dissertation writers goal

Dissertation Strategies

What this handout is about.

This handout suggests strategies for developing healthy writing habits during your dissertation journey. These habits can help you maintain your writing momentum, overcome anxiety and procrastination, and foster wellbeing during one of the most challenging times in graduate school.

Tackling a giant project

Because dissertations are, of course, big projects, it’s no surprise that planning, writing, and revising one can pose some challenges! It can help to think of your dissertation as an expanded version of a long essay: at the end of the day, it is simply another piece of writing. You’ve written your way this far into your degree, so you’ve got the skills! You’ll develop a great deal of expertise on your topic, but you may still be a novice with this genre and writing at this length. Remember to give yourself some grace throughout the project. As you begin, it’s helpful to consider two overarching strategies throughout the process.

First, take stock of how you learn and your own writing processes. What strategies have worked and have not worked for you? Why? What kind of learner and writer are you? Capitalize on what’s working and experiment with new strategies when something’s not working. Keep in mind that trying out new strategies can take some trial-and-error, and it’s okay if a new strategy that you try doesn’t work for you. Consider why it may not have been the best for you, and use that reflection to consider other strategies that might be helpful to you.

Second, break the project into manageable chunks. At every stage of the process, try to identify specific tasks, set small, feasible goals, and have clear, concrete strategies for achieving each goal. Small victories can help you establish and maintain the momentum you need to keep yourself going.

Below, we discuss some possible strategies to keep you moving forward in the dissertation process.

Pre-dissertation planning strategies

Get familiar with the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Resources .

Learn how to use a citation-manager and a synthesis matrix to keep track of all of your source information.

Skim other dissertations from your department, program, and advisor. Enlist the help of a librarian or ask your advisor for a list of recent graduates whose work you can look up. Seeing what other people have done to earn their PhD can make the project much less abstract and daunting. A concrete sense of expectations will help you envision and plan. When you know what you’ll be doing, try to find a dissertation from your department that is similar enough that you can use it as a reference model when you run into concerns about formatting, structure, level of detail, etc.

Think carefully about your committee . Ideally, you’ll be able to select a group of people who work well with you and with each other. Consult with your advisor about who might be good collaborators for your project and who might not be the best fit. Consider what classes you’ve taken and how you “vibe” with those professors or those you’ve met outside of class. Try to learn what you can about how they’ve worked with other students. Ask about feedback style, turnaround time, level of involvement, etc., and imagine how that would work for you.

Sketch out a sensible drafting order for your project. Be open to writing chapters in “the wrong order” if it makes sense to start somewhere other than the beginning. You could begin with the section that seems easiest for you to write to gain momentum.

Design a productivity alliance with your advisor . Talk with them about potential projects and a reasonable timeline. Discuss how you’ll work together to keep your work moving forward. You might discuss having a standing meeting to discuss ideas or drafts or issues (bi-weekly? monthly?), your advisor’s preferences for drafts (rough? polished?), your preferences for what you’d like feedback on (early or late drafts?), reasonable turnaround time for feedback (a week? two?), and anything else you can think of to enter the collaboration mindfully.

Design a productivity alliance with your colleagues . Dissertation writing can be lonely, but writing with friends, meeting for updates over your beverage of choice, and scheduling non-working social times can help you maintain healthy energy. See our tips on accountability strategies for ideas to support each other.

Productivity strategies

Write when you’re most productive. When do you have the most energy? Focus? Creativity? When are you most able to concentrate, either because of your body rhythms or because there are fewer demands on your time? Once you determine the hours that are most productive for you (you may need to experiment at first), try to schedule those hours for dissertation work. See the collection of time management tools and planning calendars on the Learning Center’s Tips & Tools page to help you think through the possibilities. If at all possible, plan your work schedule, errands and chores so that you reserve your productive hours for the dissertation.

Put your writing time firmly on your calendar . Guard your writing time diligently. You’ll probably be invited to do other things during your productive writing times, but do your absolute best to say no and to offer alternatives. No one would hold it against you if you said no because you’re teaching a class at that time—and you wouldn’t feel guilty about saying no. Cultivating the same hard, guilt-free boundaries around your writing time will allow you preserve the time you need to get this thing done!

Develop habits that foster balance . You’ll have to work very hard to get this dissertation finished, but you can do that without sacrificing your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Think about how you can structure your work hours most efficiently so that you have time for a healthy non-work life. It can be something as small as limiting the time you spend chatting with fellow students to a few minutes instead of treating the office or lab as a space for extensive socializing. Also see above for protecting your time.

Write in spaces where you can be productive. Figure out where you work well and plan to be there during your dissertation work hours. Do you get more done on campus or at home? Do you prefer quiet and solitude, like in a library carrel? Do you prefer the buzz of background noise, like in a coffee shop? Are you aware of the UNC Libraries’ list of places to study ? If you get “stuck,” don’t be afraid to try a change of scenery. The variety may be just enough to get your brain going again.

Work where you feel comfortable . Wherever you work, make sure you have whatever lighting, furniture, and accessories you need to keep your posture and health in good order. The University Health and Safety office offers guidelines for healthy computer work . You’re more likely to spend time working in a space that doesn’t physically hurt you. Also consider how you could make your work space as inviting as possible. Some people find that it helps to have pictures of family and friends on their desk—sort of a silent “cheering section.” Some people work well with neutral colors around them, and others prefer bright colors that perk up the space. Some people like to put inspirational quotations in their workspace or encouraging notes from friends and family. You might try reconfiguring your work space to find a décor that helps you be productive.

Elicit helpful feedback from various people at various stages . You might be tempted to keep your writing to yourself until you think it’s brilliant, but you can lower the stakes tremendously if you make eliciting feedback a regular part of your writing process. Your friends can feel like a safer audience for ideas or drafts in their early stages. Someone outside your department may provide interesting perspectives from their discipline that spark your own thinking. See this handout on getting feedback for productive moments for feedback, the value of different kinds of feedback providers, and strategies for eliciting what’s most helpful to you. Make this a recurring part of your writing process. Schedule it to help you hit deadlines.

