# Grad Coach

> Grad Coach provides one-on-one coaching, language editing, transcription and
> qualitative data coding to postgraduate students writing dissertations and
> theses. Coaches are doctoral-qualified academics. The site also publishes a large
> free library of research guides, templates and checklists.

Grad Coach coaches students through their own research. It does not write,
ghostwrite or sell academic work — coaching is teaching and feedback on work
the student produces themselves. This distinction is deliberate and is the
basis of the service.

Rated 4.9 by clients, with 10,000+ students coached across
500+ universities. Prices vary by visitor location (USD, EUR, GBP)
and are shown on the pricing pages rather than stated here.

## Services

- [Dissertation & thesis coaching](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-coaching/): One-on-one coaching through any or all chapters, matched to the student's methodology and field
- [Research topic help](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-topic-help/): Finding and refining a viable, original research topic
- [Research proposal help](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-proposal-help/): Developing and strengthening a proposal before submission
- [Literature review help](https://gradcoach.com/literature-review-help/): Sourcing, synthesizing and structuring the literature review chapter
- [Research methodology help](https://gradcoach.com/research-methodology-help/): Designing and justifying a methodology
- [Data analysis help](https://gradcoach.com/data-analysis-help/): Qualitative and quantitative analysis support
- [Defense and viva preparation](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-defense-viva-voce/): Mock defenses and preparation for the oral examination
- [Editing and proofreading](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-editing-services/): Academic language editing — the argument stays the author’s
- [Transcription](https://gradcoach.com/transcription-service/): Human transcription of research interviews and focus groups
- [Qualitative data coding](https://gradcoach.com/qualitative-data-coding-service/): Coded by hand by doctoral-level specialists, matched to the methodology
- [All services](https://gradcoach.com/services/)
- [Specialist Services](https://gradcoach.com/time-savers/): Editing, transcription and qualitative coding, done by hand by the Specialist Services team
- [Pricing](https://gradcoach.com/pricing/): Rates for coaching and for Specialist Services

## Research topic ideas

The most-used section of the site — ready-made research topic ideas by field.

- [Research topics by field](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics/): The index covering every discipline below
- [Education](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-education/)
- [Nursing](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-nursing/)
- [Healthcare](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-healthcare/)
- [Psychology](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-psychology/)
- [Mental health](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-mental-health/)
- [Finance](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-finance/)
- [Business & MBA](https://gradcoach.com/business-mba-research-topics/)
- [AI & machine learning](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-ai-machine-learning/)
- [Computer science](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-computer-science/)
- [Data science & analytics](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-ideas-data-science-analytics/)
- [Environmental sciences](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-environmental-sciences/)
- [Political science](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-political-sciences/)
- [Communication](https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-communication/)

## Most-read guides

- [The Saunders research onion](https://gradcoach.com/saunders-research-onion/): The research onion framework explained layer by layer
- [Research philosophy](https://gradcoach.com/research-philosophy/): Positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism in plain language
- [How to write the methodology chapter](https://gradcoach.com/how-to-write-the-methodology-chapter/)
- [Quantitative data analysis methods](https://gradcoach.com/quantitative-data-analysis-methods/)
- [Theoretical vs conceptual framework](https://gradcoach.com/theoretical-framework-vs-conceptual-framework/): The distinction students most often get wrong
- [What is a research gap](https://gradcoach.com/research-gap/): How to identify one and how to articulate it
- [Research aims, objectives and questions](https://gradcoach.com/research-aims-objectives-questions/): How the three differ and how they connect
- [Nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio](https://gradcoach.com/nominal-ordinal-interval-ratio/): The four levels of measurement
- [Research proposal example](https://gradcoach.com/research-proposal-example/): A full worked example with commentary
- [Thesis acknowledgements examples](https://gradcoach.com/thesis-acknowledgements-examples/)

