failed dissertation example

• How it works

What If I Failed My Dissertation, Assignment or Exam?

Published by Alvin Nicolas at August 13th, 2021 , Revised On June 24, 2024

Each year several hundreds of university students end up failing their dissertation, coursework, exam, or assignment. Receipt of a failing mark can be the most devastating experience for students in the UK.

Failing a dissertation, essay, or assignment can have a devastating effect on your life – from being shocked by hearing the news of their failure to the mental sufferings that follow.

Have you recently failed your  dissertation ,  assignment , exam or  coursework ? If yes, then be calm because you are not alone. There are several ways of tackling such a situation. This article presents several options for students who have failed an exam, dissertation, or assignment.

So, please sit back and relax because it’s not the world’s end.

Possible Reasons for Failure

Often students do not get enough help from their tutors  to pass an exam, dissertation or coursework, which results in a situation where they start to wait for things to resolve on their own until their problems become too large.

Fortunately, failing mark is not the end of the world, and students can change their circumstances.

There could be numerous reasons as to why you may have failed your dissertation, exam,  essay , or  report . Some students cannot keep up with course reading during the semester, while others do not have a sufficient understanding of their subject-related theories and knowledge due to various reasons.

The inability to understand key concepts, missing lectures regularly, and lack of understanding of course content are some of the most common reasons for a failing mark.

A sensible thing to do would be to  have your paper edited and proofread by an expert to eliminate any grammatical, structural, and spelling errors.

Does your Dissertation Have the Following?

• Great Research/Sources
• Perfect Language
• Accurate Sources

If not, we can help. Our panel of experts makes sure to keep the 3 pillars of Dissertation strong.

Avoiding Failure Before you Even Begin

If you want to avoid failure before it happens, you must take some pre-emptive actions before your problems become too large.

Achieving a graduate or postgraduate qualification is not a walk in the park. Therefore, it is vitally important for students to make sure that they meet their challenges head-on to prevent them from turning into potential failures.

Here are some tips for you to avoid failure before you even start.

• If you know that you are struggling with your  dissertation ,  coursework , or  assignment , then take out the time to discuss your problems with your academic supervisor. An academic supervisor or mentor is a member of the faculty assigned to you at your degree course.

Meet with them regularly and let them know of any problems you are facing so they can help you address them promptly.

• Meet the challenges head-on. Don’t wait for your problems to become too large. A small issue can turn into a major crisis if you keep on ignoring it for too long. For example, if you are struggling to  collect primary data for your dissertation , it will be appropriate to consult with your mentor to avoid falling behind on deadlines.

Most universities understand that students may face unforeseen challenges now and then due to their finances, family problems, personal limitations, and prolonged sickness. Therefore, it is possible to minimise the damage by filing for extenuating circumstances.

• By completing and submitting the extenuating circumstances form, you will be formally notifying your university that you are lagging on your dissertation or coursework. And do not forget to attach a formal plan to let them know how you will make sure to meet your new deadline so you can be granted an extension to your coursework, exam, or dissertation deadline.

Get an expert academic to help you with your dissertation, assignment, coursework, or essay so they can do the hard work for you. At ResearchProspect , we have masters and PhD qualified writers in all academic subjects. Whether it’s an essay, coursework, exam, dissertation, or assignment, you need help with. Our writers will exceed your expectations.

All you have to do is complete our online order form to place your order , and we will send the completed paper to your email address on or before the specified deadline. You are welcome to  view our professional samples , take a look at  our service portfolio  and learn more  about our company  before placing your order.

Opportunities for Reassessment

Even if you end up receiving a failing mark, you will have several options to choose from to clean the mess. However, before making any decisions, you must determine whether you have failed the entire module, just an element of a module or the dissertation.

Failing Dissertation

if you have forgotten your dissertation because you will be allowed to resubmit it by the deadline agreed upon by yourself and the university.

However, the marks awarded for a resubmitted dissertation are usually caped to a minimum passing mark as a penalty for your failure in the first place.

A complete dissertation failure in UK universities will only occur if you cannot achieve the minimum passing mark even on your second attempt.

To improve your situation, you should regularly meet with your supervisor and avoid overlooking mandatory draft submissions.

Failing Module

You will be required to either re-sit an exam or re-submit the coursework (in some cases) if you have failed an entire module.

Each module that you take the exam for usually has a unique set of module guidelines associated with it. How you will be reassessed is taken by the board of examiners and the lecturers only after considering these guidelines.

Again, the maximum obtainable mark is usually capped to a bare pass level if you are re-siting an exam or resubmitting coursework.

Failing an Element of Module

If you only failed one piece of an exam or coursework and managed to achieve high marks for other modules, you may not need to resubmit that element.

The bottom line is that if your average coursework mark is above the bare minimum passing mark, you will pass that module even if you failed one piece of it.

For example, receive a failing mark of 35 in one essay coursework that counts for 25% of the overall module mark but pass the remaining 75% module assessment (which can be in the form of an exam or coursework). You can still give the entire module.

However, depending on your university’s regulations, you may have the opportunity to resubmit the failed coursework to improve your overall course grade.

Want to know what essay structure and style will work best for your assignment?

Problem fixed! We can write any type of essay in any referencing style. We ensure every essay written is beyond your expectations.

Plagiarism – A Serious Offence

All UK universities have strict rules and penalties against students who are caught plagiarising. If you receive a failing mark due to  plagiarism , you may not be able to resubmit your dissertation/coursework or re-sit an exam.

So make sure to cite others’ ideas and  avoid copying work from other academic sources  to prevent your case from being sent to the University Ethics Board, which usually has the power to take a range of measures against you. In most cases, you will not be able to appeal the decision being taken if you are found guilty of plagiarising. So, refrain from it.

To help bring the point home, you can check out the comments and guidelines made by Reading, UK , regarding plagiarism.

Interesting watch: Check out a student’s account of how and why their dissertation went badly (UK institution).

Also read:   Consequences of Plagiarism 

How to Appeal Against a Failing Mark?

If you believe that you have been disadvantaged in some way or your university did not consider your financial or family problems while awarding you a failing mark. You may have the grounds to appeal against the mark awarded to you.

All UK universities have their own set of rules for lodging student academic appeals. Generally, this is a very lengthy procedure. Make sure that you provide documentary evidence along with the appropriate forms to justify your appeal.

The university exam board will review your case, and you will be allowed to resubmit your work or  resit the exam  if your application is successful.

Detailed information on appealing procedures is usually available on the university’s website and provided to students before starting their degree.

While no student ever wants to fail an exam, coursework, assignment or dissertation, the unthinkable sometimes can happen. But it would help if you did not get discouraged by the disastrous situation because most universities offer another chance to students who have genuine reasons.

How ResearchProspect Can Help

ResearchProspect is a UK-registered firm to provides academic support to students around the world. We specialise in completing design projects,  literature reviews ,  essays ,  reports ,  coursework ,  exam notes ,  statistical analysis , primary and empirical research,  dissertations , case studies,  academic posters , and much more. Getting help from our expert academics is quick and simple. All you have to do is complete our online order form and get your paper delivered to your email address well before your due deadline.

Winning Dissertation Presentations

Don’t let all the paranoia get to you. If you don’t want your dissertation to fail, make sure to take steps to prevent that thing from happening.

Alternatively, checking out some real-life instances of students defending their dissertational research might help, too:

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) 2011 Winner – Matthew Thompson

2014 Three Minute Thesis winning presentation by Emily Johnston

Oxford University’s graduate’s advice for an award-nominated, A-graded dissertation

Furthermore, you can also check out real-life students’ advice about writing a winning dissertation, advice they wish someone had given them.

Further still, if you want to take every last measure, you could also check out what institutions in the UK, such as Birmingham University, require in your dissertation .

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean if you fail your dissertation.

Failing a dissertation means not meeting required standards. It may lead to retaking or resubmitting. Understand feedback, identify weaknesses, and seek support to improve and succeed next time.

You May Also Like

Not sure how to write dissertation title page? All dissertations must have a dissertation title page where necessary information should be clearly presented

Finding it difficult to maintain a good relationship with your supervisor? Here are some tips on ‘How to Deal with an Unhelpful Dissertation Supervisor’.

USEFUL LINKS

LEARNING RESOURCES

COMPANY DETAILS

• How It Works

I failed my dissertation defense. But I am not a failure.

Researcher Chronicles

Your research. Your life. Your story.

Lorie Owens, or PhDiva ( @ Dissertating ) as she is commonly known in academic Twitter circles, paints a vivid picture of how she failed at her first dissertation defense. This narrative originally appeared as a series of posts on Lorie’s blog and has been republished with her permission.

No one prepared me for the worst possible outcome of a dissertation defense: Failure. Yet, after waiting outside in the hallway for over 90 minutes, I was certain of it. My advisor summoned me back into the room with a wave of the arm as he shook his head and glibly said, “You’re going to have to do it again.” The remarks made by the committee sounded to me like Charlie Brown’s teacher’s voice; I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. After they left, I recall staring down at the table as I heard my advisor admit, “This was as much my fault…” The tears welled up, but I refused to let a single tear fall in his presence. I took a deep breath and spoke. “I… would… like… to… leave… now.”

When I regained the ability to think lucidly, I began to assemble the events that led up to this debacle. My advisor (let’s call him Dr. X) had taken a laissez-faire approach to my doctoral candidacy. He refused to look at individual chapters of my proposal (“I have to see the whole before I can render judgment.”) and acted similarly with my dissertation. He never read a single page prior to my submitting a full draft. He provided no written feedback to my writing, but offered broad questions and general comments. I attempted to correct the perceived shortcomings, or what I understood them to be, but I never quite knew where I stood. As we drew closer to my chosen last semester, I pressed Dr. X for a defense date. We set one up, yet it was not until two days before that we had a sit-down and he offered some clear questions and concerns. I did not read these remarks as a request for revision; after all, the committee members had this draft. I made a few pages of notes to respond to his remarks and hoped for the best.

Onto the defense: I sat across from the committee. Just me facing the four of them. Everyone had their spiral-bound copies of my dissertation in front of them. Two of the four had Post-It notes marking pages. Too many, if you asked me. Dr. X’s copy, by comparison, looked pristine, like an unread book, with a tell-tale unbroken spine. As the others began posing questions (Dr. X had deferred to them, saying that he’d add his questions and comments at the end), I attempted to answer them, but quickly descended into a “deer in the headlights” panic.

Want to know how Lorie’s dissertation defense ended? Read the rest of her story here .

Written by Researcher Chronicles

Share a chapter from your life as a researcher. Tell us about your unique experiences, triumphs, or lessons - An Editage Insights initiative

Text to speech

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

What to do if I cannot complete my Masters dissertation tasks?

I am doing my masters in the UK and at final stage of my dissertation. First I will have to confess that I regret that I selected this dissertation as it is something which I failed to get a clear idea about. I don't know if it is because I cannot understand the ideas that my supervisor is trying to communicate with me.

First my target was to implement an algorithm (I was given only a specific field and asked me to select an algorithm) using a language that I had never used before. I used to meet regularly and given research papers to read to clarify any doubt I had. There was no support in the implementation other than the research papers. Also no one to guide on the computer language I needed to use for the implementation. By June, I was stuck a little bit in the implementation and when I expressed some doubts, I was told there is not enough time for implementation now as I am not able to understand it so take an existing software which implemented the said algorithm and create some performance improvements.