Change the writing task . When you don’t feel like writing, you can do something different or you can do something differently. Make a list of all the little things you need to do for a given section of the dissertation, no matter how small. Choose a task based on your energy level. Work on Grad School requirements: reformat margins, work on bibliography, and all that. Work on your acknowledgements. Remember all the people who have helped you and the great ideas they’ve helped you develop. You may feel more like working afterward. Write a part of your dissertation as a letter or email to a good friend who would care. Sometimes setting aside the academic prose and just writing it to a buddy can be liberating and help you get the ideas out there. You can make it sound smart later. Free-write about why you’re stuck, and perhaps even about how sick and tired you are of your dissertation/advisor/committee/etc. Venting can sometimes get you past the emotions of writer’s block and move you toward creative solutions. Open a separate document and write your thoughts on various things you’ve read. These may or may note be coherent, connected ideas, and they may or may not make it into your dissertation. They’re just notes that allow you to think things through and/or note what you want to revisit later, so it’s perfectly fine to have mistakes, weird organization, etc. Just let your mind wander on paper.

Develop habits that foster productivity and may help you develop a productive writing model for post-dissertation writing . Since dissertations are very long projects, cultivating habits that will help support your work is important. You might check out Helen Sword’s work on behavioral, artisanal, social, and emotional habits to help you get a sense of where you are in your current habits. You might try developing “rituals” of work that could help you get more done. Lighting incense, brewing a pot of a particular kind of tea, pulling out a favorite pen, and other ritualistic behaviors can signal your brain that “it is time to get down to business.” You can critically think about your work methods—not only about what you like to do, but also what actually helps you be productive. You may LOVE to listen to your favorite band while you write, for example, but if you wind up playing air guitar half the time instead of writing, it isn’t a habit worth keeping.

The point is, figure out what works for you and try to do it consistently. Your productive habits will reinforce themselves over time. If you find yourself in a situation, however, that doesn’t match your preferences, don’t let it stop you from working on your dissertation. Try to be flexible and open to experimenting. You might find some new favorites!

Motivational strategies

Schedule a regular activity with other people that involves your dissertation. Set up a coworking date with your accountability buddies so you can sit and write together. Organize a chapter swap. Make regular appointments with your advisor. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that you’ll feel good about showing up for–and will make you feel good about showing up for others.

Try writing in sprints . Many writers have discovered that the “Pomodoro technique” (writing for 25 minutes and taking a 5 minute break) boosts their productivity by helping them set small writing goals, focus intently for short periods, and give their brains frequent rests. See how one dissertation writer describes it in this blog post on the Pomodoro technique .

Quit while you’re ahead . Sometimes it helps to stop for the day when you’re on a roll. If you’ve got a great idea that you’re developing and you know where you want to go next, write “Next, I want to introduce x, y, and z and explain how they’re related—they all have the same characteristics of 1 and 2, and that clinches my theory of Q.” Then save the file and turn off the computer, or put down the notepad. When you come back tomorrow, you will already know what to say next–and all that will be left is to say it. Hopefully, the momentum will carry you forward.

Write your dissertation in single-space . When you need a boost, double space it and be impressed with how many pages you’ve written.

Set feasible goals–and celebrate the achievements! Setting and achieving smaller, more reasonable goals ( SMART goals ) gives you success, and that success can motivate you to focus on the next small step…and the next one.

Give yourself rewards along the way . When you meet a writing goal, reward yourself with something you normally wouldn’t have or do–this can be anything that will make you feel good about your accomplishment.

Make the act of writing be its own reward . For example, if you love a particular coffee drink from your favorite shop, save it as a special drink to enjoy during your writing time.

Try giving yourself “pre-wards” —positive experiences that help you feel refreshed and recharged for the next time you write. You don’t have to “earn” these with prior work, but you do have to commit to doing the work afterward.

Commit to doing something you don’t want to do if you don’t achieve your goal. Some people find themselves motivated to work harder when there’s a negative incentive. What would you most like to avoid? Watching a movie you hate? Donating to a cause you don’t support? Whatever it is, how can you ensure enforcement? Who can help you stay accountable?

Affective strategies

Build your confidence . It is not uncommon to feel “imposter phenomenon” during the course of writing your dissertation. If you start to feel this way, it can help to take a few minutes to remember every success you’ve had along the way. You’ve earned your place, and people have confidence in you for good reasons. It’s also helpful to remember that every one of the brilliant people around you is experiencing the same lack of confidence because you’re all in a new context with new tasks and new expectations. You’re not supposed to have it all figured out. You’re supposed to have uncertainties and questions and things to learn. Remember that they wouldn’t have accepted you to the program if they weren’t confident that you’d succeed. See our self-scripting handout for strategies to turn these affirmations into a self-script that you repeat whenever you’re experiencing doubts or other negative thoughts. You can do it!

Appreciate your successes . Not meeting a goal isn’t a failure–and it certainly doesn’t make you a failure. It’s an opportunity to figure out why you didn’t meet the goal. It might simply be that the goal wasn’t achievable in the first place. See the SMART goal handout and think through what you can adjust. Even if you meant to write 1500 words, focus on the success of writing 250 or 500 words that you didn’t have before.

Remember your “why.” There are a whole host of reasons why someone might decide to pursue a PhD, both personally and professionally. Reflecting on what is motivating to you can rekindle your sense of purpose and direction.

Get outside support . Sometimes it can be really helpful to get an outside perspective on your work and anxieties as a way of grounding yourself. Participating in groups like the Dissertation Support group through CAPS and the Dissertation Boot Camp can help you see that you’re not alone in the challenges. You might also choose to form your own writing support group with colleagues inside or outside your department.

Understand and manage your procrastination . When you’re writing a long dissertation, it can be easy to procrastinate! For instance, you might put off writing because the house “isn’t clean enough” or because you’re not in the right “space” (mentally or physically) to write, so you put off writing until the house is cleaned and everything is in its right place. You may have other ways of procrastinating. It can be helpful to be self-aware of when you’re procrastinating and to consider why you are procrastinating. It may be that you’re anxious about writing the perfect draft, for example, in which case you might consider: how can I focus on writing something that just makes progress as opposed to being “perfect”? There are lots of different ways of managing procrastination; one way is to make a schedule of all the things you already have to do (when you absolutely can’t write) to help you visualize those chunks of time when you can. See this handout on procrastination for more strategies and tools for managing procrastination.

Your topic, your advisor, and your committee: Making them work for you

By the time you’ve reached this stage, you have probably already defended a dissertation proposal, chosen an advisor, and begun working with a committee. Sometimes, however, those three elements can prove to be major external sources of frustration. So how can you manage them to help yourself be as productive as possible?

Managing your topic

Remember that your topic is not carved in stone . The research and writing plan suggested in your dissertation proposal was your best vision of the project at that time, but topics evolve as the research and writing progress. You might need to tweak your research question a bit to reduce or adjust the scope, you might pare down certain parts of the project or add others. You can discuss your thoughts on these adjustments with your advisor at your check ins.

Think about variables that could be cut down and how changes would affect the length, depth, breadth, and scholarly value of your study. Could you cut one or two experiments, case studies, regions, years, theorists, or chapters and still make a valuable contribution or, even more simply, just finish?

Talk to your advisor about any changes you might make . They may be quite sympathetic to your desire to shorten an unwieldy project and may offer suggestions.

Look at other dissertations from your department to get a sense of what the chapters should look like. Reverse-outline a few chapters so you can see if there’s a pattern of typical components and how information is sequenced. These can serve as models for your own dissertation. See this video on reverse outlining to see the technique.

Managing your advisor

Embrace your evolving status . At this stage in your graduate career, you should expect to assume some independence. By the time you finish your project, you will know more about your subject than your committee does. The student/teacher relationship you have with your advisor will necessarily change as you take this big step toward becoming their colleague.

Revisit the alliance . If the interaction with your advisor isn’t matching the original agreement or the original plan isn’t working as well as it could, schedule a conversation to revisit and redesign your working relationship in a way that could work for both of you.

Be specific in your feedback requests . Tell your advisor what kind of feedback would be most helpful to you. Sometimes an advisor can be giving unhelpful or discouraging feedback without realizing it. They might make extensive sentence-level edits when you really need conceptual feedback, or vice-versa, if you only ask generally for feedback. Letting your advisor know, very specifically, what kinds of responses will be helpful to you at different stages of the writing process can help your advisor know how to help you.

Don’t hide . Advisors can be most helpful if they know what you are working on, what problems you are experiencing, and what progress you have made. If you haven’t made the progress you were hoping for, it only makes it worse if you avoid talking to them. You rob yourself of their expertise and support, and you might start a spiral of guilt, shame, and avoidance. Even if it’s difficult, it may be better to be candid about your struggles.

Talk to other students who have the same advisor . You may find that they have developed strategies for working with your advisor that could help you communicate more effectively with them.

If you have recurring problems communicating with your advisor , you can make a change. You could change advisors completely, but a less dramatic option might be to find another committee member who might be willing to serve as a “secondary advisor” and give you the kinds of feedback and support that you may need.

Managing your committee

Design the alliance . Talk with your committee members about how much they’d like to be involved in your writing process, whether they’d like to see chapter drafts or the complete draft, how frequently they’d like to meet (or not), etc. Your advisor can guide you on how committees usually work, but think carefully about how you’d like the relationship to function too.

Keep in regular contact with your committee , even if they don’t want to see your work until it has been approved by your advisor. Let them know about fellowships you receive, fruitful research excursions, the directions your thinking is taking, and the plans you have for completion. In short, keep them aware that you are working hard and making progress. Also, look for other ways to get facetime with your committee even if it’s not a one-on-one meeting. Things like speaking with them at department events, going to colloquiums or other events they organize and/or attend regularly can help you develop a relationship that could lead to other introductions and collaborations as your career progresses.

Share your struggles . Too often, we only talk to our professors when we’re making progress and hide from them the rest of the time. If you share your frustrations or setbacks with a knowledgeable committee member, they might offer some very helpful suggestions for overcoming the obstacles you face—after all, your committee members have all written major research projects before, and they have probably solved similar problems in their own work.

Stay true to yourself . Sometimes, you just don’t entirely gel with your committee, but that’s okay. It’s important not to get too hung up on how your committee does (or doesn’t) relate to you. Keep your eye on the finish line and keep moving forward.

Helpful websites:

Graduate School Diversity Initiatives : Groups and events to support the success of students identifying with an affinity group.

Graduate School Career Well : Extensive professional development resources related to writing, research, networking, job search, etc.

CAPS Therapy Groups : CAPS offers a variety of support groups, including a dissertation support group.

Advice on Research and Writing : Lots of links on writing, public speaking, dissertation management, burnout, and more.

How to be a Good Graduate Student: Marie DesJardins’ essay talks about several phases of the graduate experience, including the dissertation. She discusses some helpful hints for staying motivated and doing consistent work.

Preparing Future Faculty : This page, a joint project of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, explains the Preparing Future Faculty Programs and includes links and suggestions that may help graduate students and their advisors think constructively about the process of graduate education as a step toward faculty responsibilities.

Dissertation Tips : Kjell Erik Rudestam, Ph.D. and Rae Newton, Ph.D., authors of Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process.

The ABD Survival Guide Newsletter : Information about the ABD Survival Guide newsletter (which is free) and other services from E-Coach (many of which are not free).

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write the Dissertation Aims and Objectives – Guide & Examples

Published by Grace Graffin at January 27th, 2023 , Revised On October 9, 2023

Aims and objectives are among the essential aspects of a dissertation. If you write aims and objectives effectively, they can act as a foundation to give your research clarity and focus.

This article will provide you with all the necessary information regarding aims and objectives, their differences, writing tips , and the common mistakes you should avoid while writing them.

The aim is often a single sentence or a short paragraph that describes your dissertation’s main goal and intent. It tells what you hope to achieve at the end. You should write the aim so that it becomes identifiable when it is achieved with the completion of your dissertation .

The aim is written in a subsection of the introduction to clarify the overall purpose of the dissertation .

Example: It is often observed that employees in culturally diverse workplaces struggle to work effectively in a team. A probable cause of this issue is bullying at the workplace. This research investigates the impact of bullying on employee job satisfaction at culturally diverse workplaces and the resulting loss of employee productivity. This research will use surveys and case study analysis to analyze the impact of bullying on employees.

