What's included
Supervisors ask for a timeline because it exposes whether a plan is feasible. The template lays out the stages a dissertation actually moves through, with realistic overlaps:
- Topic & proposal, Topic selection, supervisor meetings, research questions and the proposal document. Milestone: proposal approved.
- Literature review, Systematic searching, reading, thematic synthesis and the written review chapter, the phase most often underestimated.
- Methodology & ethics, Research design, instrument or protocol development and ethics committee submission. Milestone: ethics approval.
- Data collection, Recruitment, fieldwork, interviews, experiments or archival work, the phase with the least schedule control.
- Analysis, Data cleaning, coding or statistical analysis, and results write-up.
- Drafting & submission, Chapter drafts, supervisor feedback rounds, revisions, formatting and final submission. Milestone: submitted.
Who uses this template
PhD candidates, master's students, and their supervisors use this chart to plan a thesis across a realistic 12-month horizon. It sequences proposal, literature review, ethics approval, fieldwork, analysis, and writing, exposing where ethics clearance or data collection gate later work so the student protects enough runway for revisions before submission.
How to customize it
- Change the total span, the template runs 12 months; a master's dissertation is often 6-9, a doctoral one 36+.
- Move the ethics submission earlier if your institution's committee meets infrequently.
- Extend data collection generously; recruitment almost always takes longer than planned.
- Add a row per chapter if your supervisor wants chapter-level deadlines.
- Keep supervisor feedback rounds as separate bars, waiting on feedback is real elapsed time.
Scheduling tips
- Build in feedback latency. A supervisor turnaround of two to three weeks per chapter is normal and adds up to months across a dissertation.
- Overlap the literature review with everything. It is rarely a clean block; keep a thin ongoing bar rather than pretending it finishes.
- Protect a writing buffer before submission. Formatting, referencing and appendices reliably take longer than expected.
- Treat recruitment as a risk. If participants are hard to reach, the data collection bar should be visibly longer than you would like.
- Export to PDF for your proposal. Most proposal templates ask for a timeline figure; the chart drops straight in.
Related templates
- PhD Research Gantt Chart Template
- Gantt Chart Template for Research & Thesis
- Free Monthly Gantt Chart Template
- Browse all Gantt chart templates
Frequently asked questions
How long should a dissertation timeline be?
A master's dissertation typically runs 6-12 months and a doctoral thesis 3-4 years. This template uses a 12-month span you can compress or extend by changing the end date.
What stages should a dissertation Gantt chart include?
Topic selection and proposal, literature review, methodology and ethics approval, data collection, analysis, drafting with supervisor feedback, and final submission. All are pre-filled in the template.
Can I put this Gantt chart in my research proposal?
Yes, that is the most common use. Export to PDF or PNG from the free editor and drop it into your proposal document, or download the PowerPoint version for a slide.
Is the dissertation template free?
Yes. Free to download and free to edit online, with no account and no watermark.