I spent a lot of time, more than a month for just setting up the work environment and understanding how that software works. I am not very confident to speak out so I thought I will eventually get a hang of it. After a thorough research I realised that the said software is widely used all over the world and has been optimised in all possible ways already. But it was already too late and at the end I am left with almost nothing but some failed trials. Now the deadline to submit my masters dissertation is in a week and when I spoke to my supervisor about the limitations of the software and why I cannot optimise it last week, I was given a new research paper to read and asked to try their approach.

I learned a lot in this research, many algorithms, some new software, computer languages etc, but it was not focussed. I don't know what I will write in my report as the project is supposed to be a study with evaluation and testing to show as a proof to my conclusions. I have already written a literature review of 35 pages and about 10 pages about the software I am trying to optimise. I cannot submit just that and I don't think it is a good idea to continue new trials now as I may not be able to complete writing my report (which needs to be around 60-65 pages) with just one week left. I have distinction from the marks for my course units and all of the effort I took for an year will go in vain if I fail the dissertation as it has 50% weighting. What can I do to make sure I will pass my dissertation? Please advise.

NB: I know it is a long question, sorry about that. I felt I need to write the context to explain my situation.

Postscript:

I continued and completed my thesis with all the failed trials. Added some sections in the thesis comparing the different approaches I tried, findings based the trials and some suggestions for future work. Even though I was paranoid till the results came out, I passed with distinction.

• computer-science

• 5 Why not talk to your advisor and ask for extension? What's the problem with graduating a few months late? –  Nobody Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 8:54
• 3 @scaaahu I am not sure if you are from the UK, but you tend to only get given extensions for work in the UK if you have extenuating circumstances (such as illness or bereavement). For my undergraduate disseration, I was given a week's extension because I was off sick with a really bad ear infection, but this had to be formally approved by the head of department and was nothing to do with my supervisor. –  emmalgale Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 9:45
• 4 I agree with scaaahu here. If your work is not good enough for a dissertation, you cannot present something that is not good enough. So, an extension is the only thing you can do. –  Alexandros Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 10:14
• 11 Next time, ask for help much sooner. –  JeffE Commented Aug 27, 2014 at 11:49
• 2 @newbie You should edit your post and include that update. Congratulations :) –  semi-extrinsic Commented Nov 4, 2015 at 12:31

2 Answers 2

The unpleasant reality is that it is entirely possible that you may not pass your dissertation. In fact, given what you've written here, I would be surprised if you did as of right now.

Graduate level work is hard. I mean if research were easy everyone would be doing it right? And so some of the things Graduate students need to learn early in their career is time management, planning and asking for help as needed. In an ideal world your advisor would have caught your floundering much earlier in the process but academia, as life, isn't always ideal. A good rule of thumb is if, by the halfway point of your timeline(so 1 year into a 2 year Masters for example) you don't have a solid plan for accomplishing your goal that includes timelines, goalposts and a plan to catch up on additional material you need... then you have a problem.

By June, then, warning bells should have been going off in your head. I have some sympathy(everyone has to learn this stuff on their own at some point) but not too much. Part of graduate level Computer Science work, at least, means figuring out languages and implementations on your own. It sounds like you were looking for something a little more guided, more like undergraduate courses, but that's not how it works for Graduate level research. That you are a week out and just now casting about for a solution, that you, after running into the exact same problem when asking for help too late in June, just now found out that you could not implement improvements on a preexisting software suite... these are massively problematic. Ideally after the issues in June you should have chosen low hanging fruit for your last ditch effort of improving someone elses' suite. The first thing your lit review on that software suite should have contained is a list of potential pitfalls or limitations of the software and rough ideas on improvements.

Now that's all rather negative. I've written it because, from what you've written, you seem to not get what the fundamental problem has been for your research experience. All that being said there may still be solutions but it's going to be hard work.

It sounds like these implementations(different softwares) are focused on a particular field or topic. An option, a hard to do going to take overnights for the next week, option would be to do benchmarks and comparisons of currently available software. A study of the limitations and weaknesses(and strengths) of currently available software can be a viable topic. That it took you a month to set up the environment to run the software you were trying to improve means that this would potentially be very hard for you to do in a week. An option is to take the software you have now and run exhaustive benchmarks and analysis on that specific software.

I'm not suggesting this as a 'run out and do it now!' sort of thing. Honestly even the most on-the-ball student who has had no issues would be hard pressed to write a decent dissertation in a week. That's a student who has all of their data. But a passing dissertation is a possiblity. Your first step is to go talk to your advisor as soon as possible. Explain the current situation, explain a potential solution(exhaustive benchmarks on a particular software or comparative benchmarks between different software implementations) and, finally, explain what you are going to do to make sure that the day before the dissertation is due you won't have another emergency situation like you have right now.

• thanks for the detailed answer. so i will most probably fail it as i fear..anyway i will have to give it a go :( –  User1234321232 Commented Aug 28, 2014 at 9:28
• 1 @newbie: Do your best. The piece of paper is awesome, true, but you've learned a lot and it's not going to be the end of the world. Take the lessons you learned and go into the future ready to kick it's butt! –  Nahkki Commented Aug 28, 2014 at 11:00
• 1 sure. i will. Even now I dont think just saying 'I dont know' or giving a complicated research paper if I ask a doubt is a good approach by a supervisor. With a little guidance(which all my other classmates are getting from their supervisors) I usually excel in all the tasks that I have undertaken till now. This is the first time I'm in such a clueless situation. So thought maybe someone here will give some motivation and some ideas, which didnt happen.These answers made me even more depressed. –  User1234321232 Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 14:57

First of all, I fully agree with the points Nahkki made - take some time to reflect those points! From a practical standpoint I see different options (some depending on your university's regulations:

• Ask for an extension. But honestly, I would not expect a very good outcome. I would say you'd need at least 2-3 additional month to create something worthy.
• Fail and restart. Sounds bad, but in most institutions you are having a second chance and you can start from scratch. Look for a topic which is better aligned to your interest and maybe look for a different advisor. It might be better to study a bit longer, but have a good thesis.
• Try to get through with it. In my optinion the worst option, but if you just want to graduate quickly, it is an option. Make it a literature work, compare existing approaches, ... Many advisors are not willing to let their students fail (they fear legal issues, personal disappointment, bad reviews, ...), so it might work.

But one thought on option 1 & 3: When I employ someone, I just briefly read the marks and the general bla bla. I usually want to talk about their thesis, what they did and why it was great. This gives the best impression on the future performance of the person.

• 1 i am trying the 3rd option. trying to include all my failed trials and write my conclusion based on them. –  User1234321232 Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 14:47

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged thesis masters computer-science ..

• Featured on Meta
• Join Stack Overflow’s CEO and me for the first Stack IRL Community Event in...
• Bringing clarity to status tag usage on meta sites

Hot Network Questions

• Does Poincare recurrence show that Gibbs entropy is not strictly increasing?
• Is there a result allowing to seperate two connected components
• How Would I Interpret This Harmonically?
• Board game where you built physical "bridges" to fish for resources from a pond
• Understanding the parabolic state of a quantum particle in the infinite square well
• Textile Innovations of Pachyderms: Clothing Type
• Thread-safe write-efficient register() method for a Load balancer
• using gnu date to set a time and format and subtract
• Coloring a 4×4 Grid
• What are the steps to write a book?
• Getting lost on a Circular Track
• Electromagnetic Eigenvalue problem in FEM yielding spurious solutions
• Confusion regarding Talent Chercheur visa for France
• Humans are forbidden from using complex computers. But what defines a complex computer?
• Do images have propositional content?
• Did Queen (or Freddie Mercury) really not like Star Wars?
• Children's book about intelligent bears or maybe cats
• How do you make the vacuum seal on a glass jar?
• Why wasn't Randall Stevens caught?
• Flats on gravel with GP5000 - what am I doing wrong?
• Where Does Rashi Mention the Streets of Venice?
• Syntactically, who does Jesus refer to as 'to you' and 'those outside' in Mark 4:11?
• Remove spaces from the 3rd line onwards in a file on linux
• Why do "modern" languages not provide argv and exit code in main?

• Customer Reviews
• Extended Essays
• IB Internal Assessment
• Theory of Knowledge
• Literature Review
• Dissertations
• Essay Writing
• Research Writing
• Assignment Help
• Capstone Projects
• College Application
• Online Class

What EXACTLY Happens if You Fail Your Dissertation Project?

by  Antony W

June 28, 2024

Failing a dissertation is one of the most difficult and painful experiences for many students. After months of research and writing, the last thing you want is to get failing marks. So what happens if you fail a dissertation?

If you fail your dissertation project, your institution will give you another chance to redo the work and re-submit it based on an agreed date. However, you institution will cap the marks for a resubmitted dissertation at a pass level.

Notably, it’s highly unlikely for students to fail their dissertations straight outright. More often than not, the possibility of failure often arises from a student’s negligence, which it’s easy to avoid with proper planning.

Just because you’ve failed a dissertation, if you have, doesn’t mean it’s the end of life. You still get the chance to change your marks from a fail to a pass.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything about failed dissertation, including the options you have to redeem yourself from the failing marks to the bare pass level.

Let’s get started.

What Does it Mean to Fail a Dissertation?

To fail a dissertation paper means you have scored below the institution’s cut mark, which is often a 40. The majority of pupils can beat the cut-off points by as little as one point, which means it’s often unlikely that one would intentionally fail the project.

You cannot graduate if you fail a dissertation. In fact, graduating with a failed grade would be tantamount to celebrating your failure. Most colleges permit re-sits, after which students may graduate if they get the required grade.

As a result, if you want to be included on the graduation list, you should work hard enough to make sure you don’t fail your dissertation. You have to aim to get a 40, although it’s best to aim higher because the set minimum marks don’t necessarily have to be the limit.

Why Do Students Fail Their Dissertations?

Nothing is as frustrating as spending months on a dissertation only to fail the assignment in the end. The question is, “why do students get failing marks in the first place”?

1. Failure to Dedicate Time to the Project

It’s possible to get failing marks for a dissertation because of failing to dedicate enough time to do the work.

The majority of college and university students are preoccupied with other aspects of their lives, such as employment or family. These factors may reduce the amount of time available for study, resulting in failure.

2. Plagiarism: Students Copying Other Research Projects as their Own

Another possible cause of failure is plagiarism. If your institution establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that you’ve copied another person’s work and use it as your own, you stand a 100% chance to fail the dissertation project.

From what we understand, plagiarism is usually the first thing that many institutions look at when students submit their dissertation projects.

3. Lack of Assistance from Project Supervisor

It’s possible for a student fail a dissertation if they don’t get enough help from your supervisor. Because the majority of instructors are overworked, finding time for their students becomes a nightmare. As a result, the student doesn’t get the help they need to stay on the right track, particularly for a technical course.

How Bad Does a Dissertation Project has to be to Fail?

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll fail a dissertation project. A dissertation isn’t some assignment that you have to submit in two hours or within two weeks . You have more than 6 months to complete the project, which is enough to research, outline, write, proofread, and submit the assignment.

You’ll make mistakes as you work on the assignment, but the errors should be easy to fix provided you’re on schedule. Moreover, you will have your work evaluated on a chapter-by-chapter basis. So, by the time you get to the conclusion, your supervisor will have mentioned the errors you need to fix to make your dissertation stand out. 

