If you have completed a doctoral dissertation, please advice on pointers of vthe to do's and don'ts.?

Guidelines on what saved you time, etc. Thanks.If you have completed a doctoral dissertation, please advice on pointers of vthe to do's and don'ts.?
At the time this happened, I was a little resentful, but my major professor and another person on my committee chose my topic for me. In the long run that was better because I wasn't emotionally vested in my topic and just did whatever they told me to do! I have a friend who took her written comps at the same time I did five years ago, and she's still not finished with her dissertation - more about that below.





They also picked a topic that was fairly new, so I didn't have a very long literature review, which saved me a lot of time. The friend I mentioned above has been held up by her lit review; she keeps finding more and more sources that she wants to use, but you finally reach a point where you have to decide enough is enough. That's where a good major professor comes in; hers isn't very good!





I hope you have selected a major professor like mine who was well-organized and paid attention to details. I did everything he told me to do; I didn't question him - I just did it. It was more important to me to finish than to be assertive. (I was hired ABD and given a one-year timeline to finish or not get renewed.) I am very proud of the fact that I completed my entire doctoral program in 22 months and wrote and defended my dissertation in six months' time. I couldn't have done that if I had bucked the system the whole time like some people do who think they have something to prove. Just do what you are told and it will go a lot faster/smoother! Plenty of time to do what you want AFTER you get the degree!





I also let my major professor choose my committee members. I've heard horror stories about committee members who don't get along; I figured if he picked them, he would choose people he gets along witih - no ego fights on my committee!!! It took them about five minutes after my defense to decide that I had passed! I had very few corrections to make afterwards, too!





As for the writing...I'll be honest...it was the hardest thing I've ever done. I really had to make myself buckle down and write every day. Again, I had a wonderful major professor who was a great editor. If he thought something needed to be changed, I changed it!





I did hire someone to do my stats, and my committee was fine with that. He ran all of the stats they requested, but I had to be able to explain them. Fortunately, I did a survey so that wasn't too bad.





I hope that helps. Again, that was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but oh what a feeling when I was finished!





Sorry for the long answer! Good luck!If you have completed a doctoral dissertation, please advice on pointers of vthe to do's and don'ts.?
Write an outline. Then fill it out a little. Then the whole thesis just feels like you're filling in the gaps. Trust me, it goes a lot faster.