This research progress tracker is for master's and PhD students, and anyone running a long research project, who want to see each week whether the work is moving. It has three parts to copy: a weekly log, a monthly review for you and your supervisor, and a thesis timeline with milestones. Keep all three in one document.
Part 1: the weekly log (15 minutes, every Friday)
Copy this block for each week. Write in short phrases. The point is the record of decisions and blockers, not prose.
WEEK OF [date] Hours on research: [n]
DONE
- [task] -> [output: file, pages, records screened]
- [task] -> [output]
DECIDED (and why)
- [decision, e.g. dropped wave 3 of the survey] because [reason]
BLOCKED
- [blocker] | needs: [person or resource] | since: [date]
WINS
- [anything that worked, however small]
NEXT WEEK: THREE ACTIONS
1. [action with a visible output]
2. [action]
3. [action]
FILES TOUCHED
- [data or script name, version]
The "Decided" section is the one you will thank yourself for. When an examiner asks why you changed the sample, the answer and the date are in the log.
Part 2: the monthly review (30 minutes, send to your supervisor)
MONTH: [month year] Timeline status: [on track / 2 weeks behind / ahead]
MILESTONES THIS MONTH
| Milestone | Planned date | Status | Note |
| [e.g. ethics form] | [date] | [done/late] | [why, if late] |
WINS (3 at most)
- [result, draft section, accepted abstract]
BLOCKERS I NEED HELP WITH
- [blocker] -> [the specific help, e.g. a signature, an introduction]
WHAT I WILL DELIVER NEXT MONTH
- [deliverable] by [date]
QUESTIONS FOR OUR NEXT MEETING
1. [question needing a decision]
Send it a few days before your supervisor meeting. A meeting that starts from a written review spends its time on decisions. If you need to ask for that meeting, the research emails page has a template.
Part 3: thesis timeline templates with milestones
A timeline turns the weekly log into a yes-or-no question: are you on track? Use one row per phase and one milestone you can show someone.
A 12-month master's thesis timeline
| Phase | Months | Main tasks | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question and proposal | 1 to 2 | Topic, research question, short literature search | Proposal approved by supervisor |
| Ethics and setup | 2 to 3 | Ethics application, instruments, pilot | Ethics approval letter |
| Literature review | 2 to 4 | Search, reading, review chapter draft | Literature review draft |
| Data collection | 4 to 6 | Recruitment, surveys or interviews, cleaning | Clean dataset |
| Analysis | 6 to 8 | Analysis, tables, figures | Results chapter draft |
| Writing | 8 to 10 | Introduction, discussion, conclusion | Full first draft |
| Revision and submission | 10 to 12 | Supervisor feedback, editing, formatting | Thesis submitted |
A 36-month PhD timeline
| Phase | Months | Main tasks | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundations | 1 to 6 | Literature review, theoretical framework, methods training | Confirmation or qualifying report |
| Study 1 | 6 to 15 | Ethics, data collection, analysis | Study 1 paper submitted or chapter drafted |
| Study 2 | 13 to 24 | Design from Study 1 results, data, analysis | Study 2 chapter drafted |
| Study 3 or synthesis | 22 to 30 | Final study or integration across studies | Conference presentation |
| Writing up | 28 to 34 | Introduction, discussion, linking chapters | Full thesis draft |
| Submission and defense | 34 to 36 | Revisions, submission, defense preparation | Defense |
Both tables overlap phases on purpose: reading continues while you collect data. Hold back 10 to 20% of the total time as a buffer, and mark fixed dates you cannot move, such as ethics committee meetings, fieldwork seasons and the submission deadline. For how long each chapter should be, see how to write a thesis outline.
A filled week (invented)
Example only. The project and details are invented.
Week of 9 March. Hours: 22. Done: screened 180 abstracts (search log v3); drafted 900 words of the methods chapter. Decided: excluded studies before 2010 because the diagnostic criteria changed that year. Blocked: waiting for the hospital's data agreement since 20 February; needs the supervisor's signature. Wins: abstract accepted for the March conference. Next: finish full-text screening of 42 papers; ask supervisor to sign the agreement; draft the sampling section.
How to keep a research progress tracker in AI for Research
The weekly log on this page now has a home in the product: the Progress tab on every project.
- Open your thesis in Projects and choose the Progress tab.
- Add an entry each week or each month, in the same three parts as the log above: what you did, what blocked you, and what comes next.
- Share the project with your supervisor. People you share it with can read the log and comment on an entry, so feedback sits next to the week it is about.
- Before a supervisor meeting, ask for an AI summary of the entries since the last meeting: progress, open blockers and decisions to discuss. 1 credit. Read it before you send it; it summarizes only what you wrote.
- For the milestones, open the Thesis Suite and choose Research timeline. Describe the project, pick the time available (6, 12, 18, 24, 36 or 48 months), add a start month and fixed dates such as an ethics deadline or fieldwork window. You get a phases table, the dependencies between phases, risks with buffers, and supervisor checkpoints. 3 credits.
- Keep the timeline as a document in the same project. Every AI task you run is also saved in History, a second record of what you did.
| Task | Where | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Copy the log, review and timelines | This page | 0 |
| Weekly or monthly progress log, shared with a supervisor | Projects, Progress tab | 0 |
| AI summary for a supervisor meeting | Projects, Progress tab | 1 |
| Research timeline with risks and checkpoints | Thesis Suite | 3 |
| Thesis outline with a word budget per chapter | Thesis Suite | 3 |
See pricing for plans, and Projects for sharing and access levels.
What this research progress tracker and the tool do not do
-
There are no Gantt charts, and the Progress tab does not fill itself in: you write each entry.
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The AI summary uses only your entries and your supervisor's comments. It does not read your drafts or judge whether you are on track.
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The Research timeline does not know your program's rules, funding end date or your supervisor's leave. Add them as fixed dates, then check the plan with your supervisor.
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No tracker writes the thesis. It shows you, early, when the plan and the work have drifted apart.
Who it is for
Master's students in a one-year program (see AI for master's thesis work), PhD students reporting to a committee (see AI tools for PhD students), and research assistants who log work for a lab.
Learn more
- How to write a thesis outline
- How to organize research papers
- How to write a methodology chapter
- Thesis defense: what happens and how to prepare
Last updated 2026-11-13