While the chances of failing the dissertation are extremely low, some students still fail because their dissertations are extremely bad. A dissertation is bad if:

• There are parts of the final document missing. For example, you risk failing if the work doesn’t have an abstract or study techniques.
• The document doesn’t have a formally accepted and approved layout. Failure to adhere to the proper format may result in your work getting failing marks. For example, the conclusion cannot come before results and findings.
• You omit technical words or adequate research procedures.

These examples demonstrate a lack of understanding, which is the dissertation’s central theme.

What to Do if You Fail a Dissertation

Is it possible to redo the dissertation project the same way you would other types of assignments in college or university?

Well, you have the option to redo your dissertation if you don’t get a 40, but keep in mind that your institution will reduce the pass mark to a minimum. You won’t get anything close to a grade B, but at least you will get passing marks.

Keep in mind that you only have one last chance to redo the dissertation project. If you fail a second time, your institution will declare that you’ve failed completely. So if you failed your dissertation the first time, take the second attempt as an opportunity to give the project the most attention possible because you cannot afford to fail twice. 

How Not to Fail a Dissertation

Here’s how not to fail a dissertation project:

• Review your work before to submission. This will make it easy for you to identify mistakes, strange formatting, or an incorrect structure. Verify that each section is where it should be and that no component is missing.
• Run the work through a plagiarism checker. Additionally, examine your references and sources to avoid plagiarism fines.
• Consult your supervisor: When you’re through writing a section, double-check that what you’ve written is consistent with the paper’s overall objective. If you encounter any difficulties, address them immediately before they grow too large for you to handle.

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

Defending Your Dissertation: A Guide

Written by Luke Wink-Moran | Photo by insta_photos

Dissertation defenses are daunting, and no wonder; it’s not a “dissertation discussion,” or a “dissertation dialogue.” The name alone implies that the dissertation you’ve spent the last x number of years working on is subject to attack. And if you don’t feel trepidation for semantic reasons, you might be nervous because you don’t know what to expect. Our imaginations are great at making The Unknown scarier than reality. The good news is that you’ll find in this newsletter article experts who can shed light on what dissertations defenses are really like, and what you can do to prepare for them.

The first thing you should know is that your defense has already begun. It started the minute you began working on your dissertation— maybe even in some of the classes you took beforehand that helped you formulate your ideas. This, according to Dr. Celeste Atkins, is why it’s so important to identify a good mentor early in graduate school.

“To me,” noted Dr. Atkins, who wrote her dissertation on how sociology faculty from traditionally marginalized backgrounds teach about privilege and inequality, “the most important part of the doctoral journey was finding an advisor who understood and supported what I wanted from my education and who was willing to challenge me and push me, while not delaying me.  I would encourage future PhDs to really take the time to get to know the faculty before choosing an advisor and to make sure that the members of their committee work well together.”

Your advisor will be the one who helps you refine arguments and strengthen your work so that by the time it reaches your dissertation committee, it’s ready. Next comes the writing process, which many students have said was the hardest part of their PhD. I’ve included this section on the writing process because this is where you’ll create all the material you’ll present during your defense, so it’s important to navigate it successfully. The writing process is intellectually grueling, it eats time and energy, and it’s where many students find themselves paddling frantically to avoid languishing in the “All-But-Dissertation” doldrums. The writing process is also likely to encroach on other parts of your life. For instance, Dr. Cynthia Trejo wrote her dissertation on college preparation for Latin American students while caring for a twelve-year-old, two adult children, and her aging parents—in the middle of a pandemic. When I asked Dr. Trejo how she did this, she replied:

“I don’t take the privilege of education for granted. My son knew I got up at 4:00 a.m. every morning, even on weekends, even on holidays; and it’s a blessing that he’s seen that work ethic and that dedication and the end result.”

Importantly, Dr. Trejo also exercised regularly and joined several online writing groups at UArizona. She mobilized her support network— her partner, parents, and even friends from high school to help care for her son.

The challenges you face during the writing process can vary by discipline. Jessika Iwanski is an MD/PhD student who in 2022 defended her dissertation on genetic mutations in sarcomeric proteins that lead to severe, neonatal dilated cardiomyopathy. She described her writing experience as “an intricate process of balancing many things at once with a deadline (defense day) that seems to be creeping up faster and faster— finishing up experiments, drafting the dissertation, preparing your presentation, filling out all the necessary documents for your defense and also, for MD/PhD students, beginning to reintegrate into the clinical world (reviewing your clinical knowledge and skill sets)!”

But no matter what your unique challenges are, writing a dissertation can take a toll on your mental health. Almost every student I spoke with said they saw a therapist and found their sessions enormously helpful. They also looked to the people in their lives for support. Dr. Betsy Labiner, who wrote her dissertation on Interiority, Truth, and Violence in Early Modern Drama, recommended, “Keep your loved ones close! This is so hard – the dissertation lends itself to isolation, especially in the final stages. Plus, a huge number of your family and friends simply won’t understand what you’re going through. But they love you and want to help and are great for getting you out of your head and into a space where you can enjoy life even when you feel like your dissertation is a flaming heap of trash.”

While you might sometimes feel like your dissertation is a flaming heap of trash, remember: a) no it’s not, you brilliant scholar, and b) the best dissertations aren’t necessarily perfect dissertations. According to Dr. Trejo, “The best dissertation is a done dissertation.” So don’t get hung up on perfecting every detail of your work. Think of your dissertation as a long-form assignment that you need to finish in order to move onto the next stage of your career. Many students continue revising after graduation and submit their work for publication or other professional objectives.

When you do finish writing your dissertation, it’s time to schedule your defense and invite friends and family to the part of the exam that’s open to the public. When that moment comes, how do you prepare to present your work and field questions about it?

“I reread my dissertation in full in one sitting,” said Dr. Labiner. “During all my time writing it, I’d never read more than one complete chapter at a time! It was a huge confidence boost to read my work in full and realize that I had produced a compelling, engaging, original argument.”

There are many other ways to prepare: create presentation slides and practice presenting them to friends or alone; think of questions you might be asked and answer them; think about what you want to wear or where you might want to sit (if you’re presenting on Zoom) that might give you a confidence boost. Iwanksi practiced presenting with her mentor and reviewed current papers to anticipate what questions her committee might ask.  If you want to really get in the zone, you can emulate Dr. Labiner and do a full dress rehearsal on Zoom the day before your defense.

But no matter what you do, you’ll still be nervous:

“I had a sense of the logistics, the timing, and so on, but I didn’t really have clear expectations outside of the structure. It was a sort of nebulous three hours in which I expected to be nauseatingly terrified,” recalled Dr. Labiner.

“I expected it to be terrifying, with lots of difficult questions and constructive criticism/comments given,” agreed Iwanski.

“I expected it to be very scary,” said Dr. Trejo.

“I expected it to be like I was on trial, and I’d have to defend myself and prove I deserved a PhD,” said Dr Atkins.

And, eventually, inexorably, it will be time to present.  

“It was actually very enjoyable” said Iwanski. “It was more of a celebration of years of work put into this project—not only by me but by my mentor, colleagues, lab members and collaborators! I felt very supported by all my committee members and, rather than it being a rapid fire of questions, it was more of a scientific discussion amongst colleagues who are passionate about heart disease and muscle biology.”

“I was anxious right when I logged on to the Zoom call for it,” said Dr. Labiner, “but I was blown away by the number of family and friends that showed up to support me. I had invited a lot of people who I didn’t at all think would come, but every single person I invited was there! Having about 40 guests – many of them joining from different states and several from different countries! – made me feel so loved and celebrated that my nerves were steadied very quickly. It also helped me go into ‘teaching mode’ about my work, so it felt like getting to lead a seminar on my most favorite literature.”

“In reality, my dissertation defense was similar to presenting at an academic conference,” said Dr. Atkins. “I went over my research in a practiced and organized way, and I fielded questions from the audience.

“It was a celebration and an important benchmark for me,” said Dr. Trejo. “It was a pretty happy day. Like the punctuation at the end of your sentence: this sentence is done; this journey is done. You can start the next sentence.”

If you want to learn more about dissertations in your own discipline, don’t hesitate to reach out to graduates from your program and ask them about their experiences. If you’d like to avail yourself of some of the resources that helped students in this article while they wrote and defended their dissertations, check out these links:

The Graduate Writing Lab

https://thinktank.arizona.edu/writing-center/graduate-writing-lab

The Writing Skills Improvement Program

https://wsip.arizona.edu

Campus Health Counseling and Psych Services

https://caps.arizona.edu

https://www.scribbr.com/

• Career Advice

How to Finish Your Dissertation

By  Kerry Ann Rockquemore

You have / 5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in.

iStock/Alexei Nabarro

Dear Kerry Ann,

I was hoping to finish my dissertation last year and graduate in May. But it’s August, I’m heading back for another year on campus and I’m nowhere near finishing the dissertation. The sad part is that it’s not the research that is holding up my progress (it is mostly complete) and it’s not my committee (they are supportive and want me to finish). The problem is that I’m not writing. I’m starting to think that I may never finish and will end up another A.B.D. who fades out of the program.

But I do want to finish my dissertation! And yet I’m not making any progress. I need help beyond your usual suggestion to start a daily writing habit (I tried that and it didn’t work).

Need Help Finishing

Dear Need Help,

I am so glad to hear that you are resolved to complete your dissertation, recognize that what you’re doing isn’t working and are open to new experiments for the upcoming academic year.

There’s an important reason that nearly half of graduate students who start doctoral programs don’t finish -- they never complete their dissertations. That means you’re not the only person who has struggled while A.B.D. Over the past year, I’ve worked with more than 400 dissertation writers , and I’ve seen over and over again that isolation, perfectionism and procrastination are the three biggest threats to completion.

So that leaves us with a very simple issue. If you have only one way to finish your dissertation (write it) and you know the three challenges you need to overcome to do the writing (isolation, perfectionism and procrastination), then the key question is: How can you create an environment and support systems this year that will enable you to write on a regular basis? In other words, how can you design your work time to ensure that you have everything you need to complete your dissertation this year? Only you can answer these questions, but I would like to share a few insights and gentle suggestions.

Get Real About Daily Writing

I know I sound like a broken record on this point, so I’ll be brief. You cannot binge write a dissertation over a weekend, over a weeklong writing retreat or even if you hide in a cave for a month. High-quality work takes time to produce. We know that the most productive academic writers don’t write in large uninterrupted blocks of time; they write every day (Monday through Friday) in small increments.

I also realize that it seems like everyone these days is telling dissertation writers to “ write your dissertation in 15 minutes a day ” or that “you should try 25-minute pomodoros .” And as you’ve noted, I regularly advise people to write for at least 30 minutes per day. In response, graduate students tell me “that’s pie in the sky,” “it’s impossible to write a dissertation in 15 minutes a day“ or (my personal favorite) “ Bolker really meant 15 hours a day -- the publisher made a mistake and never fixed it, sending an entire generation of graduate students into a tailspin of self-loathing and misery.”

So let me make two important distinctions. First and foremost, when I encourage you to write at least 30 minutes per day, the most important part of that phrase is “at least.” It doesn’t mean that you’re going to complete your dissertation in one semester by writing for only 30 minutes per day. It’s advice given to people like you, who are not writing at all. In fact, it literally means start with 30 minutes a day, boo. When you’ve got that locked down, work your way up to longer periods of writing.

