Those who are already highly experienced at writing dissertations are all of the opinion that the contents of a dissertation proposal are subject to a lot of modifications once the actual research has begun. Therefore, one would wonder, “What's the point of writing a dissertation proposal if it's going to undergo a lot of changes anyway?” Well, the answer is that it will be the guide which will point the writer of dissertations to the right direction. Taking the metaphor of travel, a dissertation proposal serves as the map that will help the student determine the starting point of the journey, the landmarks along the way and the end point. The actual experiences of the travel, which will not be known until the trip itself, represent the dissertation project.
