Thesis Writing Advice

[iLikeTrees]

I'm writing my M.S. thesis and have gotten about halfway through and seem to have hit a wall where I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating to finish writing and go through the very painful edit/rewrite phase. Has anybody been through this or experiencing the same thing?

At the beginning, I set deadlines for each little part, but other work (talks, posters, etc) has cropped up and gotten me off track. I now have a bit less than a month before I told my advisor I'd have a basically final product ready (she'll look it over and then I'll send it out to my committee). All I have to do is write introductions (i.e. lit reviews for 3 chapters), a synthesis, and edits. Sometimes this seems totally manageable, but at other times it totally stresses me out now that I have some big deadlines coming up very fast.

Any suggestions?

[wordslinger]

I completed my thesis last semester. Horrifically, I realized about a month before my due date what I *really* wanted to say and had to write the whole thing over (for the most part). After that experience, I would say that the most important thing is just to work as hard as you can to get a complete draft as soon as possible. Give yourself permission to write badly. But just write. As you complete chapters or sections, send them out to trusted readers (which I hope you have... I wouldn't have been able to manage without some excellent grad student friends). Once your draft is complete and you have an idea of where you're going with the whole thing, you can revise as much as necessary/possible.

I don't know if this is helpful advice or not, but it's my experience. In any case, I wish you well. It's certainly stressful but worth it in the end.

I'm writing my M.S. thesis and have gotten about halfway through and seem to have hit a wall where I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating to finish writing and go through the very painful edit/rewrite phase. Has anybody been through this or experiencing the same thing?

At the beginning, I set deadlines for each little part, but other work (talks, posters, etc) has cropped up and gotten me off track. I now have a bit less than a month before I told my advisor I'd have a basically final product ready (she'll look it over and then I'll send it out to my committee). All I have to do is write introductions (i.e. lit reviews for 3 chapters), a synthesis, and edits. Sometimes this seems totally manageable, but at other times it totally stresses me out now that I have some big deadlines coming up very fast.

Any suggestions?

[StrangeLight]

write at least two pages of your thesis every single day. it doesn't matter if they're good pages or bad pages. just write them. once you have everything you want to say down on paper, then give it to your advisor and have him/her recommend where you should re-write/re-draft. i don't think it's wise to wait until you've got your final final draft to show it to your advisor. as soon as you have one full draft (good or not), show it to your prof. you don't want to be in the position where your advisor recommends significant rewrites and you don't have the time to get them done.

[Roll Right]

Honestly, if you have time I think you ought to step away from it for a moment and do something else. Read, exercise, go out. Just take a couple of days from it to let it circulate in your head. We often come to the best conclusions and have the best thoughts about one thing when doing something else. You may have thought it over to death, and no matter how much time you spend writing and editing, it'll be like pulling teeth. Recharge those batteries.

[oldlady]

I do my best thinking first thing in the morning, so when I have writing or editing that requires real thought, I do it then. I save things like minor edits and lit reviews for later in the day (when I'm not as sharp) or when I'm feeling a lot of resistance.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Give yourself permission to write badly. But just write.

THANK YOU for that advice! I've been able to get 12 pages in the past 6 days alone. SO good to be back into the swing of it.

[wordslinger]

THANK YOU for that advice! I've been able to get 12 pages in the past 6 days alone. SO good to be back into the swing of it.

That's so great! Don't stop!

[bon to the jour]

To add some late advice (though it seems you're doing awesome... great job with all those pages!) I'd recommend every writer read How to Write A Lot by Paul Silvia. It's a tiny book --- very fast and funny read --- that has been immensely motivating for, you guessed it: writing a lot. It is under $10 at Amazon. Go check it out --- anyone who struggles with writing (even those who shame the rest of us with their prolific compositions) will undoubtedly find this little gem of a book useful.

[BlueSwedeShoes]

THANK YOU for that advice! I've been able to get 12 pages in the past 6 days alone. SO good to be back into the swing of it.

I am also trying to finish up my thesis and was going to recommend the "just keep writing"-method! Glad to hear it's working for you, as well.

Although I don't set goals in terms of pages but rather words, something like 1 000 words a day is a nice pace. Also, focus on the thesis. I blocked out everything else in my life for a week when I felt it was going very slow and managed to get 10 000 words (~30 pages) done. Best part: My advisors thought it was fantastic text, just some minor changes needed.

[TravelLadyBug]

You should check out Paul Silvia's How to Write A Lot. It's super easy to read, inspirational, and funny. He gives great tips about how to write every day. If you are a psychology major, then this book is particularly tailored to you.