The second distinction that’s important is about the expectation versus the reality of what constitutes writing. Many graduate students I’ve worked with imagine that writing means producing perfect prose on the first draft. I have observed students spend 30 minutes writing, revising, deleting and rewriting a single sentence. If that’s how you are spending your daily writing time, I understand why you might conclude that it doesn’t work.

Instead, consider that drafting and revising are two separate stages of the writing process. Those initial drafts are where you work out your existing ideas and generate new ones. For that reason, much of what you write is for you, for your own thought process, and may never be shared with your committee or make it to the final draft. This is why we often say “ writing is thinking !”

Win the Battle of the Moment

If you’re like the majority of dissertation writers I’ve worked with, your initial attempts at daily writing fail. Why? Because you experience a repeating and self-defeating pattern that looks like this: you set aside time in your calendar for dissertation writing and you fully intend to write during that scheduled time. Then when the time comes, you experience a subtle but powerful urge to do anything but write. It’s such a strong and seemingly harmless impulse (“Let me just answer one quick email!”) that you follow the urge where it leads you, whether it be email, Facebook, teaching prep, more reading or a snack. Pretty soon your writing time is over and you haven’t written a single word. You promise yourself that you’ll do better tomorrow, but the next day comes and goes with the same result. After a week, you decide the whole daily writing thing doesn’t really work for someone like you.

I call this daily struggle “the battle of the moment.” It’s the moment that it’s time to start writing -- the hardest moment to move through -- and if you can just get going you’ll be fine. It’s truly a battle between your future self and your resistance . One of you will win and one of you will lose. In other words, either your future will win and you’ll start writing your dissertation or your resistance will win and you’ll end up arguing with somebody on Facebook about the presidential election.

The best way to win the battle of the moment is to first understand that it’s normal for your resistance to show up every day when it’s time to write. I encourage you to become aware of it and accept it for what it is . Then set a timer for a small block of writing. ( Even 10 minutes will get you through the moment.) The goal is to win the moment each day. Once you can stack up enough daily wins, you’ll see that you’re making progress on your dissertation.

And it’s important to know that your resistance is strongest when you’re alone because it festers in isolation. But that also means that your resistance is weakest in the presence of other active daily writers. For that reason, I strongly encourage you to consider what type of writing support you can create for yourself this year. Be creative! Dissertation writers use many different types of support structures to overcome resistance: write on-sites , writing buddies, accountability groups, dissertation boot camp , Facebook groups, writing retreats and 14-day writing challenges , to name just a few.

Learn to Analyze Why You’re Not Writing and Design Work-Arounds

If you’ve tried daily writing in the past but were unable to maintain it, then ask yourself why ? What exactly kept you from the single most important activity that will allow you to complete the dissertation, finish your degree and move on with your professional life? What happened (be as specific as possible) when you sat down to write?

For most dissertation writers, the inability to develop and maintain a daily writing practice is due to one of three things: 1) technical errors, 2) psychological obstacles or 3) external realities. While I’ve written about those in detail elsewhere , let me provide a quick dissertation-specific overview so that you can diagnose why you’re not writing and then design a quick and effective work-around.

Technical Errors: Dissertation writers often struggle to establish a daily writing practice due to several technical errors. That simply means that you’re missing a skill or technique. As soon as you identify the error, the work-around is clear. Here are the most common technical errors I’ve observed in working with dissertation writers and a corresponding work-around:

• You haven’t set aside a specific time to write. (A work-around is to designate time in your calendar for dissertation writing.)
• You have been setting aside the wrong time for writing. (A work-around is experimenting with writing first thing in the morning.)
• You struggle to get started writing each day. (A work-around is to develop a writing ritual.)
• You have no idea how much time tasks take and keep grossly underestimating how long it takes to do them. (A work-around is to use a timer to collect data on how long it takes you to complete various writing tasks.)
• You don’t have any way to measure progress because you just have “write dissertation” as your daily writing goal. (A work-around is to set SMART goals .)
• You feel overwhelmed because you can’t figure out what you have to do. (A work-around is to make a dissertation plan that lays out the steps for completing each chapter.)
• You keep writing and revising the same sentence. (A work-around is to try Write or Die to permanently separate the drafting stage from the revising stage.)

Psychological Obstacles: Technical errors can be fixed with changes in your writing habits, but psychological obstacles often underlie dissertation writers’ inability to write daily. The most common I’ve observed are impostor syndrome , perfectionism , disempowerment , inner critics on steroids , fear of failure and/or success and a lack of clarity about your future goals. Regrettably, a quick tip, trick or hack will not eliminate psychological obstacles, but we can loosen their grip by increasing our awareness of their existence, reframing them and experimenting with behavioral changes.

External Realities: Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not recognize that sometimes the inability to maintain a daily writing practice results from an external reality that is beyond your control. The truth is that life events occur that directly impact the amount of energy we have to write. For example, you have a baby, someone dies, you or someone you love becomes ill and you have unexpected recovery/caregiving, you get divorced, etc. These situations can’t be “fixed,” so they require patience, compassion toward yourself, adjusted expectations and the willingness to explicitly ask for the kind of support you need.

Change Your Peer Group

In my experience, people who don’t finish their dissertations have one of two problems with the people they surround themselves with: 1) they don’t have anyone who is actively writing a dissertation in their daily life (i.e., they remove themselves entirely from contact with other dissertation writers) or 2) they surround themselves with dissertation writers who are not writing and spend their time complaining about their advisers, their campus, the oppressive nature of graduate education and/or the abysmal state of the job market.

To state the painfully obvious, neither self-isolating nor surrounding yourself with negative peers will help you develop a consistent daily writing habit. What you need most is a positive community that supports you through the ups and downs of writing a dissertation and celebrates your successes every step of the way. Every small win builds momentum, and seeing other people succeed makes it seem possible for you, too. It’s sharing the daily grind while making personal progress that reduces the isolation, perfectionism and procrastination that got you to this point.

I hope it’s clear from these suggestions that finishing your dissertation is a realistic possibility. It won’t happen if you keep on doing the things that have kept you unproductive. But if you’re willing to get serious about writing, get into a relationship with your resistance and join a positive community of writers, you will quickly start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Peace and productivity,

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Ph.D.

President, National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

P.S. I love your questions, so keep posting them on my Facebook page or email me at [email protected] .

How Title VI Is Tripping Up Colleges

The Office for Civil Rights has resolved six investigations into how colleges responded to reports of antisemitism.

Share This Article

More from career advice.

How to Mitigate Bias and Hire the Best People

Patrick Arens shares an approach to reviewing candidates that helps you select those most suited to do the job rather

The Warning Signs of Academic Layoffs

Ryan Anderson advises on how to tell if your institution is gearing up for them and how you can prepare and protect y

Legislation Isn’t All That Negatively Impacts DEI Practitioners

Many experience incivility, bullying, belittling and a disregard for their views and feelings on their own campuses,

• Become a Member
• Sign up for Newsletters
• Learning & Assessment
• Diversity & Equity
• Career Development
• Labor & Unionization
• Shared Governance
• Academic Freedom
• Books & Publishing
• Financial Aid
• Residential Life
• Free Speech
• Physical & Mental Health
• Race & Ethnicity
• Sex & Gender
• Socioeconomics
• Traditional-Age
• Adult & Post-Traditional
• Teaching & Learning
• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Publishing
• Data Analytics
• Administrative Tech
• Alternative Credentials
• Financial Health
• Cost-Cutting
• Revenue Strategies
• Academic Programs
• Physical Campuses
• Mergers & Collaboration
• Fundraising
• Research Universities
• Regional Public Universities
• Community Colleges
• Private Nonprofit Colleges
• Minority-Serving Institutions
• Religious Colleges
• Women's Colleges
• Specialized Colleges
• For-Profit Colleges
• Executive Leadership
• Trustees & Regents
• State Oversight
• Accreditation
• Politics & Elections
• Supreme Court
• Student Aid Policy
• Science & Research Policy
• State Policy
• Colleges & Localities
• Employee Satisfaction
• Remote & Flexible Work
• Staff Issues
• Study Abroad
• International Students in U.S.
• U.S. Colleges in the World
• Intellectual Affairs
• Seeking a Faculty Job
• Advancing in the Faculty
• Seeking an Administrative Job
• Advancing as an Administrator
• Beyond Transfer
• Call to Action
• Confessions of a Community College Dean
• Higher Ed Gamma
• Higher Ed Policy
• Just Explain It to Me!
• Just Visiting
• Law, Policy—and IT?
• Leadership & StratEDgy
• Leadership in Higher Education
• Learning Innovation
• Online: Trending Now
• Resident Scholar
• University of Venus
• Student Voice
• Academic Life
• Health & Wellness
• The College Experience
• Life After College
• Academic Minute
• Weekly Wisdom
• Reports & Data
• Quick Takes
• Advertising & Marketing
• Consulting Services
• Data & Insights
• Hiring & Jobs
• Event Partnerships

4 /5 Articles remaining this month.

Sign up for a free account or log in.

• Sign Up, It’s FREE

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• CAREER FEATURE
• 21 August 2023

Failed PhD: how scientists have bounced back from doctoral setbacks

• Carrie Arnold 0

Carrie Arnold is a science writer based near Richmond, Virginia.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Distraught and panicking, Jess McLaughlin logged into their Twitter account last October and wrote a desperate, late-night tweet .

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

185,98 € per year

only 3,65 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 620 , 911-912 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02603-8

Related Articles

• Scientific community

How a struggling biotech company became a university ‘spin-in’

Career Q&A 10 SEP 24

The human costs of the research-assessment culture

Career Feature 09 SEP 24

Massive Attack’s science-led drive to lower music’s carbon footprint

Career Feature 04 SEP 24

Guide, don’t hide: reprogramming learning in the wake of AI

Career Guide 04 SEP 24

What I learnt from running a coding bootcamp

Career Column 21 AUG 24

The Taliban said women could study — three years on they still can’t

News 14 AUG 24

How can I publish open access when I can’t afford the fees?

Career Feature 02 SEP 24

Tales of a migratory marine biologist

Career Feature 28 AUG 24

Nail your tech-industry interviews with these six techniques

Career Column 28 AUG 24

Chief Operating Officer

Salary: £425,000 per annumContract: PermanentClosing date: Sunday 22nd September Founded in 1936, Wellcome is a politically and financially independen

England, London

WellcomeTrust

Executive Director, Discovery

Salary: £400,000 per annumContract: PermanentClosing date: Sunday 22nd September Founded in 1936, Wellcome is a politically and financially independe

London, England

Executive Director, Solutions

Salary: £400,000 per annumContract: PermanentClosing date: Sunday 22nd September Founded in 1936, Wellcome is a politically and financially independen

Al Medical Engineering at School of Biomedical Engineering

Tsinghua BME offers faculty positions in the emerging research direction of AI Medical Engineering

Beijing, China

Tsinghua University

Assistant Professor in Forest Genetics

Assistant Professor position in Forest Genetics with focus on genetic biodiversity in relation to forestry at Umeå Plant Science Centre

Umeå (Kommun), Västerbotten (SE)

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Elisa Granato

Microbial ecology & evolution, phd tips – dealing with “failed” experiments.

