📝 Dissertation checklist

Most dissertation marks lost have nothing to do with the research itself — referencing, formatting and a missed backup account for more of them than expected.

16 items

1. Topic agreed and written down as an actual question'Something about climate policy' isn't a question a supervisor can help answer — narrow it before the first meeting, not during it.
2. Supervisor allocated and first meeting bookedBook it early even with nothing to show yet — the working relationship starts sooner that way.
3. Ethics approval applied for, if the research needs itAnything involving people, data about people, or animals usually needs sign-off before data collection starts, not after.
4. Reference manager set up before the reading startsAdding sources as you go takes minutes each time. Reconstructing a reading list from memory at the end takes days.
5. Referencing style confirmed with the departmentHarvard, APA, footnotes — check which one is actually required rather than assuming it's the one from a previous essay.
6. Research question narrowed until it's answerable in the word countA question broad enough for a book isn't answerable in a few thousand words — narrow it until it is.
7. Chapter structure agreed with the supervisorRoughly, before writing starts — restructuring a finished draft costs far more than restructuring an outline.
8. Word count budgeted per chapterSo one chapter doesn't quietly eat the word count meant for the conclusion.
9. Regular supervisor meetings booked in, not arranged each timeA standing slot gets kept. 'We'll sort something' is the meeting that keeps sliding.
10. Full draft finished before the actual deadlineDays before, not hours — the gap is for proofreading and formatting, both of which take longer than expected.
11. Work backed up in at least two placesCloud and a local copy, updated as you go — a dissertation lost to one dead laptop is a story every department already has.
12. Similarity or plagiarism check run before submissionRun it through whatever tool the department uses first, so nothing in the final version is a surprise.
13. Formatting requirements checked against the actual guidelinesMargins, font, line spacing and binding are marked criteria in some departments, not just presentation.
14. Submission method and deadline confirmedOnline portal, printed copies, or both — check which, and check the exact time, not just the date.
15. Proofreading done by someone who isn't youYou'll read what you meant to write, not what's actually on the page — a second reader catches what another read-through won't.
16. Viva or presentation prep started, if one's requiredRe-read the dissertation as if defending it — the questions are usually about the parts you were least sure of.