dissertation is stressing me out

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All-nighters and self-doubt: learn from our dissertation disasters

Recent graduates recall their dissertation slip-ups and share their advice on supervisors, footnotes and steering clear of the pub

I t’s likely to be the greatest academic challenge you’ll face as a student. Speak to a finalist working in the library at the moment and you’ll see from their gaunt and despairing facial expression that writing a thesis is not a fun thing to do.

These students take us through their hair-raising experiences - and share their tips for success.

I got the flu, and had to pull three all-nighters in a row

The dissertation was “a long, arduous process” for William Lloyd, a recent journalism graduate at Kingston University. “I caught the flu for the second time in my life, a week before it was due. That wasn’t ideal because I’d not really organised my time properly.

“True to form, I had left half of it to write with a few days left. I got a small extension due to the illness but had travel back to uni from home and do three all-nighters in a row at the library in order to get it done. Bloody hell, it took its toll.

“Whatever happens, my advice is not to panic. It was quite fun, in a way.”

My supervisor told me I was ‘not a scholar’

Cat Soave, a recent English literature graduate from the University of York, says: “I immediately encountered problems with my dissertation supervisor. They decided that I couldn’t write about the topic I had spent three years of education working up to. Their rationale was that I was “not a scholar” and would be unable to do adequate research for my topic.

“I was incredibly disappointed, and had to begin my research from scratch. In later meetings, I didn’t feel confident enough to be very vocal for fear of further criticism. I ended up completing my dissertation with next to no help or direction.”

What can we draw from Cat’s experience? It’s important to build a good relationship with your supervisor or try to find a different one if it clearly isn’t going to work.

Avoid unnecessary tinkering

Alys Key, a third-year English literature and language student at the University of Oxford, says: “The biggest problem I had with my dissertation was the final stages of drafting. The more I read it, the more it seemed to have problems, even if I’d been happier at an earlier stage.

“I think the key is to set yourself a cut-off point, at least a day or two before the deadline, and just limit yourself to proofreading. Everything seems bad when you’ve read it 100 times, so you have to have a bit of faith.”

I should have looked for more interesting research material

“Looking back, I should have researched more broadly,” says Emma Guest, an English literature and film studies graduate from Worcester University.

“I wrote my dissertation on two films by Guillermo del Toro. When I was looking for secondary reading to support my essay, I mainly focused on finding books on the topic. I think some people don’t realise that there are more interesting forms of secondary reading out there – such as archived papers, documentaries, and so on.”

Different tutors wanted different things - and some didn’t care

For Rupert McCallum, 21, a third-year biological sciences student at the University of Portsmouth, formatting his essay became an obstacle. “Different tutors within the department wanted different things - and some didn’t care,” he says.

“My advice would be to read up early on how to format your essay in case it becomes a pain closer to the deadline. Then double check, especially if the department is sending mixed messages. Although some of it may seem silly, sometimes it’s best just to jump through the hoops.”

I found it was easy to get sidetracked

Jessica Shales studied Anglo Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge – a specialist subject that can be difficult to research. “I found it was quite easy to become sidetracked, and to start reading lots in detail about stuff that wasn’t directly related to my question. If I were to start again, I think I would want to keep my overall aim more clearly in mind,” she says.

“I would also start writing it later than I did. I think I panicked a bit and wanted to get something down on paper, and so my argument wasn’t properly formed when I started writing. I think I was a bit scared by the fact that the dissertation was longer than anything I’d written before.

“I suppose my advice is to do whatever you’d try to do in a shorter essay, which is to pose a question, use relevant evidence to discuss it, and arrive at a conclusion accordingly.”

There’s nothing quite so soul-destroying as losing a page reference

Kate Wallis, 21, who studies arts and siences at University College London (UCL), learned the hard way to reference as she went along. “And I mean really reference, with page numbers. I cannot emphasise this enough.

“There’s nothing quite so soul-destroying as a stack of 20 books next to you that you have to go through to work out which elusive page your trifling statistic came from,” she says. “It’s advice that probably applies to all essay writing , but the dissertation is where it really comes to the fore.”

Top tip: don’t drink and dissertate

Don’t follow the example of William Buck, 21, who studied history at Cardiff University. “A desire to be in the pub let me down a bit. I was out at a night club about five times a week,” he says.

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How To Deal With Dissertation Stress

There is something that many people avoid talking about when it comes to dissertations: dissertation stress. Few people are ready to admit that writing a dissertation is a very stressful process. And even fewer people admit that they are suffering from dissertation stress. Yes, we are all proud in our own way, but we need to realize when something is wrong. Otherwise, how could one take action to prevent stress?

As soon as you realize that you need to do some dissertation stress management, you are already on your way to achieving great things. Because getting rid of stress has only benefits. For instance, you will instantly feel more energized and more positive. You will have much more energy to work on the dissertation and do an even better job than before. Because let’s face it; stress will quickly force you to miss your deadlines. You need to deal with dissertation stress; now!