“PhD tips” is an ongoing series of blog posts written by postdocs and aimed at graduate students at the University of Oxford (Department of Biology). I wrote this in April 2021.

[Update Dec 2022: this article is now published in The Microbiologist ]

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. This week, I want to talk about dealing with “failed” experiments.* I put “failed” in quotes because, as I will argue below, only a very small fraction of experiments perceived as failed have actually failed in the sense that they were completely pointless.

The first thing to realize is that the core of experimental science is an iterative process: you do a thing, it does something (or not), you think about it, you do it a little different next time. Crucially, this process works the same way whether the results made you happy or not (for whatever reason). You think about what happened, you change stuff, you do it again the same way, you do it again with a twist, or you do something else entirely. A very normal experience as a scientist is to – on average – be a little disappointed in the outcome of your experiment. See below for a list of outcomes that tend to make people unhappy. Again: this is normal and part of the process. The most “successful” projects are built on a foundation of “failed” or semi-failed attempts at doing something.**

The second thing to realize is that learning is at the core of this iterative process: a thing has to happen for us to better understand what we’re dealing with. This means that the essential goal of each experiment is to learn something, anything! And this “lesson” doesn’t usually come in the shape of a perfect plot that’s publication-ready on the first try. Instead, the next learning item usually comes from a mangled mess of an experiment or dataset.

What exactly you are learning from each attempt depends of course on the details of your project, but below I am giving a few real-life examples of typical experimental outcomes that tend to make people unhappy, and some suggestions on what one could learn from them.

• Not failed at all, this is a valuable negative result.
• Outcome: solid scientific insight.
• Not failed at all, this is valuable data we can learn from.
• Potential next step: figure out if noise is biological variance or technical measurement error, or both.
• Outcome: a better understanding of your system, solid scientific insight
• Example: forgot to wash cells before treating them.
• Semi-failed, this is valuable data we can learn from. By comparing the washed cells with the unwashed cells we can learn how this step in the experiment influences the final results. Can be useful for future troubleshooting.
• Outcome: an experimental protocol where we understand better what each step does, or where we realize one step is less important than previously thought; honing of lab skills.
• Example: positive/negative control didn’t yield the expected result, even though it has always worked before and the experiment was (to the best of your knowledge) executed as usual.
• Semi-failed. An opportunity to evaluate the reliability of the protocol/equipment/material.
• Potential next steps: introduce checklists and more note-taking to ensure little details are adhered to; evaluate assumptions e.g. is the control genotype actually this genotype, is something contaminated, is the machine still working, etc.
• Outcome: a more reliable experimental protocol, honing of lab skills
• Example: algae grow over all your aquatic plants and kill them
• Semi-failed. An opportunity to evaluate “housing” conditions for your organism.
• Potential next steps: pilot experiment to optimize housing conditions before doing “actual” experiments; investigate whether the contaminant did something interesting
• Outcome: a more reliable experimental protocol; chance of a random cool discovery with the contaminant
• Example: dropped tube with the sample on the floor. Cannot be recovered.
• Close to “actually failed”, but still an opportunity to introduce better safety measures / risk assessment.
• Potential next steps: introduce safety procedures to ensure better sample preservation, labelling etc.
• Outcome: a more reliable experimental protocol

The third thing to realize is that feelings of frustration, anger, sadness, fear, are all very common in the wake of a “failed” experiment, especially if it took a long time. And trying to think about the next steps while still frustrated can turn into a vicious cycle where you make mistakes because frustrated brains are bad at solving problems. So, instead, allow yourself to feel these feelings, get a good night’s sleep, and then start troubleshooting the next day with a fresh and relaxed mind.

So, to summarize: doing your PhD, and science in general, is about learning. Every experiment, no matter the outcome, can teach you something. Some of the lessons are perhaps a bit more appealing and easier to swallow than others, but they are all useful and necessary. So next time an experiment “fails”, try taking a nice little break if you can, and then list all the things you still learned about your experimental setup, or organism of interest.

Finally, I would like to share a little mental trick I developed over the years that has helped me with dealing and accepting experimental setbacks. I like to imagine that any given project will take me X hours to complete, including setbacks, trials by fire, random distractions, dead-ends etc. In science, X is usually unknown. But importantly, there is always an X. Every time I conduct an experiment that “fails”, and let’s say it took me 6 hours, I have now reduced X by 6 hours. Not bad! I am one step closer to finishing the project. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek of course, but it still helps me see my work for what it is: I gave these 6 hours my best and the outcome doesn’t change that.

*If you work on theory you can probably replace “failed experiments” here with “theoretical approaches that didn’t work out” or something along those lines and maybe some of this might still be helpful.

**This is the science version of “The master has failed more times than the student has even tried”.

Put a stop to deadline pressure, and have your homework done by an expert.

So, How Bad Does a Dissertation Have to Be to Fail?

How hard is it to write a dissertation? Well, it is pretty difficult to write one because the research takes a long time and you also need to have strong critical and analytical skills to do a good job. Your questions should really be “how bad does a dissertation have to be to fail?”

While a failed masters thesis is not a very big deal, a failed PhD is. You can lose years of research and hard work because your university may not allow you to enroll a second time. However, you will be thrilled to learn that a dissertation should be pretty bad to fail. Read the rest of the article to find out just how bad (as well as what you can do to improve your score)!

Mandatory Parts of a Dissertation

Still in college, many students are starting to research ways to get their PhD. They are looking at the PhD failure rate and at what a dissertation means. Inevitably, you will ask yourself this question: what are the mandatory elements of a good dissertation? Fortunately, most dissertations are structured the same. Here is what you will need to include in your paper:

The dissertation Abstract. This is basically a very short summary of your entire dissertation. A scholar will read it to find out if your paper can help him with his work (or if your paper is going to be of interest). The dissertation Introduction. The introduction is around two pages long and its main goal is to give your reader an idea of what you will be discussing in your paper. You can also briefly describe the methods you will be using and even present a bit of information about your findings and conclusions. The Dissertation Methods and Discussion. This part is different from dissertation to dissertation. You will need to provide extensive information about the methods you have used to gather the data and the results of your research. Also, you will need to carefully discuss each result and critically analyze it. You can use an empirical or non-empirical route in this section. The Dissertation Conclusions. The conclusion should be viewed as the deduction part of your paper. Think long and hard about what you can deduce from your findings. Make assumptions and suppositions. This section is very important because it shows the committee that you have understood the subject and managed to answer the research questions. The Dissertation References. The references section is the part where you include all the materials you have used to write the paper. Any journals, articles, interviews, etc. should be included here if you’ve used them. Also, every time you cite anything in your text, you should create a reference entry.

Remember to check the requirements of your university to make sure you know what the committee expects to receive. Your university can tell you more about the number of words, which fonts to use, and even if you need to include the acknowledgements before or after the abstract.

Length and Quality of Content

What happens if you fail college? Well, you don’t get a bachelor’s degree. Also, you forfeit any chance of getting a Master’s degree and then a Doctoral degree. However, if you are thinking about a failed PhD, things are a lot easier. You won’t get the Doctoral degree, but you could get a Master’s degree automatically – depending on university rules. So, how can you avoid a dissertation defense failure? Well, one of the very first things you should do is pay attention to the length of your paper and quality of the content. Here are a few hints to get you started:

The length of a dissertation can vary from 100 to 300 pages in length. Margins are usually 1 inch on all sides Font size is usually 10-12 points Double spacing is used in the body of text The content needs to be structured in a logical manner and all the sections we’ve talked about above must be included. The content needs to be 100% free of plagiarism and spelling/grammar errors. The content needs to contain original research and a critical analysis of the findings. Referencing a dissertation is not that difficult, regardless of the academic format (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) Make sure you read the style guide and understand the proper way to cite and reference other people’s work.

What Can Go Wrong?

We’ve seen more than one failed masters degree. A dissertation failure is not that different. There are many things that can go wrong when it comes to such a complex academic paper. And remember, the paper is no everything. Here are some of the reasons why you can fail your dissertation:

• You focus on your grades in grad school. Remember that nobody cares about your grades in grad school. Instead of working on your dissertation every chance you get, you are more worried about low grades.
• You procrastinate. If you are like most grad students, you like to procrastinate. You think you have more than enough time to research and write the dissertation. Well, the sad truth is that you probably don’t.
• You ignore the committee and its recommendations. In most cases, you will be asked to change some things during the oral presentation of your dissertation. Failure to implement these changes is a sure way to fail the PhD.
• You don’t write at least 4 papers that can be published in reputable scholarly journals. This is also a sure way to fail your dissertation. Remember, the committee expects to see these pieces. And they will really read them. This means that you should not, under any circumstance, rush them just to get them done.
• Not having a clear structure in mind is very risky. Also, not thinking critically is definitely going to hurt your score. Simply analyzing other works is not enough to get a passing score. You need to be able to think critically and come up with original ideas that are supported by well-researched data. A dissertation must present original data that you have uncovered yourself.
• Not editing and proofreading your work can result in a failure. Poorly written content makes reading the dissertation difficult and can irritate the committee or at least the chair of the committee. This is enough to get you a low score.
• Waiting for your supervisor to tell you what to do is not an option. You are expected to take charge of your paper and do the necessary research yourself. You should not expect the supervisor to tell you what to do.
• Your thesis may be deemed not good enough. Keep in mind that your thesis needs to be original and present conclusive findings. If the evaluators think your paper is flawed beyond repair, you will fail.
• The PhD defense fail. After you submit your thesis to the committee, you will need to defend it. The faculty members will ask you various questions to make sure you have understood the field and that it really is you who wrote the paper. If you are unable to answer the questions, you will fail. You can also be accused of plagiarism, which is not something you want.

There are many other things that can happen, including things that are outside your control (like poor health or family problems). However, keep in mind that the PhD completion rate is around 80% in the United Kingdom and around 56% in the United States. This means that you have a very good chance of getting a doctorate degree if you focus on your paper and you do whatever you can to perfect it.

The Process of Grading a Dissertation

What is the process of grading a dissertation? Do professors check sources? The process of grading a dissertation is not overly complex and yes, most professors really do check your sources. It is very important to use authoritative sources and information taken from reputable authors and scholars. Don’t include references just for the sake of having references because they will be checked and you risk failing your PhD. As for the grading process, every school has a different system. However, in most cases, you need to achieve the following to get a top score:

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the topic and show originality with the research question and aims.
• Demonstrate plenty of fieldwork (this can be independent research as well). This means you need to prove that you have analyzed primary published data in-depth (or carry out comprehensive computer-aided research or archival research).
• Demonstrate that you have used strong critical commentary in interpretative techniques in your methodology and even the design of the research.
• Your paper has a coherent structure and is very well organized (or even innovatively organized).
• You show great critical synthesis skills and know how to put your work in context with the wider theoretical framework.
• Your paper looks professional. This means having a greatly-written bibliography and excellent references.
• You have a fluent style and there are very few or no spelling or grammar errors. We would advise you to hire a proofreader to proofread your work.

Basically, you will almost certainly get a top score if your dissertation can be published as a journal paper with only minor changes.

How Can You Avoid a Failed PhD?

