Take the Time to Write: On Completing a Dissertation with Sustained, Regular Effort

Writing a capstone study can be daunting. Finishing my dissertation was a hugely overwhelming and often anguishing experience– mentally and emotionally as well as physically—and I often thought of quitting along the way. I know that I’m not alone. Here, I want to share a tip that helped me to overcome my insecurities and despair and eventually finish my dissertation. My tip: Create a regular writing schedule and stick to it.

Finishing a dissertation or doctoral study may be one of the most challenging things that a person can ever undertake, as Rebecca Schuman notes in her 2014 Slate.com article. Researching and writing a capstone study is a singularly unique venture and is unlike class assignments or most other scholarly writing. For one thing, it takes a considerable amount of time to conceptualize, design, execute, write, and revise this type of scholarly work. You need time and resources to develop the requisite knowledge, skills, and proficiencies to finish your study. At the same time, you are working largely independently without a clear roadmap or the “hard” deadlines and other forms of accountability that come with classwork and other writing projects. All the while, you are accountable to your committee members’ expectations and the dictates of your program and the university.

But, the inherent scope and magnitude of such an endeavor is not the only challenge. With work, family, and other commitments, you may simply struggle to have the time, space, and energy to dedicate to your research and stay on track. Sometimes, something unexpected, such as a family emergency, as current Writing Center staff member and current Ed.D. student Amy Kubista mentioned in her previous Writing Center Blog post, happens and gets you off track. Other times, self-and other-imposed expectations hinder your progress. For those with perfectionist tendencies, the expectation that a holder of a doctorate demonstrate mastery of a topic and research methods can be a real hindrance.

I want to share a simple tip that proved more helpful to me than anything else in finishing my dissertation: Establish a regular and manageable writing schedule and stick to it. Treating writing like work is a tip that I see over and over when I read tips from creative writers. As Stephen King notes in his memoir, On Writing, you cannot wait for the muse to appear and provide inspiration. “Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon. or seven 'til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up.”

You might have to experiment and figure out what type of schedule works best for you, in terms of productivity and feasibility. Also, know that as you get into the rhythm of things or face a deadline, you might spend considerably more time than per usual. Know, also, that sometimes, life—be it planned things such as vacations (which you should definitely have) and unplanned things such as illnesses (which you will definitely have)—will interrupt your writing practice.

You don’t have to write on a daily basis—for me, having one to two off days a week was key--but you need to establish a regular and feasible schedule for writing and, again, stick to it. You might commit to just 15 minutes a day, for example, at least to get started. That’s the advice behind the popular title, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis. Set very small objectives, especially if your undertaking is very challenging, to make your work more psychologically approachable. Doing so will make it more likely that you will stick to your objective. Eventually, you will be able to commit more time to your writing.

Between 2-6 hours of intensive writing, five days per week, worked very well when I was finishing my dissertation and, later, writing a journal article. Setting a time-based objective worked better for me than setting an output-driven (e.g., a page total or a section completed) one. And, building in a reward for completing my daily writing really helped, too.

Almost immediately after I committed to a regular writing practice, I began to produce writing of which I was proud. I was able to finish chapter drafts and, eventually, a draft of my dissertation. In sum, treating capstone writing like a job helped me achieve flow. In my off time, I found myself thinking through different research issues that I was confronting or arguments that I wanted to make—all of which helped deepen my understanding of, and eventual sense of mastery about, my research and discipline.

Sticking to a regular writing practice also helped me change my self-perception. I began to see myself as actively working toward my goal instead of being a “languishing” student. That increased my self-respect and decreased my anxiety. Even if I did not achieve much headway one day, I knew that I would come back to my writing tomorrow and eventually overcome whatever research or writing issue was in the way.

Writing a capstone study can definitely be a daunting challenge. One way to make the experience less isolating is to find other writers who are in a similar position. For Walden students in their capstone phases, I encourage you to join the Walden Capstone Writing Community (WCWC). Here, you can meet fellow doctoral capstone writers from across Walden University and share strategies for overcoming the various research- and writing-related challenges that come with such a challenging undertaking. Plus, editors like myself are there as a resource to ask specific questions during office hours. Whatever stage in your capstone writing process you find yourself, I recommend that you consult the vast selection of resources we have on the Writing Center website.

In writing and in life, more generally, setting small goals and, then, sticking with them brings about great change. Establishing a regular writing schedule, even if it is “only” 15 minutes a day, pays off. I promise you. 

Do you have a strategy that helps you stick to your regular writing schedule? Share it with us in the comments.

Tara Kachgal is a dissertation editor in the Walden University Writing Center. She has a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and teaches for the School of Government's online MPA@UNC program. She resides in Chapel Hill and, in her spare time, serves as a mentor for her local running store's training program.  

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