What Is Dissertation Stress?

Before we get to the things you can do to keep stress under control, let’s understand what stress with dissertation really is and how it manifests.

Stress appears when college students are under a lot of pressure to finish a difficult assignment, like a dissertation, in a very short time span. In addition, you will experience a buildup of stress when certain parts of your dissertation as not as they should be.

Perhaps your research doesn’t support your thesis, or perhaps your experiments are not working out. You probably don’t know how to recognize dissertation stress. It’s only normal, as you haven’t written any dissertations up to now. You don’t know how to deal with dissertation stress, but this will change by the end of this article. Here are some of the telltale signs of stress:

• You are always feeling down and don’t know why.
• You are feeling tired and can’t work at your full potential.
• You don’t have any desire to continue working on your dissertation.
• You are depressed and think negatively about your ability to finish the paper on time.
• You are inpatient and lose your temper easily.
• You can’t get a good night’s sleep and you wake up almost as tired as when you got to bed the last evening.

Causes Of Dissertation Stress

There are many causes for dissertation stress. For effective dissertation stress management, you need to learn about the main causes of this kind of stress. Here are the top 5 causes:

• The deadline is approaching fast and you are not even halfway finished with your dissertation.
• The topic is too complex and you are struggling to make any meaningful progress.
• There are too many things you need to work on and you can’t get enough sleep.
• You don’t know how to write the paper and can’t find any help anywhere.
• You’ve received bad feedback from your thesis supervisor and this is discouraging you.

Now that you know what is causing you stress, it’s time to work on the best dissertation stress management technique.

How To Deal With Dissertation Stress – Useful Advice

If you are stressed out, you will never be able to finish the paper on time. Your productivity will be low while you are under a lot of stress. This is why you must learn how to deal with dissertation stress. There are a few things you can do. First, put yourself in a positive mindset. You can do this, and you will be able to complete the assignment on time!

Next, work on a plan and organize your time and your project. Make sure you achieve every milestone that you set. When you pass a milestone, get a day off to spend with your family and friends.

And another important thing you need to do to help yourself with stress is to go to bed early and wake up early. Get a good night’s sleep every night. College students often feel down because they feel they are all alone in this. You are not! Why not get some help with data analysis for dissertation from a professional academic writer? Having someone who has your back is very important for your state of mind. You are no longer struggling to complete your project all by yourself.

Relax And Be Positive

Follow the advice above and you will easily get rid of the stress associated with writing a complex dissertation. This is the best dissertation stress help you can get. And remember, you must always be in a positive state of mind. Relax! You will finish the paper on time if your follow your plan and if you stay productive. Keep in mind that your productivity will increase when you get rid of stress. Be optimistic and stop think about the worst case scenarios. So many students have managed to write their dissertations on time; you will succeed too! We wish you good luck.

Get Thesis Help Today

Finally, there is always an option of getting outside help with your thesis. There might be certain thesis related tasks that you can easily relegate to somebody else, as it is an intimidating and substantial assignment. That is why we are here. We provide a custom thesis writing service and all essential thesis help, and our writers are top educated specialists in wide varieties of fields. So, to decrease your stress levels, you can always get in touch with us.

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3 tips for managing thesis writing stress

9 August 2019

Writing your thesis can be a stressful experience. Here, Dr Sonia Greenidge from UCL's Student Psychological and Counselling Services gives you her top tips to manage this stress.

The process of writing your thesis is a long one and the stress that can build up over this period of time can lead to writer's block and worryingly long periods of unproductiveness. Here are my top three tips to help you lower your stress levels allowing you to progress with your thesis.

Break it down

Rather than thinking that you have to dedicate lengthy periods each day to writing up, a helpful method to manage the stress of thesis writing is to break the day into small bite-sized pieces. Even if you dedicate a whole day to your write up, this should still be broken down into bite-sized periods.

Make sure that alongside your work times you also schedule in some break times. For example, work for 45 minutes and then break for 15 minutes, continue this until breaking for lunch for an hour then continue the 45-minute work and 15-minute break routine.

Be specific

Assign a specific task to do for each study period. Having a clear idea of what you are doing can alleviate the ‘so much to do, how am I going to do it?!’ stress. For example, plan to specifically ‘finish discussion paragraph on self-reflection’ not generally ‘write some more of the discussion’.

Assigning specific things to do in your break times can also help manage the stress that comes from feeling you have so much to do and so little time to do it all. Have a break for checking emails, a break for making calls, a break for making lunch etc. This way you still get all your 'life admin' done alongside getting that all important thesis written up!

Free writing

Experiencing writer’s block and feeling that you are not progressing as you would like to can be a huge trigger for stress. With free writing, you write whatever comes to mind on a topic without stopping to censor or make corrections.

