To get the ball rolling when you start your dissertation, a thorough brainstorming session is called for. This critical planning stage paves the way for an easy writing process. Many students make the mistake of spending little to no time brainstorming the elements needed in their dissertation. This puts the student at a massive disadvantage which will show in the end product. Far from being a waste of time, brainstorming is actually a time saver that will warm up your mind before you begin, and will serve to increase your productivity. Like an athlete who stretches before an event, every writer, whether academic or otherwise, should begin with the following straightforward steps.

Topic

The first order of business is to choose a good topic and heading for your dissertation. The topic should give the reader a good idea of what your paper contains, and at the same time give you a good idea of what to write.

Questions

Look at your topic and decide what pertinent questions exist. Write as many of them as you can think of in list form. Some may not seem important, but jot them down anyway. Try look at your topic from every angle and even ask follow up questions to your existing ones.

Break down your questions

You should have a full list of questions by now. Each one will be your key that opens the door to a statement, argument, and discussion. Write down each of these factors under every question. Give a one word answer to each one which will remind you of where you want to go with each discussion. You can also ask dissertation writers if you cannot answer any question.

Be unique

Do a bit of pre-writing research to see if your topic is unique. Preferably, the theme of your paper should be original—or at least your argument should be. No matter how well you write your dissertation, it will seem redundant if it’s been explored from the same angle by someone else.

Get some ideas

A good way to jog your creative juices is to source some dissertations from a professional writing company. Online academic writers keep archives of well written dissertations which they make available to students who are willing to buy them. Use these to inspire you. By the time you’ve followed all these exercises, your brain will be pumped up for the task at hand. The long road to writing your dissertation will prove to be much smoother from here on out.