Estimate time to write a thesis chapter.
A thesis chapter costs three things. The first draft follows from word count and drafting speed, integrating each source takes about half an hour of locating, quoting and citing, and every supervisor revision round costs roughly forty percent of the original draft. With three rounds, revision exceeds the first draft — which is the single most useful thing to know when planning a submission date.
Draft and sources
Draft hours = chapter words / words per hour; source hours = sources x 0.5
Revision
Revision hours = draft hours x 0.4 x revision rounds
Because structural feedback means rewriting rather than editing. Moving an argument or reframing a chapter touches every paragraph, which is much closer to redrafting than to proofreading.
Three is typical for a thesis chapter and more is common for the first one, where you are also learning the expected conventions. Later chapters usually need fewer.