What to write for your dissertation progress report? This is the question.

In dissertation project works, universities sometimes require students to write project  progress reports. Very often, universities prepare progress report form and/or to-do checklist to explain what students need to write in their progress reports. However, on many occasions, students just attach their original dissertation proposals or semi-finished dissertation drafts into the form and just skip most of the tasks required or just copy and paste proposal ideas in the progress form boxes that are unrelated to the questions asked in the progress form. When you ask them why they do not know how to write progress reports, they would sometimes say that the progress reporting requirements are not clearly explained by the local tutor(s). More frustratingly, overseas university staff sometimes also echo students' complaints that the poor progress reporting was partly due to unclear instructions from local tutor(s). In all these cases I am involved in, I am that local tutor - the one who did not explain clearly how to fill in the progress report form. There is just one problem with this complaint: it is only a collective fantasy of students and overseas lecturers.

First of all, the progress report form and the progress report guidelines provided by the university are already very clear what to expect to from the students' progress reports. I believe the problems of poor progress reporting from students can be:

1. The education centres and the university have recruited poor quality students who are very poor in English and in their intellectual ability.
2. The students are too busy on works and on study of other subjects so that they did not prepare proper dissertation proposals, to start with; thus, they are by now also confused what to write for their progress reports.
3. The students do not have a process view of dissertation project so that they do not know how to assess their "progress" made as against their "original project plans" [which are not clear anyway]. Students only focus on deliverables, e.g. proposals and final reports. To them, a progress report is conceptually difficult to comprehend. I need to point out that, the content of the proposals and the final reports from some of these students are very unclear and confusing in their line of reasoning anyway.

There are situations where the progress reporting problem of students is not serious; it is just that the students do not have time or do not bother to read the progress report form and/or progress guidelines. A more fundamental concern here is about students' learning attitude.. but this is a broader subject to discuss.