The objectives in a dissertation describe the ways through which you intend to achieve the research aim. They are specific statements that break down the aim into several smaller key sections of the overall research. Suitable objectives can help you stay focused and conduct research in the direction of your aim.

The number of objectives should be realistic; usually, between three to six, and each one should be possible to achieve. The following example shows the objectives for the previously-mentioned dissertation aim.

1. identification of the behaviors that are considered as bullying 2. exploring the factors that cause bullying at a culturally diverse workplace 3. analyzing the relationship between bullying and job satisfaction of employees 4. providing suitable recommendations on minimizing the bullying at the workplace

The objectives of a dissertation should be SMART.

• Specific: should be precise, focused, and well-defined
• Measurable: the progress should be measurable, and you should be able to determine when you have achieved an objective.
• Achievable: you should be able to carry out the required action within your available resources
• Relevant: should be related to the dissertation aim
• Time-bound: should be possible within the available time

Differences between aims and objectives

Aims and objectives are often mixed, but there are clear differences between them.

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How to write aims and objectives?

There is no particular way or standard to write the aims and objectives. Different researchers have different writing styles, and often it can be influenced by your research supervisor. However, you should follow certain basic principles while writing aims and objectives in a dissertation.

Writing the aim statement

The aim statement should cover the following essential elements.

• Why is the research necessary? (covers the underlying problem on which the study is to be conducted)
• What is the research about? (description of the research title)
• How are you going to conduct it? (a brief statement of intended research methods)

An appropriate aim clearly defines the research purpose without confusing the reader. If you struggle to explain your research and its importance in simpler terms, you should consider refining your research to clarify it further.

Writing objectives

The objectives describe how you would achieve your research aim. You can do this through the following steps,

• The first one to two objectives can be applied to the literature review . (Verbs to be used: investigate, examine, study)
• One objective can be applied to the methodology portion. (Verbs to be used: collect, select, demonstrate, estimate)
• Two to three objectives can cover the critical evaluation or discussion chapters (Verbs to be used: analyze, compare, evaluate)
• The final objective will cover the conclusion or recommendation portion. (Verbs to be used: conclude, recommend)

Instead of writing like a paragraph, the objectives should be written as a numbered list to give them more clarity.

How many aims and objectives should be there?

It depends upon the topic of your research and mainly upon your supervisor’s requirements. Generally, a dissertation has a single broad statement as the research aim. However, it is acceptable to include a main aim along with two to three subsidiary aims.

Similarly, the number of objectives should be realistic and sufficient to measure the progress regarding the achievement of the research aim. Their number can generally vary from three to six depending upon the aim.

Common mistakes to avoid while writing research aims and objectives

• Writing a broad research aim

Writing a broad research aim is a common mistake, and it often becomes difficult to achieve. It may create a problem when you are asked to prove how you have achieved your aims during your  viva defense . It would be best to narrow your study to a specific area in the early stages of the dissertation.

• Formulating overlapping research objectives

The objectives should be written such that they are measurable and distinct from each other. If they overlap, it makes it difficult to structure your dissertation properly in specific chapters.

• Setting unrealistic aims

Students often get over-ambitious while describing the research aim and face problems afterward in achieving those aims. You should avoid this mistake and be realistic about what you can achieve in the available time and resources.

Aims and objectives are the sections that require significant time and attention to avoid future hassles while conducting research and writing your dissertation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to set dissertation aims and objectives.

To set dissertation aims and objectives, define your research goals clearly. Aims state what you want to achieve, while objectives outline specific, measurable steps to reach those goals. Ensure they align with your research question and contribute to your study’s significance.

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A dissertation is part of a Master’s or Bachelor’s course, whereas PHD thesis is frequently applied to a doctorate programme.

Not familiar with how to proofread and edit your dissertation? Find out the best tips and do’s and don’ts of proofreading and editing a dissertation here.

Not all doctorates require a dissertation. Many focus on practice and use projects instead. Learn more in this blog.

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• How It Works

Dissertation Planner: Plan & Research

• Getting Started
• Prepare & Propose
• Plan & Research
• Write & Edit
• Defense & Closure
• Help & Resources

Create a Work Plan

• Big Picture
• Little Picture
• Revise & Reward
• To Recap...

Researching and writing your dissertation is a huge, complex undertaking. Before beginning, check with your advisor and your department/college about specific dissertation research-and-writing conventions in your discipline. The instructions in this section are offered as general suggestions and not as definitive guidance for the University of Kentucky requirements.

In order to manage the dissertation writing process, you should CREATE A WORK PLAN . A work plan will help you:

• Break down the large, overwhelming process of writing a dissertation into manageable steps;
• Keep a "daily commitment" to your dissertation;
• Discover and take advantage of your most productive work habits;
• Set goals and reward yourself for achieving them; and
• Balance dissertation writing with the other aspects of your life.

To start your work plan, you should assess your own goals and work habits as well as those of your advisor, committee, and department. Think about questions like:

• When would you like to complete and defend your dissertation?
• To meet this deadline, how much will you need to work every day/week/month?

Start your work plan by setting a completion goal, the date by which you would like to have your dissertation complete.

Then, think about the "big picture" issues. Talk to your advisor about all of the steps and associated deadlines for your specific program. Completing a dissertation involves many smaller deadlines along the way to the final deadline. You need to have a complete understanding of what is expected of you throughout this process. Once you know all the smaller deadlines and steps you will need to complete, map them out along the timeline set by your completion goal.

Once you know all of the deadlines and requirements, think about the "little picture" issues. Most importantly, how will you manage your time? You should map out all of your absolutely unbreakable time commitments to identify what remaining time is available for you to use on your dissertation. Additionally, you should:

• Establish a regular work schedule;
• Figure out when and how you work best and try to maximize these advantages;
• Find productive and positive work spaces;
• Eliminate distractions while you work;
• Create "ready to write" rituals that help you get started every day;
• Base your daily goals and requirements on output instead of time worked; and
• Save your "mindless work" (such as formatting, transcribing, etc.) for when you are blocked so you can still make progress every day.

Check out this video for time management tips:

When you are first starting, set a specific amount of time (such as two weeks to a month) as a pilot test for your work plan. Stick to your plan during this pilot test, then evaluate and revise your plan. Additionally, make sure to evaluate and revise your plan each semester to account for changes in your schedule.

