The Student Room Group

Official Dissertation Thread - 2011-2012

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Reply 900
Original post by aeterno
I always get told to tone it down a bit :tongue: Not my fault half of them are full of **** :colonhash:

Haha mine says the same STILL! Despite actually paying the deposit ages ago :tongue: If you don't want to give the £1000 to them, I can look after it for you if you want :colone: :ninja:


Haha, well theories are made to be contested sometimes :tongue:

Really? Looks like they stole your money, bro! Better get those weapons out :awesome:

I've been struggling with my literature review..so what did I do? Tweak the scope, so I can fit in an extra 500 words :colone: #genius
It might be good to have a dedicated thread for dissertation advice.
The dissertation thread is too big and consists mainly of off-topic chatter.

What advice would you give to someone who is about to start their dissertation? :-)

Perhaps talk about things that you didn't foresee or wish you did better. This can help people avoid the same mistakes.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 902
Original post by Akkuz
Haha, well theories are made to be contested sometimes :tongue:

Really? Looks like they stole your money, bro! Better get those weapons out :awesome:

I've been struggling with my literature review..so what did I do? Tweak the scope, so I can fit in an extra 500 words :colone: #genius


That's what I keep telling them :tongue: Funnily enough, they usually agree with me - it's just that I get less and less diplomatic as I progress through the essay :colone:

WOOHOO! Time to shoot some people :ahee:

Haha nice one! :biggrin:
Set yourself a target number of words to do per week based on the length of the dissertation and the number of weeks to the deadline.

Spread the workload for your dissertation so you're doing a bit every day.

If you ever use a website, paper or book (or any other resource) make a note of it so you can include it in your references later.
Reply 904
It is possible to do it last minute but don't !!!! You'd regret it and have loads of sleepless nights. As the post above says, just do a bit everyday and save every journal you use.
I'd also save your methodology until you've done the main discussion and analysis because the methods are bound to change. I ended up re-writing my whole methodology and it was a pain in the arse =)
Basically, make a work plan and stick to it. Unforeseen problems always come up and if you leave everything to the last minute you risk getting stuck on something.
Basically reiterating what everyone else has said but really don't leave it to the last minute. If you need to collect data, try to do it as soon as possible, ideally over the summer.

Write up your references as you go along otherwise it will take you forever to type up in one go.

Aim to have it completed a couple of days before so you can deal with any problems that arise.

I always find literature reviews the most painful part as I hate reading journals, try to spread out the reading when you know what your topic is on otherwise you'll be in for an extremely painful few days/week(s).

It is literally the worst piece of work ever but nothing can beat the feeling of when it is finally in. :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 907
I didn't collect data in the summer, after then it was always catch-up. I didn't have any sleepless nights however. Around christmas I was panicking (Due in early Feb) as I'd only done a few thousand words. Had many sleepless nights then and stressing out. However, it all came to nothing as I did it with a day to spare and no sleepless nights and I was pleased with the end result.

I agree with Chapeau about the references. The last line is definitely true (apart from the spelling error :colondollar:)
Original post by WH90

I agree with Chapeau about the references. The last line is definitely true (apart from the spelling error :colondollar:)


oops...
Reply 909
Original post by BigVitaminD
It might be good to have a dedicated thread for dissertation advice.
The dissertation thread is too big and consists mainly of off-topic chatter.

What advice would you give to someone who is about to start their dissertation? :-)

Perhaps talk about things that you didn't foresee or wish you did better. This can help people avoid the same mistakes.


BS. You were given advice on this thread - you just didn't like it so you decided to create a new one. Why waste time asking a question if you're only interested in half the answers?
Original post by BigVitaminD
What advice would you give to someone who is about to start their dissertation? :-)

Perhaps talk about things that you didn't foresee or wish you did better. This can help people avoid the same mistakes.


Best thing is to start a week before the final deadline. Bit of added pressure makes everybody write better.

:holmes:
Procrastinating from writing the actual diss by formatting margins, titles, contents lists, references... Anything but actually writing. Need a substantial first draft by Friday :s-smilie:
Now on 9,400 words BUT the maximum limit is 10,000 and I still need to wrap up a chapter and write the official intro/conclusion FUUUUU-

I HATE cutting things out, I always worry I'll cut out a really good bit :p: Also I hate writing conclusions, I always feel like I'm just repeating myself.

Hoping to have a first draft by the end of the week. Only 5 weeks to go and I'm freeeeeee! :biggrin:

Quick question for those who have finished - where did you get yours bound? If anyone used Staples if you could let me know how long it took I'd be beyond grateful :biggrin:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by amizzle91
Quick question for those who have finished - where did you get yours bound? If anyone used Staples if you could let me know how long it took I'd be beyond grateful :biggrin:


Always a good feeling finishing off a massive bit of work :tongue: Your campus library should have a machine which does the binding. They give you an opaque back, clear plastic front and a spine which you press together with the machine for a few pounds. Took around thirty seconds after you lined up all the parts.
Reply 914
Original post by amizzle91
Now on 9,400 words BUT the maximum limit is 10,000 and I still need to wrap up a chapter and write the official intro/conclusion FUUUUU-

I HATE cutting things out, I always worry I'll cut out a really good bit :p: Also I hate writing conclusions, I always feel like I'm just repeating myself.

