I’ve been diving into Writing the Doctoral Dissertation 2e as a motivational tool.
Here’s some encouraging news:
- 90% of dissertations are 110-450 pages
- 80% are 130-390 pages
- 50% are 170-300 pages
Considering I just wrote 170 pages in two months (granted, it was on six different writing projects), this is good, good news!
Want some more? ‘Kay.
- 80% of dissertations require 12-20 actual work months (from start of topic search to completed draft of doctoral dissertation)
- 50% require 13.5-18 work months
- 5% require 11 or less work months
- Though 5% do require 22 or more work months (Yikes!)
All of which lends some credibility to this extremely attractive title: Completing Your Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis in Two Semesters or Less, or, as the blurb puts it, “during two semesters, in fifty workdays or less.” In fact, chapter 6 is entitled “Writing the Dissertation — Twenty Workdays to go!”
After yesterday’s panic attack, I got all focused and excited last night as I organized and planned out my literature review. I’ve got exactly sixteen items thus far (though a handful of tangential articles). More to get, of course, but that doesn’t include the five ancient commentators I did a paper on last month, and it lays a pretty solid foundation.
I definitely feel better today.
