Bugs in Writing
Posted by baahar | Filed under misc
So, you finished your masters … you feel smart and are proud of yourself for having had the determination and will power to do it? Well, enjoy the feeling while it lasts !! If you are going to write a dissertation as well, you will feel otherwise … soon !!
All will start with the endless amount of books and papers you have to read. The more you read the more you will wonder if there is maybe one major publication you missed that could turn out to report the exact thing you are working on … making your work redundant and useless.
Soon after, you will start asking yourself questions like: why am I doing this? what if somebody else already did this ? Am I wasting my time ? Will my dissertation be even worth reading, let alone contribute to the field ?
But most of all you will ask yourself: now, what was I doing ?
If a fairy would come to you at this phase to grant you a wish, you would most likely wish for a life in a small village, far far away to herd sheep !! What a beautiful, calm, relaxed way of life that would be …
Wake up ! The fairy does not come … believe me, I’m talking out of experience.
You have to shake off those bad feelings and carry on .. to get it over with will be your main motivation.
To ease the whole process of writing your dissertation you will need the following:
- A ‘good’ supervisor: S/he should be good as a person in general and also good in the field you are working on. You need someone you can trust, someone you can be sure that s/he will not let you down if some conflict of interest arise, someone who knows what is going on in the field in order to prevent you from doing redundant work, someone you cannot fool even if you managed to fool yourself (which is veeeeery easy) …
- A documentation policy: Make notes during every meeting with your supervisor and send them as an email afterwards to her/him. This will make sure that both of you were talking about the same thing and understood each other correctly. It will prevent misunderstandings regarding the content of the meetings, deadlines, scope of the work, etc …
- At least one person who can listen to your ‘ occasional ‘ speeches about the thesis, your self pity and skepticism without smacking you on the head -> best is an anti-social brother who doesn’t talk much and can look at you as if he listens, even though he is somewhere else with his thoughts saving the world or something.
- A book like ‘Bugs in Writing’ by Lyn Dupre: This book can guide you through the whole writing process, giving you strength during tough times with priceless advices like: “tell yourself that nobody ever reads dissertations anyway, that the dissertation requirement is just an archaic form of torture, a rite of passage”.
Best of luck mate !!
Tags: dissertation, lyn dupre, thesis, writing
13 Responses to “Bugs in Writing”
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October 4th, 2009 at 12:10 am
This is a great post! Really helpful.
Thanks for writting it! :)
October 4th, 2009 at 12:30 am
- a lot of time on PhD Comics :)
It reminds me of the time when my Home Geek and most of our friends were deep down in thesis criting… aaah fun times !
October 4th, 2009 at 12:48 am
I’ve just finished my dissertation – and all of the above would have been extremely helpful! My long-suffering friends and family heard my “occasional” ranting and raving about how crap my dissertation was and how pointless and the rest of it with enormous fortitude, all things considered!
Best of luck to anyone completing their dissertations at the moment – it will be ok in the end, I promise! (I find out in mid-November if I passed; keep your fingers crossed for me!)
October 4th, 2009 at 8:05 am
A fun read!
October 4th, 2009 at 11:01 am
although it’s a long time ago, I remember it exactly like this …..
October 4th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Phew… I’m glad I never had to write a dissertation :D
October 4th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
It is great to share on this, brings back memory to me when I have to do this, it was fun.
October 4th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
A fun reading! Thank you so much for sharing!
Isn’t it almost the same with our online shops and handmade creating?
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
of course you can :) thanks for your interest
October 24th, 2009 at 6:17 am
что да то да.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Ай маладэц!! Как карашо сказал! Я запомну.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:42 am
I was told that in order to finish my dissertation, I’d have to lock myself in a room for 6 months and then hope that my family remembers me when I emerge. HA!