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Emotional stages of writing your dissertation

Whether you've completed it or you're still slogging it out, I want to hear the highs, lows and everything in between of your dissertation journey.

Did you start with enthusiasm? Did your lecturer fail to turn up to your tutorial? Did you erode your insides by drinking gallons of energy drinks so you could finish it on time?

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@Airmed may have some contributions...
I'm a masters student so I have only just submitted the proposal, for my undergraduate though I did a double dissertation. One part was a Law project and the second was a student initiated module of 10000 words of social science. I know the stress is worth is on graduation day but I'm already not looking forward to it, and I've also got 16000 of assignments to do before I even look at my dissertation again :laugh:.

Good Luck everyone :hugs:
Reply 3
Accurate?

Stage 1 (Start of the year)


Stage 2 (First semseter)


Stage 3 (Christmas)


Stage 4 (Second semester)


Stage 5 (Easter)


Stage 6 (Day before deadline)


Stage 7 (After the deadline)
This is called my PhD thesis ...
Original post by UWS
Accurate?

Stage 1 (Start of the year)


Stage 2 (First semseter)


Stage 3 (Christmas)


Stage 4 (Second semester)


Stage 5 (Easter)


Stage 6 (Day before deadline)


Stage 7 (After the deadline)


Haha incredible. How did yours go in the end?

Original post by Slowbro93
This is called my PhD thesis ...

Oh lord. How are you getting through it?
Reply 6
Original post by Danny Dorito
Haha incredible. How did yours go in the end?


Surprisingly quite well! I just missed out on a first but I was glad that monstrosity was over :lol:
I'm still in the process of writing mine (it's due in a month!) but I've been on an emotional rollercoaster that I never want to get on again.

I'm on a baking degree (yeah, it exists but IT REALLY SHOULDN'T) and probably only 3 of my lecturers know whats going on and how to support us.
The deadline had to be extended cause our course directed done ****ed up and didn't know how the hell to handle ethics cause apparently this is the second year that our uni has been forcing our course to get our **** together and to follow regulations and submit an ethics approval like every other course. That said, she doesn't know what the damn hell she's doing cause she keeps giving us bad advice and it appears she knows about as much about ethics as we do (I'm more fortunate than my other classmates in that my supervisor is one of the guys that knows what he's doing, so my disso is going smoother than everyone elses....I think). Our designated lecturer for disso sort of....disappeared after two weeks of lectures ?? That was our fault though, cause my class complained that he was confusing us and repeating **** he'd already gone through last year when we were writing our disso proposals. So yeah...we've been on our own since even though we were told that every Tuesday is our 'support day' and that we can come in for one to ones if we want. (I came in once and couldn't find anybody what a joke).

Anyhow, I'm now stuck in an eternal state of anxiety until my disso is submitted cause I keep thinking 'what if I've been writing it wrong all this time. What if I submit it and it's actually garbage' and my sisters are trying to comfort me by telling me that my supervisor would have said something after he read my draft if it was terrible.

TL;DR I'm on a bakery degree that should not be a degree at all cause none of us know what we're doing and honestly we just want to bake.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Danny Dorito
Haha incredible. How did yours go in the end?


Oh lord. How are you getting through it?


Slowly chipping away at it, submission date is March next year but still :zomg:
Nah, quite easy if you organise yourself properly. Have a plan, keep track of sources, write little brilliant bits here and there (and make sure you know where to find them). A lot less stressful than preparing for an exam.
Reply 10
I found both my BA and MA dissertations easy to write because I went in on areas that I was (I am) very well acquainted with. I had a lot of freedom from my supervisor, only had 1 dissertation meeting at BA, didn't have any at MA.

My PhD thesis is due in June and that's been different primarily because it is so much more difficult (surprise surprise) and because it relies so heavily on translations of weird old Indian texts. With that said, I still have a lot of freedom and I only see my supervisor when the dept whinges about our lack of meetings. I'm not stressed about it, though it is hard to switch off from it. I don't really get stressed about these sorts of things, I tend to have an hour's worth of bad mood then it passes and I crack on again.
Original post by writingmydisso
I'm still in the process of writing mine (it's due in a month!) but I've been on an emotional rollercoaster that I never want to get on again.