I think my dissertation is bad, what can I do to make things right? This is one of the most common questions we get. And it’s not easy to give an answer. There are many things that you can do to avoid a failed PhD. Here are some of the most important things you need to do to avoid a fail:

• Make effective use of your critical reflection skills. Most dissertations fail because of a lack of critical analysis. Being generally descriptive or criticizing other scholars’ work will not do the trick. You need to analyze the subject and come up with original solutions or use your research to bring something new to light.
• Make sure your paper is coherent. Poorly organizing the dissertation will most likely cause it to fail. Keep in mind that the paper must be coherent in its entirety and not just a bunch of paragraphs thrown together.
• Make the presentation as good as you can. A poor presentation will have disastrous consequences because it will give the committee the reason to fail you for poorly written content and even a lack of a logical structure. Proofread your work or hire a professional proofreader to do it for you. Make sure it is perfect!
• Make the changes that have been requested by the committee during the oral examination. You probably won’t fail at the oral examination, but you will surely fail if you don’t make the changes that have been requested. And no, the changes should not be superficial either.
• Make sure you have at least 4 or 5 pieces of publishable work. Usually, the committee does not expect you to have these published. However, you need to make sure that these pieces can get published in a good scholarly journal.
• Don’t aim too high. Your research will probably not revolutionize the field and won’t probably lead to the discovery of a cure for cancer. The aim of your dissertation is to show the committee that you are able to do high level research, not to show your best work in your career.

Remember that all the dissertation stress can take a toll on you. You will hit a writer’s block sooner or later, with devastating consequences. To make sure you have the best chance to pass the dissertation and get a top score, you should consider getting some help from a person who already has a PhD and who knows how to write one the right way.

Get Writing Assistance From Our Dissertation Experts

Getting a doctorate degree is very difficult, as you can see. It is a lot more difficult than getting your masters degree. This is why we suggest you to get some writing assistance from our awesome thesis writers. Our experts have been writing dissertations for years. Also, they’ve helped students with any kind of dissertation proposal or defense you can imagine. Bottom line, we have extensive experience writing dissertations that any professor or any supervisor can appreciate.

If you are a graduate or undergraduate student, getting assistance from us is very simple. Get in touch with us and send us a detailed list of requirements. Give our professionals as much information about your project as you can. Also, you could send us some materials if you thing they will help our expert do a better job. We will pair you with our most experienced writers (or you can choose the writers you like). Once you make payment for the paper, our experts start working.

Your dissertation will be ready before the deadline, guaranteed. And remember, it will be perfect. All the information will be sourced from authoritative sources and properly cited and referenced. We will handle the research part ourselves as well. Getting the best dissertation help has never been easier. Let our writers (all of them have at least one PhD degree) work their magic and help you get a top grade on your dissertation. So, can you do my dissertation right away? Sure, just get in touch with us today!

Get on top of your homework.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Dissertation & Thesis Examples 📖

Real-world examples and samples from leading universities

Need some inspiration for your study? You’ve come to the right place. Here we showcase a collection of dissertation and thesis   examples to help you get started. All of these are real-world studies from actual degrees (typically PhD and Master’s-level).

PS – If you’re looking for examples of specific dissertation chapters (e.g., literature review or methodology), you can also check out our collection of free templates .

Discipline-Specific Examples

• Business & management
• Political science

Stage-Specific Examples

• Proposal/pitch
• Literature review
• Methodology

Examples: Business & Management

Below you’ll find a sample of business and management-related dissertations and theses covering a range of topics.

Title: Interaction Among Supply Chains: Consumers, Firms and Policymakers Author: Yuanchen Li Year: 2020

This PhD thesis examines the dynamics of supply chain relationships across three levels: the interactions between firms and consumers, suppliers and buyers, and firms and governments. The research aims to provide insights into the complexities of supply chain dynamics and their implications for various stakeholders.

Title: Essays in Firm-Level Patenting Activities and Financial Outcomes Author: Michael J Woeppel Year: 2020

This doctoral dissertation explores financial dynamics in two key areas: investment valuation and the performance of small innovative firms. The first chapter introduces a new metric, PI q, which incorporates the replacement cost of patent capital into the traditional Tobin’s q calculation. The second chapter examines small innovative firms, finding that they achieve higher returns for up to five years compared to non-innovators.

Title: Analysis of Design Artifacts in Platform-Based Markets Author: Vandith Pamuru Subramanya Rama Year: 2020

This dissertation investigates design issues within digital platform-based markets through three essays. The first essay explores the economic impact of augmented-reality games like Pokémon Go on local businesses, specifically restaurants. The second essay delves into the sponsored search ad-market, examining the effects of market frictions on bidding behaviors in auctions. The third essay examines user-generated content platforms, focusing on how the loss of elite status affects user contributions.

Title: Gaming the IRS’s Third-Party Reporting System: Evidence From Pari-Mutuel Wagering Author: Victor Charles Ferguson Year: 2020

This dissertation investigates if taxpayers deliberately avoid IRS third-party reporting mechanisms, focusing on an IRS amendment in 2017 that changed how gambling winnings are reported. Specifically, it looks at the impact on thoroughbred racing wagers in the US, using Canadian tracks as a control.

Title: Essays on Product Innovation and Failures Author: Moonsik Shin Year: 2020

This dissertation delves into how strategic decisions made by firms can lead to innovation failures, a relatively underexplored area compared to studies on successful innovations. The research is structured into three essays. The first explores how inter-organisational relationships, specifically investments from venture capitalists, can influence innovation failures due to pressures such as time constraints imposed on portfolio companies. The second essay examines the role of acquisitions in innovation failures, suggesting that challenges like adverse selection and integration issues post-acquisition can significantly hinder a firm’s innovation outcomes. The third essay looks at how incremental product development can lead to failures if new products are too dependent on existing technologies, which may themselves be flawed.

Need a helping hand?

Examples: Psychology Dissertations

Title: Development and Validation of the Instrumental Support Inventory for Spouses Author: Ryan P. Egan Year: 2020

This research develops and validates the Instrumental Support Inventory for Spouses (ISI-s), a new tool to measure the practical support received from a romantic partner. The study involved two phases: initially, 372 married individuals helped refine the 39-item inventory across five categories through exploratory factor analysis, assessing reliability and validity. The second phase tested the inventory with 298 parents and their partners, using a longitudinal design, confirming its reliability and validity further.

Title: Dysfunctional Individuation, Spiritual Struggle and Identity in Emerging Adults: A Developmental Approach Author: Katheryn J. Klukow Kelley Year: 2020

This study investigates why emerging adults are participating less in organised religion, yet showing increased spirituality, attributing this shift to the process of religious identity development. The research involved a longitudinal survey of 788 students at a religious university, using structural equation models to analyse data collected at four points over an academic year.

Title: Depression Dynamics across a Decade: Density in Daily Depressive Affect and Yearly Depressive Symptoms Author: Raquael J. Joiner Year: 2020

This thesis investigates depression through a dynamic systems perspective, which views changes in depressive symptoms as part of an interconnected network of emotions and states, rather than isolated events. The research focuses on how the density of depressive affect—essentially the compactness and intensity of depressive symptoms—varies within individuals over a decade. By examining data at five different timepoints, the study aims to understand how these symptoms cluster daily and how this clustering influences transitions into or out of depressive states year by year.

Title: Maternal and Adolescent ADHD, Aggression, and Dysfunctional Discipline: Mediating Roles of Maternal Emotion Dysregulation and Stress Author: Natalie M. Ehret Year: 2020

This dissertation explores the challenges that parents face when both they and their children exhibit symptoms of ADHD, as well as oppositional defiant and aggressive behaviours. It investigates how these symptoms in mothers and adolescents may influence parenting discipline, focusing specifically on the roles of maternal emotion dysregulation and stress in shaping disciplinary practices. The study employs a process-oriented approach to better understand these complex dynamics.

Title: Linguistic Markers of Maternal Focus within Emotional Conversations: The Role of Depressive Symptoms and Maltreatment Author: Brigid Behrens Year: 2020

This study explores the relationship between maternal well-being and the language used during parent-child conversations about past emotional events. It specifically examines the use of first-person singular (“I”) and first-person plural (“we”) pronouns during a reminiscing task, to determine how maternal language might reflect cognitive biases. The research includes 229 mother-child dyads, both maltreating and non-maltreating, who are part of a larger clinical trial focused on Reminiscing and Emotion Training.

Examples: Education Theses

Title: Functions and Purposes of Outdoor Education in Singaporean Education and Society: An Instrumental Case Study Author: Susanna Ho Year: 2011

This research aims to explore the roles outdoor education can play in Singapore, by conducting a case study of one school’s programme. Employing interviews, participant observations, and document analysis with tools like NVivo software, the study uses a grounded theory framework to interpret findings. It also incorporates Gert Biesta’s educational functions to assess outdoor education within Singapore’s specific context.

Title: The Impact of Internationalisation of Higher Education on Nursing Education in an Australian University: A Case Study Author: Elizabeth Alexandra Lavender Year: 2014

This study examines the impact of the rapid internationalisation of higher education on the School of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University, Australia. It explores how global trends and policies, particularly the shift from ‘Aid to Trade’, have influenced educational practices within the school. The research uses a case study approach, incorporating document analysis and interviews with 15 university staff experienced in international education.

Title: Diabetes Education from the Podiatrist Perspective Author: Julia Yungken Year: 2020

This thesis investigates how diabetes education is delivered by podiatrists to patients, and the retention of this education over time. Through a series of four articles, the research first conducts a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine current educational practices. It then follows a study with three podiatrists and 24 patients over six months to observe educational retention. Additionally, a survey among Australian podiatrists assesses various educational methods and experiences. The study utilises diverse methodologies including observational studies, cognitive assessments, and surveys to understand and enhance the educational practices in diabetes care provided by podiatrists.

Title: Empowering Saudi Arabian Primary Teachers Through Participatory Action Research to Improve Their Professional Knowledge and Practices Regarding Gifted Learners Author: Faisal Yahya Alamiri Year: 2013

Title: Developing a National Assessment Model to Inform Educational Policy in Bhutan Author: Gembo Tshering Year: 2012

Examples: Healthcare-Related Dissertations

Title: Impact of the Increased Use of Telehealth on Health Care Management and Administration: The Case of New Care Management Practices Author: Immacula Pierre Year: 2024

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of healthcare managers on telehealth’s role and its influence on healthcare practices during the pandemic, focusing on aspects like provision and quality control. Through video-conferenced semi-structured interviews with 10 healthcare managers across various U.S. settings, the research aimed to understand the benefits, challenges, and the future role of telehealth.

Title: Healthcare Facilities Management Leadership Style Compared to Traditional Healthcare Business and Clinical Leaders Author: Joshua Ashlock Year: 2020

This dissertation explores leadership style differences between two groups within healthcare: traditional business and clinical leaders (represented by members of the American College of Healthcare Executives, ACHE) and healthcare facilities management leaders (represented by members of the American Society of Healthcare Engineers, ASHE). The research focuses on comparing transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant leadership traits between these groups.

Title: Leadership Support as an Influence on Frontline Healthcare Employee Retention in the Washington Metropolitan Area (DMV) Author: Tamika Fair Year: 2023

This qualitative case study addresses the significant issue of high turnover rates among frontline healthcare employees in the DMV area, examining how the lack of support from healthcare leadership contributes to this problem. Through semi-structured interviews with 11 primary healthcare administrators in the DMV region, the research investigates how leaders engage with frontline workers and assesses their preparedness to tackle high staff turnover.

