Working on my dissertation proposal
I just finished outlining my dissertation chapters for the first draft of my proposal. I’m using this guide to drafting the proposal:
So I’ve been writing my proposal in reverse. I spent like a week making my working bibliography, and another week outlining the chapters. I hope to do my methodology section Monday and have a draft of the proposal done by the end of the week.
So far, this is what I’ve learned:
1. Use a dissertation journal to document your progress and get all your impostor syndrome angst on paper where it can be managed.
2. Use a new document for each new section of the proposal so you aren’t “ruining” your nice document with your drafting. Then you can paste it in where it belongs.
3. Don’t draft in Times New Roman. By now, I’ve associated that font with “serious academic writing” and it makes me nervous. I draft in Arial.
4. Recycle your writing! Sometimes a chunk of writing from your field statement goes very nicely in your proposal.
5. Write something every day you can, even if it’s just a complaint in the dissertation journal.
