To think 3 weeks is enough time to write up a dissertation?

Are you naturally smart and good grades come easily for you? Then yes go ahead

For undergrad it's easily doable.

For an undergraduate degree definitely. I did the majority of my dissertation in 2 weeks back in the day and got a 2:1 on it, it was only 10,000 words though.

Undergrad? Sure

I wrote my undergrad dissertation, which ended up being 12,000 words in a long weekend - this included all the reading needed for it too. Last year, I wrote a 20,000 word Masters dissertation in a week from scratch and got a first. I wouldn't recommend it but it's certainly doable if you can take a focused approach. I find that writing that much in a short space of time rather than spread out over months meant that what I had written was fresh in my mind so it was easier for me to draw comparisons and conclusions. Good luck - you can do it!

It's loads if time given you have all the research done.

Less than 500 words a days and parts of will be much easier write than others.

Start with the more difficult chapters.

Worst case scenario,leave the conclusion out and tell supervisor that you didn't want to do the conclusion until you had the feedback ok the rest of it.

Very easily. I had 8000 to do in same timescale, ended up with 22000. 14000 in the appendices because I had so much to say. You'll do great 👍

My PhD conclusion chapter was about 3000 words and I wrote it in just over an hour. The hardest part of writing is getting started and knowing what you want to say, you've done both, you have a structure, you will fly from here.

27 hours beginning to end for mine

Just sat down and typed it

(Undergrad though, only 20,000 words)

Oh, and I would argue that for me personally, it would be worse if I didn't have anything else to do (as in a job or childcare). I don't have kids, but I find it much easier to focus my time and myself when I have to get stuff done, rather than thinking that I have a whole week to do nothing else.

Maybe your friend also has bad time management (like I used to!) so in her mind it's impossible.

You'll need to probably dedicate full days and evenings but yes doable

Completely doable. Sounds like you've done most of the ground work and have a clear plan.

I've written two dissertations, one at undergraduate and one at masters. I stuck my head in the sand about the undergraduate one, completely procrastinated and wasted time, and ended up crying in front of my supervisor and getting a one week extension. I probably wrote the whole thing in less than 3 weeks, though again I would procrastinate and waste time even then! I definitely wasn't waking up and working for a full day, more waking up, procrastinate and eat 6 bags of crisps, watch deal or no deal, and then panic and start work on it in the afternoon. I got it finished at literally the last minute (involving a mad dash to uni to meet the 4pm deadline), and I did get a first for it. But, having the extra week meant that I lost a week of exam revision. Plus I was frazzled from just writing 8000 words or whatever it was on a diet of little sleep, anxiety, crisps and ASDA own red bull. So I would think very carefully about an extension. Ideally you want to get your dissertation done and out the way on time so you can focus on exams. How much is the dissertation actually worth for your degree? For my masters degree I had a spread sheet with the grades I already been given, and worked out the lowest percentage for each assignment/exam to guarantee me a pass/merit/first.

For my masters, I was a good few years older and wiser, plus I had a job so had to actually plan when I would study. I would usually work in the morning, say 8am - 12pm in the library. I found getting out the house and giving myself a mini deadline of 12pm helped me to focus and I'd get more done than if I had all day free. Putting my phone away also helped!!

How old is your daughter? Can you get someone to look after her for a few hours at the weekends to give you a bit more time? Have you got someone who can proof read it through for you?

Of course it is doable. 8000 words plus editing? Could do it is a weekend if you needed to.

I'm not suggesting this is ideal practice, bit my academic career has continued despite leaving things until very much the last minute.

I did my MSc dissertation 20,000 words from starting research to submission in under 3 weeks. I wouldn't recommend it, but I did it and got a good mark (it was a clear sign to me my time in academia had runs it's course and my reliance on the fear was too high) I didn't have childcare or work however to fit in around it.
I'd say it's more than doable so long as you are focused and dedicated - and happy to pull a full late nights if required.

I did my first degree dissertation in 48 hours.

I rewrote my entire undergraduate dissertation in a week. I hated the original structure so just did it. I used some of my original wording but probably rewrote around 90% of it. It was stressful but was the best possible choice and got me a first.

I would suggest you keep on top of referencing though, no way would I want to leave the entire thing until the end. Absolutely no need for an extension though, you essentially have 5 weeks as could be working on things during the week is being looked at. If you have to submit a physical copy to the same deadline make sure you have 2/3 days as not everywhere has a quick turn around.

Once I'd done all the research, I could easily and happily write a 3000 word essay in a week, so 3 weeks to write up a dissertation of that length is absolutely fine, as long as you're focused and and leave plenty of time for editing, reducing word count if necessary, references etc. Good luck!

Meant to add mine was postgrad level and I got a very good mark. I was surprised how good.

Also, I had the structure completely nailed down before I started writing which helped

I did this from basically the same stage you’re at now in just under 3 weeks, I did every day around 1200 words then had time to revise it. It was very doable for me and I did it in holiday time from work so basically had nothing else to do

You'd really want to look at similar theses, from past years. Then that will be the guide, and you can look at the quality level required.

In the science based areas, assuming you have good experimental data, then it's possible to write "around" that, I'd not really be concerned.

One possible gotcha might be the lit review, and a collection of references. I assume you have that in place?

Easily doable. Try and do the referencing as you go along so it’s less mind numbingly boring and also it’s something that requires less brain power at the end of the day.

Yes definitely, if you’re like me (which it sounds like you are) and like to have all the research, notes and structure worked out before you bash out the actual writing part. I spend ages and ages constructing the work, making detailed notes and planning before I actually ‘write’ with the result that I have sometimes written 5-6000 words in a day. Which sounds like LOADS but that’s basically just the typing part without a great deal of heavy thinking required.

I have colleagues who work in a very different way and write as they go along and are constantly refining their writing as they do more reading and research. If you talk to someone like that then they’ll tell you they managed 500 words today and it sounds like nothing to you because it takes you 20 minutes to write 500 words. But that’s 500 words that they’ve spent researching and carefully crafting during that time, not 500 words that they’ve just bashed out.

So if your friend is more like the latter then they’ll think there’s no way you can possibly ‘write’ 10,000 words in the time you have, but it’s just down to different ways of working and depends how much of the legwork you’ve already done. The best thing you can do is understand how you work and learn to trust your instincts about what needs to be done, and not look to other people to tell you how hard you should be working.

Totally doable. It’s not as if you’re starting with nothing

@Ofcourseinamechangedforthisyou great tip