Title: Electronic Patient Portals: Promotion of Access by Healthcare Workers Increases Patient Engagement Author: Dena Todd Year: 2022

This integrative literature review examines strategies for promoting electronic patient portal (EPP) access in healthcare settings, a requirement highlighted by the Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2010. The review underscores the importance of EPP systems in providing patients with access to their personal health information, including medications, lab results, diagnostics, and appointments. It discusses the potential risks for healthcare organisations that fail to offer such access, notably the loss of federal funding.

Title: Understanding Workplace Conditions Contributing to Physician Burnout Prevalence in Maryland State Author: Fatima Adefunke Queen Year: 2023

This dissertation utilises a qualitative multiple-case study to examine the workplace conditions that contribute to physician burnout in Maryland, particularly among primary care providers who show burnout rates of up to 50%. The study involved interviews with 21 physicians, including Medical Doctors (M.D.s), Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNPs), and Nurse Practitioners (NPs). Using Shanafelt’s well-being framework, the research aimed to understand the factors leading to burnout and its subsequent impact on physician attrition.

Examples: Political Science Theses

Title: The Influence of Peer Relationships on Political Socialisation Among College Students Author: Zachary Thomas Isaacs Year: 2021

This thesis investigates the role of peer relationships in the political socialisation of college students. This is an area not extensively covered by existing research, which primarily focuses on parental influence and often excludes the post-18 age group. A survey was conducted among college students aged 18 to 24, to explore how they communicate with their peers regarding politics and the effects of these interactions on their political socialisation.

Title: The Impact of Political Culture on Political Reactions: A Case Study of EU Sanctions on Russia Author: Kenzie Robin De Keyser Year: 2020

This dissertation examines the complex political impacts of European Union (EU) sanctions on Russia, taking into account the nuanced interplay between Russia’s political culture and the economic interdependencies between the EU and Russia. The research utilises the Cross-Cultural Competency (3Cs) Theorem to analyse key elements of Russian political culture—Russian Orthodox Christianity, geography, autocracy, and economic development— which are crucial in shaping the country’s political responses and governmental structure.

Title: Biased Representation: How Compulsory Voting and Campaign Finance Interact to Influence Government Responsiveness Author: Sarah Steinberg Year: 2016

This thesis investigates the interaction between compulsory voting and campaign finance, focusing on how they influence government responsiveness. It argues that the significant financial influence in political campaigns can lead to an elite bias, where government policies favour wealthier interests. The study uses statistical analysis and case studies from two countries to explore whether compulsory voting, which typically results in nearly universal voter turnout, can mitigate this bias.

Example: Dissertation Proposal

Example: literature review chapter, example: methodology chapter.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

Hi Grad Coach team, Thank you for your very awesome information. I am an Urban Planning student and I am doing my MSc Spatial Planning at the University of Dundee. My methodology is “Research by Design”. It means I will use design outcomes for a project for my dissertation in urban design.

I am writing to see if you can add a template in Architecture and Urban Planning field in your lists of dissertation.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Thanks for the info! I too was looking for a template related to the architecture and construction industry, just like Mohadese.

But apart from that, it’s all very helpful so thank you!

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation
• Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Published on June 7, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on November 21, 2023.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical early steps in your writing process . It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding the specifics of your dissertation topic and showcasing its relevance to your field.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

In the final product, you can also provide a chapter outline for your readers. This is a short paragraph at the end of your introduction to inform readers about the organizational structure of your thesis or dissertation. This chapter outline is also known as a reading guide or summary outline.

Table of contents

How to outline your thesis or dissertation, dissertation and thesis outline templates, chapter outline example, sample sentences for your chapter outline, sample verbs for variation in your chapter outline, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis and dissertation outlines.

While there are some inter-institutional differences, many outlines proceed in a fairly similar fashion.

• Working Title
• “Elevator pitch” of your work (often written last).
• Introduce your area of study, sharing details about your research question, problem statement , and hypotheses . Situate your research within an existing paradigm or conceptual or theoretical framework .
• Subdivide as you see fit into main topics and sub-topics.
• Describe your research methods (e.g., your scope , population , and data collection ).
• Present your research findings and share about your data analysis methods.
• Answer the research question in a concise way.
• Interpret your findings, discuss potential limitations of your own research and speculate about future implications or related opportunities.

For a more detailed overview of chapters and other elements, be sure to check out our article on the structure of a dissertation or download our template .

To help you get started, we’ve created a full thesis or dissertation template in Word or Google Docs format. It’s easy adapt it to your own requirements.

 Download Word template    Download Google Docs template

It can be easy to fall into a pattern of overusing the same words or sentence constructions, which can make your work monotonous and repetitive for your readers. Consider utilizing some of the alternative constructions presented below.

Example 1: Passive construction

The passive voice is a common choice for outlines and overviews because the context makes it clear who is carrying out the action (e.g., you are conducting the research ). However, overuse of the passive voice can make your text vague and imprecise.

Example 2: IS-AV construction

You can also present your information using the “IS-AV” (inanimate subject with an active verb ) construction.

A chapter is an inanimate object, so it is not capable of taking an action itself (e.g., presenting or discussing). However, the meaning of the sentence is still easily understandable, so the IS-AV construction can be a good way to add variety to your text.

Example 3: The “I” construction

Another option is to use the “I” construction, which is often recommended by style manuals (e.g., APA Style and Chicago style ). However, depending on your field of study, this construction is not always considered professional or academic. Ask your supervisor if you’re not sure.

Example 4: Mix-and-match

To truly make the most of these options, consider mixing and matching the passive voice , IS-AV construction , and “I” construction .This can help the flow of your argument and improve the readability of your text.

As you draft the chapter outline, you may also find yourself frequently repeating the same words, such as “discuss,” “present,” “prove,” or “show.” Consider branching out to add richness and nuance to your writing. Here are some examples of synonyms you can use.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

• Anchoring bias
• Halo effect
• The Baader–Meinhof phenomenon
• The placebo effect
• Nonresponse bias
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

The title page of your thesis or dissertation goes first, before all other content or lists that you may choose to include.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, November 21). Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/dissertation-thesis-outline/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Other students also liked, dissertation table of contents in word | instructions & examples, figure and table lists | word instructions, template & examples, thesis & dissertation acknowledgements | tips & examples, what is your plagiarism score.

• Study and research support
• Academic skills

Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

• Undergraduate examples
• Taught Masters examples

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, automatically generate references for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation

Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples

Published on 9 September 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 6 April 2023.

It can be difficult to know where to start when writing your thesis or dissertation . One way to come up with some ideas or maybe even combat writer’s block is to check out previous work done by other students.

This article collects a list of undergraduate, master’s, and PhD theses and dissertations that have won prizes for their high-quality research.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

Table of contents

Award-winning undergraduate theses, award-winning master’s theses, award-winning ph.d. dissertations.

University : University of Pennsylvania Faculty : History Author : Suchait Kahlon Award : 2021 Hilary Conroy Prize for Best Honors Thesis in World History Title : “Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807”

University : Columbia University Faculty : History Author : Julien Saint Reiman Award : 2018 Charles A. Beard Senior Thesis Prize Title : “A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947

University: University College London Faculty: Geography Author: Anna Knowles-Smith Award:  2017 Royal Geographical Society Undergraduate Dissertation Prize Title:  Refugees and theatre: an exploration of the basis of self-representation

University: University of Washington Faculty:  Computer Science & Engineering Author: Nick J. Martindell Award: 2014 Best Senior Thesis Award Title:  DCDN: Distributed content delivery for the modern web

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

Correct my document today

University:  University of Edinburgh Faculty:  Informatics Author:  Christopher Sipola Award:  2018 Social Responsibility & Sustainability Dissertation Prize Title:  Summarizing electricity usage with a neural network

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Education Author:  Matthew Brillinger Award:  2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Humanities Prize Title:  Educational Park Planning in Berkeley, California, 1965-1968

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty: Social Sciences Author:  Heather Martin Award:  2015 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  An Analysis of Sexual Assault Support Services for Women who have a Developmental Disability

University : University of Ottawa Faculty : Physics Author : Guillaume Thekkadath Award : 2017 Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences Prize Title : Joint measurements of complementary properties of quantum systems

University:  London School of Economics Faculty: International Development Author: Lajos Kossuth Award:  2016 Winner of the Prize for Best Overall Performance Title:  Shiny Happy People: A study of the effects income relative to a reference group exerts on life satisfaction

University : Stanford University Faculty : English Author : Nathan Wainstein Award : 2021 Alden Prize Title : “Unformed Art: Bad Writing in the Modernist Novel”

University : University of Massachusetts at Amherst Faculty : Molecular and Cellular Biology Author : Nils Pilotte Award : 2021 Byron Prize for Best Ph.D. Dissertation Title : “Improved Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Molecular Diagnostics for Soil-Transmitted Helminths”

University:  Utrecht University Faculty:  Linguistics Author:  Hans Rutger Bosker Award: 2014 AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize Title:  The processing and evaluation of fluency in native and non-native speech

University: California Institute of Technology Faculty: Physics Author: Michael P. Mendenhall Award: 2015 Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University:  Stanford University Faculty: Management Science and Engineering Author:  Shayan O. Gharan Award:  Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013 Title:   New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota Faculty: Chemical Engineering Author: Eric A. Vandre Award:  2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid Displacement

University: Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty: Marketing Author: Ezgi Akpinar Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014 Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social Transmission

University: University of Washington Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering Author: Keith N. Snavely Award:  2009 Doctoral Dissertation Award Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections

University:  University of Ottawa Faculty:  Social Work Author:  Susannah Taylor Award: 2018 Joseph De Koninck Prize Title:  Effacing and Obscuring Autonomy: the Effects of Structural Violence on the Transition to Adulthood of Street Involved Youth

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. (2023, April 06). Prize-Winning Thesis and Dissertation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 9 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/prize-winning-dissertations/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Other students also liked, how to choose a dissertation topic | 8 steps to follow, how to write a thesis or dissertation conclusion, dissertation & thesis outline | example & free templates.

Failed dissertation

Quick Reply

Related discussions.

• Dissertation issues - consequences of not submitting it?
• What does it mean if I don’t need to attend a viva?
• Desertation fail
• Masters dissertation: failed my resubmission
• Failed a module in 3rd year
• Project pass criteria
• An issue with my dissertation
• Dissertation
• forgotten to add raw data in appendix of dissertation
• What happens if you forgot to add an abstract for your dissertation?
• Failed dissertation, ordinary/ non- honours degree need help
• Dissertation Anxiety
• Dissertation or not?
• If i fail my dissertation can i resit it in the summer
• Oxford Master Grading and Progression
• Failed my dissertation refer.
• Failed Ug dissertation
• Getting a FN and NS on resubmission
• Final Assignments & Anxiety

Last reply 1 week ago

Posted 1 week ago

Last reply 2 weeks ago

Posted 2 weeks ago

Last reply 3 weeks ago

Posted 3 weeks ago

Last reply 1 month ago

Posted 1 month ago

Articles for you

Students react after A-level Business paper 3 on 14 June 2023

Students react to A-level Chemistry Paper 2 on 19 June 2023

Terms and conditions

Eight common myths around Clearing

Try out the app

Continue on web

Get Quote In 5 Minutes*

Popular Searches

• Order An Assignment
• Ask Prices?
• Amazing Offers
• Why Prefer us?
• Exclusive Offer Buy One Get One Free! Claim Now

What Do I Do if I Failed My Dissertation?