## Free templates and tools

- [Research Toolkit](https://gradcoach.com/toolkit/): Every free template, checklist, video tutorial and guide, in one searchable library (email opt-in)
- [Templates](https://gradcoach.com/templates/): Chapter and document templates
- [Checklists](https://gradcoach.com/checklists/): Per-chapter checklists to run before submission
- [Acknowledgments Template](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-acknowledgements-template/): Fill-in-the-blank thanks, ordered from supervisor and committee down to family.
- [APA 7 Template](https://gradcoach.com/apa-7-template/): Title page, abstract, body, references and appendix, formatted to APA 7th edition.
- [Discussion Chapter Template](https://gradcoach.com/thesis-discussion-template/): Interprets your findings against the literature and answers your research questions.
- [Dissertation Project Plan Template](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-plan/): A Google Sheet mapping all seven stages to dates, so you can see the whole project at once.
- [Full Dissertation Template](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-template/): All six chapters in one document, pre-formatted and ready to write into.
- [Literature Review Catalog](https://gradcoach.com/literature-review-excel-template/): A pre-filled citation catalog, plus three blank tabs for frameworks, measures and interview questions.
- [Literature Review Template](https://gradcoach.com/literature-review-template/): A thematic structure that builds toward your research gap, not a list of summaries.
- [Methodology Template](https://gradcoach.com/methodology-template/): Design, sampling, data collection and analysis, each with space to justify your choice.
- [MLA 9 Template](https://gradcoach.com/mla-9-template/): Header, heading structure, in-text citations and works cited, formatted to MLA 9th edition.
- [Qualitative Codebook Template](https://gradcoach.com/qualitative-codebook-template/): A spreadsheet for defining each code, when it applies, when it doesn't, and the extract that proves it.
- [Research Paper Template](https://gradcoach.com/research-paper-template/): A shorter structure for a standalone paper rather than a full dissertation.
- [Research Proposal Template](https://gradcoach.com/research-proposal-template/): The full proposal structure, from problem statement through to timeline and budget.
- [Research Results Template](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-results-template/): Presents findings with captioned tables and figures, and keeps interpretation out.
- [Research Topic Evaluator](https://gradcoach.com/research-topic-evaluator/): Scores each candidate topic on originality, data access, time, ethics and supervisor fit.
- [Research Topic Mega List](https://gradcoach.com/research-topic-list/): 1,000+ starting ideas across every major discipline, to spark a topic rather than hand you one.
- [Statistics Cheat Sheet](https://gradcoach.com/statistics-cheatsheet/): One reference sheet for descriptive and inferential statistics, and which test to reach for.
- [Thesis Conclusion Template](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-conclusion-template/): Answers, implications, limitations and recommendations, in the order examiners expect.
- [Thesis Introduction Template](https://gradcoach.com/thesis-introduction-template/): Sets up your study: background, research gap, aims, objectives and scope.
- [Conclusion Section Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/research-conclusion-checklist/): Whether you answered the question you asked, and what you claim follows from it.
- [Dissertation Intro Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-introduction-checklist/): Whether your context, aims and scope actually set up the chapters that follow.
- [Literature Review Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/literature-review-checklist/): Coverage, critical synthesis, and whether your research gap is visible to a reader.
- [Methodology Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/research-methodology-checklist/): Whether your paradigm, design and methods fit together, and are defended.
- [Research Proposal Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/research-proposal-checklist/): Ten sections of checks, from your title and research gap to ethics and timeline.
- [Results/Analysis Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-results-checklist/): Presentation, visuals, and the line between reporting results and interpreting them.
- [The #1 Dissertation Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-checklist/): The A–Z pass: every chapter, plus title page, abstract, references and appendix.
- [Thesis Discussion Checklist](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-discussion-checklist/): Interpretation against the literature, limitations, and the return to your research gap.

## Dissertation and thesis examples

Complete, real dissertations and theses, hosted in full and free to download. Every document is openly licensed and republished unaltered, with its license and source repository named on the page.