Do this for a while until you feel yourself in the flow and then…keep going! You will probably have a lot of useful material from your free writing time that you can go back and tidy up later.

Dr Sonia Greenidge, UCL Student Psychological and Counselling Services (SPCS)

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5 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Coping with Dissertation Stress

Just like any other academic task, writing a good dissertation isn’t an easy task. The task itself is overwhelming, and there is no doubt that students often make mistakes during the writing process. These mistakes can cause distress among students, better known as dissertation stress, since no student wants to fail or re-do the paper again.

However, the good news is that with proper strategies and measures, it is easy to manage and control dissertation stress by understanding the elements leading to such stress when writing a dissertation and avoiding mistakes early enough. Keep reading this guide to have useful insights on stress management dissertation.

What makes up a good dissertation?

Before we discuss how to manage stress of dissertation, let’s, first of all, understand the elements that make up a compelling dissertation. These elements include the following:

• It follows the set writing guidelines or requirements
• Outlines the objectives in a clear manner
• Has a clear structure – well organized
• A good dissertation is made up of strong points supporting the thesis (well-researched)
• Demonstrates originality
• It should be well-referenced (citations according to the requirements)

These are among the many other elements that will make your dissertation stand out.

How to handle dissertation stress

Sometimes, dissertation stress quotes and other stressors when writing a dissertation are inevitable. However, with the following approaches, you can handle such stress like a pro and bring out the best dissertation:

• Start early to beat the deadline
• Understand the assignment first
• Take breaks
• Keep your research materials and books organized
• Create a plan to follow
• Ask for dissertation stress help when you feel overwhelmed

5 Mistakes to Avoid when writing a dissertation

Some dissertation writers often make the following mistakes during the writing process, which make it a bit complicated to finish the project appropriately. Therefore, avoid these mistakes for a smooth writing process.

• Starting late

Even when you feel you are a pro, a dissertation is a big project that requires adequate time to prepare, gather resources, do research, and write. When you start early, you will have enough time to organize yourself and write the paper without feeling stressed.

• Selecting a wrong dissertation topic

The basis of a good dissertation is a good topic. In case you pick a weak topic, then your whole dissertation will be weak. Besides, you can exhaust all the ideas while in the middle of the research, thus feeling the pressure. Therefore, always select a researchable and interesting topic in your field of study.

• Writing a weak thesis statement

A thesis statement plays a big role in the details you include in your dissertation. All the points and details you describe in the dissertation should align with the thesis statement. If you include ideas that contradict the thesis statement, you are likely to lose track of your writing process, thus causing dissertation stress.

• Failure to create a dissertation outline

The number one secrete to writing a perfect dissertation on time is creating an outline that will guide you when writing the sections of the main dissertation draft for submission. Therefore as you plan the writing process, always include time for creating a detailed outline to escape dissertation stress.

• Not proofreading well

A dissertation being a big project requires adequate attention to detail. That is why proofreading after the writing process is essential. However, you can proofread but still get it wrong. Mistakes such as grammar errors, typos, plagiarism, and improper formatting can cost you a lot. That is why it is a good move to seek expert help when it comes to proofreading a dissertation paper.

How well are you prepared to write your upcoming dissertation? This guide gives you some insights into the mistakes you should take note of and avoid in advance.

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Dissertation Stress: Don’t Ignore the Warning Signs

Writing a dissertation is a very lengthy and difficult process. The students working on a dissertation often become a victim of dissertation writing stress. Therefore, before the stress can worsen your dissertation, you need to identify the sign of dissertation writing stress and avoid them from occurring. The preventive methods suggested in this article will help you avoid the dissertation stress and its signs.

Writing a dissertation is not an easy task. You need to work right from the process of identifying the research topic, formulating the questions, selecting the right methodology, reviewing the literature, and analysing the results. With such a huge responsibility, the students often get stressed.

Need for Stress Management: Dissertation Writing Stress

The stress plays a very vital role in the success of PhD dissertation. Only those students succeed who are capable of dealing with their stress are successful with their dissertation. Therefore, the students need to focus on stress management for a successful dissertation.

Signs of Stress

The students working on their dissertation can experience two types of stress: emotional and behavioural.

1. Emotional Signs

• Loss of interest in the activities that you felt interesting
• Restless and anxious
• Angry, argumentative and irritable
• Concentration issues
• Mental Laziness
• Avoiding dealing with problems

2. Behavioural Signs

• Difficulty in accepting things
• Avoiding regular responsibilities
• Behaving Compulsively
• Poor self-caring
• Financial and legal issues
• Poor follow-through on task

Preventive Solutions

Now that you known the need and the signs of dissertation writing stress, it is essential that you deal with it to make your dissertation submission successful. The best way to deal with it is through preventive solutions rather than solving it after it occurs. The best preventive measures to avoid stress are

• Time Management

1. Meditation

Meditation is a proven method of avoiding stress. The best thing about it is that it helps you clear your mind of the unnecessary thoughts that become the factors of stress. Achieving a meditating state depends on from one person to another. Some might achieve it in a silent place while some might active it in a natural place. While you meditate yourself out of stress, you can get help from dissertation writers in UK from the best dissertation writing services. These dissertation services in UK can complete your dissertation with a very high quality.

