Is a Gantt chart acceptable in a proposal?

Yes; many department templates are Gantt charts or tables. Export the PNG and insert it into Word, or fill in a table using the task list from the code.

How is a milestone written?

Proposal defence :milestone, a3, after a2, 0d: a duration of 0d draws a diamond.

Can I show month names in another language?

%b uses the browser's English month abbreviations. For fixed labels use %m (numeric month) instead.

Thesis Timeline Gantt Chart Template

Previewed in the “Ink Teal” theme; you can switch themes in the editor

When to use it

The timeline section of a bachelor's or master's proposal, or the plan a supervisor asks for. The axis shows months across roughly eight months; the proposal defence and the final defence are milestones (diamonds).

Making it yours

Set the date on Choose topic to the start of your term; the other tasks follow via after.
For experimental work rename "Data collection" to "Experiments and records"; theoretical work can drop some research tasks.
If the department requires a mid-term review, add a milestone before the writing section.
To show days on the axis, change axisFormat %b to %m-%d.

Mermaid code

thesis-schedule-gantt.mmd

gantt
    title Thesis timeline
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat %b
    todayMarker off
    section Topic and proposal
    Choose topic :a1, 2026-09-15, 14d
    Literature review :a2, after a1, 21d
    Proposal defence :milestone, a3, after a2, 0d
    section Research
    Study design :b1, after a2, 14d
    Data collection :b2, after b1, 30d
    Data analysis :b3, after b2, 21d
    section Writing
    First draft :c1, after b3, 30d
    Supervisor revisions :c2, after c1, 14d
    Final draft and plagiarism check :c3, after c2, 10d
    section Defence
    Defence preparation :d1, after c3, 7d
    Thesis defence :milestone, d2, after d1, 0d

Ask an AI for one with this structure

Send the prompt below to ChatGPT or Claude, then paste the whole reply into the editor; the code inside is detected automatically.

prompt.txt

Draw a thesis timeline as a Mermaid gantt chart with dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD and four sections: Topic and proposal, Research, Writing, Defence. Choose topic 14 days, literature review 21 days, proposal defence as a milestone; study design 14 days, data collection 30 days, data analysis 21 days; first draft 30 days, supervisor revisions 14 days, final draft and plagiarism check 10 days; defence preparation 7 days and thesis defence as a milestone. Chain the tasks with after, starting on 2026-09-15. Output only the mermaid code block.

FAQ

Is a Gantt chart acceptable in a proposal?: Yes; many department templates are Gantt charts or tables. Export the PNG and insert it into Word, or fill in a table using the task list from the code.
How is a milestone written?: Proposal defence :milestone, a3, after a2, 0d: a duration of 0d draws a diamond.
Can I show month names in another language?: %b uses the browser's English month abbreviations. For fixed labels use %m (numeric month) instead.

More in this category

All templates

Updated 2026-09-05