I can't write my Masters dissertation and it's due in 2 weeks, in despair over it

Independent research means what work you've done outside reading the literature.

For example, your topic should be based on a hypothesis. Having read the literature, you decide what independent research you will do to investigate your proposition.

You might conduct interviews, run focus groups, gather data, do a survey, examine primary sources of information to get a new perspective.

If you haven't done this, or some version of this as approved by your supervisor, then yes, it's too late, being blunt.

But if you have, and you've done your lit review, you have time.

Stop talking about failing! Even if you don't do a brilliant thesis - you have taken other modules worth more than the thesis so I am sure are in a position to pass!

It looks like I work in the area you are writing about, and I've worked with many MA students. Drop me a line if you want more specific help.

Firstly you're not an idiot. If you've got to the point of nearly finishing your Masters you're clearly bright enough to do this. I promise.

I wrote my undergrad dissertation in a week and was so cross with myself for not starting earlier (scraped a pass, which brought my overall grade down from a First to a 2:1).

10 years later I found myself 2 weeks away from the masters thesis deadline with only a title on the page. Needless to say I was really pissed off with myself again, but knew I had to just get on with it.

And I did. I gave myself one day to do the plan - starting with main headers and then working out the subheaders. Then I wrote a section a day over 5 days. Not in order, but starting with the one j thought knew the most about.

Then I spent a couple of days editing and re-writing. Then I took a day off, went out with friends, had lunch got fresh air and cleared my mind. And then I spent a day or two going through it all again.

It worked. I had to swallow my pride and accept that some bits would be rubbish. I had to say a silent "sorry" to the panel who would read it because I knew it really wasn't up to the standard it should have been. Most importantly I had to remind myself that it didn't represent me or my worth or intellect. It was just a bloody piece of writing that I could forget about as soon as it was handed in. Of course I wanted it to be amazing, wanted all my ideas to be clearly represented, wanted to write something original and thought provoking... But 4 years on that really doesn't matter. I got my Master's. My family were so bloody proud. And in the end I was too.

Good luck. You've got this.

OP I supervise and mark Uni dissertations. I wanted to respond to this:

Confidence is shot as I did the sitting down and banging out a chapter before and my supervisor made it clear it didn't cut the mustard so I think part of it is I just feel embarrassed by my own ideas and opinions which is really unhelpful.

A lot of Uni lecturers/supervisors are not trained teachers and although we may know our subject and have the best intentions, I think sometimes we aren't great at the psychology of how to support and motivate our students. In particular, I think a lot of us give feedback which is rather too negative (as it's easier to comment on what needs fixing than what is good). We sometimes forget that students also need positive encouragement.

I'd suggest you try to be thick skinned about your supervisor's response, especially as you said it was a draft you wrote quickly.

Just from your posts on here I think you write better than a lot of our students (not being mean here - many are bright but have English as a second language, others know the field well but aren't experienced in writing, etc). Most of them do pass, even if some are not brilliantly written.

I think you need to go with others' advice along the lines of "done is better than perfect". I'll be thinking of you - good luck!!

@EarringsandLipstick "with respect" the OP has 2 weeks. Of course it's not just about word count, but with 14 days she needs to focus on getting something on paper.

At this stage I'd guarantee she's in the "paralysis by analysis" phase and she risks perfection being the enemy of good.

If, as she says she does, the OP knows her topic and has done her research then she can structure appropriately and getting something on paper is the best advice anyone can give her at 14 days out.

Just finished my masters and know exactly this feeling!!!!

Get a dictaphone and a bottle of wine, a quiet space with good background music, have ur first glass then start a mind map..... now turn on the dictaphone... and spill it out, don't stop recording until the bottles finished...
do you use dragon software? Speaking out my work made it so easy

You can smash the bulk of it out in a few days! X

Hi,

Another uni tutor here.

First, I think it's definitely worth getting a week's extension. That 50% extra time. Tell them about your brain fog.

You can write 10k words worth reading in three weeks. You really can.

Have you got a good citations app? DS2 uses Google and it takes all the pain out of the referencing. It takes him seconds. (Took me hours and hours!)

Your supervisor shouldn't have just told you your rough draft wasn't up to scratch. They should have explained how to get it up to scratch. What was missing and what worked.

Break it down into chunks. Order them. Do as much planning as you can. Sort out on index cards where you want each bit to be. When you see how many chunks you have, you'll know how many words you need to cover each section and they will become less daunting.

Do NOT write your intro or abstract yet. Write them last so they reflect what you've said. (Then put them at the top, obvs.)

Use 'scaffolding' That's sentences you will eventually take out because they don't read well, but they guide you to stay on track. E.g. 'In this section I will argue that children who are forced to read and write early (aged 2-4) are more likely to develop dyslexia. I'll also make it clear this is not an issue for voluntary readers of this age group.'