2. Exercise

Exercise is one of the most important tips that everyone provides. It is a very important and priceless tool to manage one’s stress. Moreover, as students working on dissertation have to sit for a long time, they definitely need some exercise to keep themselves physically active. Regular exercise increases the endorphin count in our body. This endorphin is responsible to energise you and elevate your mood. Moreover, doing exercise regularly reduces your cholesterol, which is one of the key chemical ingredients driving stress.

During your exercise, if the fitness freak within you awakens and you need to spend more time on fitness, you can get dissertation writing help from cheap dissertation writing services. These services will provide you dissertation services in UK at very reasonable prices without disrupting the quality.

Along with regular exercise, a well-structured diet plan is essential. The saying “you are what you eat” perfectly applies in this case.

When you eat junk food, your body will behave like a junk. While, feeding on a healthy diet will keep your body fit, active and healthy.  The best ways to stay focused on your dissertation and avoid stress is to snack on fruits and vegetables and avoid deep-fried foods.  In addition, some bottle of vitamins can keep you energized for your dissertation.  While some might suggest caffeinated beverages, you should always to consume a small amount of caffeine.

Sleep is important element in human life that is difficult to ignore. Being a student working on a dissertation, you should sleep for around seven hours a day to remain active and avoid stress. Moreover, you need to ensure that you sleep regularly at the same time to maintain the circadian rhythm of your body. Keep in mind that oversleep is equally harmful as lack of sleep.

Have you wondered why to waste your time while sleeping? In that case, you must get help from dissertation writing services in UK who can provide you with best dissertation writing service in UK .

Stress might be a huge blocker for your dissertation and it is essential that you do not ignore the warning signs. However, why wait for the signs to appear? You can take the precautionary steps discussed in this article to avoid stress and their signs. On the other hand, if need dissertation help from someone, you can reach out to Uniresearchers , one of the dissertation writing services in UK. It provides dissertation writing help to all the students looking for cheap dissertation writing services.

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Six Tips to Survive the Dissertation

31 May 2021

It is an understatement to say that the dissertation is not always an easy ride. Many before you, my friends, and myself included, have experienced the endless all-nighters and the stress of nearly-missed deadlines. We have forgotten the things you should not forget, made the mistakes you should not make, and messed up the things you should not mess up.

Here is probably the greatest advantage of not going first: you can learn from our mistakes, and hopefully manage your time a little better than we did. From someone who is now on the other side, here are my top tips to avoid the last-minute panic and the "I am never gonna finish that thing" moments.

1. Do not forget the training for your research method

Based on your experience, some methods might require you to learn new formulas, adapt to programmes you have never used before, or understand tools that you did not even know existed.

While that sort of training is wonderful for skills development, it also needs to be taken into consideration when managing your time. I have seen it first-hand: watching YouTube tutorials on how to use Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to extract data from your survey at 02:00, ten days before the deadline, is no fun.

Before you even start digging into your literature, have a chat with your supervisor about what you will need to know when it comes to your method and data analysis, and plan enough time to learn and train if needed.

2. Have a step-by-step plan for gathering your materials

What if you have prepared everything for your interviews, but suddenly no one is available to be interviewed?

The answer is: it is not good.

Even before you start your literature review, write down a list of every step that is needed to gather your materials, evaluate the time that each step will require, and factor in the possible obstacles that might arise.

For example, interviews will require you to contact each participant individually with a proposed time, which they might reject. Re-scheduling is not a problem if you have contacted them well in advance, but it is a whole other thing when the deadline is dangerously approaching.

Set out a plan early on, and involve your supervisor — they have plenty of experience with gathering materials.

3. Get those references out of the way

Let us be honest: referencing is a pain, and you would rather be doing the dishes than trying to figure it out. But the sooner you get those references organised, the less likely you are to find yourself having to spend hours chasing articles later.

I personally created a separate document where I systematically noted down, in the correct style and alphabetical order, the references to all the articles that I was reading straight after I had read them. It is annoying in the short term, but very much worth it in the long run. It’s also quite useful to get an overview of the different sources you are using.

4. Remember that the dissertation is not a 24/7 job

It might be easy to lose touch with the outside world during the dissertation period (what day is it again?), but it is important to treat the dissertation just as you would any job.

For some, it might work well to see the dissertation as a 9 to 5 job, and to unwind during the evenings and weekends. Others might prefer to work on it every day, but only for half of the day. Whatever your preferred approach, remember to schedule time to get some fresh air and unwind; it might even help to note it down in your calendar.

