Thesis - how much work?

I'm having a bit of a panic about my MA thesis. I don't think I'm spending enough time on it. Four or five hours work would be a good day for me, and often I get nothing at all done. I probably did a total of about 12 hours this week, due to illness, appointments, arranging job interviews and packing up to move out of the flat. That said, I've over 10,000 words done (out of 15,000) and a fairly solid idea of what I want to write for the rest. My deadline is 1st September. I envisaged myself going to the library every day from 9 to 5 and it just hasn't happened yet. I've had odd days where I have done that and got loads done, but the rest of the time I'm just doing bits here and there. I think I'm going to have to cop myself on big time through August and do the 8 hour days, but is it enough? I hear everyone else going on about how hard it is and how much work it is, and to be honest, I don't feel like I've being working hard at all. I feel like having a day or two off a week is better than working every waking hour, but perhaps I'm deluding myself?

Odysseus

Tegan Tender Tether wrote: »

I'm having a bit of a panic about my MA thesis. I don't think I'm spending enough time on it. Four or five hours work would be a good day for me, and often I get nothing at all done. I probably did a total of about 12 hours this week, due to illness, appointments, arranging job interviews and packing up to move out of the flat. That said, I've over 10,000 words done (out of 15,000) and a fairly solid idea of what I want to write for the rest. My deadline is 1st September. I envisaged myself going to the library every day from 9 to 5 and it just hasn't happened yet. I've had odd days where I have done that and got loads done, but the rest of the time I'm just doing bits here and there. I think I'm going to have to cop myself on big time through August and do the 8 hour days, but is it enough? I hear everyone else going on about how hard it is and how much work it is, and to be honest, I don't feel like I've being working hard at all. I feel like having a day or two off a week is better than working every waking hour, but perhaps I'm deluding myself?

Well it depends are you happy with what you have done so far? You still have a month left, at most one more chapter and your intro and conclusion. If I was in your postion I would be looking at having it done within two weeks, left the rest to revise it and make changes. At three days a week I would see it as doable, however, I would acess it by setting targets rather than time spent. We all delude ourselves, making sure you don't sabotage yourself is the main thing.

Odysseus

Odysseus wrote: »

Well it depends are you happy with what you have done so far? You still have a month left, at most one more chapter and your intro and conclusion. If I was in your postion I would be looking at having it done within two weeks, left the rest to revise it and make changes. At three days a week I would see it as doable, however, I would acess it by setting targets rather than time spent. We all delude ourselves, making sure you don't sabotage yourself is the main thing.

Fairly happy. I just find it hard to put some of the ideas down on paper. I have to force myself to just do it so I don't end up with half a thesis, but I'm never quite happy with what I do write. I've spent most of today fiddling around with one page of text because I'm afraid it could look like I'm contradicting myself, or making generalisations or unfounded statements on this particular topic. I seemed to be ahead of schedule and then realised the deadline was slowly creeping up on me. My supervisor said I had loads of time which didn't help, it sort of gave me a false sense of security. I guess in theory I could finish it in a week, I have all my materials and only 3-4000 words to go, but I really want it to be good.

baby and crumble

Tegan Tender Tether wrote:

I have all my materials and only 3-4000 words to go, but I really want it to be good.

My advice to you is just get your head down and write solidly, even if it seems crap, for a few days, then worry about editing later. I used to be terrible for wanting to get it just right, but at some point you just need words on paper.

Good luck!

zoegh

zoegh wrote: »

My advice to you is just get your head down and write solidly, even if it seems crap, for a few days, then worry about editing later. I used to be terrible for wanting to get it just right, but at some point you just need words on paper.

Good luck!

Yeah, I will try that. I just get so stressed with outside-thesis stuff. It's 1.30 am now and I've done nothing today yet, with sorting out job interviews and viewing flats and just worrying about not getting this thing done on time. Tomorrow, new leaf.

Odysseus

Tegan Tender Tether wrote: »

Fairly happy. I just find it hard to put some of the ideas down on paper. I have to force myself to just do it so I don't end up with half a thesis, but I'm never quite happy with what I do write. I've spent most of today fiddling around with one page of text because I'm afraid it could look like I'm contradicting myself, or making generalisations or unfounded statements on this particular topic. I seemed to be ahead of schedule and then realised the deadline was slowly creeping up on me. My supervisor said I had loads of time which didn't help, it sort of gave me a false sense of security. I guess in theory I could finish it in a week, I have all my materials and only 3-4000 words to go, but I really want it to be good.

