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

Some fantastic, practical advice on this thread @StupendouslyStupid. I can’t really add anything else. Other than to say you CAN do this. It will be tough, but you can do it. You owe it to yourself to give this everything you have. Keep your eyes on the prize. Just imagine - in 2 or 3 weeks it’s done. Over. And you’ll do so well. You’ll be happy & relieved ..,,and so proud. You’ll have your Masters degree... something you can be proud of for your whole life.

I wish you focus and perspective. I hope you find energy and the self belief you need. Deep breath, coffee on, head down and get cracking. You can do it!!!!!!

I think sometimes you can be surprised how many words what you want to say will take up, if that makes sense. 10,000 feels daunting when you don’t have anything down but once you get going it’s easy to get caught up with an idea and have suddenly written 700 words without hardly realising.
(Then you’ll have to battle for ages for the next 100 but it’s ok! It all balances out)

I have just submitted mine and echo the PP.
Dont think about the whole thing
Just start a rough draft
Tell yourself that you will give yourself the option to defer If you need to but give it a go.
Once you start writing the panic will ease.
You will get into a flow.
Dont read over and over ehatvyiu have written, just plough on
You can do it
And if you cant, then defer

OP you are in a panic fog at the moment. You say you have done the reading and I’m betting you know more than you realise. Deep breaths. My motivation was focussing on how good I’d feel after the deadline when it was handed in and I could forget about it. It got me through my doctorate and I had those panic fogs as well!
Just think how much more of your time it will take up if you let it drag on another year; put the bugger to bed now.
Make a rough plan of what it is you want to say in each section then just write. Don’t worry about quality, you can knock it into shape later, but you need something down to improve it.
This is doable, you’ve got this.

I have about three weeks to finish mine, currently about 9000 words short and what I have written already needs a lot of editing. You can do this! I know you've said that your confidence was dented from just banging out some words but honestly that's the first step. You then go back and make those words better. But you have to start writing! It'll help you clarify your thinking too.

I've found focusmate v helpful - it's basically a site online where you make calendar appointments with people and work at the same time with your webcams on. Sounds dodgy I know but it isn't at all and it really stops you procrastinating or wandering off to do other things.

My approach when I have writers block like this is to put each idea on a notecard. The smaller the ideas the better, but they don’t all have to be the same.

You might have things like
Law passed 1973 is relevant
Talk about the social implications of x and maybe link it to y
Make sure to mention that J is important

Then once you have all those pieces floating around in your head written down, you can start shuffling cards until you can start to see an outline

If you have done your prep, you can finish this in two weeks and especially three.

You just have to find some way to start. I like my notecards, other people like to just type freeform, wine can help (but only for the first draft).

If you like we can spur each other on? I'm also writing mine atm and am way behind where I should be due to hyperemisis.

You can do it!! I feel the same, am on 11000 of 15000 and am struggling. But set little writing goals and rewards for doing 200 words (cup of tea , 5 minute wander around). Keep to what you want to say and just get it down. They can’t mark nothing but will give credit for what is there. If they accepted you onto a masters course then you have the ability. Just go for it!

Assuming you are taking the piss @lucylouis 🙄🙄

Can you pay someone to do it?

Sorry cross post!

When I asked about research though, I mean original research, not reading.

For example, interviews / surveys / gathering data / consulting primary sources.

This is distinguishes a thesis from a long essay.

Placemarking because I need to finish mine in the next academic year and I’ve had similar struggles with my essays so far ... good luck!

OP have you done the research?

If it's just the writing up (and I know, it's not 'just') and you could get an extension, it's doable.

Other posters have given good advice.

I'm a bit surprised tho - what have you been working on with your supervisor? You mention writing one draft chapter? Is that all the supervisor has seen?

Anyway .. I assume you have a lit review done from earlier in the year? So that's one part of the process done.

I would then decide on a structure for each section / chapter.

What I'd then focus on is the research element. Did you interview people? Do surveys? Focus groups? Primary research?

Whatever original research you did, write it up now. Like a pp said, don't worry about style / being perfect, get it on paper

Make an appointment ASAP with your supervisor and be really honest about where you are at. Get their advice.

Also consult your university's library web site and check what guides they have on researching & writing, ditto university's Writing Centre. This is my area of work and most of these guides are very practical and will give you direct steps to take.

If you haven't done original research and in-depth reading - re-consider submitting your thesis and consider taking a Grad Dip / PG Dip Instead. There's no point in submitting rubbish for the sake of it.

Good luck 💐

Firstly - deep breath, it's gonna be OK.

A dissertation is a massive undertaking and anyone that has written one, would have had the same moments of absolute terror and panic.

Good news, you have over two weeks!

The way it was suggested to me - I'm guessing you already have a topic? I'm also going to assume that you've done most of the reading/literature reviews (what others had said)? In that case, congratulations, you have already done more than you probably expected.