The dissertation is a marathon, not a sprint.

5. Listen to your productivity pattern

You know that moment when you have had the same article open on your laptop for three hours and have no idea what it is even about, because you have been scrolling through Instagram looking at cute puppies all this time?

It happens to the best of us, and over the whole length of the dissertation, it can happen quite a lot. It is unrealistic to expect that you will be able to maintain the same level of focus throughout the entire day, every single day, for three months.

Take the time to analyse your moments of peak productivity (by keeping a productivity log for a few days, for instance) and schedule your tasks accordingly.

Do not force yourself to read an article at the end of the day if you know your concentration is at its lowest point around that time. Move on to organising your notes instead.

You can also research tools and techniques that can help with your concentration, such as Pomodoro or Forest, and ask your peers for their own techniques.

6. Avoid the trap of comparison

Some of your peers may work faster, appear more organised, and some may even finish two or three weeks before you do. The opposite may also be true: you might be miles ahead of them, and feel like you are missing something, or skipping steps.

But remember: your research is different from theirs, and so is your working pace/method. Some might decide to explore a theoretical framework in-depth, and therefore need to spend more time on their literature review, while others might be looking to do something brand new, and instead spend more time on their data gathering and analysis.

Some people might like to work fast on a first draft and spend time correcting everything later, while others might prefer to take their time and not have many corrections in the end.

My advice: if you are stressing about your time management, do not discuss it with your friends, go to your supervisor instead. They know your research, they will be able to tell you if you need to worry.

While some tips might seem obvious, it is easy to lose track of these simple things once you are lost in your dissertation.

Remember to take a step back at some point, and adjust your time management if needed.

Do not forget to reach out to your friends, family, supervisor, personal tutor, or coach if you are struggling: with all those brains working together, you are much more likely to find a solution. And make sure you do not overlook your own wellbeing, nothing is ever worth that.

Best of luck with the dissertation: I will see you on the other side soon!

Sophie is a graduate from the MSc in Marketing programme at the University of Edinburgh Business School

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18 Signs That Stress May Be Getting to You

Muscle tension, feeling scattered, and more..

Posted June 7, 2022 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• What Is Stress?
• Find a therapist to overcome stress
• The stress response involves every aspect of one's being: mind, body, behavior, and emotions.
• The stress response works best for short-term challenges; longer-term stress will wear a person down.
• Social withdrawal can be one sign of stress, as dealing with people may feel like "too much."

The results are in from the American Psychological Association’s latest " Stress in America " survey, and frankly, they're distressing. Our stress levels are at “alarming levels” due to issues like the ongoing pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation. These society-wide stressors are on top of the personal stress we deal with each day, from strains at work and taking care of kids to dealing with traffic and difficult people.

Chronic, unmanaged stress leads to all kinds of problems, like depression , anxiety , exhaustion, physical illness, and burnout . The first step in managing our stress is to recognize it.

Knowing Is Half the Battle

It can be surprisingly hard to see how chronic stress is affecting us, partly due to all the different ways it can show up. When we’re highly stressed , the adrenal glands release stress hormones into the bloodstream that travel throughout the body, affecting every part of our being—mind, body, behavior, and emotions.

We also don’t notice how stressed we are because our bodies are good at rising to the challenge—for a while. This “adaptation” phase of the stress response involves the ongoing release of stress hormones like cortisol, which are designed to help us keep going through high levels of stress.

As a result, we often unwittingly ignore our mounting stress load, since it seems like we’re coping just fine. Eventually, however, we start to wear down, as I found after years of letting my own stress levels go unchecked (which ultimately caught up with me). In hindsight, it was obvious that I needed to do more to take care of myself and reduce the sources of my stress.

By noticing the signs earlier, we can ease our stress levels before they get too high, and avoid a major crash. Here are 18 signs to look for (adapted from The CBT Flip Chart):

Body and Behavior

1. Muscle Tension: Stress causes our muscles to prepare for action. Over time, they can become chronically tense, which feeds back into our minds and reinforces a sense of threat and unease.

2. Poor Sleep: Our brains know it’s not good to be unconscious and vulnerable when we’re in danger, so sleep is often the first casualty of elevated stress. Difficulty sleeping often becomes an additional source of stress when we’re wired but so tired.

3. Headaches: Stress can trigger tension headaches as well as migraines . Lack of sleep doesn’t help.

4. Digestive Problems: The parasympathetic nervous system is the antidote to the fight/flight/freeze response, and is nicknamed the “rest and digest” response because it facilitates healthy digestion. Common effects of stress include diarrhea and constipation.

5. Drug/ Alcohol Use: Like so many people, I drank more alcohol when I was under a lot of stress. It’s an understandable way that we try to cope, since it acts on the same neurotransmitter system as sedatives like benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax). Unfortunately relying on alcohol for stress relief often leads to its own set of problems.

