Surviving Your Dissertation
All the planning in the world will not prepare you for the many horrors of actually composing a dissertation. Yes, you can purchase an easy dissertation online from a site like dissertation blog, but that is not always feasible for everyone. Instead, you must soldier on alone into the great unknown. Here is a blog post dedicated to surviving your dissertation (or surviving your dissertations, as in plural).
Assembling Your Materials
You will need the proper tools for success. These include, but are not limited to, the following items:
- Pen and paper. This is very important. Even if you’re writing your dissertation on a computer, having a pen (or pencil, I suppose) and paper on hand will allow you to plan on the fly, draw diagrams, and make non-standard notation. Good for doodling, too, which can be a good distraction.
- A computer. Theoretically optional, but you’ll need to type it (or pay someone to type it) eventually, so get on this as soon as possible. Working at a library or student center, although not ideal, can be a low-cost alternative.
- Coffee or tea. Either works; this isn’t really for the caffeine. Having something to do with your hands beside type will help you get down for long writing sessions.
- Five-hour energy drinks. If you take an hour nap and then drink one of these, it kind of feels like you got 8 crappy hours of sleep. This makes it the perfect personal assistant to any diligent dissertation writer.
- Spellcheck. This one is self-explanatory.
- An editor. And, perhaps less self-explanatory — just get someone who knows how to write that can look over your work and make sure that it makes sense. Your thesis will go through many editing processes, but an initial check-over never hurts.
- A thorough outline. If you’re not sure how to make one, consult this post on making a dissertation outline. Don’t be afraid to outline very specific aspects of your dissertation, because detail and planning are extremely helpful later. Get as much of this out of the way as you can.
Tactics
There are many tactics to surviving your dissertation. You can break up writing sessions into a few different categories, which will help you prioritize.
- The low-key session. This is for grunt work that requires little to no finesse. Do this early on, in one-hour increments, perhaps somewhere such as the library. Take liberal snack breaks. Surround yourself with other people who are working on their dissertations, so that you might have company. If you are sharing papers/research with your peers, do it now.
- The slightly-less-low-key session. This is where you work alone, in a study room, by yourself. Maybe keep some coffee by your side, but try to avoid getting up and interrupting your work.
- The intense session. Set a specific amount of time and just work straight through that period. Take a break if and only if your alarm goes off.
- The all night party session. It’s not really a party. Rather, you might recognize this as all-night cramming. Ferocious but effective. Bring extra coffee.
Everyone here at Dissertation Blog wishes you much luck on surviving your dissertations. Stay strong.
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