Clearly you want to hand it the best peice of work you can, but very few people I know where 100% happy with the final product. Remember with a minor thesis you are very limited in the amount of areas you can address. My MA thesis work out a 56,000 words and tbh honest I felt I had to leave out a load of different aspects as I just did not have the space to address them.

Best of luck with them.

LadyMayBelle

And remember a standard 9-5 doesn't work for everyone. I lived in a house with four other girls from my course, all of us doing thesis. Three worked excellent from 8/9-4/5, one worked best from 6-2/3am (I know!) and personally, I slept in till 11am, worked from then until 9pm, taking a break for dinner.

I just end up doing nothing for entire days. Today I had to organise flights and accommodation for an interview, which took several hours, go to a special library, an hour each direction, to get some books, then a doctor's appointment which was running late so took ages, then had a bad headache and went to bed, so it was after 5 by the time I even thought about starting, then something else came up and now it's 10pm and I've only done an hour's work and I'm more stressed than ever. I spoke to a few classmates yesterday and it seems like everyone is in the same boat, but I just have the feeling I should be doing more. For some reason, I seem to be more productive than most people when I do work, I can have a very good stab at finishing a chapter in one day and I have a solid plan but I still have this 'AGH!' feeling.

ToasterSparks

I would just say to keep writing every day, even if you don't like what you've written or it has to be changed. You can keep 'researching' until infinity if you want!

Make sure you have all your references recorded as you go too, do NOT leave any of them to record until the end (it's a pain!).

Never mind how everyone else is getting on - you might get more done in an hour than they get done in a week - it's quality over quantity. Spending 8 hours a day staring at journal articles and taking nothing relevant in is not going to help you. Select something specific and really go about understanding it - condense the idea to a page or two and know what it's really about. Do this for the other chapters too. If you are browsing the net for everything and anything, you'll take in nothing.

Some days it can just feel overwhelming and you'll feel like switching off the laptop and ignoring it. But just pick something and focus on it, and write! Once you get into a flow, you won't feel writing 400 or 500 words. But understand what you're writing, don't have a mish-mash of definitions and stolen ideas that make no sense. Once you understand a topic, the words will begin to trickle out!

Finally, don't stress. A thesis isn't there to trip you up. It's a good way to learn about a specific topic, and will be good interview fodder in the months to come. Supervisors aren't looking for your faults, they are looking to see how well you understand a topic (and how you fared with your unique spin on the topic). Keep going, and it'll all be done, bound and graded (highly!) before you know it.

Anonymous1987

Personally I do certain things that either encourage me to stay at it to avoid distractions. For example I find that if I have itunes playing I tend to work longer even though it probably reduces my concentration a little. If you listen to podcasts much, save the formatting or less intensive stuff where concentration is less important for this and the time will fly by. Also sometime its best to restrict internet use to certain times as its very easy to get distracted.

Just to reiterate what everyone else has said, the important thing is to get your thoughts down on paper otherwise you'll have to go through the same process again without any substantial progress. Write it down, later if you decide not to include it, rather than deleting it store it in a "maybe folder" and who knows later on it may fit in with another strain of thought. The important thing is get a flow of writing and thought going and re-edit afterwords. I find this process is far more rewarding and encouraging.

Nevertheless you will always have days you felt you have achieved nothing, this is part of the process.

Jayz this is a nightmare. Don't want to to into details but I no longer have a supervisor. I arranged for someone else to step in but won't get feedback until a week before the final draft is due. Really stressed now. Apparently I have no need to worry but I am! Still feel like I've a good bit to do.

baby and crumble

hey Izzy- similar thing happened to me halfway through 2nd year of my PhD re; supervisor- feel free to send a PM if you want to chat about stuff, tips I developed for getting on without a supervisor. I know you're on a different schedule, but feel free.

banshee_bones

Izzy, if you are paniced I have no idea what it says about me and my Msc course mates!

We are just back from taking a 5 week holiday in Africa! We had a two week field study that was not thesis related but was still worth 5 ects.

Alot of them are still doing their primary reserach. I have mine done but its due Sept 17th and I have about 1,000 out of 10K written! and I still have yet to submit a draft and get it back and corrected before Sept 17th!