I'm on a baking degree (yeah, it exists but IT REALLY SHOULDN'T) and probably only 3 of my lecturers know whats going on and how to support us.
The deadline had to be extended cause our course directed done ****ed up and didn't know how the hell to handle ethics cause apparently this is the second year that our uni has been forcing our course to get our **** together and to follow regulations and submit an ethics approval like every other course. That said, she doesn't know what the damn hell she's doing cause she keeps giving us bad advice and it appears she knows about as much about ethics as we do (I'm more fortunate than my other classmates in that my supervisor is one of the guys that knows what he's doing, so my disso is going smoother than everyone elses....I think). Our designated lecturer for disso sort of....disappeared after two weeks of lectures ?? That was our fault though, cause my class complained that he was confusing us and repeating **** he'd already gone through last year when we were writing our disso proposals. So yeah...we've been on our own since even though we were told that every Tuesday is our 'support day' and that we can come in for one to ones if we want. (I came in once and couldn't find anybody what a joke).

Anyhow, I'm not stuck in an eternal state of anxiety until my disso is submitted cause I keep thinking 'what if I've been writing it wrong all this time. What if I submit it and it's actually garbage' and my sisters are trying to comfort me by telling me that my supervisor would have said something after he read my draft if it was terrible.

TL;DR I'm on a bakery degree that should not be a degree at all cause none of us know what we're doing and honestly we just want to bake.


What do you do in a baking degree? What made you chose it? What's it like? Can you do an AMA? :yum:
Stage 1:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 months
Stage 2:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 weeks
Stage 3:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 days
Stage 4:
Google: who is et al?
Stage 5
Google: how to cry it out fast?
Stage 6
Google: how to recover from self-induced existential crisis fast?
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
What do you do in a baking degree? What made you chose it? What's it like? Can you do an AMA? :yum:


Hmmm its split 50% practical content and 50% theory content (the official name of the degree is Baking Technology and Management so the theory side of it covers applied science and the management/legislation of running a bakery etc.) So we spend half the year in our one very nice lecture theatre doing science/business/disso and the other half of the year in our newly upgraded baking facilities learning bread/confectionery/chocolate/patisserie.

I chose it cause, honestly, after leaving college I didn't know what I wanted to do or become, bearing in mind that I did a mish mash of subjects at A-Level (graphic design, textiles, maths, computing). So I thought back to my successes at GCSE level and remembered that, at one point in time, I wanted to bake. But when I was 16, I didn't know what my career options were for bakers, and my GCSE teachers urged me to go to college. So I did a quick search on UCAS and found out that London South Bank University offered a foundation degree in baking and a top up year to make it a degree. It was close to home and I had nothing to lose so here I am, in my third year of study, in debt and regretting my life decisions LOL

My course has definitely changed since I first started and we have two well known people from industry teaching us (although one recently left) but, I need to stress to anyone reading this and wondering if they should undertake this course that its definitely not what I was expecting. I did some work experience last summer thinking that my time at uni and the skills that I'd learned would make me fit for the workplace, but I was far from it and it was a massive blow to my confidence. I learned more at work experience than I had during my two years at uni and, considering that I pay for uni and that I got paid during my work experience ??? The work experience gave me an edge in out third year Patisserie module instead of the other way around. But that's my take on it, I'm sure my fellow classmates have different views.

You can go on to Masters from here but, honestly, in this industry, I dont see why you would (I dont know why I even went to Uni for something like this in the first place LOL).

Heres the ******** official page for my course if you wanted to find out more.

Sorry for the long reply !!!! I got carried away plus I'm procrastinating from my disso LOOOL
I'm two years away from my dissertation (technically a film though) and I'm already stressing about it
Original post by UWS
Accurate?

Stage 1 (Start of the year)


Stage 2 (First semseter)


Stage 3 (Christmas)


Stage 4 (Second semester)


Stage 5 (Easter)


Stage 6 (Day before deadline)


Stage 7 (After the deadline)

Lol. Stage 1 is the best stage ever!
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by TrotskyiteRebel
Stage 1:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 months
Stage 2:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 weeks
Stage 3:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 days
Stage 4:
Google: who is et al?
Stage 5
Google: how to cry it out fast?
Stage 6
Google: how to recover from self-induced existential crisis fast?

Lol.
Original post by TrotskyiteRebel
Stage 1:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 months
Stage 2:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 weeks
Stage 3:
Google: how to write 10 000 words in 3 days
Stage 4:
Google: who is et al?
Stage 5
Google: how to cry it out fast?
Stage 6
Google: how to recover from self-induced existential crisis fast?

Lol.

Thanks for that. I'm in the process of writing my thesis atm and my butt is glued to my seat.
(edited 5 years ago)

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