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Make a PhD Timeline

A PhD timeline lays out a doctorate from the first term to the final defense: when the coursework ends, when the exams and the proposal fall, how long the research takes and how much time is left to write. Many programs ask for one in the first year, sometimes as part of a dissertation proposal, and supervisors use it to see whether the plan fits the funding and the time limits. It is just as useful to you, because it shows early whether the writing has been squeezed into the last few months.

The same approach works for a master's thesis timeline. There are fewer stages, but the order is the same.

What to include

Programs differ, but most PhD timelines cover the same stages:

  • Coursework and training: required classes, methods training and any teaching duties.
  • Exams and reviews: qualifying or comprehensive exams, and the annual progress reviews many universities hold.
  • The proposal: writing it, and the date you present or defend it.
  • Approvals: ethics or review board approval, data access agreements and anything else the research has to wait for.
  • The research itself: fieldwork, experiments, archive visits or data collection, usually split into the studies or chapters it feeds.
  • Writing: each chapter, plus time for your supervisor's comments and your revisions.
  • Submission and defense: the submission deadline, the defense or viva, and the corrections that follow.

Plan at the level of months, not days. A doctorate runs for years, and a plan that lists every week is out of date within a term. Timeline vs Schedule explains the difference between the overview and the week-to-week plan.

Building one in Preceden

Create a timeline and pick the Gantt Chart layout under Choose an initial layout. It lists each stage's name down the left, which makes a multi-year plan easy to scan. Creating Gantt Charts with Preceden has more on that layout.

Rename the starting layers by clicking their names in the list below the timeline, then use the Add Layer button above the timeline to add more. A layer for each strand of the work, such as "Coursework", "Study 1", "Study 2" and "Writing", lets you follow each one on its own, as a swimlane timeline.

Add each stage as an event and choose its strand from the Layer menu. You don't have to work out each end date: type a duration such as 8 months as the end date and Preceden adds it to the start date. Supported Date Formats lists everything Preceden reads.

Some stages can't start until another one is done: data collection waits on the ethics approval, and the results chapter waits on the data. Open the later stage, check Dependent, and choose the stage it starts after from the menu. Its start date then follows that stage's end date. Dependent Events explains how it works.

This is what keeps a PhD plan honest when something slips. If the approval comes through two months late, change that one stage, and every dependent stage after it moves with it, as long as they end with a duration rather than a fixed end date. You can see straight away whether the submission date still holds.

Mark the fixed deadlines

Under More Options in the event dialog, check Make this event a milestone on the dates you can't move, such as the qualifying exam, the proposal defense, a funding end date and the submission deadline. A milestone has a start date only, and Preceden draws it as a full-height vertical line, so every stage can be read against it. Make a Milestone Timeline has more on choosing them.

Keep it current

A PhD timeline is worth revisiting at every progress review. Pick a Percent Complete value (also under More Options) on each stage as the work gets done. To see the plan against today, click the Appearance button above the timeline, open the Axis section and check Display a line on today's date. Preceden draws a red vertical line at today's date, so anything unfinished to the left of it is behind.

To show your supervisor or committee, share a link to the timeline, or click Share and download it as an Image or PDF to add to a proposal or a progress report. Print Your Timeline covers both.

The free plan allows up to 10 events on each timeline, which is enough for a first outline of the main stages. A full plan with each study and chapter usually needs more, and our paid plans lift the limit.

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