Dissertation motivation!

dancingqueen_tr

slowlyfading wrote: »

god can i join? I've got 6,300 words out of 12,000 and just can't be bothered! I mean, this is SO important for my degree (worth 25% of my overall mark) and I just don't want to do it anymore. I also have two other essays to do, all before next week! argh!

thank god after all this moaning i did on the tread i am still in the same position, only half done with only full 5 days i can actually do the rest in, and the odd hour here and there..i am just really lacking the motivation and rather sit here not do anything than write...and it doesnt help that i dont really know what i need to do to get a good mark either...

jo132000

Well I'm going to join too.....I'm on 4,500 out of the aim of 7-8,000 I need to write, it's in for a week and 2 days....i'm scared but i write for a bit then I hit what feels like a brick wall.....

slowlyfading

I'm scared too - I really really need a good mark for this, but what am I doing today? Sat on the computer not doing anything. I will do something this afternoon - I've got to.

pavlovs_dog

as if things werent bad enough....

went out for a coffee with my friend this morning to give myself a break. came home refreshed, focused and ready to work... and my F*CKING crapheap of a PC has decided it doesnt want to work and is going to take leave of absence. i am soooo glad i copied my most recent piece of work to my flashdrive this morning, so at most only an hour of dissertation lost. but depending on whats caused the problem, it might be goodbye 2 several years worth of photos, files, about half of my uni work, music. if it cant be recovered, it will mean at best, a new hardrive. at worst, whole new pc.

i want to cry. i should feel grateful that i at least have access to another PC to work on, but i dont. i just want to cry and scream and swear at the stupid crappy piece of junk.

marksandsparksgal

Pavlovs ...so sorry to hear of your pc woes ... they're evil sometimes eh!

I have decided I totally need to join this thread. I need to write a 5000 word project in German for my year abroad, and I've been here since September and have done...well naff all. I'm usually a person who leaves things until the last minute, but when writing in a different language, I don't think that's such a good idea!

The article that was posted earlier in the thread was a good read, so kudos to whoever found that one!

Good luck everyone xxx

Jolaaled

oh Pavlov..i do feel for you. But thank goodness you backed up your diss work.

Hope you get it fixed ok

<hugs>

Bamber19

Got finished tonight, I changed my topic a few weeks ago which didn't go down well with my supervisor but I knew I could get it done, started 2 weeks ago tomorrow then left the rest of it until Monday and got it finished tonight, what i've shown to the supervisor over the past couple of days was described as "brilliant" so the myth that you have to work on it for 6 months in order to get a good mark is exactly that. Hand in date is tomorrow...well today since it's past midnight. Still need to print and bind it, uni will be bsutling tomorrow. Such a feeling of relief to get it finished. My best advice would be to just type, you can cut out anything that doesn't make sense later but the biggest problem I and others I talked to had was actually starting each chapter, but I found that if i just started typing my thoughts on the topic, i.e without sources etc i settled into a groove and it spurred me on to then start the actual meaty content of quotes etc.

sali_mali

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

well im back. after a horrific case of writers block i finally managed to get started and am only 3 weeks behind my intended schedule :eek: :shhh: i am now just under halfway through writing up, and am finally feeling like i am getting somewhere.

i wanted to ask you all about the guidelines you have been giving regarding the presentation of your dissertation. all that is expected of us is that it is in good academic form. well if i cant achieve that after 3 and a half years of a degree, i ought to be rounded up at dawn and tortured! im ok with the size 12 TNR font, double spaced, referenced with the havard system etc aspects but what the hell do i do for a front cover? do i number my pages? if so, which corner? do i put my student number and dissertation title as a header or leave it blank? i dont *have* to bind it - all i have to do is ensure that it is handed in in a 'secure' manner so that pages dont get lost. any ideas where i can get a really big paperclip?! (or more serious suggestions about how best to present my labour of 'love' :rolleyes: lovehate more like )

Congrats Bamber, you must be feeling so relieved! Or so exhaisted that you're past caring... either way, well done!

PD, I don't know if all unis are the same but I'll give you my guidelines for presentation if that helps.

We've been given a front cover with the uni crest on it, but basically it has to include your name, ID number, project title, department, supervisor name and word count. I've put my title as a header along with my name and the date. I've put the page number as a footer, in the center.

We have to have our dissertations bound but they don't mind how, just no staples or paper clips! I'm going to buy one of those plastic files that have butterfly clips in them - you know, clear front sheet and coloured margin and back? Keeps it nice and tidy, looks professional and only cost 60p each.

Hope that helps and I'm glad you got over your writer's block! Sorry to hear about your pc, that happened to me last year so and I lost all of my music and photos, including my prom photos and all of the ones from my first year at uni! I cried, it was horrible. Thank God for Facebook now, at least my photos are saved on the web somewhere so it doesn't matter if my computer breaks, they're still somewhere!

Bamber19

sali_mali wrote: »

Congrats Bamber, you must be feeling so relieved! Or so exhaisted that you're past caring... either way, well done!

Thanks, i'm somewhere inbetween, my 2 largest chapters i put a lot (as much as the time afforded) of effort into and stayed awake on a few nights through the night to work on them but after I had finished basically everything including conclusion I still had a short chapter to add in (1000 words) the content of which didn't affect conclusion (that's why I was able to leave it until last) and that's the chapter where it's obvious i got to the past caring stage, it's clearly just been thrown together, but for the 1-2% it'd be worth to sort it out I simply cannot bring myself to do this, so the short term gain of a good nights sleep wins over the long term few % on to my final mark. Hope i don't miss a 2:1 by half a % or something. :rolleyes:

Good luck to everyone who is still working on their dissertation, a week ago I was honestly thinking i wasn't going to do it but I pulled through and I'm sure you will too.

Now I can get back to reading MSE for too many hours a day, I've steered clear for the past week or so to avoid getting into a debate about some trivial matter on Discussion Time when I should be typing about governmental powers (yes, my dissertation was on a boring topic)

elisebutt65

BubbleFrogette wrote: »

Anyone who tells you that they have already completed their thesis and got it printed, bound and attached gold bells to it before you have even written a word is either a liar, a geek or in a different year to you!

Oh god - i must be a geek then:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. I got mine in a full month before hand in date because I just wanted rid of the darned thing - still managed a First - whaeyyy! But then I do get a bit OCD-ish about hand in dates!!!

I'm starting my Masters in September and I already know my dissertation topic and the research I need to do - I'm starting in the summer before I even start the course as I need a full 12 months of data - My BF now thinks I am way too anal - sigh! Fellow students on my current PGCE course just think that I am obviously an android as I cannot possibly have time to sleep:p Partially true as I get by on about 3 hours a night cos just lying there is boring!:D