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Dissertation Subject Guide

including systematic reviews, literature reviews and scoping reviews

Good Advice

Here are a list of good hints and tips when writing your dissertation:

  • Go by the guidance on your module
  • Connect with your supervisor, librarians, colleagues and other students
  • Look at similar reviews on your topic to get ideas
  • Don't try to do too much (or too little!) Do individual and step-by-step tasks and then it won't seem so overwhelming
  • Don't procrastinate
  • Remember to schedule some time away from dissertation. You will feel refreshed when you return to the work.
  • When writing - be clear, be concise, be specific and be organised

Do you have any ideas to share? Let us know @ LLC-AcademicLibrarian

You can use the PRISMA 2020 checklist  to guide your writing of the dissertation. Use it for helping with the introduction, methods, results and discussion sections your systematic review.

Get some inspiration

Have a look at these resources to help you get started and keeping on track:

Botten, E.L. (2012) ‘Writing your dissertation: where to start’, British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing), 21(22), pp. 1323–1323. doi:10.12968/bjon.2012.21.22.1323.

Jones, P. (2016) ‘Writing your dissertation: a survival guide’, British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing), 25(19), pp. 1044–1044. doi:10.12968/bjon.2016.25.19.1044.

Roush, K. (2019) A nurse’s step-by-step guide to writing a dissertation or scholarly project. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

Winstanley, C. (2009) Writing a dissertation for dummies. UK ed. Chichester: Wiley.