Reason for Failing in Dissertation

How bad does a master's dissertation have to be to fail, consequence of failing in dissertation.

A dissertation is one of the most important things that defines how to get higher in universities. It can be said to be one of the biggest pieces written which helps in getting higher degrees. A lot of precision is needed while writing a dissertation. Because it has a lot to be included with research and is quite lengthy as well, therefore, the students who are in the process of writing a dissertation must be aware of all these things.

Overall, the dissertation has to be written in such a way that it should cover all the points. However, there can be instances when students might fail in the dissertation. In that case, it might come to mind ‘What do I do if I failed in the dissertation?’ Hence, there are a few things that students can do if they fail in their dissertations. All of these will be discussed in the blog post.

Nothing can be more daunting after spending a lot of time and months and failing in the assignment at the end. However, there are many reasons for failing in the dissertation. They are as follows:

Failure to Give Ample Time to the Dissertations

One thing that can be noted is generally professors provide ample time to complete the discussion because they know while the framing is on, they need to be proofread and edited before the final submission. Still, if the students are unable to provide the paper, it can lead to failure. Taking help from Assignment Help in Australia can be beneficial as our experts provide timely dissertation solutions.

Lack of Time

Failure to give time for a dissertation can be a reason for failing the dissertation. The majority of colleges and universities have such strict schedules which make the students preoccupied with other tasks. Apart from these, there are other issues as well, such as employment and family, which lends to the factors of unavailability of time.

This can lead to failing in a dissertation because writing a dissertation not only takes time but is also hectic due to a lot of research aspects. Improper research and lack of information leading to inability to reach the word count can be the reason for the failure of the dissertation. Assessment Help can provide guidance on completing the assignments and submitting them on time.

Another important cause of the failure of the dissertation could be plagiarism. If, in any university, the professor finds that the dissertation is copied or in any form uses another person’s work, this can be the reason for the 100 per cent failure of the dissertation. Plagiarism is the only thing that can be one of the major reasons. Also, universities and colleges look out for this thing at first while going through the projects done by the students.

There are other rules and regulations related to plagiarism that are strictly followed in terms of plagiarism such as the percentage associated with the maximum plagiarism allowed in for any document or project. All in all, plagiarism is an important factor that has to be taken into consideration while seeing the dissertation. There are many services like assessment help that have been helping students to get through the plagiarized content. In any difficulty related to it, students can contact the services.

Lack of Guidance

There is a huge possibility of students failing in the dissertation if they do not get guidance and help from the supervisor. Because major numbers of instructors are overworked, it is difficult for the students to find time for students. This results in the students getting stuck, and a lack of guidance arises. They do not get enough instructions that they can apply to the dissertation.

Also, in the case of technical courses, it becomes difficult for the students to get on the right track in framing dissertations. Hence, this is a possible reason for failing the examination. They help in providing proper guidance to the students in completing the dissertation. How bad does a master's dissertation has to be to fail will always have a lack of critical reflection in it. This will only lead to a bad dissertation solution.

Lack of Critical Reflections

In any dissertation, there has to be critical reflection. Critical analysis is very important because it is held in providing a description and analytical approach to the points used. Dissertations written at the doctoral level must be engaging critically with the subject matter. Not only does it set out to portray what has been said by the other scholars, but it also makes the thesis original as well. With analysis, the dissertation should be reflective as well.

This can be written using the associates like reasons for choosing the specific methodology, flaws, and limitations of the methods, and reasons for choosing the typical topic or research area. All of these questions directly in relation to such are an important part of the dissertation. Lacking this can also lead to failure in the dissertation.  In order to have proper guidance assignment help Australia can be contacted.

Lack of Coherence

Coherency is very important, and hence, everything must be put together and organized properly while writing a dissertation. Overall, the thesis must look coherent. The apparent logic must be entertained and understood. Students must spend good time structuring the dissertation at all levels, be it the micro level or the entire thesis.

It is always considered good if this looks coherent and is able to provide the meaning that is intended in the theory. Without any logical structure, the dissertation can be vague and would lead to negative markings. Sample Assignment has experts who are experienced enough to provide the dissertation and its content in a meaningful way.

All of these mentioned reasons can be the ones leading to the failure of the dissertation. Students must pay attention to these aspects in order to pass the dissertation enabling passing in the overall course.

When the dissertation topic is given, it is with ample time to complete. Even after the time issues, students can fail. Hence, there are some reasons that can make the dissertation too bad to fail. They are as follows:

• Some parts of the dissertation can be missing, for example, the abstract or the study techniques can be missing. These count as important parts of any dissertation and hence have to be included and given ample importance as well. Therefore, the students must not forget to include this in their thesis paper.
• The document provided with the dissertation must not have been formally accepted. Maybe the layout of the dissertation is unacceptable and there has been a failure to stick to the proper format. Because a dissertation needs proper ways of proceeding one by one with the parts, therefore missing the format can be dangerous and lead to failure.
• Some technical words have been omitted, and even the adequate research procedures have not been mentioned, leading to the dissertation’s failure at submission. These are some examples of dissertation failing at submission.

A question might arise that ‘what do I do if I fail my dissertation?’ hence here is the answer.

If a student fails in the dissertation for the first time in any degree level, they are generally allowed resubmission. This is also done for the one time as the paper needs a lot of time to be completed, be it for the second time. This is usually capped with passing marks.

Other than this if the students fail in the dissertation resubmission, it can have various types of consequences. Often, failing twice can lead to passing but with an ordinary degree. All in all, there is a chance of redoing the dissertation given by the professors. In the case of the PhD or master's dissertation, it might lead to non-qualifying to be a graduate in the concerned degree.

Hence students must be cautious enough in passing the examination and the dissertation as well so that they can have degrees with high grades and marks. 

Dissertation, being such an important part, has to be dealt with care and precision. Hence, the students must be aware of the format and the process that should be followed. In any case, if they find it difficult to manage, they can seek help from Sample Assignment.

This service has the best experts on dissertations, which are involved in providing high-quality writing. Also, they deal with all types of subjects and topics. Experts can communicate with the students responding to the needs of the students.

Also, they will provide all the important guidance on managing the dissertation till its submission. We have a team of experts who are experienced in providing even a ph.d dissertation. Students can trust our services for the best dissertation paper.

Nick is a multi-faceted individual with diverse interests. I love teaching young students through coaching or writing who always gathered praise for a sharp calculative mind. I own a positive outlook towards life and also give motivational speeches for young kids and college students.

Loved reading this Blog? Share your valuable thoughts in the comment section.

How to write an ASA Paper?

Related blogs.

What are the Best Part-time Jobs for International Students in Australia?

5 Reasons to Study with TAFE NSW - Study in Australia

Which Are the Top 10 Universities in Australia by Cities? Get to Know

How International Students Can Get Personal Loan in Australia

Eight Options for Student Accommodations in Australia

Perks That You Can Grab While Studying In Universities

Get quote in 2 minutes*.

Stay Calm, Achieve Success & Secure Your Path without Stress!

• (+213)" > Algeria (+213)
• (+268)" > Antigua And Barbuda (+268)
• (+61)" > Australia (+61)
• (+43)" > Austria (+43)
• (+994)" > Azerbaijan (+994)
• (+973)" > Bahrain (+973)
• (+880)" > Bangladesh (+880)
• (+975)" > Bhutan (+975)
• (+55)" > Brazil (+55)
• (+1)" > Canada (+1)
• (+86)" > China (+86)
• (+243)" > Congo (+243)
• (+357)" > Cyprus (+357)
• (+45)" > Denmark (+45)
• (+849)" > Dominican Republic (+849)
• (+20)" > Egypt (+20)
• (+3)" > Europe (+3)
• (+679)" > Fiji (+679)
• (+358)" > Finland (+358)
• (+33)" > France (+33)
• (+220)" > Gambia (+220)
• (+49)" > Germany (+49)
• (+233)" > Ghana (+233)
• (+30)" > Greece (+30)
• (+592)" > Guyana (+592)
• (+852)" > Hong Kong (+852)
• (+36)" > Hungary (+36)
• (+91)" > India (+91)
• (+62)" > Indonesia (+62)
• (+98)" > Iran (islamic Republic Of) (+98)
• (+964)" > Iraq (+964)
• (+353)" > Ireland (+353)
• (+1)" > Jamaica (+1)
• (+81)" > Japan (+81)
• (+962)" > Jordan (+962)
• (+7)" > Kazakhstan (+7)
• (+254)" > Kenya (+254)
• (+965)" > Kuwait (+965)
• (+371)" > Latvia (+371)
• (+961)" > Lebanon (+961)
• (+266)" > Lesotho (+266)
• (+60)" > Malaysia (+60)
• (+960)" > Maldives (+960)
• (+356)" > Malta (+356)
• (+230)" > Mauritius (+230)
• (+976)" > Mongolia (+976)
• (+95)" > Myanmar (+95)
• (+264)" > Namibia (+264)
• (+977)" > Nepal (+977)
• (+31)" > Netherlands (+31)
• (+64)" > New Zealand (+64)
• (+234)" > Nigeria (+234)
• (+47)" > Norway (+47)
• (+968)" > Oman (+968)
• ()" > Other ()
• (+92)" > Pakistan (+92)
• (+675)" > Papua New Guinea (+675)
• (+63)" > Philippines (+63)
• (+48)" > Poland (+48)
• (+974)" > Qatar (+974)
• (+7)" > Russian Federation (+7)
• (+966)" > Saudi Arabia (+966)
• (+65)" > Singapore (+65)
• (+252)" > Somalia (+252)
• (+27)" > South Africa (+27)
• (+82)" > South Korea (+82)
• (+34)" > Spain (+34)
• (+94)" > Sri Lanka (+94)
• (+211)" > Sudan (+211)
• (+46)" > Sweden (+46)
• (+41)" > Switzerland (+41)
• (+886)" > Taiwan (+886)
• (+66)" > Thailand (+66)
• (+90)" > Turkey (+90)
• (+256)" > Uganda (+256)
• (+971)" > United Arab Emirates (+971)
• (+44)" > United Kingdom (+44)
• (+1)" > United States America (+1)
• (+998)" > Uzbekistan (+998)
• (+84)" > Vietnam (+84)
• (+967)" > Yemen (+967)
• (+260)" > Zambia (+260)
• (+263)" > Zimbabwe (+263)

Get Flat 50% Off on your Assignment Now!

Request Callback

• Algeria (+213)
• Australia (+61)
• Bahrain (+973)
• Bangladesh (+880)
• Canada (+1)
• China (+86)
• Europe (+3)
• Germany (+49)
• Hong kong (+8)
• India (+91)
• Iran (islamic republic of) (+98)
• Ireland (+353)
• Jordan (+962)
• Kenya (+254)
• Malaysia (+60)
• Myanmar (+95)
• New zealand (+64)
• Nigeria (+234)
• Pakistan (+92)
• Qatar (+974)
• Saudi arabia (+966)
• Singapore (+65)
• Somalia (+252)
• South africa (+27)
• Sri lanka (+94)
• Sweden (+46)
• United arab emirates (+971)
• United kingdom (+44)
• United states america (+1)