Hoping to have a first draft by the end of the week. Only 5 weeks to go and I'm freeeeeee! :biggrin:

Quick question for those who have finished - where did you get yours bound? If anyone used Staples if you could let me know how long it took I'd be beyond grateful :biggrin:


I sympathise on the conclusion front :tongue: You should've seen my draft conclusion - it was all over the place! :zomg: One of my supervisor's comments was 'Wait...what?' :tongue:

Binding - you should be able to do it at your uni. Either within the library or a separate printing/binding room. It only took a minute and cost a £1 (although that might obviously vary for you). As for Staples - people tend to give me different times - some say 15 mins, others say 3 hours, a few even say it took a few days, I don't know I guess it depends more on your local Staples (and possibly the type of binding you're going for) :tongue:
Original post by Irrelevance
Always a good feeling finishing off a massive bit of work :tongue: Your campus library should have a machine which does the binding. They give you an opaque back, clear plastic front and a spine which you press together with the machine for a few pounds. Took around thirty seconds after you lined up all the parts.


Thanks for replying. I'm sure that my Uni library does do it but apparently it can take up to 72 hours :/ I can't seem to find anything on doing it yourself either, stupid library :p:

Original post by aeterno
I sympathise on the conclusion front :tongue: You should've seen my draft conclusion - it was all over the place! :zomg: One of my supervisor's comments was 'Wait...what?' :tongue:

Binding - you should be able to do it at your uni. Either within the library or a separate printing/binding room. It only took a minute and cost a £1 (although that might obviously vary for you). As for Staples - people tend to give me different times - some say 15 mins, others say 3 hours, a few even say it took a few days, I don't know I guess it depends more on your local Staples (and possibly the type of binding you're going for) :tongue:


Ah, okay, thank you. Was hoping Staples would be while you wait, will have to go in and ask asap :smile:
Original post by amizzle91
Thanks for replying. I'm sure that my Uni library does do it but apparently it can take up to 72 hours :/ I can't seem to find anything on doing it yourself either, stupid library :p:


72 hours?! Are they Pritt sticking it all together? :zomg: Yeah, they're not always terribly informative are library information pages :tongue: perhaps go in and ask a member of library services staff if they do binding anywhere?
Original post by BigVitaminD
Ordinary essays and exams are not difficult for me. I have virtually all firsts. Second year is more of the same.

I need to focus on my weakness. And that is the dissertation! :-)


Original post by aeterno
That's irrelevant. For one thing, you don't even know how you'll cope with the dissertation. Secondly, planning absolutely everything to do with it 2 years before you'll have to hand it in is not a good idea. There is no point in starting it this early especially when it hasn't even been approved yet.

On top of that, you don't yet know how you'll deal with 2nd year either. To assume you'll get firsts in 2nd year because you did in 1st year is not a good attitude to have. Many people are capable of getting firsts in 1st year but the work gets harder, the marking gets harsher, and your marks will drop if you go into 2nd year with this mindset. This isn't meant to sound patronising or anything but if you want to get the best out of your degree, you need to approach it step by step - and that means not worrying about your dissertation now. Don't run before you can walk!


I agree. I got practically straight 90% in my first year, thought I knew all the answers and now I'm struggling to make a pass.

Besides, depending on your course, first year might not even count (mine sure didn't) so all you've done is worked yourself into the ground for nothing.
I'm on the editing and redrafting stage, though I also have my conclusion to write still. I wrote my dissertation over about 5/6 weeks so I've kinda forgot to exactly what I've written lol. So thought I may as well edit it and cut out the words I'm over by before I do my conclusion, so everything I want is in there.

Really envy those who can show their supervisors drafts. We aren't allowed to hand anything in :frown:

2 weeks, 2 days till hand in!
Hi all,

We've been given our dissertation proposals to do before we leave for summer break, which is good because we can get them signed off and I can start it before 3rd year starts. And it's 10% of one of our modules so we kinda have to do it!

Anyway, don't know if anyone's got any experience of 3D modelling/animation because that's what I've decided on doing. I'm currently on a film course but we had a module this year on pre-vis (kinda like 3D storyboarding) which I got really into (so much so that I'm considering a different career!) and so I'd like to carry that on.

I've only had one topic idea so far and that's to compare lighting in RL and in the pre-vis realm (as that would be used to determine lighting setups) but I've not thought of anything else.

I don't suppose anyone has done a 3D modelling/animation dissertation before and would be able to suggest other topics. I've looked at previous dissertations in the uni but they're pretty much all "I made an animated short and now I'm going to talk about it".

Thanks. :smile:

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