Who can coach me through my dissertation or thesis?

Coaching and model drafting for a dissertation, thesis or capstone, scoped chapter by chapter against your supervisor's schedule, with the commitment tier and warranty of MAAS Academic Support.

Direct answer: A dissertation is not a long assignment. It is scoped against a supervisor's feedback schedule, an ethics process and a chapter structure your department fixes, so it is scoped differently from the first conversation. MAAS EdTech pairs you with a discipline-matched expert, works to your milestone dates rather than one final deadline, and you remain the author of the work you submit.

Who is dissertation support for?

Dissertation support suits taught-master's and undergraduate students writing a final long-form project, particularly those whose supervisor works to milestone deadlines rather than one submission date.

• Master's students writing a dissertation with a supervisor-set milestone schedule
• Undergraduates on a final-year capstone or extended project
• Students who have a topic approved but no workable structure for the chapters
• Students whose methodology chapter does not match the question they proposed
• Students facing an ethics submission and unsure what it requires

This is not for you if you want the dissertation written for you. You write and submit the work. MAAS coaches the approach and reviews what you produce.

How is this different from an assignment?

An assignment is scoped by a rubric and one deadline. A dissertation is scoped by a chapter structure, a supervisor's feedback cycle, an ethics process and a data-collection method, and any one of those can move the others. That is why the scoping conversation below runs to ten questions rather than three, and why the work is planned backwards from milestones instead of forwards from today.

For a shorter piece with a single deadline, see assignment support. For session-by-session help rather than a scoped engagement, see tutoring. For a long advisory relationship in which you drive the research and MAAS reviews each phase, see academic mentoring.

What questions does MAAS ask to scope your dissertation?

Before an expert is matched, MAAS works through a checklist covering word count, deadline, supervisor feedback schedule, chapter structure, topic status, ethics and data method, because a dissertation quote that ignores any of those is a quote that will move later.

• What is the word count, and is it a maximum or does it allow a margin?
• What is the exact submission deadline, and can it be evidenced?
• Is there a schedule for sending work to your supervisor, and at which milestones: topic, literature review, methodology, first draft?
• Does your university set a required structure and a word count per chapter?
• Is the topic chosen and supervisor-approved, or does it still need guidance?
• Is there a proposal, and has it been approved?
• Is there an ethics form, and do you need help with it?
• Primary or secondary research, and what data-collection method?
• Quantitative or qualitative, and which analysis software?
• Can you share your university's referencing guide and your supervisor's profile?

Defence-preparation support, meaning slides and a rehearsal script, may involve additional scope and is quoted separately. Timing matters here too: a supervisor who reads drafts on a 2 weeks turnaround sets a very different plan from one who reads within 3 days, and that single answer often moves every milestone after it.

Does coaching actually change the outcome?

Yes, and it is one of the most replicated findings in education research, though the size of the advantage has been revised down since the original claim. Bloom (1984), writing in Educational Researcher volume 13 issue 6, pages 4 to 16, reported that students given one-to-one tutoring alongside regular testing and corrective feedback scored around two standard deviations above conventionally taught peers. VanLehn (2011), reviewing decades of comparative studies across pages 197 to 221 of Educational Psychologist, narrowed that figure without reversing its direction, putting the effect of expert human tutoring at d = 0.79.

The mechanism matters more than the number. Cohen, Kulik and Kulik (1982), whose meta-analysis appeared in the American Educational Research Journal volume 19 issue 2, pages 237 to 248, found the gains concentrated where the tutor could diagnose the specific gap rather than re-teach the whole topic. That is the case for reading your brief and your marking criteria before an expert is assigned, rather than after.

MAAS applies that through scale rather than assertion: a roster of 100+ experts, 23% holding a doctorate and 43% a Master's degree, and more than 10,000 projects delivered since 2015.

Level matters as much as contact time. Topping (1996), reviewing tutoring inside further and higher education across pages 321 to 345 of Higher Education volume 32 issue 3, found the strongest effects where the tutor held a clear level advantage over the learner rather than merely more enthusiasm. That is the reason a brief is matched on discipline and on writing experience at the relevant length, and the reason the scoping checklist above runs to ten questions before anyone is assigned.

What do you get with dissertation support?

You get a chapter-by-chapter plan tied to your supervisor's milestone dates, a discipline-matched expert who has written at this length, and structured feedback at each milestone rather than one review at the end.

