into action. 

• Begin collecting data using the methodology, or series of steps, you’ve chosen. 
• Make sure you’re following UTK’s HRPP/IRB guidelines for any human-based research. 
• Have a strategy for organizing your data, such as secure Google Drive folders or Excel sheets. 
• Apply your data analysis methods to the data you’ve collected. 
• Create graphs, tables, and any other visuals that help illustrate your work. 

Discuss any questions/concerns with your dissertation chair and update them on your research process. 

(This step should take 20% of your project time.)

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Main Task:

Once you’ve collected and analyzed your data, it’s time to draft your results and discussion sections. 

• They can be organized as one chapter or separate chapters, as long as they’re clearly defined and follow your committee’s expectations. 

Once you’ve chosen your layout, draft your results section:

• The results chapter should provide a factual account of the data collected–no interpretation. 

Then begin working on your discussion section, keeping in mind that it needs to:

• Be rooted in analysis and interpretation.
• Contextualize your findings and refer to studies mentioned in your literature review. 
• Explain how your findings answer your research question(s).

Draft the conclusion components for your dissertation, whether these are part of your discussion or make up their own separate chapter/section. For either, make sure you include: 

• A synthesis of your main findings that directly addresses your research question(s) and/or hypothesis.
• Engagement with the impact and relevance of your research to the wider, relevant context.
• A limitations section, associated with your results/your capacity to interpret them.
• Your suggestions for future research. 

Housekeeping Notes: 

• If you haven’t already done so, do the formatting review that the Graduate School requires, to check you’re on the right track.
  • After you’ve completed at least one chapter in the required template, go ahead and submit your draft to meet that formatting review requirement.
• Double-check your required deadlines through the Graduate School to make sure you’re meeting them. 

Deep-dive Opportunity:

• Read through the JAHWC’s dissertation-specific Drafting the Results and Discussion Sections guide for more in-depth guidance and resources.

Tools:

• Get feedback on your results and discussion drafts from your dissertation chair and/or the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 

(This step should take 15% of your project time.)

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Main Tasks:

Finish writing all sections and then engage in a full-scale draft revision that takes the feedback you’ve received into account. 

• Complete your introduction, conclusion, and abstract with this JAHWC’s dissertation-specific Writing the Introduction, Conclusion, and Abstract Guide, whether you need to draft them from scratch or finalize already existing drafts. 
• Ask for feedback from your chair and/or committee members. 
• Follow Purdue University’s “Higher Order Concerns (HOC) and Lower Order Concerns (LOC)” Guide when revising.
• Schedule appointments for feedback from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• Use the University of Hull’s “Writing Academically: Signposting” Guide to ensure your reader can easily navigate your work. 
• Give your committee enough time to read your dissertation before your defense. A month is customary; ask your chair for a specific deadline. 

Prepare for your defense. 

• Make sure you have scheduled your defense, booked your location, and sent out invitations to your committee. (Send invites to your friends, too, if you wish.) 
• Send your committee your full revised dissertation draft on the timeline you’ve all decided. They’ll review your draft to prepare for your defense. 

Prepare your defense presentation.

• Discuss presentation content and length with your dissertation chair, as expectations can vary by field/committee.
• Create a slide show presentation highlighting key elements of your work.
• Read Texas A&M University Writing Center’s “Dissertation Defense” Guide for defense presentation tips.   
• Be prepared to take notes (and/or have a friend take notes) about the feedback your committee offers during the defense. 
• Bring your Report of Dissertation Defense Form and Dissertation Approval Form, as both require your committee’s signatures and are required by the Graduate School.

Tools:

•  Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center. 
• Make sure you revise your draft in the appropriate required template.
• Use iThenticate to avoid any issues with plagiarism.

(This step should take 15% of your project time.)

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Main Task:

After your defense, review final feedback from your committee.

• Complete any last revisions required by your committee to receive final approval. 

Submit any final paperwork:

• Submit your Report of Dissertation Defense Form and Dissertation Approval Form to your Director of Graduate Studies’ Office. They will file these forms and send required copies to the Graduate School.
• Make sure you complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates. 

Submit your final dissertation draft to TRACE. 

• Build in extra time before your required Graduate School Deadline, as you may be required to revise for formatting errors and resubmit. 
• Once your dissertation is officially accepted in TRACE, and you’ve submitted all final paperwork, you’re done! 
• Reward yourself and celebrate your HUGE accomplishment!

(This step should take 5% of your project time.)