Anyone writing an undergrad/masters thesis while waiting to hear back?

[bechkafish]

Hi guys,

I'm noticing in other threads that a couple of us are working (or pretending to work while checking our email) on theses or a last handful of classes. I was wondering if anyone had some good time management tips that they're using to keep moving forward with their work while waiting to hear back from programs? If you've found a system that works, feel free to share!

Edited February 8, 2016 by bechkafish

[502845824]

I'm only working on an undergrad thesis (really just the completion of the paper I turned in for my writing sample), and I'd e curious to know too. I'm having a terrible time keeping my thoughts straight.

[bechkafish]

@oldhatnewtricks, your comment made me realize I'm being unwittingly kind of exclusionary, here. Undergrad theses, too! Thread title amended.

Edited February 8, 2016 by bechkafish

[majorshake]

MA thesis here.

I also work full time (Research office at my uni) and I mark assignments for an off-campus unit.

My life pro tips are:

1. cook your meals for the whole week ahead.
2. get up at 6.30am to study for an hour before work
3. stay back for 2 hours after work to study
 

I just realized I don't lead a super healthy lifestyle But its temporary.

 

The main thing is that any time spent working on your thesis moves you forward. You can do it!

[LLeuven]

I've found that breaking down my thesis into essentially a series of smaller papers is helpful. That way I can say I want to finish a rough draft of section A by X date, this is my page limitation for that section, and then I can send that section out for feedback. It gives me a sense of accomplishment too when I get overwhelmed. I can say, "well I already have this, this and this done. I'm getting there!" It also helps because when I go to campus I only bring books relating to section A, and I'm not trying to drag a library with me...

[lisamadura]

1 hour ago, LLeuven said:

I've found that breaking down my thesis into essentially a series of smaller papers is helpful. That way I can say I want to finish a rough draft of section A by X date, this is my page limitation for that section, and then I can send that section out for feedback. It gives me a sense of accomplishment too when I get overwhelmed. I can say, "well I already have this, this and this done. I'm getting there!" It also helps because when I go to campus I only bring books relating to section A, and I'm not trying to drag a library with me...

Yes! Breaking it down into smaller sections/papers is so necessary. The prospect of writing a 20, 50, 100 page paper is far too daunting. You'll be paralyzed by the size of the task in front of you. Write the different sections/chapters in different documents if you have to. For example, I know that I need to devote approx. 3 pages to Husserl's theory of internal time-consciousness so my task for the day is to write a  3 page "paper" on that topic. So much less intimidating than thinking of it in terms of the thesis as a whole. And only carrying books related to the specific section is very clever. Then once you have all the smaller sections written you get to do the fun part of organizing, integrating, and polishing the language!

I don't have a day job, per se. I teach at my university but that means I have (almost) complete control over my own schedule. That being said, I make my roommate wake me up when she wakes up (she's a kindergarten teacher and gets up at 6am) so that I can write in the morning. Mornings are for thesis work and afternoons/evenings are for lecture prep and grading. I opt for getting up super early (something 4:30/5:00am) and writing in the morning rather than staying up late to write, but that's just a personal preference. I do my best thinking in the morning and I have no discipline in the evening so I assign my most mentally/imaginatively taxing jobs for the morning and the stuff I can do while watching re-runs of Seinfeld for the evening. 

Know your tendencies/habits and use them to your advantage. When I get tired at night there is nothing (not even a deadline) that keeps my head from hitting the pillow. Knowing this, I never leave important work for the evening. 

 

[gughok]

I'm doing an undergrad thesis myself, and the only advice I can give people is: don't be me.

I don't strictly speaking know what my thesis is on yet. I have two papers, both of which my advisor has said are close to thesis-worthy seeds. I am waiting on some more feedback from him before choosing between them.

Edited February 8, 2016 by gughok

[brekekexkoax]

When I did my MA and it was close to the end, I definitely just did a lot of reading and note-taking in the morning, and I found that reading philosophy really inspired me to write it/work on my thesis. Then i set a goal for how long i was going to work for, and when i hit that mark (2 hours of writing per day, let's say), i stopped working and allowed myself to feel good about it. 