• A chapter plan mapped to your supervisor's feedback schedule, not to a single deadline
• Model drafting and coaching at each milestone, in the commitment tier you choose
• Methodology review, checking that the design can answer the question you proposed
• Referencing set up in your university's required style from the first chapter
• Similarity and AI screening with industry-standard tools, run 7 days before your deadline rather than on the day

How it works

What do you need to prepare?

Bring your brief or handbook, your supervisor's feedback schedule if one exists, your approved proposal, your university's referencing guide, and any ethics paperwork. If your department publishes a word count per chapter, bring that too: 12,000 words split across five chapters is a different piece of work from the same 12,000 words across three, and it changes the milestone plan. If the topic is not yet approved, say so at the start, because that changes the sequence and the quote.

Which commitment tier and warranty apply?

Dissertation support runs on the same three commitment tiers as the rest of MAAS Academic Support. Standard targets a Pass with a Master-level discipline expert. Premium, the tier most clients choose, targets Merit, meaning 60 to 69 on the UK scale, and adds peer review plus an AI check on top of the similarity screening. Advanced targets Distinction, meaning 70 and above, and puts a PhD-level expert on the brief with a full integrity audit. All three carry unlimited revisions, three-layer QA and a warranty of 45 days, and all three refund 100% if the stated outcome is not reached.

The full tier table, the refund terms and the factors that decide your quote are set out on the academic support page rather than repeated here, so the commercial terms live in one place and there is one version of them to keep current.

Who will actually work with you?

Across the MAAS roster of 100+ experts, 23% hold a doctorate and 43% hold a Master's degree, and a dissertation brief is matched only to someone who has written at that length in your discipline. MAAS EdTech has delivered more than 10,000 projects since 2015.

That matching rule follows the evidence rather than convenience: the level advantage Topping (1996) identified is the part that carries the effect.

See the anonymised expert roster on our experts page.

Frequently asked questions

MAAS scopes a dissertation against your supervisor's milestone schedule, matches a discipline expert who has written at that length, and coaches you chapter by chapter, while you write and submit the work under your own name.

Is a dissertation just a longer assignment?
No, and treating it as one is the most common scoping error. An assignment has a rubric and a deadline. A dissertation has a chapter structure, a supervisor feedback cycle, an ethics process and a data method, and each of those can move the others. That is why the scoping checklist runs to ten questions.

Do you write the dissertation for me?
No. You write and submit the work. MAAS coaches the approach, provides model drafting at the tier you choose, and reviews what you produce. The research decisions and the submission are yours.

What if my methodology does not fit my research question?
MAAS says so during scoping and explains why. Reconstructing a design is a significant change, so it is proposed with the reasoning and decided with you, never applied without your agreement.

How far ahead should I start?
Earlier than most people do, because the sequence is set by other people's calendars rather than yours. An ethics decision can take 3 weeks, a supervisor may read on a 2 weeks cycle, and a chapter that needs data cannot begin until collection is done. Working backwards from the submission date usually shows the real start point sits 2 months earlier than expected.

Can you help with the ethics form?
Yes, that is part of scoping rather than an add-on. Tell us at the start whether an ethics submission is required, because it usually sits before data collection and therefore moves every milestone after it.

What if my supervisor gives feedback that contradicts the plan?
Your supervisor's instruction wins, every time. The plan is rebuilt around it. That is why the schedule is tied to their feedback cycle rather than to a fixed internal timetable.

Why does the expert's own level matter so much?
Because the research points there rather than at contact time. Topping (1996) found the strongest tutoring effects where the tutor held a clear level advantage over the learner, and VanLehn (2011) put expert human tutoring at d = 0.79 across decades of comparative studies. A dissertation brief is therefore matched on discipline and on writing experience at that length, not on availability.

How is this different from academic mentoring?
Mentoring is a longer advisory relationship in which you drive the research across phases and MAAS reviews each one. Dissertation support is a scoped engagement with a commitment tier and a warranty. Two different commitments, and the choice depends on how much of the work you intend to carry yourself.

References

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The 2 sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Researcher, 13(6), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X013006004

Cohen, P. A., Kulik, J. A., & Kulik, C. C. (1982). Educational outcomes of tutoring: A meta-analysis of findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19(2), 237–248. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312019002237

Topping, K. J. (1996). The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: A typology and review of the literature. Higher Education, 32(3), 321–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138870

VanLehn, K. (2011). The relative effectiveness of human tutoring, intelligent tutoring systems, and other tutoring systems. Educational Psychologist, 46(4), 197–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2011.611369