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

[whambamthankyousir]

I've been working on my dissertation since September last year, a huge chunk of it was taken up by having to go through the ethical application process. I got the go ahead in December with that. I then had to gather participants. Interviews commenced and finished in February. I have transcribed them all and analysed and found common themes.

I have a clear chapter structure and outline with how many words is going into each chapter. My literature review is written however, after doing the research I do have to change some of that and refine it but that's 2000 words out of the way with 8000 to go.

I have 3 weeks on Monday to write it to get the draft into my supervisor who said she will turn it around in a week to send back to me with changes to be made. I will have a week to implement these changes and submit officially.

To be honest I'm quite relaxed about it. It's a topic which interests me very much and is very close to my heart. I am a fast writer, once I get in the zone I can work very fast.

My friend on the course has been telling me it's impossible to write up a dissertation in that time and that I better ask for an extension now. The thing is, I don't see how I could have done it any quicker as I needed to wait for my ethics application to be approved before I could do anything.

Can anyone tell me if this sounds doable? I plan to put 5 full days a week writing time into this until it's complete. Is it doable or will I need an extension?

It's achievable. Don't procrastinate. Make a start and it will come together quickly.

@Rosesareyellow

I guess it’s doable but I think the reason many people feel they need more time is that it provides time to revisit, make changes redraft and rethink some things. I think that is part of the process too. That and the proof reading, doing the references etc can take more time than anticipated. If you have no choice then that’s how it’s got or be - but I wouldn’t go into it with a ‘relaxed’ attitude. It’s going to be an exhausting and possibly stressful pain in the arse to do and it’s better to be mentally prepared for that.

What is it about references? I'm sure some people fly through them but they always take me ages.

You've done far more prep than I did. And I wrote my dissertation from scratch in 10 days.

For undergraduate I'd agree with your relaxed approach. Is it still 10-12000 words maximum? For a half decent typist that's not even a day's work. It's often just a case of sitting down and writing it... Allow yourself some extra time to sleep on it and review etc rather than running it totally to the wire.

Absolutely - I did mine in about 3 weeks, and was working too. I might have burned the midnight oil, typed until 5am couple hours sleep and up for work at 7. I still managed a pass. Crazy but I made it.

I think it’s doable yes. I think the research and planning is the hardest part, actually writing it can be done relatively quickly if you have a good idea of structure and what it is you want to write.

For my masters dissertation, my supervisor was happy to review and feed back a section at a time and then do one final review of the whole thing. This really helped me to work through it quickly as I could be working on the next section while she was reviewing the last one. I ended up getting a mark of 79.
I think she was going above and beyond here so your supervisor might not want to do it that way, but no harm in asking I suppose.

As long as you're familiar and competent with the style of writing required, yes this should be possible. I can't actually remember how long my undergrad dissertation took, but my MSc thesis took about 4 or 5 days. Was accepted with zero alterations required too!

Definitely I did mine in two weeks but majority of first draft in couple of days with lots of coffee and pro plus.

Sure, it’s doable, but what kind of grade are you aiming for? Have you been in frequent contact with your supervisor and has he or she seen a detailed plan? It’s just that if your supervisor flags up significant problems, you have very little time to do major rewriting.

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

@Ofcourseinamechangedforthisyou great tip

@Erinyes

Sure, it’s doable, but what kind of grade are you aiming for? Have you been in frequent contact with your supervisor and has he or she seen a detailed plan? It’s just that if your supervisor flags up significant problems, you have very little time to do major rewriting.

I know I should be aiming for the stars (a 1st) however, I am consistently a 2.1 student. I know my strengths and I know my limitations. I am quite happy to get 60 percent or above on this. I got a 62 for my lit review.

I am sitting at a 2.1 over all, same last year and I need a 2.1 for my postgrad due to start in September.

So yeah, a 2.1.

I have had very regular contact with my supervisor. She has been a god send, so helpful and knowledgeable and always there to calm me down when needed. She has been with me the full way through and has reviewed and approved my chapter structure

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.

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.

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?

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

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

@CyclingUpHill

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?

Literature review complete

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!

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.

I did my first degree dissertation in 48 hours.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

27 hours beginning to end for mine

Just sat down and typed it

(Undergrad though, only 20,000 words)