My MA dissertation is rubbish... how am I supposed to do?

Hi,

I am an international student studied MA in a social science discipline. I submitted my MA dissertation of 10,000words which absolutely went wrong and even seemed like a rubbish paper. I started to built my dissertation since March and had four times supervision with my supervisor. Everything looked very good so I began to dig into related literatures with high self-confidence.
However, as time went by, I got lost in tons of readings and even the topic of my dissertation extended further that I could not manage at all.
I made minor mistakes including typo matters in bibliography, contents and even I wrote only 50 words in ethical review part since there was no primary research as I spent most of time to read and summarise. I felt ashamed of me.

How am I supposed to do? I am actually ready to accept the fact that I may fail and re-submit my dissertation. Only thing I was wondering is whether I should tell my supervisor about my worries now or not. Because my supervisor doesn't know about the fact that my dissertation went wrong and is different from what she confirmed before. However, some of my friends told me that I should keep quiet about mistakes for just in case it will be passed unlike my expectation.

I hope somebody can give me any advices. Thank you very much in advance.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

beautifulbigmacs

It's a tricky one. I think a lot of people hand in a dissertation thinking that it's not what they expected, that they can't see it with fresh eyes anymore and that they're worried it won't pass.

I would be tempted not to email anyone to express your concerns until it has been marked because it might draw attention to weaker bits and if you express that you're not confident they might feel that you expect to have to do it again.

Fact is that you've handed it in now and drawing attention to the bits you're worried about won't change anything for the better so on this basis I'd choose to sit on the fence and hope for the best.

Gave my MA dissertation in on 10th Sept 2010 but can't remember when I heard that it had been passed.

Reply 2

Ftmshk

I think you should speak to your supervisor. Also, try and find the marking criteria for your dissertation, hopefully you have done well enough to pass. If you have passed the rest of your course I think you can be awarded a diploma even if you don't pass you dissertation. Good luck!

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Reply 3

Klix88

There's no point speaking to your supervisor now. They aren't involved in the marking and if my Masters experience was common, once handed in, they may be prohibited from reading or commenting on the dissertation until after it has been marked. They can't do anything for you at the moment except sympathise - and as you didn't involve them at a point where they might have been able to help, their sympathy will probably be minimal

In the event that you fail the diss and are given the opportunity to resubmit (and not all unis offer this at Masters level - check your course's small print), your supervisor should be your first contact on how to proceed.

Just try and forget about it until the mark is published. Easier said than done, I know, but it's just too late to do anything about it now.

My MA dissertation is rubbish... how am I supposed to do?

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