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

[StupendouslyStupid]

It's due in 2 weeks from Monday, I just can't do it.

I feel as though I know what I want to say, but can't get it down on paper. I have awful brain fog and tiredness from juggling a health condition that they know about, but don't think now that a week's extension would make any difference at all. They don't give more than 1 week.

What should I do? I'm confused because I think if I asked to defer, I couldn't just effectively become a part timer and submit next year in September 2020. I think I'd have to formally take the whole year out, then come back?

I don't know though. I'm torn between psyching myself up to push for deferring or just writing something as best I can and hoping it passes.

But don't think it will pass and my whole Masters will be dragged down by a scraped pass even if it did.

I just don't know what to do, I'm so tired and stressed, just want to sleep and feel well.

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.

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 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

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)

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!!!!!!

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...

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.

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 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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Definitely cannot have extensions of more than a week. Requests for more time than that need to be reviewed by an extenuating circumstances team who may or may not give any extra time.

It's just the way it works at the uni, I think they all have different policies.

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?

@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!

Thank you I am reading through the advice on how to approach it.

I'm happy with my research question, and in general feel I know a lot about the area that I'm trying to write about.

But everything I write sounds stupid and irrelevant, I can't explain why this is

I just can't write very well at this level.

What is your subject matter?

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.

It is a library based dissertation.

@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.

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

It's just not enough to 'know a lot about the area' - it's about what independent research you've done in that area

Sorry I am well aware it's not enough I am trying desperately to think of anything that's a small bit positive and that's really the only thing I can think of.

I know it's not enough and that I'll probably fail.

I don't know though what you mean by the difference between independent research? All my research has been independent?

My topic is quite niche so haven't had any classes on it in taught modules.

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.