The dissertation motivator

TomB_88

I was in a similar position this time last year, not quite a 20,000 word dissertation but a decent 10,000 lol . My advice would be to get up in the morning and work through the day. Just crack on then relax have a drink on the night, reward yourself on the night for the hard work you put in through the day !

The_One_Who

angelofmel wrote: »

ergh. can i fast foward to may now please??!

has anyone got any tips for staying awake? at the moment i fall sleep before even finishing a chapter of anything i read. its driving me mad as i have a mountain of reading to do for my modules at the moment let alone the dissertation! its so stupid how tired uni and this work is making me....i worked 5 day weeks all summer with an additional 2 hour comute each day and wasnt anywhere near as tired as this!!

It'll be better for you to sort of your sleep routine, rather than try to force your body to stay awake. That might work for an odd all-nighter, but not long-term. If you just find something boring, then split it up into smaller sections. Sometimes picking up a huge article can be daunting and off-putting, but split it up and it's not too bad.

angelofmel

Thanks for the replys

The_One_Who wrote: »

It'll be better for you to sort of your sleep routine, rather than try to force your body to stay awake. That might work for an odd all-nighter, but not long-term. If you just find something boring, then split it up into smaller sections. Sometimes picking up a huge article can be daunting and off-putting, but split it up and it's not too bad.

the thing is i dont think i can improve my sleep routine much more. i get up roughly the same time each morning with the exception of sunday if im not working and get to bed before midnight. i cant live without at least 7/8 hours sleep a night so i make damn sure i get that!
guess im just gonna have to try to work around it all. cant not do the reading sadly. its just fustrating to end up falling asleep all the time when im trying to read something important!

scottishblondie

angelofmel wrote: »

Thanks for the replys



the thing is i dont think i can improve my sleep routine much more. i get up roughly the same time each morning with the exception of sunday if im not working and get to bed before midnight. i cant live without at least 7/8 hours sleep a night so i make damn sure i get that!
guess im just gonna have to try to work around it all. cant not do the reading sadly. its just fustrating to end up falling asleep all the time when im trying to read something important!

When I'm trying to read something I find it useful to take notes, highlight stuff etc, as otherwise I do tend to start falling asleep too! Also try to do the reading somewhere that isn't great for sleeping, like a desk or table. I tried to do reading on the sofa once and I was nodding off after 10 minutes.

Observer

I agree that you need to make it an office/business like environment if you will, not a comfy bed/sofa as it seems much less likely that any work wil be done. Highlighting etc works for me as it also makes sure I take in what I'm reading, if i dont highlight i can quite easily read the whole thing while thinking of something else and therefore not have a clue what it says once I've finished. Its also easier to go back and remind yourself of the main arguements if you highlighted it first time.

Occassionally I do have music on, very quietly and generally chillout type stuff as this often doesn't have words. If the song has words I'm more lkely to sing along and therefore not do the work! I generally try to work without anything on though as its way too distracting and better as a reward when having a break.

Observer

katquinn82 wrote: »

Ooh I could probably do with following this thread I've just started the CPE/GDL and have a dissertation to write its not due into Spring and we've had no guidance yet except that its 6,000 words which I know is minature but doesn't seem it now, so I just need to start with picking a legal area.....right time to sort through that unused email account!

Hi katquinn82. 6000 is plenty, after all you still have to find 6000 decent words to wirte about something! In a way smaller is worse as you have to be much more concise with your arguements and say as much as possible in the smallest amount of words.

Good luck with choosing a topic, dont just accept the first thing you think of

angelofmel

thank you scottishblondie and observer will give your sugestions a try!

penguinwaddles

How are you all getting along? I now have 3 weeks left to do mine (I still haven't even set myself a title! eeek) and revision for 7 exams to fit in. Have everything set out to start revision tomorrow, weekend for researching dissertation then will write dissertation up next mon-fri, thats the plan anyway!

GothicStirling

katquinn82 wrote: »

How are you all getting along? I now have 3 weeks left to do mine (I still haven't even set myself a title! eeek) and revision for 7 exams to fit in. Have everything set out to start revision tomorrow, weekend for researching dissertation then will write dissertation up next mon-fri, thats the plan anyway!

Good luck. I've been writing mine since early January, and I'm just finishing off the last chapter.

evespikey

I've got to submit mine (20,000) at the end of september. I'm not looking forward to it. I love my subject and topic but the more I research the more I get confused. I'm focussing on two theories and definitely want to explore both, but I keep deviating between comparing the two theories on two different issues that are very similar so they keep running into each other. At this rate not only will the dissertation not make sense, but be too general and not answer any questions nor have tight analysis. I would love a distinction too, as I hope to go on to a PhD. My relationship with my supervisor isn't the best- I'm just generally afraid that he'll 'tell me off', as it were, for not writing enough yet...but I'm quite independant with my work (if I'm up against the clock I can get a lot done in a short space of time) and I trust my own judgement-in philosophy, if you get a nagging feeling something's not right about an argument, your intuition is pretty much always right.

Any tips for a good relationship with your supervisor?