That sort of note to self can be put in coloured ink or bold. Use as much scaffolding as you like to keep your head clear. Just remember to take it out once you've said what you intended to say.

This is a serious deadline. Other people need to step up with childcare, cooking, housework, lifts etc. You need all the time you can get.

You really can do this with three weeks.

Would it be outing to say more about the topic? Then possibly some knowledgeable folk could chip in with relevant stuff... good luck though. I think you can definitely do this :)

Jo

@StupendouslyStupid

Tell me more...! I work in university librarianship, in a teaching & research role.

The one real worry I have is that you are being really vague. It's just not enough to 'know a lot about the area' - it's about what independent research you've done in that area. PM me if you would like input on your topic.

I had three 10,000 word essays to do for my undergraduate degree, so I feel your pain. Would recording yourself help? Speak your thoughts out loud so you have a copy of them. Or nowadays you can use software that turns your spoken words into written text.

What is your subject matter?

@RondeVlaanderen My motto was: might as well do this when I'm drunk, otherwise I'll have to do it when I'm sober..

I really like this ^

I get the brain fog from an AI condition too and have stressed myself out writing up essays. The only thing that has helped as others have said is to get an outline/headings sorted out. Make bullet points under each heading and includes references to use. As I go and fill in, I write up a small summary to add to the conclusion for summing up later

I’m still on an UG degree and can’t imagine doing a masters so I wish you luck to get started!

Has any of the posts giving advice been helpful so far @StupendouslyStupid

I don't think you need more than 1 week's extension, if you've the research done and mainly need to write.

Can you tell us a bit more about where you are at with that?

Pegasus with respect that's not great advice.

It's really not about the word count alone.

It's about structuring your proposition, your research findings and your conclusion.

'Just' writing to some deadline and then editing is really no use.

OP had to get the structure, her key points and her conclusions straight in her head (talk to your supervisor!), the writing is then a) easier and b) higher quality.

I don’t know if you’ve come across the funnel analogy for assignment writing before but I find it helpful.
A funnel is broad at the top and narrows down to a smaller point, like your dissertation. So start broad in the intro, give a bit of background and then focus in on your topic. It will come naturally after that as you construct your argument.

You can definitely do it. 2000 words a day is 4 pages: 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon. You can have it done by Thursday with a week to edit.

What you write now doesn't matter. Editing is easy once you've got the bulk down is easy.

Good luck!

Hi
Mine was due in 4 weeks, but I got an extension because my son is not allowing me to finish mine. Work. I am going to start my data collection. And words are around 17000.
So good thing is you should go for an extension instead of taking stress.

Another thought. If you've done your research (I keep coming back to this!), try outlining verbally what your key points are.

This could be to someone, or just to yourself!

When you have articulated a key point / finding / topic, jot it down, handwritten or (better) type it.

This might help with the 'blank page' feeling.

And please, talk to your supervisor. Soon.

I think it would help if you specified subject and spoke to someone about your themes/arguments? It might be that someone on here can help you talk through and break passes the brain fog?

Yes you really really can do it! I wrote my masters dissertation also 10,000 over three nights but spent a good week researching and planning and crying. Lots of crying. I work best under pressure so it made sense to write it in one sitting but they were long hours. I finished at 3am and handed it in 10am.

I am surprised you are only allowed 1 week extensions. We do not really have limits to our extensions, it all depends on circumstances.
Have you checked the extensions policy to make sure this is true?

Not sure 3 weeks is enough if you haven't started and it sounds it is really stressing you out. I would honestly looking to take the year out if you cannot get a longer extension.

We all work best differently but what works for me is thinking about the whole thing first and then breaking it down into very manageable chunks. I find that doing some gardening or cleaning helps me do this bit. Don't overthink it. It's not a plan as such as I tend to order and organise stuff as I go as I find the material and my writing flows better when I go with the flow a bit.

So, you've done your reading (I assume you're not doing any primary research?) and you have a question/hypothesis/title to give you some shape?

You need an intro and conclusion chapter.

How many other chapters?

Break them all down into sections, each chapter for example will have its own intro and conclusion.

What's the minimum word count required? Some allow 5 or 10% under or over and I always aim for the lowest number possible.

I make myself a chart to colour in blocks for every 100 words done.

I usually start by sorting and formatting my references. I known there are tools to do this but I find doing them manually helps me engage with them more.

For a big literature review I did recently I broke my literature down into small chunks and each chunk needed to produce around 700 words. You can do less, 500 is a good aim, or even 250 at a time. Then I would just work with that literature, each chunk being enough to be something meaningful but not so much I couldn't hold stuff in my head as I was working.

I have separate saved docs for each chunk. And another for noting random stuff as I go.

You don't have to start at the beginning. Just start with whatever interests you in the moment.

Just do it.

I have a similar deadline and plan to start tomorrow...