6. Social Withdrawal: Dealing with people can just feel like too much when we’re stressed, so we often tend to pull away. In the process, we can miss out on the social support that’s so important for regulating our stress and keeping our mood up.

7. Cluttered Thoughts: It’s hard to think clearly when there’s so much on our minds and we’re trying not to drop any of the mental balls we’re juggling.

8. Feeling Scattered: High stress makes it feel like we’re being stretched thin as we’re pulled in many directions. As a result, it seems like we have too few resources to handle all the demands.

9. Distractibility: Stress makes it harder to focus our attention on one thing, as we’re easily pulled from one crisis or threat to the next.

10. Poor Concentration : It’s hard to focus when we’re being bombarded by lots of thoughts and are fearful of making a mistake or forgetting something.

11. Memory Problems: Speaking of forgetting, stress has negative effects on a brain structure called the hippocampus, which makes it harder to encode and recall new memories.

12. Overwhelm: The overarching feeling when we’re stressed out is that it’s all too much, and that we don't have the resources to meet the challenges.

13. Discouragement: Constant strain leads to feeling disheartened and dispirited as we feel like we can’t keep up with the demands.

14. Low Enthusiasm: This is when everything seems like too much; even things we normally would enjoy can feel like an unwelcome demand on our limited resources. This feeling is often a precursor to burnout.

15. Hopelessness: The longer stress goes on, the more hopeless we can become, as we start to believe that we’ll always feel overwhelmed and that nothing is going to get better. Hopelessness is a major contributor to depression.

16. Agitation: With our sympathetic nervous system on high alert, we feel rattled and constantly on edge, like we’re vibrating at a high frequency.

17. Disconnection: When our nervous systems are overloaded, they’ll try to conserve resources by selectively shutting down non-essential functions, like a cell phone entering Low Power Mode. This can manifest as a feeling of being disconnected from our bodies, our surroundings, and other people.

18. Irritability: It’s hard to deal with other humans when we’re stretched thin mentally, physically, and emotionally, which leads to being prickly and impatient.

Effective Stress Management

If we're experiencing many signs of stress, we'll need multiple tools to manage it effectively. Mindful cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) integrates three approaches that can ease our daily strain:

• Mindful: So much of our stress comes from looking ahead and seeing all we have to do—and fearing that we're not up for the task. Mindfulness invites us to come back to the present whenever we discover that our minds are elsewhere. The immediate present is much more manageable than the uncertain future that we imagine. With mindful awareness, we can also become more open to our reality, and let go of unproductive struggles against what's happening.
• Cognitive: The C in CBT is about training our minds to recognize unhelpful and untrue thoughts. With practice, we can see through beliefs that add unnecessary stress to our lives, such as, "It will be terrible if I don't finish this project today."
• Behavioral: Finally, mindful CBT addresses what we do . With greater awareness and clearer thinking we can choose actions that reduce our stress, such as saying "no" to things that would overextend us. We can also plan specific ways to manage our stress each day, like spending a few moments taking slow, calming breaths, and finding time for enjoyable exercise.

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Gillihan, S. J. (2021). The CBT flip chart . Eau Claire, WI: PESI Publishing.

Seth J. Gillihan, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and author specializing in mindful cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

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• Dissertation

What Is a Dissertation? | Guide, Examples, & Template

A dissertation is a long-form piece of academic writing based on original research conducted by you. It is usually submitted as the final step in order to finish a PhD program.

Your dissertation is probably the longest piece of writing you’ve ever completed. It requires solid research, writing, and analysis skills, and it can be intimidating to know where to begin.

Your department likely has guidelines related to how your dissertation should be structured. When in doubt, consult with your supervisor.

You can also download our full dissertation template in the format of your choice below. The template includes a ready-made table of contents with notes on what to include in each chapter, easily adaptable to your department’s requirements.

Download Word template Download Google Docs template

• In the US, a dissertation generally refers to the collection of research you conducted to obtain a PhD.
• In other countries (such as the UK), a dissertation often refers to the research you conduct to obtain your bachelor’s or master’s degree.

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Table of contents

Dissertation committee and prospectus process, how to write and structure a dissertation, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your dissertation, free checklist and lecture slides.

When you’ve finished your coursework, as well as any comprehensive exams or other requirements, you advance to “ABD” (All But Dissertation) status. This means you’ve completed everything except your dissertation.

Prior to starting to write, you must form your committee and write your prospectus or proposal . Your committee comprises your adviser and a few other faculty members. They can be from your own department, or, if your work is more interdisciplinary, from other departments. Your committee will guide you through the dissertation process, and ultimately decide whether you pass your dissertation defense and receive your PhD.