Dissertation writing is a long process and setbacks will happen. You should expect the unexpected and build in extra time to your schedule to account for unavoidable delays. Let missed deadlines and other lapses go, and remember to focus on what you can do today and tomorrow to reach your goals. Further, you need to make sure to reward yourself for completing work on or ahead of schedule.

The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has created a handout about planning for dissertation writing. Additionally, the video below offers an overview of the planning process. 

Research-Related Considerations

• Human Subjects
• Organize Your Research
• Copyright Issues
• Research Data Management
• Professional Identity

Will your research require you to use human subjects in any capacity?  If so, you will need to get your research reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). At the University of Kentucky, all IRB matters are handled by the Office of Research Integrity .

Additionally, these 10 simple rules for protecting research integrity may be of help. 

Keeping your research organized is key because it will help ensure your dissertation writing process remains efficient. A wide variety of tools are available to help you keep your research organized. The following is some of the most popular options.

• EndNote EndNote is a powerful software application used to manage personal databases of citations from sources such as journals, books, or websites. EndNote can input records from online bibliographic databases; organize references, images and PDFs; and be used to create bibliographies and figure lists.
• Zotero Includes the ability to store author, title, and publication fields and to export that information as formatted references, and the ability to organize, tag, and search in advanced ways.
• Mendeley Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network.
• Research Log Handout Don't like any of these software options? Create your own research log! This handout from the University of Manitoba will show you how to keep track of your research.

Copyright issues are prevalent in activities related to teaching, learning, and research.  For instance, researchers may wonder who owns the copyright of their publications .  At the same time, they may run into questions about whether they can lawfully use copyrighted materials in their publications. 

You as the author are by default the copyright holder of your dissertation and thus have exclusive rights over it.  Registering your copyright is optional.  However, registration will provide you with more protection in case somebody infringes upon your rights in the future. 

When deciding whether you can use somebody's work in your dissertation, you need to find out if the work concerned is already out of copyright protection.  The Copyright Slider can help you with that.  If the work is out of copyright, you can reuse it in whatever way you want without seeking permission. 

For materials that are still under copyright protection, you should think about whether your use is fair.  There are many online resources that help people determine what constitutes a fair use.  For example, the University of Minnesota Libraries provides detailed information about using copyrightable materials , understanding fair use , and thinking through the four factors of fair use .  Other libraries provide a checklist to help researchers make a decision on the matter of fair use. 

If you have questions about copyright, feel free to contact the University of Kentucky Libraries or refer to this Copyright Resource Center . 

It is likely that your scholarly endeavors will generate research data in different formats.  It is common nowadays that researchers are expected to take care of the collected data and later provide access to the processed dataset, especially if the research project is publicly funded.  Managing research data can help researchers develop commendable work habits and thus enable them to do their work more efficiently.  If you need help with research data management, refer to this guide or feel free to contact your academic liaison for suggestions and assistance.  There are also these 10 simple rules to help you with a data management plan. 

Below is a short video that shows the importance of research data management.  The second video provides a quick Introduction to the basics of research data.  

There is an international initiative that addresses problems related to confirming the identity of researchers with similar or the same name. It is ORCID , which issues unique identifiers to distinguish individual researchers. Different stakeholders in the research community, including funding agencies, higher education institutions, and publishers, plan to adopt the ORCID ID as a means to disambiguate the identity of researchers and to track their scholarly activities and contributions. More information about ORCID is available from the video below. 

Click here to register for an ORCID ID. Once you have created the ID, take some time to add information about yourself and your research outputs.  This will help build your professional online presence and reputation.  Last but not least, remember to add the ORCID ID to your CV, scholarly publications, grant applications, and academic profiles such as a personal Web page. This will help clarify your identity as a scholar among others who have names similar to or same as yours.

In the video below, a professor explains how a professional online presence can supplement a CV.  She also points out what to consider before putting together an online profile.  Additionally, these 10 simple rules show you how to build and maintain a scientific reputation. 

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• Aims and Objectives – A Guide for Academic Writing
• Doing a PhD

One of the most important aspects of a thesis, dissertation or research paper is the correct formulation of the aims and objectives. This is because your aims and objectives will establish the scope, depth and direction that your research will ultimately take. An effective set of aims and objectives will give your research focus and your reader clarity, with your aims indicating what is to be achieved, and your objectives indicating how it will be achieved.

Introduction

There is no getting away from the importance of the aims and objectives in determining the success of your research project. Unfortunately, however, it is an aspect that many students struggle with, and ultimately end up doing poorly. Given their importance, if you suspect that there is even the smallest possibility that you belong to this group of students, we strongly recommend you read this page in full.

This page describes what research aims and objectives are, how they differ from each other, how to write them correctly, and the common mistakes students make and how to avoid them. An example of a good aim and objectives from a past thesis has also been deconstructed to help your understanding.

What Are Aims and Objectives?

Research aims.

A research aim describes the main goal or the overarching purpose of your research project.

In doing so, it acts as a focal point for your research and provides your readers with clarity as to what your study is all about. Because of this, research aims are almost always located within its own subsection under the introduction section of a research document, regardless of whether it’s a thesis , a dissertation, or a research paper .

A research aim is usually formulated as a broad statement of the main goal of the research and can range in length from a single sentence to a short paragraph. Although the exact format may vary according to preference, they should all describe why your research is needed (i.e. the context), what it sets out to accomplish (the actual aim) and, briefly, how it intends to accomplish it (overview of your objectives).

To give an example, we have extracted the following research aim from a real PhD thesis:

Example of a Research Aim

The role of diametrical cup deformation as a factor to unsatisfactory implant performance has not been widely reported. The aim of this thesis was to gain an understanding of the diametrical deformation behaviour of acetabular cups and shells following impaction into the reamed acetabulum. The influence of a range of factors on deformation was investigated to ascertain if cup and shell deformation may be high enough to potentially contribute to early failure and high wear rates in metal-on-metal implants.

Note: Extracted with permission from thesis titled “T he Impact And Deformation Of Press-Fit Metal Acetabular Components ” produced by Dr H Hothi of previously Queen Mary University of London.