I also have gone days, without doing anything! So don't feel bad, I work better under pressure/fear, which im sure will kick in annnny day now.

Yep..any day now!

I'm having total burnout. I just can't function. Everything was going well until I lost my supervisor and that happened right before she was going to look at my draft. I've had no feedback from anyone, no idea if I'm even on the right path and for some reason my brain isn't working. Normally I'd be able to see what I needed to improve and manage to do a good job, but I think my body and mind have had enough. I can't even ask for an extension because I have somewhere to go 2 days after submission. I've never felt like this before, at this stage I'm normally just tidying stuff up and making it look pretty, not desperately trying to write the thing. I might be able to have a random academic from another dept look at it next week, I hope to God he's able to give me some advice and that I'm able to make all the changes within a week. That was a bit of a rant. LOL. I just feel really skanked that everyone else has had so much feedback and I've had none. I feel completely alone with this, which really isn't the point.

baby and crumble

Hey Izzy...

Whatever you do, don't panic. At this stage you know your material better than anyone, seriously, so you can have total confidence in what you're doing. I know it's a pain losing a supervisor (I just found out my 2nd in 2 years is leaving- stupid other peoples career plans! :mad::mad::mad:) but you need to own your thesis. Having someone who knows the area look over it is great, but you'll have a good idea at this stage that you've hit all the right areas... Do you mind me asking what your area is?

What will be most beneficial right now is someone to talk to, do you have a head of graduate courses in your school? Your head of department? I know it seems overkill to go that high but it's their problem that you lost your supervisor at such a late stage, it's up them to step up and help you out. Even other PG students, maybe a PhD student in your field would be able to read over stuff, is it a masters you're doing? If so there could easily be a late stage phd candidate that would look over it for you.

They really don't seem to think it's their problem. I sent one page to my head of dept explaining I had no supervisor, and it took him 6 days to send it back and he acted like he was doing me the biggest favour in the world. It's not my bloody fault my supervisor has gone out sick! The guy I spoke it is actually the head of graduate studies, he agreed to look over my draft but he's a seriously busy man and so he was quite brusque. Didn't even ask me what my thesis is on. I know these things happen, but I think we should have been offered more support than this. I basically had to go and track down this guy on my own and hang out outside his office until he came along, 4 hours later. It's really not fair.

My problem is that the bulk of the material is there and I was confident about it but I feel like I lost my supervisor at the crucial moment, when I really needed to start putting theory in and tying it all together. I have everything written but it's a bit wishy washy and it doesn't make much sense. I'm just so afraid that what I've done is totally wrong. This new guy told me a week is more than enough to redo the thesis but I don't think I'd be capable of it! My health is in tatters as it is. Sorry for moaning but it's so unfortunate.

baby and crumble

It is ridiculous, there's no backup for things like this in so many places... makes my blood boil. So many places act like they're doing students a favour- if there were no students there'd be very little money for their salaries!

A week is a decent amount of time to redo things and link stuff together. But tbh it sounds like a day off where you catch up on a little bit of sleep and try to forget about it... I know it sounds like taking a day off would be the stupidest idea, but you'd be surprised how much good it'll do you.

That and multivitamins. Seriously. Don't skimp on your vitamins, eat healthy stuff like soups, hearty things, even though it's summer. I know it sounds obvious, but at this stage it'd be very easy to catch a cold, esp with the weather we've been having.

Do you have any previous lecturers/ staff that might be willing to help? Do you have a college tutor?

My heart goes out to you. (that sounded overly dramatic considering I don't know you, but you know what I mean!)

zoegh

zoegh wrote: »

It is ridiculous, there's no backup for things like this in so many places... makes my blood boil. So many places act like they're doing students a favour- if there were no students there'd be very little money for their salaries!

A week is a decent amount of time to redo things and link stuff together. But tbh it sounds like a day off where you catch up on a little bit of sleep and try to forget about it... I know it sounds like taking a day off would be the stupidest idea, but you'd be surprised how much good it'll do you.

That and multivitamins. Seriously. Don't skimp on your vitamins, eat healthy stuff like soups, hearty things, even though it's summer. I know it sounds obvious, but at this stage it'd be very easy to catch a cold, esp with the weather we've been having.

Do you have any previous lecturers/ staff that might be willing to help? Do you have a college tutor?

