Stanford
Student Learning Programs Center for Teaching and Learning

Dissertation Resources

Whether you’re just getting started on your dissertation or are close to completion, Stanford offers a variety of resources to support you along the way.

Synchronous Resources

Dissertation Coaching - Center for Teaching and Learning

A dissertation requires many skills and strategies that are often not explicitly taught in graduate school, such as time management, project management, and stakeholder relationship management. Dissertation Coaching is a four-session package of academic coaching sessions (in-person or online), and it is intended for graduate students who want to develop skills, strategies, and/or routines that will help them to make significant progress towards their dissertation project(s). Your academic coach will serve as a thought partner to help you strategize, plan, and build accountability into your dissertation process.

Some potential coaching topics include:

  • Identifying subtasks within the larger project and developing a timeline for completion
  • Managing roadblocks and recalibrating your plan
  • Creating a sustainable writing routine
  • Communicating effectively with your advisor and dissertation committee
  • Tracking progress and maintaining motivation

Writing and Speaking Consultations - Hume Center

Graduate students can schedule individual consultations with a Hume tutor and can choose to meet with a Lecturer or a peer Graduate Writing Tutor (in-person or online). Consultation topics may include:

  • Brainstorming ideas
  • Outlining and planning
  • Developing an effective literature review
  • Revision strategies
  • Organizational strategies

Writing & Speaking Consultations and Courses - Technical Communication Program

The Technical Communication Program (TCP), in Huang Engineering 049, is a writing and public speaking resource center focused on STEM communication for Stanford students of all levels. The TCP offers individual consulting and coaching in addition to a range of courses to help Stanford students become more effective and confident writers and presenters. Their services are primarily designed for students in engineering, but they also welcome students from across the university.

Dissertation Support Group - Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

The Dissertation Support Group is a six-session online group which provides space to vent, meet other people like you, share goals and perspectives on navigating common themes (isolation, motivation, relationships), and learn some helpful coping skills to manage the stress of dissertation writing. This is a supportive graduate student space with the expertise of a Graduate Life Office Dean and a CAPS therapist co-facilitating and sharing skills, resources, and support specific to your situation.

Dissertation Boot Camp - Hume Center

The Dissertation Boot Camp is a free program that provides structure and motivation for graduate students who are wanting to make significant progress on their dissertation or other writing project. Dissertation Boot Camps are offered throughout the academic year and the summer. Interested graduate students can register to attend an in-person bootcamp at the Hume Center or an online bootcamp.

Research Support - Stanford Libraries

Stanford Libraries offers a variety of resources to support you in your research, including consultations with subject specialists, consultations on data science and software (including data acquisition, wrangling, visualization, analysis, text preprocessing, topic modeling, machine learning, and deep learning), assistance with data management planning, and workshops on research software.

Asynchronous Resources

Dissertations and Theses Submission Guidelines - Student Services

Student Services provides detailed information on format requirements for your dissertation or thesis, submission deadlines and requirements, requests for using copyrighted material, and additional information for preparing the final manuscript.

Copyright Guidance - Office of Scholarly Communications

The Office of Scholarly Communications assists the Stanford community in creating, preserving, and sharing all forms of scholarship. For graduate students at the dissertation stage, they can provide guidance on using copyrighted material in theses and dissertations, replication of thesis and dissertation content, and obtaining permission to use figures or images.

Theses and Dissertations Repository - Stanford Libraries

Search the repository to see examples of dissertations written by other Stanford students. To see dissertations that might be most relevant, you can refine your search by department or view dissertations written by students who also worked with your advisor.

Starting an Effective Academic Writing Group - Hume Center

This guide from the Hume Center provides strategies and structures that can be used to start and maintain a writing group. Writing groups can be a great way to integrate structure and accountability throughout the dissertation writing process. Dissertation writers often find it helpful to meet regularly with other graduate students who are also at this stage for the purpose of providing feedback, co-working, and/or setting and monitoring writing goals.

Dissertation Success Curriculum - National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity 

Graduate students can access Stanford’s institutional membership to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD), which provides webinars, newsletters, and other resources related to topics such as writing productivity and time management. To access NCFDD’s Dissertation Success Curriculum, first follow the instructions using the link above to activate your Stanford-sponsored membership. Once you have created an account, navigate to the “Resources” section on the homepage, then select “Dissertation Success.” The curriculum includes 12 training modules covering topics such as creating a dissertation plan, understanding writing resistance, and overcoming academic perfectionism. Participants can also join a moderated discussion forum for peer mentoring and tracking writing progress.

Grad Studios - Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning offers a variety of recorded studio sessions, which are trainings that focus on technical academic skills. Topics include using tools and applications such as spreadsheets, Git, Prism, Notion, Google Calendar, and Anki, as well as approaches for research processes such as managing citations, writing an annotated bibliography, and reading for a literature review. Current Engineering Grad Studios are offered in person; registration information can be found on the CTL Peer Learning Consultant Eventbrite Page.

Books on Graduate Writing - Stanford Libraries

A number of books related to writing in graduate school and completing a dissertation are available through the Stanford Libraries. A few examples are listed below:

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