In a 8000 word dissertation, around 1000 will be your intro, 3000 your literature review, then you findings/the main bit 3000 and finally a 1000 conclusion.

Write your conclusion first - what have you concluded as a result of doing the research?

Now write the introduction, what are you going to try and prove? As you have already written the conclusion, you should find that your intro tailors itself back to your conclusion automatically.

Now the literature review - what have others said about your hypothesis?

So all you now have to do is the middle 3000 bit, which is the research you would have done towards the hypothesis.

You can probably do this in just over a week. That gives you a couple of days to then put it away completely. Then it's time to review and edit. Contrary to belief, a Masters doesn't have to be full of long words. As long as it reads well, makes sense and answers your question.

And remember - absolute worse, If you have already completed 120 Masters credits (which again I am assuming as you are at the dissertation stage) - it means you could, even now, exit with a Post Graduate Diploma.

You are gonna be OK.

My PhD supervisor swore by writing with bottle of whiskey to hand. It wouldn’t have worked for me (I would have just fallen asleep) but I can see why it’s helpful for some.

You can do it! As PPs have said if you know what you want to say and you've done the research the actual writing up is very very possible in the amount of time you have. I wrote the last third of mine on the day it was due in and got a distinction for it, and if I can do it so can you.

The key is to stop worrying about structure and footnotes and just get something down on paper. What do you think? Why do you think it? What other ideas did you consider and reject? Don't worry about tidying it up for now, just get it written down straight from what's in your head, no notes.

You can absolutely do this.

Get the weeks extension.

Then plan, plan, plan.

What is your argument? What’s the best structure? Map that all out before you start.

Them set yourself a word limit/sections to be covered everyday and stick to that rigidly.

I agree with a PP, don’t aim for perfection. That will paralyse you. Words on a page, polish later (build in that time). Aim for 100% done at 60/70% of the quality you’d like. This is much better than the other way around.

Extension is a good idea rather than deferring.

You are probably trying to write a great dissertation (obviously why wouldn’t you!) but this is where you get into the ‘perfection is the enemy of good’ territory.

It is so much easier to edit and rewrite pieces.

So just write a crappy version of your dissertation in the coming week and then have 2 weeks editing and rewriting. Why sort of length are you thinking it will be?

I strongly agree with riotlady's advice to make wine your friend. Whenever I was struggling with my PhD thesis, I poured myself a very large glass of wine, took a huge sip, and just started typing. Work your way through half a bottle of wine, type the entire time, and make a judgement later about the quality. But just get typing (and drinking).

During the PhD years, I tried as much as possible to take advantage of the reduced inhibitions that came from drinking. For example, if I felt a little bit tipsy in the evening I would sneak off to my computer and bash out a few paragraphs, not worrying about the quality but just trying to get words on the page. My motto was: might as well do this when I'm drunk, otherwise I'll have to do it when I'm sober.

Go and talk to your university, ask for a defferal, take the pressure off yourself.
Take 48 hours, sleep look after yourself don't think about it.
Structure is everything in a dissertation. Do you have a well defined research question? At the end of the day that is all you are trying to answer. So;
Introduction and literature review, what are you doing, why is this important, what has been done before, what is the gap in the research. How does your dissertation fit into this.
Research, what approach are you taking, why is this appropriate, how can you be sure your results will be valid, triangulation etc, what are the limitations to your approach, what could you do about those, what was outside of your control
Results, what have you found out
Discussion- Answer your research question? How do your findings relate back to the previous research in the literature review, what do you recommend, where should research go next? Maybe you can't answer the question, fine say that. What else would be needed??
Summary and Conclusion

If you have done the research then you will have plenty to say. Just try bullet points to start with, get the structure right then just pad it out. Just be really clear on your research question to start with.

You can do this.

You can do it in 2 weeks if you have done the actual research?

What type of dissertation is it? Topic?

The hardest part is starting typing. I bet once you start it will all flow.

University lecturer here – I've supervised a number of students through difficult dissertations. and when I was younger, I also struggled with not being able to complete/submit written assignments. My key advice is: don't try to get it right, just get writing. The point isn't to write something you're proud of, it's to get the words on the page. If after that you have the time and the energy to turn those words into something better, then do so. But first just throw a bunch of words on the page so you have a first draft. Don't think or worry about the quality, just type. The point of the first draft is to get words on a page. Everything follows from that. Good luck!

How many words and what sort of project? Is there anything you can reuse from your proposal, if you did one?
Two weeks is totally doable if you’ve done the actual work and all that’s left is to write it up. My advice is to have a large glass of wine and start typing away at whatever section is the easiest. Editing and refining can come later but I think it’ll get you in a better mindset if you get something down.