In the next few weeks and months, students will be completing final year research projects as part of their degree programme. For many, this is a highly weighted assessment and the longest piece of academic writing they have undertaken to date. These projects are not only substantial in length; they are also deeply personal. As a result, the final stages of the research process are often accompanied by a mix of anticipation, relief and anxiety about “letting go” of something they have worked on for so long. What does this mean for supervisors, and how can you best support students in overcoming this final hurdle?

There are some perennial challenges to doing a research project that all of us have faced: formulating a research question, wrestling with paradigmatic assumptions, keeping on track of a multi-year project. The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project has been helping students (and supervisors) for more than 20 years. But in a post-pandemic world with the transformations being wrought by artificial intelligence, datafication, and the rise and fall of social media platforms, there are new challenges facing researchers.

These seven lessons will help you transform your dissertation into a published research article.

Undertaking a research project such as a dissertation or capstone can be one of the most rewarding aspects of a student’s degree programme. It provides them with the opportunity to apply what they have learned in their course to explore a topic of personal interest. It also enables them to develop independent research skills, a sought after competence among many employers. However, for many students, the experience can also feel daunting and at times, overwhelming.

This post includes tips about writing qualitative proposals excerpted from Research Design by Creswell and Creswell.

Dr. Linda Bloomberg offers detailed suggestions for getting organized and starting a dissertation or thesis.

MethodSpace contributor completed his dissertation. He offers tips to students and academic writers.

A research conversation about online learning and dissertation preparation with Dr. Linda Bloomberg.