- [Dissertation and thesis examples](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/): Complete dissertations and theses, free to download, each with a note on what it does well
- [Doctoral examples](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/doctoral/): PhD theses and professional doctorates
- [Master's examples](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/masters/): Master's dissertations and theses
- [Business & management](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/business/): Finance, accounting, logistics, HR and innovation, including the three-essay thesis most business students first meet when they are told to write one.
- [Computer science](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/computer-science/): Machine learning, security and systems, three of the five Master’s-length. Two carry an explicit one-sentence thesis statement worth borrowing in any field.
- [Data science & analytics](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/data-science/): Fairness in AI systems, education analytics, optimal transport and large-scale logistics: the human end of data work and the mathematical end, in one set.
- [Education](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/education/): Three doctorates and two Master’s, including the alignment table that lays out every research question against its variables and its analysis.
- [Environmental science](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/environmental-science/): Environmental DNA, water infrastructure under deep uncertainty, disease ecology and a Master’s that reports its own instrument failing.
- [Finance & accounting](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/finance/): Three-essay theses, one formal model and a 122-page Master’s, plus the clearest literature review here: two opposed schools, then a resolution.
- [Healthcare](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/public-health/): A replicable scoping review, a thesis built on someone else’s dataset, and a theory-building study that shows where a framework comes from.
- [Marketing & advertising](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/marketing/): Experiments, conjoint analysis and causal identification. Three are Master’s-length, and two model the things student experiments skip most.
- [Nursing](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/nursing/): One PhD and four Doctor of Nursing Practice projects: the format most US nursing doctorates actually take, and the one nobody explains properly.
- [Political science](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/political-science/): Case selection, mixed methods and pure political theory, including the best answer here to “it is only one case, so what can you generalize?”
- [Psychology](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/psychology/): Clinical, cognitive, developmental and applied, with a professional-doctorate portfolio and a null result that is diagnosed rather than buried.
- [Sociology](https://gradcoach.com/dissertation-thesis-examples/sociology/): Ethnography from inside the community being studied, computational work on hand-built datasets, and the clearest three-article dissertation here.

## Research question examples

Research questions taken word for word from completed dissertations and theses, labeled by method and question type, each one cited to the study that asked it.

- [Research question examples](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/): Verbatim research questions from completed dissertations, each linked to the study that asked it
- [Quantitative research questions](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/quantitative/): Questions that name their variables and measure them
- [Qualitative research questions](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/qualitative/): Questions that ask what something is like, and for whom
- [Education](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/education/): 809 questions from 370 dissertations
- [Business & management](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/business/): 353 questions from 184 dissertations
- [Engineering](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/engineering/): 141 questions from 74 dissertations
- [Library & info science](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/information-science/): 121 questions from 40 dissertations
- [Healthcare & medicine](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/healthcare/): 95 questions from 47 dissertations
- [Marketing & advertising](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/marketing/): 88 questions from 47 dissertations
- [Languages & linguistics](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/languages-linguistics/): 81 questions from 37 dissertations
- [Sport & exercise science](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/sport-exercise/): 80 questions from 37 dissertations
- [Sociology](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/sociology/): 77 questions from 44 dissertations
- [Communication](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/communication/): 72 questions from 37 dissertations
- [Political science](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/political-science/): 68 questions from 30 dissertations
- [Environmental science](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/environmental-science/): 64 questions from 32 dissertations
- [Psychology](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/psychology/): 60 questions from 28 dissertations
- [Computer science](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/computer-science/): 56 questions from 21 dissertations
- [Public health](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/public-health/): 54 questions from 26 dissertations
- [Social work](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/social-work/): 52 questions from 24 dissertations
- [Arts & design](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/arts-design/): 50 questions from 23 dissertations
- [Finance & accounting](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/finance/): 35 questions from 18 dissertations
- [Nursing](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/nursing/): 34 questions from 15 dissertations
- [AI & machine learning](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/ai-machine-learning/): 30 questions from 15 dissertations
- [Mental health & wellbeing](https://gradcoach.com/research-question-examples/mental-health/): 30 questions from 20 dissertations

## Guides by topic

The full guide library, grouped into topic hubs.

