Complete Your Dissertation 6 Months Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

Most academics will admit to themselves and students that the majority of dissertations and books are written in a 6 month block of time the remainder of the post focuses on a phd process, but it can be easily applied to book writing. Im talking here about the writing process not the research, figuring out the question, organizing the chapters etc no wizard can do all that in 6 months at least not this wizard. But once youve done your field research, reading, thinking through the chapters, taking notes etc. For phd students this is referred to as the end of the faffing about/procrastination/reading gawker and people.com daily/existential crisis about the structure of the thesis phase and the start of the time to suck it up, close the office door, shut off the email, and just f $@king write phase.

High School Essay Writing Rubric

So how can one get a complete draft of the thesis done in 6 months? here is the 10 step process to completion. Is it 6 months or slightly more or less? count the number of weeks ie 24 , then acknowledge any potential periods within that time frame where you know you wont be working holidays, attending a wedding etc. Yes, coming to terms with the fact that youve got 22 weeks to crack out a thesis before you will be faced with an extra semester of tuition sucks.

Ask yourself how many more times you want to get questioned about still being in school from family members during the holidays, think about how it would feel if the student in your tutorials become your grad student colleagues, calculate what your retirement non savings plan will look like if you are a student for another year now take that panic and zen force it into writing fuel. Using the 22 week example, make a list of each of the chapters that you need to write. Start with the chapters that you feel most confident with ie the ones that may be partially written or are based on an article or conference presentation youve already done. Now calculate how many weeks you can spend on each chapter and still stay within your 22 week budget.

English Essay Topics for Class 5

Try to be realistic most people cant write a decent chapter from scratch in 1 week, but you can probably revise an article and build it into a chapter in 2 weeks. Acknowledge fully that your days of 2 hour coffee sessions and showing up to the office hungover at 11am are over. Say goodbye to facebook, better yet, unplug or delink your office computer from the internet for all but one hour a day most research related searches leads to an hour staring at fashion.com or somehow reading about jessica simpsons second pregnancy you know it, and i know it, so just fix the problem 6. For example, if you known you only have 2 weeks to revise a chapter and update it, break down the list of tasks that will be required and give yourself specific things to accomplish everyday this could include reading 3 articles and incorporating the work into the chapter, revising the conclusion section etc. I recommend writing out your weekly and daily goals up on a big piece of paper and sticking it to the wall, or getting a white board and having everything clearly laid out. Youll look like russel crow from a beautiful mind hunched over your desk with maps and outlines everywhere but whatever. When you finish your tasks for the day reward yourself by going home or heading out for coffee conversely, if completing the days task means you need to stay late, so be it.

Also, if you get off track from an illness or unexpected distraction, dont throw in the towel and abandon the whole plan. Instead, try to revamp the schedule and redistribute the tasks so that you can reasonably get back on the rails. Getting sick for a day or two is no excuse for throwing the entire plan into the garbage. Use the internet as a reward surf through the duck of minerva after youve edited for an hour straight. Give yourself 15 minutes of jon stewart when you finally revise the intro youve been working on.

Footnotes, grammar and spelling checks, looking for a lost resource are all things you should do at the end of the day or when you are feeling like a zombie. When you have to do this type of work, throw on some reggae music or whatever makes you feel good and pretend you are not doing the devils work. In addition to your specific tasks free write for at least an hour everyday and remind yourself that during this time you dont need to worry about perfection. No one will read this first spewing of ideas but it will provide you with something to revise and rework into a legible chapter.

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