Zule
★★★★★
“From project ideation to project finish, the planner has every step, every check-in, every tool to create and plan for as you work on your dissertation.”
Read on Amazon →Home › Shop › Finding the question and planning › The Dissertation Timeline & Project Planner Workbook
For master's and doctoral students with a deadline
Stop doing the math on whether you'll finish in time.
The Dissertation Timeline & Project Planner Workbook
A dissertation is a project, not a mystery. This planner turns "I hope I finish" into a managed, visible, on-time project: 55 fill-in templates, each with a worked example, plus nine undated trackers you reuse every week until submission.
- A milestone map worked back from your real deadline
- A timeline that fits the hours you actually have each week
- An early warning when something slips, and a way to re-plan
By Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, MD, PhD · 137 pages · Undated: a one-year master's or a five-year doctorate · Paperback $24.99 · ★★★★★ 4 reader reviews
What readers say
Reader reviews
★★★★★ 4 reader reviews from Amazon
Ashley D.
★★★★★
“One of my favorite things was the attention given to realistic expectations, burnout, and adjusting your timeline when things do not go as planned.”
Read on Amazon →User
★★★★★
“Great for prospective grad students. This gets the wheels rolling on what to start with.”
Read on Amazon →Mahogany M.
★★★★★
“This book really teach people how to do a dissertation.”
Read on Amazon →Sound familiar?
Dissertations rarely stall for lack of ability
“I lie awake doing the math on whether I'll finish in time.”
“Every week I'm busy, and somehow the thesis doesn't move.”
“My deadline is fixed. My plan is a vague hope.”
“One delay, in ethics or recruitment, and the whole timeline falls apart.”
They stall for lack of a plan: a multi-year fog with no map, no schedule, and no early warning when things slip. Researchers are never taught project management. This planner is that system, built for a thesis.
How it works
From the deadline back to this week
Three moves turn a multi-year fog into a schedule you can see.
Step 1
Plan backward
Start from your real submission date and place every milestone before it, in order.
Step 2
Reality-check it
Correct optimistic estimates and fit the plan to the hours you actually have each week.
Step 3
Run it weekly
Break milestones into weekly sprints, track progress, and re-plan when something slips.
What you will have
What you will build
- A backward-planned milestone map, worked back from your submission deadline
- A reality-checked timeline that corrects optimistic estimates
- A one-page Gantt chart of the whole project, with its critical path
- Weekly sprints, a progress dashboard and a win log
- A supervision system that turns every meeting into tracked actions
- A risk register for ethics delays, slow recruitment and scope creep
- A sustainable-pace plan that protects you from burnout
- A re-planning toolkit for slips, and a final-push plan to submission
Look inside
Every template comes with a worked example
One fictional doctoral project runs through every template, so you see each tool filled in before you fill in your own. Nine of the trackers are undated masters you can photocopy and reuse. These are real pages. Tap to enlarge.
When is your submission deadline?
Enter it and see where to start, given the time you have.
Is it for you?
Built for the length of a thesis
It is for you if
- You are planning a thesis or dissertation, at any stage
- You are part-time or a professional-doctorate candidate (DNP, EdD, DBA) fitting research around work
- You supervise and want a shared planning document for every meeting
It is not
- A guide to the content of your thesis. That is The Dissertation & Thesis Workbook; this one manages the project that delivers it.
- A dated diary. You write in your own dates.
- A substitute for your programme's own deadlines and rules
Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, MD, PhD
Clinician-researcher, PhD from Karolinska Institutet, and author of the Mastering Research books and workbooks, used by graduate students from the research question to the viva. The methods rest on published research on the planning fallacy, habit formation, motivation and doctoral completion.
Choose your format
Ways to get it
Paperback
$24.99 on Amazon
- The same 137 pages in print
- Write in it by hand
- Shipped by Amazon
Dissertation Timeline & Project Planner Kit
$19 instant download
- Every fill-in template, as a fillable PDF
- Type, save and print; US Letter and A4
Not ready to buy? Get the free toolkit for finding the question and planning by email and start today. Get it free
Questions
Before you buy
I'm already behind. Is it too late for a planner?
No. Chapter 11 is a re-planning toolkit: diagnose the slip, recover lost time realistically, and decide what scope to adjust. Use the deadline planner on this page to see where to start.
Does it work for a one-year master's?
Yes. The planner is undated, so you write in your own dates. It works for a one-year master's thesis or a five-year doctorate.
I'm part-time. Will the plan be realistic?
The available-hours audit fits the plan to the weekly hours you actually have, and the reality-check calculator corrects optimistic estimates before you commit.
Can I use it with my supervisor?
Yes. Chapter 8 turns every supervision meeting into tracked actions, and a planning-partnership kit is included for supervisors.
Do I need to buy new copies as the project goes on?
No. The nine tracker masters are undated and photocopiable, for the whole length of your project.
Turn the years ahead from a fog into a plan
Work back from your deadline, fit it to your real week, and know early when something slips.
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