Writing a Proposal for Your Dissertation by 
How to design, write, and present a successful dissertation proposal [ebook] by
This concise, hands-on book by author Elizabeth A. Wentz is essential reading for any graduate student entering the dissertation process in the social or behavioral sciences. The book addresses the importance of ethical scientific research, developing your curriculum vitae, effective reading and writing, completing a literature review, conceptualizing your research idea, and translating that idea into a realistic research proposal using research methods. The author also offers insight into oral presentations of the completed proposal, and the final chapter presents ideas for next steps after the proposal has been presented. Taking the view that we "learn by doing," the author provides Quick Tasks, Action Items, and To Do List activities throughout the text that, when combined, develop each piece of your research proposal. Designed primarily for quantitative or mixed methods research dissertations, this book is a valuable start-to-finish resource.
Doing your Master's dissertation by 
Finish your dissertation, don't let it finish you! [ebook] by
An all-inclusive, practical guide to help you design,conduct, and finish your academic dissertation--with minimal drama Sharing the secrets for successfully navigating through the dissertation and thesis process while maintaining your sanity.
Writing your doctoral dissertation or thesis faster [ebook] by A literature search is a "systematic and thorough search of all types of published literature in order to identify as many items as possible that are relevant to a particular topic." (Gash, S., 2000).
Reasons for searching the literature according to Hart (2001):
1. to identify work already done or in progress that is relevant to your work;
2. to help to prevent you from duplicating what has already been done;
3. to avoid some of the pitfalls and errors of previous research;
4. to help you design the methodology for your project by identifying the key issues and data collection techniques best suited to your topic;
5. to enable you to find gaps in existing research, thereby giving you a unique topic.
Sources;
Gash, S. (2000). Effective literature searching for research. (2nd ed.). Aldershot, Hampshire: Gower
Hart, C. (2001). Doing a literature search:a comprehensive guide for the social sciences. London:Sage
SMU Dissertations and Theses:
SMU Doctoral Programmes dissertations:
