I don't think I'm going to finish my dissertation on time...
I'm extremely worried. I have another essay due for this Thursday and then 6 days left to complete my dissertation. The problem is that I only have about 2000 words of substance. I attempted to start it earlier, on numerous occasions, but it just seems as though everything I write is rubbish. It's not coming together at all and the panic is really starting to kick in.
Any words of advice would be appreciated at this point.
Any words of advice would be appreciated at this point.
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Does your other essay contribute to our grade? If not, rush it or leave it. Your dissertation matters far more.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Octohedral
Does your other essay contribute to our grade? If not, rush it or leave it. Your dissertation matters far more.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
Thanks. Yes the other essay does contribute and I'm still writing out it at the minute so it's unlikely that'll I have anything near a first draft done by Thursday.
It's an English Literature dissertation but for some strange reason I'm struggling to write it out on paper. I'm just feeling quite disheartened at the minute.
(First of all I'll try and give some advice but I do a biological sciences degree and if you do history or English for example my advice is probably mostly irrelevant but here goes anyway.)
This was somewhat useful for me and I've just recently finished writing mine:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178846/
This gallery of slides is pretty accurate:
http://imgur.com/gallery/dc8fg
I would advise that you break down each section into bullet points that you want to be in it before you write it.
I did my final year project on essentially the changing ecology of coral reef ecosystems
e.g Introduction:
1: Coral reefs are important.
- Economic value of reefs
- Scientific value of reefs
- Ecological value of reefs
2: Coral reefs are at risk/have been declining
- Evidence of coral reefs declining over time
- Causes of reef decline
- Predictions for future of reefs from published literature
3: Why you chose this project/ what project entails
- Link all of the above to why you did the project you did
- Support the importance of your research/work with published literature information
- Explain the aims of your project
Doing this allows you to write according to an established order rather than writing things as they occur to you in your head at that moment in time. When that happens you end up going back and changing things, putting things in random places, getting the order all wrong etc etc. That gets incredibly frustrating and confusing.
This was somewhat useful for me and I've just recently finished writing mine:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178846/
This gallery of slides is pretty accurate:
http://imgur.com/gallery/dc8fg
I would advise that you break down each section into bullet points that you want to be in it before you write it.
I did my final year project on essentially the changing ecology of coral reef ecosystems
e.g Introduction:
1: Coral reefs are important.
- Economic value of reefs
- Scientific value of reefs
- Ecological value of reefs
2: Coral reefs are at risk/have been declining
- Evidence of coral reefs declining over time
- Causes of reef decline
- Predictions for future of reefs from published literature
3: Why you chose this project/ what project entails
- Link all of the above to why you did the project you did
- Support the importance of your research/work with published literature information
- Explain the aims of your project
Doing this allows you to write according to an established order rather than writing things as they occur to you in your head at that moment in time. When that happens you end up going back and changing things, putting things in random places, getting the order all wrong etc etc. That gets incredibly frustrating and confusing.
Original post by Octohedral
Does your other essay contribute to our grade? If not, rush it or leave it. Your dissertation matters far more.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
The best possible advice is to sit down and write it. Even if it's rubbish, or not coming together - just write anything. Aim to finish a draft by Thursday, then give yourself three days to change things around and make it better and three days to fine tune it, add impressive detail, diagrams and bibliography. It's the first draft that's the hard part. Just assume nothing you write will end up in the final draft, and get it down - you may find some of it works and some doesn't, but you will relieve the initial pressure and allow yourself to be creative.
Find a nice quiet library and take plenty of water, or do it at home if you like music / food whilst working. Studying doesn't mean you have to be unhappy or uncomfortable.
+1 Great comment.
My dissertation (a philosophy dissertation) is due in on the upcoming Tuesday (so, the 29th). And I'm yet to start writing it. And the bunch of events leading up to this have left me writing about a philosophical problem that bores me, addressing some of its important facets via approaches that bore me. And here I am looking at TSR. :-p It hasn't ended up like this (solely) due to laziness on my part - there are reasons for it that I won't go into. But I sure am envious of your 2,000 "words of substance"!
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
Original post by Killer Bean
My dissertation (a philosophy dissertation) is due in on the upcoming Tuesday (so, the 29th). And I'm yet to start writing it. And the bunch of events leading up to this have left me writing about a philosophical problem that bores me, addressing some of its important facets via approaches that bore me. And here I am looking at TSR. :-p It hasn't ended up like this (solely) due to laziness on my part - there are reasons for it that I won't go into. But I sure am envious of your 2,000 "words of substance"!
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
Haha, thanks. I keep thinking to myself that there must be other people out there that are in worse situations.
Thanks to everyone for their advice as well. I just can't wait for it all to be over...
Definitely agree with writing out a bullet-point plan if that helps you, and making sure you are well hydrated and have had something to eat before starting to write. You will do your best work if you are in a comfortable environment and aren't distracted by hunger pangs and needing to get up to get drinks. Make sure you are well prepared for the day!
It does feel like a massive wall in front of you that you need to climb very quickly, but you can do it. It will be a rubbish week staying up and avoiding leaving the house, but it will be worth it. Just try to get your ideas down into a plan first, then you'll know exactly what you need to research and evaluate, then you can move on to your next point/chapter.
It might feel like you're alone in having to rush to get it written up, but honestly you aren't. A friend of mine went on holiday just before her dissertation due date - bearing in mind she hadn't written a single word before she left - and got back less than a week before the deadline. She stayed up, drank caffeinated drinks like they were going out of fashion and wrote a fantastic piece of work - this definitely goes against the tips your lecturers will have given you before the start of your dissertation but it shows that it can be done! Hopefully this will help you get motivated and you don't feel like the only one in this situation.
Best of luck to you.
It does feel like a massive wall in front of you that you need to climb very quickly, but you can do it. It will be a rubbish week staying up and avoiding leaving the house, but it will be worth it. Just try to get your ideas down into a plan first, then you'll know exactly what you need to research and evaluate, then you can move on to your next point/chapter.
It might feel like you're alone in having to rush to get it written up, but honestly you aren't. A friend of mine went on holiday just before her dissertation due date - bearing in mind she hadn't written a single word before she left - and got back less than a week before the deadline. She stayed up, drank caffeinated drinks like they were going out of fashion and wrote a fantastic piece of work - this definitely goes against the tips your lecturers will have given you before the start of your dissertation but it shows that it can be done! Hopefully this will help you get motivated and you don't feel like the only one in this situation.
Best of luck to you.
Original post by Killer Bean
A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too..
An entire dissertation, including research? What even
OP just work out what you're going to write, do the reading and then wing it. The hardest part is getting started, once you've wrote a couple of pages it'll get easier. Stretch words out where possible to meet the word count e.g 'to this day' instead of today.
Original post by sr90
An entire dissertation, including research? What even
Ah no just the typing up. I don't know exactly how prepared he was aside form that. However: he had mentioned buying a George Bush biography (buying
) for the dissertation around a month before his deadline. So I'm supposing that, in terms of research, he wasn't TOOO far behind.Original post by Killer Bean
Ah no just the typing up. I don't know exactly how prepared he was aside form that. However: he had mentioned buying a George Bush biography (buying ) for the dissertation around a month before his deadline. So I'm supposing that, in terms of research, he wasn't TOOO far behind.
) for the dissertation around a month before his deadline. So I'm supposing that, in terms of research, he wasn't TOOO far behind.If he's done the research I can believe that. Writing an essay is easy no matter how long it is, it's researching the damn thing that takes forever! Especially for a dissertation in something like History where you're looking at 15 books, 10 primary sources and 10 journals/web based sources as a minimum. Takes an absolute eternity
You're incredibly brave for leaving yours so late.
Original post by sr90
An entire dissertation, including research? What even
OP just work out what you're going to write, do the reading and then wing it. The hardest part is getting started, once you've wrote a couple of pages it'll get easier. Stretch words out where possible to meet the word count e.g 'to this day' instead of today.
OP just work out what you're going to write, do the reading and then wing it. The hardest part is getting started, once you've wrote a couple of pages it'll get easier. Stretch words out where possible to meet the word count e.g 'to this day' instead of today.
This is actually a very good tip lol
I just handed in my dissertation a few minutes ago and I feel
OP I would feel physically sick if I only had a week to do it, mine took a good few months.
Good luck though
Original post by King Leonidas
This is actually a very good tip lol
I just handed in my dissertation a few minutes ago and I feel
OP I would feel physically sick if I only had a week to do it, mine took a good few months.
Good luck though
I just handed in my dissertation a few minutes ago and I feel
OP I would feel physically sick if I only had a week to do it, mine took a good few months.
Good luck though
Doing that boosted my word count by 250 words. I'm not exaggerating.
I think working last minute is something that isn't for everyone. I can easily do 5000 words in a day if I put my mind to it, but i'd never in a million years try that approach for my dissertation. Even simply checking it, making sure the references are accurate and there's no spelling/grammar mistakes takes far too long.
Original post by purpledrops20
I'm extremely worried. I have another essay due for this Thursday and then 6 days left to complete my dissertation. The problem is that I only have about 2000 words of substance. I attempted to start it earlier, on numerous occasions, but it just seems as though everything I write is rubbish. It's not coming together at all and the panic is really starting to kick in.
Any words of advice would be appreciated at this point.
Any words of advice would be appreciated at this point.
What subject are you studying that you have to do your dissertation in?
Original post by Killer Bean
My dissertation (a philosophy dissertation) is due in on the upcoming Tuesday (so, the 29th). And I'm yet to start writing it. And the bunch of events leading up to this have left me writing about a philosophical problem that bores me, addressing some of its important facets via approaches that bore me. And here I am looking at TSR. :-p It hasn't ended up like this (solely) due to laziness on my part - there are reasons for it that I won't go into. But I sure am envious of your 2,000 "words of substance"!
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
I can't offer much in terms of advice - but under the assumption that you've done OK until now, I don't think you need any. As insincere and easy as it sounds, I'm sure you'll end up fine. Given the volume of the dissertation, it obviously gets far more intimidating as the deadline draws than, say, assessed essays, but that's just it - intimidating. The next week is going to be a pretty ****ty one but you'll get those words out somehow. A housemate of mine wrote the entire thing over a weekend + an all-nighter, for example. You might want to consider doing one before the deadline too. I'll leave you with this:
"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time"
-Leonard Bernstein
Now get off TSR and write.
Lol I had the same problem with my girlfriend last year but we both eventully done it but yeah if you need any tips or help do let me know
Original post by amandeep6754
What subject are you studying that you have to do your dissertation in?
English Literature
Original post by King Leonidas
This is actually a very good tip lol
I just handed in my dissertation a few minutes ago and I feel
OP I would feel physically sick if I only had a week to do it, mine took a good few months.
Good luck though
I just handed in my dissertation a few minutes ago and I feel
OP I would feel physically sick if I only had a week to do it, mine took a good few months.
Good luck though
I really am feeling sick at this minute. I've just realized that I have a day less to finish it because the friggin binding can take up to 24 hours.
Original post by purpledrops20
I really am feeling sick at this minute. I've just realized that I have a day less to finish it because the friggin binding can take up to 24 hours.
Do you have a Staples near you? Go there and it'll be more like 24 minutes...
Original post by sr90
Do you have a Staples near you? Go there and it'll be more like 24 minutes...
Really? Thanks! I'll ring them tomorrow to see if they do a service.
Original post by purpledrops20
Really? Thanks! I'll ring them tomorrow to see if they do a service.
The place I was going to get mine done at have a queue so needed it by end of today but I still have about half more to go
I panicked too...I rang Staples near me and they do binding on the spot, the guy said it would take about 5mins each.
Most of the big stores are Copy and Print centres that are open 8am-8pm weekdays. If you need printing done I think you can take it on a mem stick or email it to them.
Now I'm just hoping everyone else doesn't have the same idea!
Good luck with it x
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