My heart goes out to you. (that sounded overly dramatic considering I don't know you, but you know what I mean!)

Aww thanks. I am indeed sort of having a night off, I'm doing a bit of work but mindless stuff like line numbering and sorting out margins while I watch I player. There doesn't seem to be much point in doing more writing until I get feedback. It just seems crazy to sit around doing nothing when I'm so behind but it feels like there's not a lot I can do! I have a college tutor but haven't seen her around in a while, I might contact her. Seems silly that I haven't, but the whole thing came as such a shock, I just concentrated on getting the draft done. It probably would have been a great idea to contact her and ask if she'd mind reading through it. Ah well.

Yeh, the whole favour thing is so irritating. I know I'm really not one of those students who expects to me spoonfed, so I don't understand the dismissive attitude of 'ah just do it yourself', when I know other students literally do need things spelled out for them. Perhaps cos I'm the funded student, they expect me to be a genius. It just feels like I'm constantly sucking up and thanking people for stuff which, quite frankly, is part of their job description.

I am already on the multivits, oranges, smoothies and soup! Trying to get good sleeps from now on as well, as staying up late is just counter productive in the end. I work better at night but get woken up at 8 by traffic outside, so I'm turning into a zombie!

V480

Hey,

Interested to see this thread as I am in a v similar situation. I have a thesis due at the end of the month, it was due on the third but I managed to get an extension.

I was ill throughout the year and did not get a grant so had to work a heck of alot to pay my way through the year. I did really well in the massive amount of essays, ect but now find myself falling at the final hurdle - the thesis. I just have never been able to get a proper grasp on my topic. My supervisor has not been much good either and rarely responds to me emails.

Having said all that the thesis is my responsibility and I have made a complete balls of it. I would not say I have even half finished it with the deadline looming fast. So hopefully that will make you feel better! I hope it comes together for you and you will have a piece of work you are proud of

baby and crumble

Tegan Tender Tether wrote:

Perhaps cos I'm the funded student, they expect me to be a genius. It just feels like I'm constantly sucking up and thanking people for stuff which, quite frankly, is part of their job description.

I get that, it's really annoying. I'm going to be on my THIRD PhD supervisor soon, and cos I have a scholarship I think they all think I don't need solid guidance or something it's wrecking my head! At least though it does show that the have a confidence in your ability, so take that as a positive.

It's very frustrating when I supervisor is a bit hands-off, I've been lucky in that even though I've had periods of time where I havent actually had a supervisor, any of the ones I have had been great. Stick with it, guys, it's worth it in the end!!

mary.

Tegan Tender Tether I'm in EXACTLY the same position. Days just go by and I might only do an hour one day and nothing the next, then a productive burst of a few hours every now and again. I think I need the immediate pressure to get going on things, it's crunch time now though! After messing around with sleep and stuff all summer I've realised it's better to sleep all day if you have to and just work when you feel best. I spent ages forcing myself to get up early and tiring myself out and doing nothing all day cause I'm wrecked. One good hour when you feel well is worth a day of trying to do bits and feeling unwell. Roll on September!

dory

Don't worry, lots were in your shoes before. My supervisor feiced off on holiday all of last summer and I never got feedback on any part of it. I also had a full time job so like you didn't feel I was spending enough time at it.

The main thing to do is relax. Breathe. Talk to anyone you can. You already have a lot written. I treated mine like a normal essay that was just a bit longer than usual. If you start freaking out about the length of the thing you won't get anywhere. You still have a week, a lot can be accomplished in a week.

thesis.direct

Just helped several people this summer with some suggested revisions. Some general points:


1. Keep your argument simple
2. Embed your research question and conclusion in the academic literature or contemporary policy concern. Why? Having a significant and interesting topic will immediately create a good impression with your thesis grader(s). Showing that you know your discipline and can framer a research project of interest to your discipline is taken as an indication of a good student. Random, 'I studies thins because I want to make the world a better place/I have been thinking of this since I was just 3' will not impress.
3. Assume the grader is not an expert on the topic of your dissertation. Could a well educated person pick up your thesis and understand/follow it? If not, you have a problem.
4. Proof read. Even this post could do with a proof-reading. Get someone else to read your work. If proofing yourself, read backwards (ie start with last sentence and read back to front of thesis).


or if all else fails contact me (see my ad in serviced, education).