MDLee Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 GOOD MORNING... I'm writing thesis in my last semester of the MA program at UNLV. Its due in 14 days. I am also waiting for 5 more responses on PhD apps. I'm working on 30 minutes of sleep for the past 72 hours and the Starbucks baristas are now on a first name basis with me and don't even ask what I'm drinking anymore. I'm basically taking caffeine through an IV. While I realize that this can't be healthy...it must be part of this grand "grad" experience that everyone keeps telling me about. The type of thing you later write stand up comedy about... "So there was that time when I was living on a GA stipend that amounted to a pound of ramen noodles and a pitcher of water every month and they expected 130 pages of good research in 8 weeks while requiring me to grade weekly assignments, conduct classes, grade midterms, and attend to my own remaining coursework...but it was all good because I was so caffeinated that I was up for two weeks straight.... oh those were the days...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GirlattheHelm Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Breathe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow#5 Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 On the bright side, a year off may not be so bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 On the bright side, a year off may not be so bad... I'm beginning to agree with this sentiment entirely. Honestly, I walked outside yesterday and took a look at the most beautiful blue sky I've seen in ages. And it occurred to me that I have been in college a combined total of 8 years between 2 bacc's and a master's and I can barely remember any of those 8 years because I've been working so damned hard. Maybe a year off would mean I could actually pay attention to the sky once in a while. ::sigh:: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahlan_amnell Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 GOOD MORNING... I'm writing thesis in my last semester of the MA program at UNLV. Its due in 14 days. I am also waiting for 5 more responses on PhD apps. I'm working on 30 minutes of sleep for the past 72 hours and the Starbucks baristas are now on a first name basis with me and don't even ask what I'm drinking anymore. I'm basically taking caffeine through an IV. While I realize that this can't be healthy...it must be part of this grand "grad" experience that everyone keeps telling me about. The type of thing you later write stand up comedy about... "So there was that time when I was living on a GA stipend that amounted to a pound of ramen noodles and a pitcher of water every month and they expected 130 pages of good research in 8 weeks while requiring me to grade weekly assignments, conduct classes, grade midterms, and attend to my own remaining coursework...but it was all good because I was so caffeinated that I was up for two weeks straight.... oh those were the days...." I'm also in my last semester of an MA program and writing my thesis. I've got until April 17th to get it finished though. Mine's going pretty well, I'll be turning in the first complete draft in a few weeks, I've been turning in chapters since the start of February. How's your thesis going? Be sure to get some sleep sometime, caffeine only goes so far towards making sleepy people awake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElusiveMuse Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Sometimes I go back and read my caffeinated writing and it's like...Huh? What was I thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Be sure to get some sleep sometime, caffeine only goes so far towards making sleepy people awake. I honestly thought this was true...but then managed 72 hours on caffeine without so much as a grumpy word or a yawn. In fact, I was in a better mood when I went to class on Friday morning than I had been three days previous because I felt like I'd gotten more done! WEIRD. I'd hate to admit it, but I think I'm actually enjoying this weird thesis-writing sub culture that we have in my department where we keep each other awake (with occasional 1/2 hour naps on the GA futon) and kick out assignment after assignment. Too many deadlines all at once not to, though. My thesis is actually much improved over when I was writing this. I finished the second (much improved) draft of my third chapter and have only the intro and concluding chapters to write before the 20th. Not bad, not bad. I imagine I'll kick out one more draft of the chapter I just finished...the other chapters were already quadruple drafted. I thrive on academic pressure...its real world pressure I buckle under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElusiveMuse Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Intros and conclusions are the worst. I'm currently sitting on those for my senior thesis and I'm just sort of at this point that I want someone else to read all my "meat" and tell me what I said because my head is swirling with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inactive_since_inf Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 A simple recipe for a thesis: append all your conference papers and find-replace 'paper' with 'chapter' :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 A simple recipe for a thesis: append all your conference papers and find-replace 'paper' with 'chapter' :wink: LoL!! The terrible thing is that is basically what I did for chapter 2-3 of my thesis!! But, chapter 1 had to be written from scratch. I'm re-drafting as we speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inactive_since_inf Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 LoL!! The terrible thing is that is basically what I did for chapter 2-3 of my thesis!! But, chapter 1 had to be written from scratch. I'm re-drafting as we speak. Cool, I am guessing you have little over a week's time left for submission. Will there be any proofreading possible? I actually did the find-replace for my previous thesis, and the prof asked me: "is it only 30 pages"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 Cool, I am guessing you have little over a week's time left for submission. Will there be any proofreading possible? I actually did the find-replace for my previous thesis, and the prof asked me: "is it only 30 pages"? Fortunately, I've been proofreading as I go, and editing/adding etc. It should be pretty close to perfect by the time I turn it in on the 20th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Why is your thesis due so early? You don't get the summer to work on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 Why is your thesis due so early? You don't get the summer to work on it? Not if I want to graduate in the spring. Last day to defend is April 17th. I'm defending mine on April 16th. Therefore, my draft is due to my committee by March 20th. Yuccck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 March 20th eh? Good luck with the writing! I can't even pull an all-niter let alone being functionally awake for 72 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 I can't even pull an all-niter let alone being functionally awake for 72 hours. You know...I used to think the same thing. It is funny how a deadline can make just about anything possible. In fact, I'm pretty positive that if I try to pull a 72 hour sleep fast over the summer I will fail miserably. Must be the incentive of finishing that's doing it for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose2009 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 I'm trying to get my thesis done at least by early summer. The school I'm most likely to end up at will still take me if I don't have it quite finished, but that is the last thing I want to worry about while starting at a new place. I have an online study, and had a ton of participants at first, but it has really slowed down. Speaking of which, if any of you would want to participate or would want to tell people you know to participate I would certainly appreciate it (helping out a fellow grad student, yay!). People just have to go to www.murraystudy.com to participate and at the end can enter to win a $50 gift certificate to amazon.com. Good luck with the thesis writing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycholinguist Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Gah, I just spent NINE HOURS working on the first draft of my thesis. I'm about to head back to my place and collapse into bed and dream about relative clauses. But I GOT IT HANDED IN! AT 11:59 PM! Not that it was due at midnight or anything. The story just sounds more dramatic that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDLee Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 I too, often dream thesis. I dream in fractured sentences and with a lot of EM Dashes ( "--whatever you say goes in here--") In fact, this afternoon I dreamed that my committee was in a car that went off a cliff..I was driving. But the car floated, so it was okay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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