It may seem like both the simplest and the hardest part of the dissertation writing process – the actual writing up of your masters dissertation is the pinnacle of all your hard work, the final culmination of your ideas, research and theories in one place ready for evaluation and marking.

So how can you ensure that your dissertation or thesis writing does justice to the hard work and important research you have painstakingly carried out over the preceding weeks? How do you present and phrase your academic ideas when writing a dissertation to make sure they are showed off to the best possible advantage, to earn you the top Masters dissertation grade you deserve? Follow our top tips to masters dissertation success for all dissertation topics!

Getting started

By now you should have all your research at your fingertips, as well as a clear structural plan for how the different pieces of your masters dissertation are going to fit together. Physically work out exactly where each piece of research or idea is going to go so that you know exactly what will be included where. Think of it like drawing the outline of a picture so that all that remains is to colour in the right areas with the right coloured pencil when it comes to the actual dissertation writing or thesis writing. Each of your dissertation topics should fit into its own section.

If you suffer from writers block, remember that the first few sentences are always the hardest. Force yourself to put something, anything down – you can always go back to change it. In academic writing once the first paragraph is written the rest will flow much more freely. Many of these tips are useful for basic essay writing too.

Writing your masters dissertation argument

Remember that your argument must be clear, succinct and explained. Although you have been thinking about this topic for months, it is important to remember that your reader is new to it, and explain everything fully when writing your dissertation.

Imagine each paragraph must be compressed into a single sentence conveying the entire argument it holds. This should help to focus your argument and ensure you are splitting up the different ideas correctly into individual paragraphs.

Start each paragraph or section of your masters dissertation (or any academic writing) with a strong signpost sentence clearly stating its main subject and purpose. This will make your conclusion much easier to write too, as it should basically be a summary of all your first sentences!

Writing up your dissertation

It can be tempting to run into very long sentences but as with all essay writing, remember to keep them clear and well-punctuated, with a variety of longer and shorter phrases. This varied sentence structure helps to keep the reader’s interest and prevents them from becoming lost in an idea which is too long to follow easily.

Remember your word limit and try not to waffle or repeat yourself. To check the clarity of your structure and argument, leave a day at the end of your write-up period in which to ask peers (or students who have written on other dissertation topics) and other academics to read through your masters dissertation and check that they are able to follow your argument clearly. This can be an invaluable method for discovering areas of confused structure or lack of clarity that you are too close to the thesis writing to be able to identify yourself.

Final masters dissertation top tip

Finally remember that as with weekly essay writing, many supervisors are happy to help during the process of writing a dissertation. Asking them to check over early drafts and sections can be hugely helpful in getting essential feedback and direction at early stages of writing, to help you mould your work as necessary to produce a first class dissertation! Good luck!