On your first day of college, finishing your dissertation seems so far away, yet in the flash of an eye, three years have passed, graduation is drawing near, and the last hurdle left to clear is a detailed dissertation. It will be much easier to complete your dissertation and avoid dissertation failure if you steer clear of these 8 deadly yet preventable mistakes – take notes!
- Selection of Wrong Research Topic
- Incorrect, Insufficient or Irrelevant References
- Numerous Formatting Issues
- Lack of Structured and Organised Data
- Poorly Written Thesis Statement
- Poorly Defined Research Aims and Objectives
- Writing Issues
- Unedited Dissertation
Let’s analyse these root causes of dissertation failure in detail.
Selection of Wrong Research Topic
To be honest, there are many ways to muck up a dissertation, and picking the wrong topic is one of them. Likely, your dissertation won’t end up being as high calibre as you want it to be if you get this wrong right away.
First off, choosing an overly specific topic is a mistake. The only way to tell this is if there is virtually no information written about it. Another sign would be if you could say everything there is to say about your subject in fewer words or pages than what your teacher expects.
Second, be cautious if the subject you’ve chosen is too wide. Making this mistake will make it more challenging to determine where you should go because there will be too much information to sort through. It increases the likelihood of your paper being inconsistent.
You might try selecting a subtopic of the theme you want to concentrate on to focus it.
Incorrect, Insufficient or Irrelevant References
The last thing you want is a dissertation founded on unimportant, insufficient, or unreliable research. The teachers take your research extremely seriously, so you must avoid making this error whenever feasible. Your paper will only receive negative scores if the references are incorrect.
Therefore, conducting in-depth research on the topic you’ve chosen is a crucial step in the dissertation writing process. It will help you choose the appropriate sources and data for your work. In addition, there is no other method to respond properly to the dissertation’s queries.
How to fix it?
You must be certain of the scope and restrictions of your dissertation if you want to include only the pertinent references in your work. Then and only at that time will you be able to focus your research and identify the sources and data that are most appropriate and relevant to your work?
When it comes to having enough sources, many variables, like the required word count, the study’s design, and the research topic, must be considered. Even if we cannot be confident of the precise number of references required, it is a good idea to include the most encouraging studies in the area you have chosen to concentrate on.
Numerous Formatting Issues
Since a dissertation must follow a fairly strict format, students frequently encounter formatting issues. You must avoid formatting issues, including exceeding the word count, using inconsistent citation styles, and using the wrong pagination and numerals.
How to fix it?
If your instructor gave you a guide, using it is the best method to resolve this problem. You must carefully read the directions and exercise extra caution as you write your paper.
You should also check if your margins, headers, and footers are correct. If this isn’t stated in your dissertation guide, speak with your professor to clarify it.
Lack of Structured and Organised Data
It goes without saying that a sloppy structural outline and paragraph organisation can harm your dissertation. Simply being disorganised with your ideas and information may have an impact not only on the quality of your work but also on the readers.
How to fix it?
You must ensure that your intended audience understands and does not become confused by what you are attempting to say. It will necessitate a well-organised system that applies to research and writing processes.
Keeping track of notes and progress, using management software programmes, and sorting information on a spreadsheet are all ways to stay organised. There is no single method.
Poorly Written Thesis Statement
If you’re having trouble developing an effective thesis statement, you should know that it’s not easy for everyone. Students must think about what an impactful thesis might look like. It is critical to remember that thesis statements should be precise and to the point, with hints of further discussion. However,it must be appealing enough for the readers to want to keep reading your dissertation.
Furthermore, It is also possible that your thesis statement is only tangentially related to the written content of your paper. It is a big no-no because no one appreciates a thesis statement that has nothing to do with the topic of your writing.
Poorly Defined Research Aims and Objectives
Since there are numerous ways to write research aims and objectives, students can easily make mistakes. The most common mistakes in writing goals and objectives are that they are ambiguous or overly wordy.
How to fix it?
To write a successful dissertation, you must be able to find the correct and proper way to write your paper’s aims and objectives. You can get an idea of a good research objective by looking at some examples on the internet.
Keep in mind that a research goal is typically broader than the objectives. Your goals, on the other hand, must be focused on the more immediate and short-term outcomes.
Writing Issues
Grammatical errors, using too much jargon, and using ambiguous pronoun references are just a few of the numerous writing mistakes that students can make. Believe it or not, almost everyone makes this mistake at some point during their dissertation writing process.
It demonstrates how critical it is to keep an eye out for these errors, or you may miss them. As the writer, it is your responsibility to write in a way that allows readers to easily navigate your work, including avoiding writing errors throughout your paper.
How to fix it?
A simple solution would be to use tools like Grammarly to pinpoint where you’ve made a mistake. Use the numerous online tools and services available to assist you with this problem. You can also make it a habit to reread what you’ve written regularly to ensure that you haven’t made any mistakes. Another solution is to hire dissertation proofreading services online to fine-tune your dissertation!
Unedited Dissertation
As previously stated, editing your work is an important part of the dissertation process. Aside from having someone else proofread or check your work before submission, this is your last chance to omit the errors you have made throughout your paper.
How to fix it?
One of the most common consequences of failing to edit is glitches in the PDF conversion. A good way to avoid this is to check and reread your paper as soon as the conversion is finished. Editing also removes unwanted writing issues, formatting errors, and other flaws.
Using online tools to help you edit and proofread your paper is a simple solution. Numerous free online tools are available for this purpose, but you must use more than one to get the most out of them.
Bottom Line:
If you avoid these 8 fatal mistakes while writing your dissertation, there are 99% chances that you’ll pass your dissertation with flying colours. Facing a dissertation failure isn’t pleasant, and you should be careful not to commit any of these mistakes!
