Where do you start with a dissertation?

[Paintinmyhair]

I have been given the title, which is v narrow, and told to turn in 40 pages by June. That's it. Am really struggling to know where to start, what to do, and how I'm meant to go about it! Where does one begin?

Well I didn't do a dissertation so much as a project (i.e. experiment and write-up) but think there is cross-over. I don't know what your area of study is but the first thing I'd do is read around the subject. Get yourself as familiar as you can with the literature around your area, make notes, compare things etc. I found that most of my time was spent in that kind of work and the actual writing came fairly naturally and didn't take too long compared with the research.

If you start by thinking about the number of pages you have to write you'll just feel scunnered. Honestly, forget the writing to begin with and get read-up first.

Begin with a literature search. Depends on the area, but do a good search of any electronic databases you have access to to get a feel for what has been written. Try to be meticulous with keeping track of references from the beginning, it will save you a ton of time at the end. Do as much reading as possible and take notes as you go along.
Then brainstorm/mind-map/block it out - how many sections you need and how many words in each. You will write over and need to cut back of course, but it helps to know roughly where you need to be with wordcounts as you go alone.
Then all you need to do is write it up.

I'm in the middle of mine, and I'm still not entirely sure.

Whats the subject and topic?

You ladies are genius's! It is the impact of the European Court of Justice Ruling in FNV v Albron on English Transfer of Undertaking Agreements (European Labour Law). I keep getting excited, and then inwardly groaning!