Hello there
lovelies
*SUPER LONG
POST ALERT*
For this post I
thought I’d offer some tips if you’re writing a dissertation (or Undergraduate
Major Project). I completed my BSc degree last year so the experience is still
rather fresh in my memory. Firstly- I feel your pain but keep going you’re
almost there. If you’re a third year student you may have already started or
even finished your dissertation and if you’re a second year student you may
want to start thinking about a subject to write it on now as it will come
around quicker than you think, these tips can also be applied to other essays
not just a dissertation. Now I’m no expert but these are just some things I
picked up when I was writing my dissertation that I wish I’d known before
starting it. I’m not a natural academic, I had to work really hard to get my
marks and I wasn’t very good at keeping myself focused. I always had something
more important to do than writing my essay. It was much more important that I
colour coded my socks than sat down and did research even though the little
voice in my head kept nagging me to do it.
So these are my
tips….
1.Stating the
obvious but DON’T leave it until the last minute, it will be reflected in your
writing and you won’t be able to produce your best work resulting in you loosing
precious marks. Start early and do little and often.
2.Keep all correspondence
between you and lecturers. Keep all emails in your inbox, don’t delete them,
it’s proof that communication has taken place, if you’ve asked for help and
haven’t received it you’ve got the proof that you’ve asked for it and didn’t
get a response. Or if you’ve been given a piece of advice and it turns out to
be wrong you can show that you was advised to do/not to do that.
3.Get to grips
with referencing. Take on board feedback from previous essays, if your unsure
most university libraries have staff that can help with referencing, use them.
4.Take regular
breaks. There’s nothing more soul destroying than staring at a computer screen
for hours and not typing anything, if you get writers block walk away from your
computer, make a cup of tea, pop to the shop, you’ll probably find that
something will soon pop into your head to write once the pressures off.
5.Reference as
you go along, it saves time at the end. Writing a reference list from scratch
can take hours or even days and is sooooo tedious. I have 2 word documents open
and whenever I use a reference in text I type it in my reference list straight
away. This will ensure that no references are missed and you can just copy and
paste your completed list over to your finished project at the end.
6.Include a
bibliography, some people see them as a pointless exercise but it shows you’ve
done the leg work when conducting research, if you’ve found a really good source
but just don’t know how to utilise it put it in the bibliography.
7.Ask for help.
If you’re really struggling don’t suffer in silence go to a lecturer and
explain, its what they get paid (quite a lot of money) to do. Also use support
staff like student services as they will be able to offer advice if your not
sure what route to take. This also links back to point 2.
8.Don’t
underestimate how long editing will take. Allow a good week to get it exactly
how you want it to look. Front cover contents page abstract etc and aim to have
it 100% complete and ready to hand in at least a week before its due. This
allows for any last minute alterations or unforeseen circumstances.
9.Have a day off.
We all need a break; I wouldn’t work at weekends so I could do shopping,
washing, housework, catching up with friends etc so I didn’t have to think
about it during the week when I needed to be writing. I also wouldn’t work past
9pm as this gave me an hour or two to wind down before bed so I could get a
good nights sleep before starting again the next day.
10.Don’t loose
faith. It may feel like its never going to end but it will and once its
finished you’ll feel so much better. I think the whole campus must have heard
my sigh of relief when I handed it in.
11.Break it down
into sections rather than one 10,000 word essay (I’m assuming most are 10,000
words for undergraduate). The thought of writing 10,000 words filled me with
dread but when I broke it down into sections and thought about what I wanted to
say in each section it wasn’t so bad. I think I did something like 5 sections
at around 2000 words per section and made each one link so it flowed nicely.
12.Avoid distractions;
plan them for your day off. Explain to people that your writing so can’t do x y
z but you’re up for celebrating when you’re finished. Most people will
understand, especially if they have done a degree, they were in that position
once.
13.Keep a
notebook handy, even if you are having a day off. You’ll think of the best
lines to write at the most inconvenient time and if you don’t write them down
straight away you’ll forget it- trust me, the amount of times I thought of some
excellent things when I was just nodding of to sleep or driving. Even write it
in a text message and send it to yourself if you’re out and about.
14.Save it
everywhere possible, memory sticks, external hard drives etc. I would email it
to myself then you can always access it from any computer. If something should
happen to your computer you can log in to your emails from another machine and
get to your precious work.
15.Proof read,
by the time I’d finished mine I could probably recite the whole thing from
memory the amount of times I’d read it but what may sound good one day may not
make sense the next when looking at it with fresh eyes. If it doesn’t make
sense to you then it won’t make sense to the reader. Try reading a sentence out
loud to see if it sounds right or reading it out loud to someone else.
16.Don’t be
ambiguous. Write clearly so the reader can understand, you don’t get marks for
using super big words that sound clever. I was always told to write as though
the reader has no knowledge of the subject, ask yourself, will they be well
informed on the subject by the time they have read your piece.
17.Once you’ve
handed it in forget about it or you’ll send yourself crazy if you keep thinking
about it and trying to predict your marks. What’s done is done. I worried
myself sick and convinced myself I’d failed one of my exams and I ended up
getting in the 90s for it, so its not worth thinking about. Just enjoy the
freedom until results day.
I don’t think
I’ve said anything that you probably don’t already know but sometimes it’s just
nice to know that someone else can relate to what you’re going through. Sorry
this is a bit of a monster post, if you got this far- high five. And hang on in
there; if I can do it believe me when I say anyone can. And lastly GOODLUCK.
Until next time
