The proposal for your dissertation is a key step of writing your dissertation. The proposal ensures that your idea is approved before you start writing, to save you both time and effort in the long run. Make sure that you have someone, preferably a professor or your adviser, look it over and edit your proposal as well as commenting on their thoughts on your idea.
Count the hours you have (minus sleeping time – make sure you include some of that) until your proposal is due. If your proposal is not due for a while and you still want to finish it in one night, count how many hours you’d like to spend on it.
Then, divide those hours into how long you need for each part of the proposal:
This is probably the most important part of your proposal, because it’s also the most important part of your whole dissertation. In the proposal, you need to make your topic choice sound like a worthwhile pursuit and an appealing study for any professional in your field, because it will be the piece of writing connected with your name when you begin your career, and you need it to be your best work and reflect your personal passions and interests.
Do some initial research, and find out more about your topic. Browse through websites and blogs; skim library books, etc. just to give yourself a more basic idea of what you will be writing about in the future when it comes time to actually write your dissertation.
This part sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be. Since you chose the program you’re in in school because you really enjoy that field, you probably know a lot about the topic you want to write about already.
The final step is to go over your proposal and make sure everything sounds right. Pretend you are your professor (even put on a different outfit and mimic your teacher’s voice if you like!) and read your proposal out loud. This is a great exercise that will let you think about what you might need to change and if you’ve really answered everything that your teacher wants in the proposal.