6.1 Structuring Your PhD Thesis Chapters

Putting ‘pen to paper’ (or fingers to keyboard) is very difficult, especially after all that reading and note-taking: finally beginning to write your thesis can feel like being poised on the water’s edge unsure as to whether you will ‘sink or swim’ once you ‘plunge in’! As discussed earlier, it is not necessary to write your chapters in a particular order in many ways it is better to write the chapter about which you feel most enthusiastic first and this can help. However, for the purpose of this brief guide to writing a Ph.D. it might be best to consider the structure in chronological order.