Your prospectus is a formal document presented to your committee, usually orally in a defense, outlining your research aims and objectives and showing why your topic is relevant . After passing your prospectus defense, you’re ready to start your research and writing.

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The structure of your dissertation depends on a variety of factors, such as your discipline, topic, and approach. Dissertations in the humanities are often structured more like a long essay , building an overall argument to support a central thesis , with chapters organized around different themes or case studies.

However, hard science and social science dissertations typically include a review of existing works, a methodology section, an analysis of your original research, and a presentation of your results , presented in different chapters.

Dissertation examples

We’ve compiled a list of dissertation examples to help you get started.

• Example dissertation #1: Heat, Wildfire and Energy Demand: An Examination of Residential Buildings and Community Equity (a dissertation by C. A. Antonopoulos about the impact of extreme heat and wildfire on residential buildings and occupant exposure risks).
• Example dissertation #2: Exploring Income Volatility and Financial Health Among Middle-Income Households (a dissertation by M. Addo about income volatility and declining economic security among middle-income households).
• Example dissertation #3: The Use of Mindfulness Meditation to Increase the Efficacy of Mirror Visual Feedback for Reducing Phantom Limb Pain in Amputees (a dissertation by N. S. Mills about the effect of mindfulness-based interventions on the relationship between mirror visual feedback and the pain level in amputees with phantom limb pain).

The very first page of your document contains your dissertation title, your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date. Sometimes it also includes your student number, your supervisor’s name, and the university’s logo.

Read more about title pages

The acknowledgements section is usually optional and gives space for you to thank everyone who helped you in writing your dissertation. This might include your supervisors, participants in your research, and friends or family who supported you. In some cases, your acknowledgements are part of a preface.

Read more about acknowledgements Read more about prefaces

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The abstract is a short summary of your dissertation, usually about 150 to 300 words long. Though this may seem very short, it’s one of the most important parts of your dissertation, because it introduces your work to your audience.

Your abstract should:

• State your main topic and the aims of your research
• Describe your methods
• Summarize your main results
• State your conclusions

Read more about abstracts

The table of contents lists all of your chapters, along with corresponding subheadings and page numbers. This gives your reader an overview of your structure and helps them easily navigate your document.

Remember to include all main parts of your dissertation in your table of contents, even the appendices. It’s easy to generate a table automatically in Word if you used heading styles. Generally speaking, you only include level 2 and level 3 headings, not every subheading you included in your finished work.

Read more about tables of contents

While not usually mandatory, it’s nice to include a list of figures and tables to help guide your reader if you have used a lot of these in your dissertation. It’s easy to generate one of these in Word using the Insert Caption feature.

Read more about lists of figures and tables

Similarly, if you have used a lot of abbreviations (especially industry-specific ones) in your dissertation, you can include them in an alphabetized list of abbreviations so that the reader can easily look up their meanings.

Read more about lists of abbreviations

In addition to the list of abbreviations, if you find yourself using a lot of highly specialized terms that you worry will not be familiar to your reader, consider including a glossary. Here, alphabetize the terms and include a brief description or definition.

Read more about glossaries

The introduction serves to set up your dissertation’s topic, purpose, and relevance. It tells the reader what to expect in the rest of your dissertation. The introduction should:

• Establish your research topic , giving the background information needed to contextualize your work
• Narrow down the focus and define the scope of your research
• Discuss the state of existing research on the topic, showing your work’s relevance to a broader problem or debate
• Clearly state your research questions and objectives
• Outline the flow of the rest of your work

Everything in the introduction should be clear, engaging, and relevant. By the end, the reader should understand the what, why, and how of your research.

Read more about introductions

A formative part of your research is your literature review . This helps you gain a thorough understanding of the academic work that already exists on your topic.

Literature reviews encompass:

• Finding relevant sources (e.g., books and journal articles)
• Assessing the credibility of your sources
• Critically analyzing and evaluating each source
• Drawing connections between them (e.g., themes, patterns, conflicts, or gaps) to strengthen your overall point

A literature review is not merely a summary of existing sources. Your literature review should have a coherent structure and argument that leads to a clear justification for your own research. It may aim to:

• Address a gap in the literature or build on existing knowledge
• Take a new theoretical or methodological approach to your topic
• Propose a solution to an unresolved problem or advance one side of a theoretical debate

Read more about literature reviews

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework. Here, you define and analyze the key theories, concepts, and models that frame your research.

Read more about theoretical frameworks

Your methodology chapter describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to critically assess its credibility. Your methodology section should accurately report what you did, as well as convince your reader that this was the best way to answer your research question.

A methodology section should generally include:

• The overall research approach ( quantitative vs. qualitative ) and research methods (e.g., a longitudinal study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., interviews or a controlled experiment )
• Details of where, when, and with whom the research took place
• Any tools and materials you used (e.g., computer programs, lab equipment)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical analysis , discourse analysis )
• An evaluation or justification of your methods

Read more about methodology sections

Your results section should highlight what your methodology discovered. You can structure this section around sub-questions, hypotheses , or themes, but avoid including any subjective or speculative interpretation here.