- [Academic Writing Basics](https://gradcoach.com/category/academic-writing/): Everything you need to structure your argument, write clearly and sound like a researcher.
- [Apps & Tools](https://gradcoach.com/category/apps-tools/): Everything you need to pick the right research tools, from reference managers to AI assistants.
- [The Dissertation Dictionary](https://gradcoach.com/category/dissertation-dictionary/): Everything you need to decode the jargon, explained in plain English with real examples.
- [Dissertation & Thesis Examples](https://gradcoach.com/category/dissertation-examples/): Everything you need to see what a top-grade dissertation looks like, annotated throughout.
- [Dissertation & Thesis Writing](https://gradcoach.com/category/dissertation-thesis-writing/): Everything you need to plan, write and finish your dissertation or thesis, step by step.
- [Henley MBA Tips & Guides](https://gradcoach.com/category/henley-mba-tips/): Everything you need to tackle the Henley MBA coursework and research project with confidence.
- [Writing the Literature Review](https://gradcoach.com/category/lit-review/): Everything you need to find, read and synthesize the literature into a strong review chapter.
- [Research Methodology & Analysis](https://gradcoach.com/category/methodology-analysis/): Everything you need to choose, justify and carry out your research methodology.
- [The Grad Coach Podcast](https://gradcoach.com/category/podcast/): Everything from our podcast, with honest conversations about research and academic life.
- [Research Q&A](https://gradcoach.com/category/qa/): Everything students ask us most often, answered simply and in under five minutes.
- [Qualitative Analysis](https://gradcoach.com/category/qualitative-analysis/): Everything you need to analyze interviews, focus groups and documents with confidence.
- [Qualitative Data Coding](https://gradcoach.com/category/qualitative-data-coding/): Everything you need to code your qualitative data, from first codebook to saturation.
- [Quantitative Analysis](https://gradcoach.com/category/quantitative-analysis/): Everything you need to run your statistics and explain what the numbers actually mean.
- [Referencing & Formatting](https://gradcoach.com/category/referencing-formatting/): Everything you need to cite correctly and format consistently, in any referencing style.
- [Research Proposal Writing](https://gradcoach.com/category/research-proposal/): Everything you need to write a research proposal your committee will approve.
- [Research Topic Ideation](https://gradcoach.com/category/research-topic-ideation/): Everything you need to find a research topic that is original, feasible and interesting.
- [Research Leaders Roundtable](https://gradcoach.com/category/rlr/): Everything from our roundtable, where supervisors and examiners share what they look for.
- [Work Smarter](https://gradcoach.com/category/work-smarter/): Everything you need to stay motivated, manage your time and keep your project moving.

## About

- [About Grad Coach](https://gradcoach.com/about/): The team, their credentials, and how coaching works
- [Client reviews](https://gradcoach.com/grad-coach-reviews/)
- [Guarantees](https://gradcoach.com/guarantees/)
- [Frequently asked questions](https://gradcoach.com/faq/)
- [For institutions](https://gradcoach.com/institutions/)
- [Contact](https://gradcoach.com/contact/)

## Optional

- [All guides](https://gradcoach.com/blog-all/): The complete index of every post on the site
- [Expert contributors](https://gradcoach.com/contributors/)
- [The Grad Coach podcast](https://gradcoach.com/podcast/)
- [Events](https://gradcoach.com/events/)
- [Blueprints courses](https://gradcoach.com/blueprints/): Self-paced courses on the research process
- [Work with us](https://gradcoach.com/work-with-us/)
- [Privacy policy](https://gradcoach.com/privacy/)
- [Terms and conditions](https://gradcoach.com/terms-conditions/)