is a thesis hard to write

GERMAN ROCKS

i have been accepted for a few masters next year and am a bit worried about the thesis part are they hard to write normally? I found it hard sometimes to get 3000 words completed for my undergraduate degree. is much of your summer taken up with it or would you get it completed in a week if you really stated into it?

Ravelleman

You won't get it done in a week, that's for sure.

To be of any decent quality you'd really want to spent the summer working on it. That doesn't mean 9-5 every day but they require a lot of research and thought.

Struggling to get 3,000 words might not be a good sign but it depends on what subject you want to study.

sadie06

Allow yourself lots of thinking time and planning time. This really helps the writing process as you are not finding your way as you go along.

No way will you get it done in a week. My 12,500 dissertation took planning and reading/note-taking from Jan to March, and writing/correcting drafts from March to May. That obviously wasn't all day every day! I had a lot of other work going on also.

It's not difficult once you have an interest in the topic, but it is a lot of work.

danthefan

You definitely would not get it done in a week, even attempting that would be nuts and unless you're a genius of some sort I would almost guarantee you'd get a poor mark.

If you don't think you'll be able to keep yourself motivated then maybe it isn't for you. One good idea would be keep in regular contact with your supervisor and hopefully they would keep you on your toes.

What field are you in?

Viva La Gloria

The average MSc dissertation is around 15,000 I think. I'm handing mine in in 4 weeks' time...and it has NOT been easy. It has actually been pretty much the most stressful thing I have ever done in my life. But then again, that's because my managers in work don't listen to me and I have to work 4/5 days a week!

Trust me, you won't struggle to reach the word count, you'll struggle not to go over the word count

debabyjesus

I had problems keeping the word count down. Cut a lot of work and spent about 3 weeks solid tidying and proof reading. Use a gantt chart for planning. Do any interviews and that kind of thing as early as possible.

lfqnic

This is all good advice for someone who really wants to do a masters. If you find a subject you are passionate about and don't leave the research until the last minute, it can be a fairly smooth and enjoyable (though not easy) experience. You do need to be focused, though, and you sound like you might not be that committed to the idea yet. Think about it carefully, because you might find that in a year's time you are more hungry for it and it won't bother you to have to give up a large chunk of your summer to research. You could enjoy it much more too.

(I don't know how much variety there is among disciplines, but certainly in my field you would be studying throughout the summer and finishing at the end of August, so you'd need to be prepared to work then as you did during term time as an undergrad).

valleyoftheunos

I have heard stories about people who wrote (but not researched) their MA thesis in a week but I don't think any of them intended to that, enjoyed it or would recommend it. I've written a couple of theses, 10k and 20k words in length for Under Grad and Post grad respectively and spent probably five months on each one. Both were challenging but ultimately enjoyable as I enjoyed the writing aspect of them.

if the research and writing is something you find difficult then the MA will be a challenge but one that you can certainly overcome with dedication and hard work.

NoCrackHaving

I'm currently in the middle (well nearly the end now) of mine. Basically uo'll need the whole summer for the researching/data collection/reading etc. As to the actual writing, to be honest I don't find it hard to knock out 700-1000 words a day once the research is done and dusted and you're ready to rock and roll.

You couldn't write it in a week in my discipline-you could probably write it in 2 -3 weeks easily enough though. But count on another 2-3 months of researching on top of that

Mardy Bum

It's the research that eats up the time.

Nemanja91

Will most courses not start research for their thesis in the first semester and then you will have all year to do it? You would be surprised what you are capable of if you pick a topic you are interested in. In my first three years of my undergraduate course the largest project I ever did was around 5,000 words but once I got into 4th year my dissertation ended up around 13,000 and my other final year project was 37,000 words.

If you keep on top of your work load throughout the year and are continuously researching you should have no problem completing a thesis in the year.

endacl

I'm not the right person to answer the OP's question.... I'm about two thirds through mine, which was due about three weeks ago.

They're a slog, especially after a two year masters. You'll be interested in the subject, you'll choose it yourself, but it will be a slog. And it won't be in on time.

On the upside, it is worth it.

Viva La Gloria

endacl wrote: »

And it won't be in on time.

Mine is due in on the 9th. I can't be hearing things like this!

Viva La Gloria

Nemanja91 wrote: »

Will most courses not start research for their thesis in the first semester and then you will have all year to do it?

For a Masters thesis, and this is just in my college....you spend first semester doing Researh Methods classes and working on your dissertation proposal [well when I say working on it, they give you a deadline date in January but because we didn't finish classes until December 21st and then had two exams to study for, we only really had a week to do the proposal]. Then you're assigned a dissertation supervisor around February time. But again, because the coursework is so intense and there are more exams to study for in May, you don't get anywhere near the dissertation until the middle of May when you finish classes/exams. And then if you're like me, you'll sit around for an entire month stressing yourself silly, going 'Oh my God, what am I doing?'

Sarky

Start writing your thesis as soon as you have something to write down. If you try to do it all in the last week you'll have a thoroughly miserable time of it, and it'll likely be full of errors and poor formatting. From day 1, keep records of data, what you did to them, and any results. Keep updating that list of literature references. Get at least a rough draft of your intro and intended methodology. After each week of thesis work, come back to the draft and update it. It's far easier to write your thesis if you've been keeping records from the start. And be ruthless- Repetition for the sake of padding is something that drives correctors mad. They'd much rather read something concise, clear and short during their holidays.

Stay on top of it from the get go, and you'll have a nice polished book, nicely formatted, with a minimum of spelling errors, that has gone through several revisions by your supervisor, ready to submit with maybe a week to go before deadline. And even then, wait until the last day before submission- I was all set to submit a week ahead of schedule until I spotted a glaring problem that took nearly the rest of the week to sort out.

endacl

You might have mentioned that last year...

Sarky

It's important, damn it!