Your results section should:

• Concisely state each relevant result together with relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., mean , standard deviation ) and inferential statistics (e.g., test statistics , p values )
• Briefly state how the result relates to the question or whether the hypothesis was supported
• Report all results that are relevant to your research questions , including any that did not meet your expectations.

Additional data (including raw numbers, full questionnaires, or interview transcripts) can be included as an appendix. You can include tables and figures, but only if they help the reader better understand your results. Read more about results sections

Your discussion section is your opportunity to explore the meaning and implications of your results in relation to your research question. Here, interpret your results in detail, discussing whether they met your expectations and how well they fit with the framework that you built in earlier chapters. Refer back to relevant source material to show how your results fit within existing research in your field.

Some guiding questions include:

• What do your results mean?
• Why do your results matter?
• What limitations do the results have?

If any of the results were unexpected, offer explanations for why this might be. It’s a good idea to consider alternative interpretations of your data.

Read more about discussion sections

Your dissertation’s conclusion should concisely answer your main research question, leaving your reader with a clear understanding of your central argument and emphasizing what your research has contributed to the field.

In some disciplines, the conclusion is just a short section preceding the discussion section, but in other contexts, it is the final chapter of your work. Here, you wrap up your dissertation with a final reflection on what you found, with recommendations for future research and concluding remarks.

It’s important to leave the reader with a clear impression of why your research matters. What have you added to what was already known? Why is your research necessary for the future of your field?

Read more about conclusions

It is crucial to include a reference list or list of works cited with the full details of all the sources that you used, in order to avoid plagiarism. Be sure to choose one citation style and follow it consistently throughout your dissertation. Each style has strict and specific formatting requirements.

Common styles include MLA , Chicago , and APA , but which style you use is often set by your department or your field.

Create APA citations Create MLA citations

Your dissertation should contain only essential information that directly contributes to answering your research question. Documents such as interview transcripts or survey questions can be added as appendices, rather than adding them to the main body.

Read more about appendices

Making sure that all of your sections are in the right place is only the first step to a well-written dissertation. Don’t forget to leave plenty of time for editing and proofreading, as grammar mistakes and sloppy spelling errors can really negatively impact your work.

Dissertations can take up to five years to write, so you will definitely want to make sure that everything is perfect before submitting. You may want to consider using a professional dissertation editing service , AI proofreader or grammar checker to make sure your final project is perfect prior to submitting.

After your written dissertation is approved, your committee will schedule a defense. Similarly to defending your prospectus, dissertation defenses are oral presentations of your work. You’ll present your dissertation, and your committee will ask you questions. Many departments allow family members, friends, and other people who are interested to join as well.

After your defense, your committee will meet, and then inform you whether you have passed. Keep in mind that defenses are usually just a formality; most committees will have resolved any serious issues with your work with you far prior to your defense, giving you ample time to fix any problems.

As you write your dissertation, you can use this simple checklist to make sure you’ve included all the essentials.

Checklist: Dissertation

My title page includes all information required by my university.

I have included acknowledgements thanking those who helped me.

My abstract provides a concise summary of the dissertation, giving the reader a clear idea of my key results or arguments.

I have created a table of contents to help the reader navigate my dissertation. It includes all chapter titles, but excludes the title page, acknowledgements, and abstract.

My introduction leads into my topic in an engaging way and shows the relevance of my research.

My introduction clearly defines the focus of my research, stating my research questions and research objectives .

My introduction includes an overview of the dissertation’s structure (reading guide).

I have conducted a literature review in which I (1) critically engage with sources, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, (2) discuss patterns, themes, and debates in the literature, and (3) address a gap or show how my research contributes to existing research.

I have clearly outlined the theoretical framework of my research, explaining the theories and models that support my approach.

I have thoroughly described my methodology , explaining how I collected data and analyzed data.

I have concisely and objectively reported all relevant results .

I have (1) evaluated and interpreted the meaning of the results and (2) acknowledged any important limitations of the results in my discussion .

I have clearly stated the answer to my main research question in the conclusion .

I have clearly explained the implications of my conclusion, emphasizing what new insight my research has contributed.

I have provided relevant recommendations for further research or practice.

If relevant, I have included appendices with supplemental information.

I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.

I have listed every source in a reference list at the end of my dissertation.

I have consistently followed the rules of my chosen citation style .

I have followed all formatting guidelines provided by my university.

Congratulations!

The end is in sight—your dissertation is nearly ready to submit! Make sure it's perfectly polished with the help of a Scribbr editor.

If you’re an educator, feel free to download and adapt these slides to teach your students about structuring a dissertation.

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