Dissertation Writing in 2025: What ChatGPT Can’t Do
Rick Beaver
In 2025, the way students write dissertations has changed with the help of new tools like AI and ChatGPT, offering unprecedented assistance for students tackling their final academic projects. The demand for dissertation writing services has increased as many students seek support in navigating the complexities of research, writing, and formatting. Some students might even wonder, “Can ChatGPT write my dissertation?” While ChatGPT can certainly help with some aspects of dissertation writing, there are areas where it falls short. This article explores the capabilities of AI in dissertation writing, its limitations, and what it simply cannot do for students in the pursuit of academic excellence.
Before knowing what ChatGPT can't do, it’s important to understand what it can do. As an AI language model, ChatGPT can be an invaluable tool for students during the dissertation process. Whether it’s helping to generate ideas, suggest possible thesis statements, refine writing style, or even assist with citations, it offers a range of functions that can save time and improve the quality of work. For example, students can use ChatGPT to help brainstorm a research topic, find related academic articles, or refine sections of their dissertation that might need more clarity or coherence.
One of the primary reasons students turn to a dissertation writing service is to overcome these very challenges—generating ideas, improving the flow of arguments, or even getting assistance with specific sections of their dissertation. ChatGPT can complement such services by providing quick drafts, answering questions about research methodologies, or suggesting ways to present data. In these contexts, ChatGPT can serve as a helpful assistant to students looking for dissertation help with greater efficiency.
However, despite its utility, there are several tasks and aspects of dissertation writing that AI simply cannot handle effectively.
AI can synthesize vast amounts of information, but it lacks the critical thinking skills that are essential in dissertation writing. A dissertation requires original thought, in-depth research, and a nuanced understanding of the topic—elements that go beyond simple data processing. ChatGPT, while useful for generating ideas or summarizing research, cannot replace the intellectual rigor required to analyze data, draw conclusions, or present a new theory based on one’s own research.
Dissertations are expected to contribute to the body of academic knowledge, which means students must engage in critical analysis, evaluate existing literature, and identify gaps in research. This level of intellectual engagement requires human reasoning and subject-specific expertise—qualities that an AI cannot replicate. For instance, when a student is writing a literature review, ChatGPT can assist by suggesting relevant articles, but it cannot evaluate the credibility of sources, assess the quality of research methods, or determine whether an article truly addresses the research question in a meaningful way.
When it comes to academic integrity, ChatGPT can inadvertently pose challenges. Since the AI is trained on vast datasets, it might not always distinguish between properly cited work and potentially plagiarized content. While ChatGPT is highly skilled at generating coherent text, ensuring that all information is appropriately cited and correctly referenced falls on the writer, not the AI. This brings us to a key limitation: ChatGPT cannot guarantee the accuracy of citations or ensure proper adherence to academic citation styles such as APA, MLA, or Chicago.
In the process of writing a dissertation, students must ensure that they follow the guidelines of their specific academic institution, which might include particular formats or requirements for structuring the paper. ChatGPT can assist with general formatting suggestions, but it cannot fully tailor the document to specific institutional needs. Furthermore, it cannot access databases or journals behind paywalls to retrieve the latest research, which means students must conduct their own searches for primary sources and databases that are not included in the public domain.
Originality is a cornerstone of academic writing, and in dissertation writing, this principle is especially important. A dissertation must demonstrate the student’s ability to produce new insights, build upon existing theories, and create a work that contributes something novel to the academic field. While ChatGPT can certainly help generate text, it does not have the ability to engage in the creative and independent thought processes that fuel originality in research.
An AI tool like ChatGPT is reliant on patterns within existing data, meaning that any work it generates is inherently derivative. For example, ChatGPT might help a student explore how certain research questions have been tackled before, but it lacks the capacity to push the boundaries of those studies or offer new hypotheses that challenge current knowledge. Students must develop their own research questions, justify their methodologies, and interpret their results in ways that AI cannot replicate. The human touch in shaping the dissertation's unique contribution to a specific academic field is irreplaceable.
One of the major tasks that a dissertation involves is the design and execution of original research. Whether a student is conducting a quantitative study, performing qualitative interviews, or working on a mixed-methods approach, the process of gathering and analyzing primary data is fundamental to a dissertation. ChatGPT, as an AI language model, has no capability to conduct primary research—it cannot design surveys, administer questionnaires, interview subjects, or gather empirical data.
This means that while ChatGPT can assist with secondary research (such as synthesizing existing literature), it cannot help with the actual data collection that underpins the dissertation. Conducting fieldwork or laboratory experiments, managing large datasets, or analyzing qualitative responses are all tasks that require human intervention. AI cannot replace the hands-on work of gathering and interpreting primary data, nor can it navigate the ethical considerations involved in research involving human participants.
While ChatGPT can offer assistance at different stages of writing, it is not capable of replacing the expertise of a dissertation advisor or supervisor. Dissertation supervisors provide critical feedback, guide students through their research processes, and offer expert advice based on years of experience. AI, on the other hand, lacks the ability to provide nuanced, personalized guidance that aligns with the student’s research interests and academic goals.
In dissertation writing, regular feedback from a qualified academic advisor is essential to ensure that the project is on track and adheres to the standards of academic rigor. Supervisors can help refine research questions, suggest methodological improvements, and steer students away from common pitfalls. ChatGPT, despite its advanced capabilities, cannot offer the same level of insight, accountability, or mentorship that a dedicated human advisor can.
Finally, there are ethical considerations when using AI tools like ChatGPT for dissertation writing. Some students may be tempted to over-rely on AI, using it to generate entire sections of their dissertation without making meaningful contributions of their own. This could raise questions about authorship and academic integrity. Universities may view the excessive use of AI tools as a form of academic dishonesty if it leads to a lack of original thought or misrepresentation of one’s own intellectual work.
Dissertation writing is not just about completing a large academic task—it is also about demonstrating mastery of a subject area, refining academic skills, and contributing to a broader intellectual community. Overuse of AI in a dissertation might compromise the authenticity of the work and the student’s development as a scholar.
While ChatGPT can be a powerful ally in certain aspects of dissertation writing, there are crucial elements of the dissertation process that require human expertise, intellectual rigor, and original thought. Dissertation writing services and AI tools like ChatGPT can assist in improving writing quality, brainstorming ideas, and organizing content, but they cannot replace the deep research, critical thinking, and intellectual contributions that students must make on their own. As AI tools continue to evolve, they can undoubtedly streamline the dissertation process, but students should remain engaged in every aspect of their academic work, ensuring that their dissertation reflects their true capabilities and academic growth. The future of dissertation writing will likely involve a partnership between students and AI, but the human element will always remain central to the process.