Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide

While there are no shortcuts when it comes to writing a dissertation, there are certainly strategies you can use to make the process as organized, straightforward, and painless as possible. 

Writing a dissertation requires enthusiasm and stamina, two things that can feel like they are in short supply after barrelling through the gauntlet of graduate coursework and everything it entails. Writing a dissertation is a marathon, and it’s essential to plan ahead and manage your time wisely. Doing this will ensure you have everything you need to go the distance. 

Before embarking on writing your dissertation, be sure to consult with your dissertation chair to talk about your writing process and to establish a timeline for completing each milestone of your dissertation. It’s a good idea to touch base with your dissertation chair at regular intervals throughout your writing process. Your chair will likely be a great resource for navigating any hiccups you encounter along the way. 

These are a few frequently asked questions about writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: 

• How do you start writing a dissertation?
• What tools do you need to write a dissertation? 
• What is a writing sprint?
• How should you revise a dissertation? 

Getting Started

Is writing a dissertation in fifteen minutes a day really possible? It sure is. For many writers, both within academia and beyond, the hardest part of writing is getting started. Psychological roadblocks get the best of every writer now and then; the important thing is to know how to get through the occasional traffic jam quickly. Writing in fifteen-minute blocks is an excellent way to prompt yourself to get started. 

You can accomplish a lot in fifteen minutes of undistracted writing. Whether you are outlining a section of your dissertation, drafting a paragraph, adding to your references, or polishing your sentences until they shine, fifteen minutes of concentrated focus is plenty of time to make a dent in your dissertation. While it may seem like a small drop of water in a swimming pool, you have to start somewhere, right? 

When I was writing my dissertation, I remember being so intimidated by the size and scope of the project. Giving myself one manageable task, something that I could cross off my to-do list, was so important because it helped me see a tangible accomplishment. When writing a document as lengthy as a dissertation, it is very helpful to see concrete progress at the end of every day, even if it feels incremental. 

Tools for Writing a Dissertation

To write your dissertation, you’re probably going to need a lot of fancy, expensive software, right? And definitely lots of technology, office supplies, and maybe a guidebook or two? Wrong. As long as you have a word processing system either on your desktop or online (I prefer online), and access to your university library’s database subscriptions for your research, you’re good to go. 

When I started my dissertation, I was tempted to buy software programs designed to aid my writing and help me get organized. While I did sample a couple, I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of having to learn new programs and writing my dissertation, and I decided they weren’t for me. I wrote my entire dissertation using a folder on Google Docs, and it felt like a good choice for me to use a program that I was already very familiar with. 

Writing Sprints

Ready, set, write! As an academic and a writer, one of my favorite exercises for kicking my writing into high gear is the writing sprint. A writing sprint is a quick, timed session devoted to adding to your current word count. The name of the game is getting words on the page, which gives you permission to write fast and write messy. Get your thoughts on the page as fast as you can, and rest easy knowing you can come back and clean it up later. 

Writing sprints are the perfect activity if your goal is writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day. In my experience, once I start writing and find my momentum, I don’t stop. So while you may start out committing to a fifteen-minute sprint, after you’ve warmed up and you know what you want to say, you might find yourself writing for hours. Start your writing sprint with the intention of writing a paragraph or so, and end your writing session with a few new pages. 

Another reason I love writing sprints is because they are a dedicated amount of time just for writing. I find them to be so useful that I make calendar appointments with myself, usually for 30-60 minutes, several times a week. My goal is to write every day, and knowing that I don’t have to write a lot helps me show up and complete some writing for whatever project I’m working on. 

Revising Sessions

Dedicating fifteen minutes per day is not only great practice for writing your dissertation, but for revising it as well. Whether you get through a paragraph or a page, short revising sessions give you an opportunity to bring concentrated focus to what you’ve written and to examine it with a critical eye. This practice works especially well when you’ve had some time away from your draft. 

Today, one of my favorite parts of the writing process is revision. However, this was not always the case. Until I was well into graduate school, my writing goals consisted of simply getting my work done and submitting it. My writing improved a lot once revision became an essential part of my process. It really helps to take the time–a few minutes here and there will do–to examine each sentence and polish it until it’s the best it can be. 

No matter what increment of time you start with for outlining, drafting, and revising your dissertation, it’s important to work on it every day. Shorter daily writing sessions are far less overwhelming than fevered marathons that will test both your endurance and your sanity. Do yourself a favor by starting small and showing up for yourself every single day.