Dissertation help

Hi everyone. My dissertation is 7000 words with a 2000 word literature review. My problem is that having completed the 7000 words, I am really struggling to the do the literature review.The reason being is that my dissertation itself is pretty much a review (I am writing about performance anxiety in music). I am not sure what to do next. When I try starting the review my tendency is to write about what I have already spoken about. I know literature reviews are supposed to be your way of identifying gaps in the research from which you base your study on. My dissertation does not involve me being original or doing any experiments etc. I wanted to write about what was already out there but realise now that I am screwed for the literature review. Any suggestions?

Reply 1

XMaramena

22

Well what books are you looking at? What aspect of performance nerves? Are you looking at effects, outcomes, treatment? If so, NLP? Hypnotherapy? BWRT? My dissertation was on controlling emotion through music. The thing about a dissertation is that usually one would not just write about things that have already been done, but use past sources to form new theories or suggest new methods.

Reply 2

stevedrummer91

OP

Original post by XMaramena

Well what books are you looking at? What aspect of performance nerves? Are you looking at effects, outcomes, treatment? If so, NLP? Hypnotherapy? BWRT? My dissertation was on controlling emotion through music. The thing about a dissertation is that usually one would not just write about things that have already been done, but use past sources to form new theories or suggest new methods.

I have read most relevant anxiety books/journals. I have spoken about various theories relating to arousal, perfectionism, self-efficacy, personality traits, musical experience, professional status etc. I know this now which is why I feel stuck. I hate my course and my teacher is useless so have just got on with it all myself. I don't really fancy starting again but guess I may have to

Reply 3

XMaramena

22

Original post by stevedrummer91

I have read most relevant anxiety books/journals. I have spoken about various theories relating to arousal, perfectionism, self-efficacy, personality traits, musical experience, professional status etc. I know this now which is why I feel stuck. I hate my course and my teacher is useless so have just got on with it all myself. I don't really fancy starting again but guess I may have to

What course are you doing?

Reply 4

stevedrummer91

OP

Original post by XMaramena

What course are you doing?

I am doing Music Performance

Reply 5

XMaramena

22

Original post by stevedrummer91

I am doing Music Performance

Ah okay. In that case, I would perhaps use what you already have and re-structure your dissertation like this:

- Abstract
- Introduction
- Chapter One: Issues caused by performance nerves
- Chapter Two: Self-help methods performers use (Breathing techniques, pre-performance "rituals", etc)
- Chapter Three: Professional help methods (Hypnotherapy, NLP, BWRT etc)
- Chapter Four: Suggestions (and why) certain methods would be best for certain situations, ie. solo recitals; dance and ballet; orchestral performance; studio recording etc - what's different about these settings and how would different treatments work better). For brownie points, possibly suggest different combinations if you think they would work, but make sure you research into them and say why. This is the "money chapter".
- Summary
- References

You may wish to contact local therapists for their input. If you tell them you are a student writing a paper on it, they may give you some of their time for free if they know that they'll be credited as a contributing source.

This structure will make it much easier for you to break down into looking at particular new sources and analysing them based on how you pulled together the rest of the dissertation.

(edited 9 years ago)

Dissertation help

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