Treat it like a job you have to go to each day, and then put down at the end of the day.

[LLeuven]

1 hour ago, lisamadura said:

 Write the different sections/chapters in different documents if you have to. For example, I know that I need to devote approx. 3 pages to Husserl's theory of internal time-consciousness so my task for the day is to write a  3 page "paper" on that topic. So much less intimidating than thinking of it in terms of the thesis as a whole. 

 

 

That's so funny, that's exactly how mine is set up! I have "On Husserlian Phenomenology", "On James' Influence on Husserl", "On James' Method", etc. It has made all the difference.

[SamStone]

I'm also working on my thesis...From the work I put in last semester, I've got a relatively strong start on what I'll need to accomplish this semester. I actually have yet to meet with my advisor about what should be done to turn my paper into my thesis. But I'll be meeting them tomorrow, so after that I'll have to get my schedule back in order—I have definitely not been doing as much work as I normally do this past month. 

I have a similar approach to Lleuven and LisaMadura: breaking the sections up into mini papers. Also, I have a tendency to write my papers as if I'm writing a story, narrative, or at least more poetically than need be...and then I have too long of a paper. But I think this helps in some ways. I find it useful to have a lot of thoughts written out and to use them to write the paper I originally intended to write. Perhaps that is a somewhat roundabout way of working...yet it makes the entire process more enjoyable for me.

[smwinterfeldt]

13 hours ago, SamStone said:

I'm also working on my thesis...From the work I put in last semester, I've got a relatively strong start on what I'll need to accomplish this semester. I actually have yet to meet with my advisor about what should be done to turn my paper into my thesis. But I'll be meeting them tomorrow, so after that I'll have to get my schedule back in order—I have definitely not been doing as much work as I normally do this past month. 

I have a similar approach to Lleuven and LisaMadura: breaking the sections up into mini papers. Also, I have a tendency to write my papers as if I'm writing a story, narrative, or at least more poetically than need be...and then I have too long of a paper. But I think this helps in some ways. I find it useful to have a lot of thoughts written out and to use them to write the paper I originally intended to write. Perhaps that is a somewhat roundabout way of working...yet it makes the entire process more enjoyable for me.

I would also recommend breaking it up into smaller papers. Writing my thesis this way has helped me stay ahead of the curve in terms of the timeline that our department has set up for us. My thesis adviser had me write reading summaries of all of the research that I was doing. From there, it was just a matter of taking the summaries that I needed and throwing them into a 60+ page paper. It also helped that I decided to write a compressed version of my thesis to use as my writing sample, so the core parts of my thesis have already been pretty heavily polished. All I had to add was three sections in two different chapters.

I likewise have heard the criticism that my writing is "a little verbose." But just about every professor comments on how clear it is. I tend to shun heavy use of logical symbols in my writing, and so I too write in a more narrative way. When too many logical symbols get thrown in, I find myself having to flip back a few pages every so often in order to recall the meanings of all of the variables, which I find distracting.

[lisamadura]

Writing is hard. 

[thehegeldialectic]

Defended my honors thesis in November of 2015. I actually took a semester off to write it; it took about nine months. 

[pecado]

This is my tip: Wake up and start directly working in your thesis, until you feel bad from not eating, at least. Write and read everything you can. This should be at least 1 hour, though I resisted 2. Then do everything else, including making your thesis in normal day time as if you had not worked in it.

This way, anything can happen, you could be lost, it could be snowing... But you already advanced some pages from your thesis. And everyday it will grow up.

When you wake up you have nothing else in mind, and starting it directly -without even caring about getting dressed- you concentrate deeply and immediately. Just think about as if it were a ritual of waking up. And DO plan to work on it at the normal day. Though you may skip the normal day session -although if you were disciplined you would not skip it, and you would not even need this kind of tips-, you shall never skip the waking up working session.

[pecado]

On 10/2/2016 at 7:18 PM, lisamadura said:

Writing is hard. 

Reading is harder.