Research Objectives

Where a research aim specifies what your study will answer, research objectives specify how your study will answer it.

They divide your research aim into several smaller parts, each of which represents a key section of your research project. As a result, almost all research objectives take the form of a numbered list, with each item usually receiving its own chapter in a dissertation or thesis.

Following the example of the research aim shared above, here are it’s real research objectives as an example:

Example of a Research Objective

• Develop finite element models using explicit dynamics to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion, initially using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum.
• Investigate the number, velocity and position of impacts needed to insert a cup.
• Determine the relationship between the size of interference between the cup and cavity and deformation for different cup types.
• Investigate the influence of non-uniform cup support and varying the orientation of the component in the cavity on deformation.
• Examine the influence of errors during reaming of the acetabulum which introduce ovality to the cavity.
• Determine the relationship between changes in the geometry of the component and deformation for different cup designs.
• Develop three dimensional pelvis models with non-uniform bone material properties from a range of patients with varying bone quality.
• Use the key parameters that influence deformation, as identified in the foam models to determine the range of deformations that may occur clinically using the anatomic models and if these deformations are clinically significant.

It’s worth noting that researchers sometimes use research questions instead of research objectives, or in other cases both. From a high-level perspective, research questions and research objectives make the same statements, but just in different formats.

Taking the first three research objectives as an example, they can be restructured into research questions as follows:

Restructuring Research Objectives as Research Questions

• Can finite element models using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum together with explicit dynamics be used to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion?
• What is the number, velocity and position of impacts needed to insert a cup?
• What is the relationship between the size of interference between the cup and cavity and deformation for different cup types?

Difference Between Aims and Objectives

Hopefully the above explanations make clear the differences between aims and objectives, but to clarify:

• The research aim focus on what the research project is intended to achieve; research objectives focus on how the aim will be achieved.
• Research aims are relatively broad; research objectives are specific.
• Research aims focus on a project’s long-term outcomes; research objectives focus on its immediate, short-term outcomes.
• A research aim can be written in a single sentence or short paragraph; research objectives should be written as a numbered list.

How to Write Aims and Objectives

Before we discuss how to write a clear set of research aims and objectives, we should make it clear that there is no single way they must be written. Each researcher will approach their aims and objectives slightly differently, and often your supervisor will influence the formulation of yours on the basis of their own preferences.

Regardless, there are some basic principles that you should observe for good practice; these principles are described below.

Your aim should be made up of three parts that answer the below questions:

• Why is this research required?
• What is this research about?
• How are you going to do it?

The easiest way to achieve this would be to address each question in its own sentence, although it does not matter whether you combine them or write multiple sentences for each, the key is to address each one.

The first question, why , provides context to your research project, the second question, what , describes the aim of your research, and the last question, how , acts as an introduction to your objectives which will immediately follow.

Scroll through the image set below to see the ‘why, what and how’ associated with our research aim example.

Note: Your research aims need not be limited to one. Some individuals per to define one broad ‘overarching aim’ of a project and then adopt two or three specific research aims for their thesis or dissertation. Remember, however, that in order for your assessors to consider your research project complete, you will need to prove you have fulfilled all of the aims you set out to achieve. Therefore, while having more than one research aim is not necessarily disadvantageous, consider whether a single overarching one will do.

Research Objectives

Each of your research objectives should be SMART :

• Specific – is there any ambiguity in the action you are going to undertake, or is it focused and well-defined?
• Measurable – how will you measure progress and determine when you have achieved the action?
• Achievable – do you have the support, resources and facilities required to carry out the action?
• Relevant – is the action essential to the achievement of your research aim?
• Timebound – can you realistically complete the action in the available time alongside your other research tasks?

In addition to being SMART, your research objectives should start with a verb that helps communicate your intent. Common research verbs include:

Table of Research Verbs to Use in Aims and Objectives

Last, format your objectives into a numbered list. This is because when you write your thesis or dissertation, you will at times need to make reference to a specific research objective; structuring your research objectives in a numbered list will provide a clear way of doing this.

To bring all this together, let’s compare the first research objective in the previous example with the above guidance:

Checking Research Objective Example Against Recommended Approach

Research Objective:

1. Develop finite element models using explicit dynamics to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion, initially using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum.

Checking Against Recommended Approach:

Q: Is it specific? A: Yes, it is clear what the student intends to do (produce a finite element model), why they intend to do it (mimic cup/shell blows) and their parameters have been well-defined ( using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum ).

Q: Is it measurable? A: Yes, it is clear that the research objective will be achieved once the finite element model is complete.

Q: Is it achievable? A: Yes, provided the student has access to a computer lab, modelling software and laboratory data.

Q: Is it relevant? A: Yes, mimicking impacts to a cup/shell is fundamental to the overall aim of understanding how they deform when impacted upon.

Q: Is it timebound? A: Yes, it is possible to create a limited-scope finite element model in a relatively short time, especially if you already have experience in modelling.

Q: Does it start with a verb? A: Yes, it starts with ‘develop’, which makes the intent of the objective immediately clear.

Q: Is it a numbered list? A: Yes, it is the first research objective in a list of eight.

Mistakes in Writing Research Aims and Objectives

1. making your research aim too broad.

Having a research aim too broad becomes very difficult to achieve. Normally, this occurs when a student develops their research aim before they have a good understanding of what they want to research. Remember that at the end of your project and during your viva defence , you will have to prove that you have achieved your research aims; if they are too broad, this will be an almost impossible task. In the early stages of your research project, your priority should be to narrow your study to a specific area. A good way to do this is to take the time to study existing literature, question their current approaches, findings and limitations, and consider whether there are any recurring gaps that could be investigated .

Note: Achieving a set of aims does not necessarily mean proving or disproving a theory or hypothesis, even if your research aim was to, but having done enough work to provide a useful and original insight into the principles that underlie your research aim.

2. Making Your Research Objectives Too Ambitious

Be realistic about what you can achieve in the time you have available. It is natural to want to set ambitious research objectives that require sophisticated data collection and analysis, but only completing this with six months before the end of your PhD registration period is not a worthwhile trade-off.

