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A representative picture of a person listening to a coach, part of Dissertation Roadmap’s personalized thesis / dissertation coaching and academic consulting services.

FOR MASTER'S AND DOCTORAL STUDENTS

One-to-One
Dissertation & Thesis Coaching

What does a coach do?

​​Working within the principles of academic integrity, a dissertation / thesis coach helps graduate students develop the research and writing skills they need to write a good thesis.​

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A coach guides you through every part of the research and writing process. They can help you organise the chapters of your project and make sure the overall structure is sound. A good coach can help you stay accountable, work more efficiently and get past internal or external obstacles more easily.​

Who is it for?

​One-on-one Dissertation & Thesis Coaching is suitable for those who are just starting to write their ​

One-to-one coaching suits students who are just starting their master's or PhD proposal or thesis, and those who feel they can't make progress for personal or academic reasons.

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My first aim is to identify the problems you're facing and what lies behind them, and to support you accordingly. Sometimes that's as simple as clarifying your research question; at other times it means going back to the fundamentals of the research process. In those cases, we work through the topics on the seminar modules as they apply to your own thesis, bringing theory and practice together.

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More broadly, the aim is to strengthen your academic research and writing skills and to help you manage stress and time well, so that you build steady reading and writing habits and complete your thesis successfully.

What will you gain from working with a thesis coach?

Writing a thesis or dissertation is a long research and writing journey — one in which you learn to carry out substantial academic work on your own. Along the way you may face serious challenges, and at times even doubt that you can succeed.

A successful research project rests on a well-planned and well-executed research design. If you haven't yet had the chance to build enough knowledge and skill in research methods, you may feel unsure about choosing and applying methods, and about planning your thesis.​​ A thesis coach will guide you in acquiring and applying the research and writing skills you need to write a strong thesis.

In short, a dedicated coach can help you work through the challenges of the thesis process and build, more quickly, the research and writing skills a strong thesis needs.

Master's and doctoral students often struggle to manage their time, whether because of life's other responsibilities or unexpected problems. Perhaps you, too, are finding it hard to manage your thesis and keep putting off your work.​ Regular meetings with a thesis coach can help you stay accountable and work more efficiently.

Talking ideas through with people you trust is an important part of academic research and writing. But sometimes you may feel alone in the process — because your supervisor is very busy, or because communication between you isn't working well. A thesis coach never replaces your supervisor — but they can support you when you're stuck, when something isn't clear, or when you simply want to talk ideas through.

How does it work?

​Once we've identified the main issues holding you back and mapped out a plan to tackle them, we work through each chapter in turn, according to what it needs. The steps below show how a typical chapter unfolds.

A woman's hand writing 'my plan' in a notebook, symbolizing thesis outline development phase in Dissertation Roadmap's personalized thesis coaching and thesis consultancy services.

Chapter Outline Drafting 

Initial Meetings: We start by looking at what the chapter needs to contain, academically and technically, in light of your topic and research question.

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Outline Development: As your reading and research progress, you first draft a general outline of the chapter, then a detailed one.

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Ongoing Support: We set short-term, goal-focused action plans and meet regularly to keep you on track.

A woman typing on laptop, illustrating the chapter drafting stage of Dissertation Roadmap's personalized thesis / dissertation coaching services.

Writing the chapter

First Draft: Once your detailed outline is complete, you begin writing the chapter.

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Progress Checks: We meet briefly every two weeks, or as needed, to review your progress and work through any issues.

A part of a book cover writing “show your work”, illustrating the written feedback stage of Dissertation Roadmap's personalized thesis / dissertation coaching services.

Written Feedback

Detailed Review: Once you've finished the first draft of a chapter, you receive detailed written feedback.

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Focus Areas: The feedback covers the technical and academic aspects of your chapter, as well as its overall organisation, cohesion and clarity of ideas. It offers actionable suggestions, always within the principles of academic integrity.

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Final Evaluation: Once you've reviewed the feedback, we meet for a final evaluation and to plan the next steps.​

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Each chapter draft receives one round of written feedback.

Written feedback does not include proofreading or copy-editing — for example, corrections to grammar, spelling or punctuation.

You can pay by the hour, or
choose a discounted 5-hour package.

Please get in touch for pricing

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