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Time Management and
Sample Timeline
One of the most difficult parts of conducting original research is scheduling your
time. Too many people leave the writing to the last minute, leave no time for revisions,
and consequently produce a thesis that falls well below its—and their—potential.
Others leave their advisers in the dark until shortly before the thesis is due and then get
stuck when the adviser asks for changes and time runs out. Here are some tips for time
management:
• Plan ahead: Work backwards from the thesis due date and block out time for each step in the
process. In general, you will need a month or so for revisions, polishing, and final typing, and your
adviser will need ample time to look over a completed draft before you revise it. Therefore, you
ought to have a complete draft to your adviser five or six weeks prior to the deadline, which
means early February. This means that you ought to be writing by early January, which means
that the research ought to be more or less complete by early January.
• Start writing early: Work on the introduction and literature review drafts before collecting data,
and write the methods chapter as you design your instruments. The final version will likely look
very different as you continue to revise and focus the thesis, but working on drafts is easier than
staring at a blank screen!
• Meet regularly with your adviser: Consult with your adviser on a schedule and keep him/her
regularly informed of how things are going. Do not leave consultations to the last few weeks: as
your thinking changes, as your work progresses, as your findings begin to become clear, keep your
adviser up to date on what is happening. Communicate!
• Allow time for your adviser to read your work: Remember, advising is a two-way street; it
requires an effort on the part of both of you if it is to be maximally beneficial to the thesis. You are
probably immensely busy; so is your adviser! Keep that in mind.
• Make some progress every week: A completed thesis looks immense. By breaking it into short-
er writing projects, it becomes less imposing, more like the shorter papers that you’re used to
writing.
A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Sociology | page 1