3. Formulating Repetitive Research Objectives

Each research objective should have its own purpose and distinct measurable outcome. To this effect, a common mistake is to form research objectives which have large amounts of overlap. This makes it difficult to determine when an objective is truly complete, and also presents challenges in estimating the duration of objectives when creating your project timeline. It also makes it difficult to structure your thesis into unique chapters, making it more challenging for you to write and for your audience to read.

Fortunately, this oversight can be easily avoided by using SMART objectives.

Hopefully, you now have a good idea of how to create an effective set of aims and objectives for your research project, whether it be a thesis, dissertation or research paper. While it may be tempting to dive directly into your research, spending time on getting your aims and objectives right will give your research clear direction. This won’t only reduce the likelihood of problems arising later down the line, but will also lead to a more thorough and coherent research project.

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Writing a Paper: Examples of Effective Writing Goals

Examples of effective writing goals.

Below are a few examples of less effective compared to more effective writing goals:

Ineffective Writing Goal: My writing goal is to get an A on my paper because I lost points for organization on my last assignment.

Although this goal has admirable intentions, it poses a series of potential obstacles. First, it is not focused on writing. The student has focused on a problem instead of concentrating on developing specific, achievable writing skills. There are also factors related to grading that are beyond the student’s control. For example, if the student has not written an academic, graduate level paper in several years, it would only be natural for the student to miss points related to organization and idea development. That is perfectly understandable. The important thing to remember is to focus on the needed skills as opposed to the problem at hand.

More Effective Writing Goal: I lost points on a recent assignment because of my paper’s organization. My writing goal is to apply the Writing Center’s MEAL plan to my next assignment and practice developing paragraphs with one, main idea.

In this revised writing goal, the student has identified not only a specific writing skill on which to focus but also a supporting resource—that is, the Writing Center’s MEAL plan —to achieve this goal. The student has also set a reasonable timeline for this goal by concentrating on the application of a single skill to a specific, upcoming assignment. Finally, the student has not placed undue pressure to achieve this goal after one project; instead, the student has smartly suggested that the goal is to practice effective paragraph structure.

Vague or Broad Writing Goal: I want to become a better writer.

Again, the student’s intentions here are genuinely positive. We, at the Writing Center, are always in favor of enhancing your writing skills no matter where you are in the writing process. However, in this case, the student has not narrowed their focus enough to identify what aspects of writing they hope to address. Without this concentration, it can be hard to know where to start. To this point, the student would likely benefit from establishing a step-by-step goals plan that works toward this larger objective of becoming a better writer.

More Effective Writing Goal: I want to focus on how to incorporate and cite evidence appropriately in order to become a more effective scholarly writer. I will achieve this goal by reviewing the Writing Center’s “Paraphrasing Source Material” webinar and then setting up a paper review appointment to check my revisions.

This revision is a clear step in the right direction. The student has now identified a specific set of skills on which to focus as well as established a reasonable plan for achieving this goal. Each step is within the student’s control and can be achieved in a timely manner. Most importantly, the student has not forgotten about the larger goal of becoming a better writer. The student simply has broken this process down into more manageable, step-by-step pieces. In fact, once this goal has been achieved, the student can set another smaller goal to continue their progress to becoming an effective scholarly writer. 

Related Resources

• Academic Skills Center's SMART Goals Guide

Webpage Feedback

Didn't find what you need? Email us at [email protected] .

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Lehigh University Libraries - Library Guides

Dissertation and thesis writing, goal of guide, select a topic, find sample dissertations or theses, research the topic, "literature review central", templates, formatting and submission, publish chapters as preprints, submitting electronic theses and dissertations, publish the final product, other resources, goal of guide.

This library guide points to library resources relevant to the stages of writing a dissertation or thesis. 

The tabs on the left hand side of this page are roughly ordered by the stages of your work.

Contact Yvonne Lee , Ph.D., Director of Graduate Writing "for questions regarding Graduate Writing Support.  She manages consultations, workshops, retreats, and groups in order to help provide graduate students with the resources needed to complete a variety of different types of writing tasks." (From "Our Team" ).

Consult with your subject librarian for help doing research. Also, please contact your subject librarian if you have any comments about this library guide and its usefulness.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. YOUR SUGGESTIONS WELCOME! Please send them to  Brian Simboli .

Don't reinvent the wheel! Your librarian has focused literature searching skills that will help you avoid this.

• It's better to start with a narrow topic, research it, then broaden it if necessary. There is so much literature now about any topic that even on a narrow topic, you are bound to find a good deal of relevant literature.
• It can help to focus on a well-defined and focused existing debate and then develop your own position within that debate.  
• As you select a topic, consider the notes in the "Write" section of this guide about writing a literature review that can become the first chapter of your dissertation. The process of writing a review of the literature in your topic of interest can help refine your topic and closely define it.

Applying for grants

Some tips follow related to funding your research.

Sources of Information about Grant Funding

See the  SPIN  database for grant and funding information. Also, consult with your librarian for tips about how to use library databases to identify funding sources. E.g., after doing a literature search on your topic in Web of Science , see the Funding Agencies category on the left hand side of the search results. This can help you identify grants to which you can apply.

Data Management Plans ("DMPs")

Our guide  Data Management Plan Assistance for Grants  provides resources for writing data management plans required in grant applications. It includes information about data storage options available on campus as well as ideas about how to organize your data collection and management.

• Ask your advisor to recommend some well-done dissertations or theses, done either at Lehigh or elsewhere. Use them as models 
• Dissertations often have very complete bibliographies. Use them as one more source for literature citations.

Finding Theses and Dissertations  (includes sections about "Finding Lehigh Theses and Dissertations" and  "Finding Theses and Dissertations From Other Institutions".)

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ Lehigh University   Complete copies of Lehigh dissertations and masters theses. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global  Comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from North America and the UK, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Includes abstracts for most documents and full-text for about half of the database, weighted toward more recent years.Global coverage note: also covers Europe less comprehensively, and many Chinese universities after 2017. Coverage of other countries and non-English language documents is limited. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global: Science & Technology  Science and Technology subset of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global - the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Indexing, abstracts and select full-text coverage. Searching in Chinese and other languages may be needed for high recall searching.

The library provides a range of resources relevant to researching your topic. Below are some of them.

Set up an appointment with a subject librarian  to discuss these and other resources.

