My 15 hour days turned into 18 hour days fueled by junk food and sodas.
However, I wasn’t going anywhere.
I’ll sell it
Easy! Again! And then again! It’s tempting to play by ear when you’re so close to your deadline and feeling frustrated that you’re not getting anywhere on the word count, but it’s much worse to realize you have no idea. of the destination of 3,000 words. Do you expect linear essay outlines? Use Google Docs or TextEdit or something like that, no need to be too fancy. (I actively seek to be imaginative when planning.) Want something fancier? I like MindMup. Can’t make up your mind? See the text of mind map 2.
Two years in
Two years after doing my thesis, I had completed most of the data collection for my thesis and I published an article it was “of” the thesis, although it would be dishonest to say so because the versions of the theory and empirical chapters of Germany did not really exist. I had 17 pages of nonsense about Iran that needed to be completely reworked, so for all intents and purposes even that chapter didn’t really exist. Nothing about the thesis has been written.
I’m sure at this point people will think “but you had an article” and “the pages are still pages that need editing” and so on. I also heard this from educational advisers last fall. In my mind though, another year had passed and I had almost nothing to show for it and no one else seemed to care. I was in a panic; why was I the only one? At that point, I realized that most dissertations are often written in a frantic way within two to three months of the person’s defense. I just watched four very close friends go through this exact process, and they were all amazing and hardworking (regardless of my bias as a friend). So that seemed to work for a lot of people rushing in at the last minute, and the joke that you should have a series of chapters finished early was a load of malarkey. It took me a while to internalize it and apply it to myself, and in the meantime I was worried right now, let me tell you.
References
Greetham, B. (2019). How to write your dissertation. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Related: Learn more about our degrees in doctoral studies (D.Miss.
, Ed.D., Th.M., Ph.D). See also the guide to doctoral studies.
11. Exercise, sleep well and eat well. Because our minds and bodies are meant to work together, you’ll likely find that your productivity suffers when you’re not careful about your exercise, sleep, and eating habits. Like it or not, our ability to maintain long periods of sustained concentration, to think carefully about our material, and to find the motivation to complete tasks depends significantly on how well we take care of our bodies. When we neglect to exercise, don’t get enough sleep, or constantly eat an unhealthy diet, it will be harder for us to muster the energy and clarity needed to complete our thesis.
12. Stay focused. Completing a thesis is not so much an intellectual feat as the result of a discipline. If you manage to devote a lot of time to research and writing, make sure you don’t use that time for other activities. This means you have to struggle with multitasking. In fact, studies have shown that multitasking is a cognitive impossibility. Our brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When we think we are multitasking, we “change activities”; instead of multitasking, our brain is constantly switching from one activity to another (listening to a song on the radio, reading a book, resuming the song, etc.). You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish if you spend 60-90 minutes not paying attention to something. Stick to the task.