LIBRARY GUIDES

Explore the wide array of library guides to identify relevant literature databases and other resources related to your subject and to researching and writing.

Consider using Browzine   to easily find, read, and monitor thousands of scholarly journals available from LTS, or through Open Access publishers, covering all disciplines. 

• Browse titles by subject to easily find journals of interest
• Easily view table of contents of current past journals
• Create a personal bookshelf of favorite journals 
• Share with other researchers by posting to Facebook and Twitter

REVIEW ARTICLES

Make heavy use of review articles, which summarize the literature in a sub-discipline. Some literature databases enable one to filter search results for this type of article. Also, you can often tell from its title whether an article provides a high-level review of a field.

EMAIL ALERTS

Early on, set up email alerts, for example from library databases such as Web of Science, or Google Scholar, for new literature relating to your field. If you like a particular article or book, set up an email alert for literature that cite it. This is very important for purposes of tracking late-breaking literature as you do your research. Your librarian can help you design alerts.

CITING/CITED LITERATURE SEARCHING

Don't forget the importance, when researching, of finding an article or other document, then finding who has cited it. This is a very important way to build a bibliography, arguably one of the best. Librarians can assist you with this type of search as well as other approaches to searching. 

DISSERTATIONS AS A SOURCE OF BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to looking at dissertations to get ideas about how to write a one, they can provide valuable bibliography. Include them in your literature searches. See  Finding Theses and Dissertations .

Graduate Writing Contact Yvonne Lee , Ph.D., Director of Graduate Writing for questions regarding Graduate Writing Support.  She manages consultations, workshops, retreats, and groups in order to help provide graduate students with the resources needed to complete a variety of writing tasks. For an overview of graduate writing resources, visit  Graduate Writing Support . 

Writing dissertations or theses (including the literature review)

Finding models for dissertations and theses

See the section of this guide "Find Sample Dissertations or Theses"

Resources about writing literature reviews for a dissertation or thesis 

Consult books and e-books in Lehigh's library catalog  about writing theses and disserations. Examples are below. Chapters about doing the literature review are identified.

(Note about doing literature reviews. If you are writing a dissertation or thesis, you may be required to write a chapter or section that reviews the literature. Determine whether you will write a dissertation that is relatively continuous, or one whose chapters consist of self-contained research articles. You may have (in effect) to write more than one literature review. Check with your advisor.)

• Writing a graduate thesis or dissertation  See chapter 4
• Dissertations and theses from start to finish : psychology and related fields  See chapter 6, "Reviewing the Literature".
• Writing a successful thesis or dissertation : tips and strategies for students in the social and behavioral sciences  See 7. Writing the Literature Review Chapter
•   A practical guide to dissertation and thesis writing   Has focus on social sciences
• How to prepare a scientific doctoral dissertation based on research articles  See chapters1 3 and 17.

Writing and Note-taking Tools

It is critical at the outset to consider your "writing platform", as well as a place to do your notetaking. See the guide below. NOTE: If you are writing a dissertation or thesis that requires equations, see the section about Overleaf.   

• Writing and Note-Taking Tools by Brian Simboli Last Updated Jan 7, 2024 69 views this year

How can you keep track of all the citations you come across and copies of the associated full text? 

One way to do so is to use RefWorks. For information, see these library guides:

• RefWorks - Versions: Legacy RefWorks and New RefWorks .
• New RefWorks
• To manage journal articles that you have printed out, consider numbering them and then putting the number into the corresponding RefWorks record for the article. That way you can use RefWorks as a search engine to find your print version of the article. 
• Make use of the electronic folders in RefWorks that enable you to sort articles by subject area. 

University Templates for Formatting

Below are some university resources that address how to format your dissertation or thesis. They are given here for your convenience.  

*Contact your adviser to review your department's expectations, guidelines, or templates for submission.*

• College of Arts and Sciences "PhD Graduation Manager" [Scroll down to see "Ph.D Dissertation Guidelines and Dissertation templates"
• College of Arts and Sciences Thesis Template
• College of Engineering and Applied Science Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines
• College of Engineering and Applied Science Instructions for the Final Dissertation Forms Packet
• College of Education Doctoral Program Requirements and Procedures
• Students can upload all the files provided (rename Dissertation.tex to main.tex) to an overleaf project and start writing by creating a separate file for each chapter and appendix.
• CAS has an approved TeX template, that what CAS folks should be using and modifying based on departments additional requirements.

Electronic Submission of Theses and Dissertations

For information about how to submit electronically your Lehigh dissertation or thesis, see the library guide about how to do so.

Contact Ilhan Citak (x4506) for details about the submission process. 

Preprints   (scroll down a bit) are an increasingly important form of publishing. A preprint is a publicly accessible version of your research. Preprint servers serve as a place to publish an initial version of your research prior to seeking publication.

As you write successive chapters, consider publishing them as preprints, even as you submit them as journal articles... but first ascertain that the journal to which you submit your article allows "pre-publication" in a preprint. Or when your dissertation or thesis is done, consider publishing it as a preprint.   

See here for benefits and caveats about publishing preprints.

Publish the final product

As you write your dissertation, submit chapters as articles. When your dissertation or thesis is complete, consider publishing it as a book. Not only will this help you get a job, but it is a way to make available to the world the fruits of your hard labors.

• See the library guide  Writing an Impactful Journal Article: Resources and Tips
• See the library guide about  Enhancing Research Impact  for steps you can take before and after you publish to get exposure for your research. For example, spend time considering the best place to publish your work.
• See the library guide Authors' Rights and Publishing
• Here's a resource of possible interest:  From dissertation to book by Germano, William P.

For books about writing a dissertation or thesis, do a search in Lehigh's online catalog, ASA. Here is a general search of this kind:

This is a search of ASA over (AllFields : writing OR AllFields : write) AND (AllFields : dissertation OR AllFields : thesis)

Check with a librarian about resources at Lehigh comparable to those mentioned in these guides:

• Writing a Dissertation or Thesis: RU Grad School Resources  [Rutgers]
• Dissertations & Theses: Writing Your UCSD Thesis or Dissertation  [UC San Diego]
• Last Updated: Nov 29, 2023 4:45 PM
• URL: https://libraryguides.lehigh.edu/dissthesis

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.