Is anyone else doing a masters dissertation in lockdown? Some support needed.

[Trampauline]

Just finding this very lonely and surreal. Am working four days a week (at home now) and trying to do this dissertation as well. Getting really stressed. Is anyone else in a similar position?

Yes I am too - working 3 days a week, from home, homeschooling one kid and have a preschooler too. Have not managed anything much at all on my dissertation and starting to feel v stressed about it as can’t realistically see where I can fit in more than a couple hours a week.

When is yours due and how far have you got?

Mine is due at end of September. Have been trying to write my lit review and not getting very far with it. Have started to think about my research and collected some data. Somebody has agreed to be interviewed! My employer is sponsoring me to do this. I am a mature student with 18yo DD. Stressed about her as A levels have been cancelled and she is in a bad place mentally. My elderly parents are 300 miles away and things are not good. My sister had to drop everything yesterday to go to them. I am feeling very doom and gloom about this whole covid situation. When is yours due in? How many words? Mine is 12,000. You have a lot on your plate. I am having a Teams meeting with my supervisor next week.

You sound like you are making some process then, well done - but you do have a lot on your plate too.
Mines 8,000 words, and I had developed the proposal and discussed w my supervisor before lockdown and loosely done some research for the lit review. Haven’t done ethics clearance or figured out/ approached people to interview. Written nothing. And it’s Due mid Sept. ended up awake till 1.30 this morning just churning it in my head. I really need a kick up the bum to get moving. I did some planning today. Decided I’ll work through my lit and write a 2 or 3 line summary of each item and categorise then into sub topics so that I can then sort of bundle them and then write a loose lit review of the areas of existing knowledge.
Do you have a plan for milestones you want to hit between now and sept?

I have applied for an extension without penalty until Sept. There is no way I can do mine now. On a side note, how much guidance have you all received regarding the content? I for example have no idea how many words the lit review should be, or what should be in the intro.

Should have said deferral rather than extension.

I just handed mine in a couple of weeks ago, so happy to see the back of it. 15000 words on medical law. Also work 4 days per week. Don’t what I’ll do if I don’t pass tbh. I can’t imagine looking at the bloody thing ever again.

Me! I’m a mature student. I’ve got one more module to finish and a 12, 000 word dissertation to do before September.

My DC were supposed to be doing A levels and GCSEs so we are all over the place and the university part is a headache; my mother is 70 miles away, aged 80, in remission from cancer and has a very elastic approach to shielding; and my FIL is 93, lives 150 miles away in the epi-centre of corona and is dying (2 x ambulance calls this week). So we are trying to work out care packages, care homes and supporting MIL, who is also 93. Agree, its surreal.

Also, no access to the library, only what I can scavenge on-line (which is mostly ok). I loved the first year of it, but we were knocked out of lectures by the strike and then this - its become a chore, which is a real shame.

ElsieBobo, I had hoped to finish my lit review by the end of this week, and then move onto devising a questionnaire. I have barely started my lit review but have at least worked out a structure. I think I might move onto getting a questionnaire ready to send out by end of June, and plug away at the lit review while waiting for replies. It's just so hard to concentrate as it seems so meaningless at the moment.
Belfasteast, I haven't heard of a deferral without penalty. What's that? I thought I could only claim extenuating circs if I can't finish it in time. I think we can have a 2 week extension without penalty if we have let them know in advance.
Tawnypippit, I feel for you, you've got so much going on. Do your uni know about your situation?

I've got two dissertations from past students on my course so I am looking at how they have structured them. I feel we could have had more guidance. I have googled for advice. Eg I found that a lit review should be around 30% of the word count. The last lecture was dropped cos of covid and they didn't replace it with a virtual version. That could have been helpful as it was about writing up!

I'm trying to write my results section and having a massive confidence wobble today.

Re: the structure/ breakdown I was given rough guidance of:
Intro 10%
Lit review 30%
Methodology 15%
Findings/ results 5%
Discussion 30%
Conclusions 10%

Me, it's due at end of sept and I've been awarded funding for PhD starting sept on the condition that I pass this masters so I'm feeling under pressure but lacking motivation.

Have a draft of lit review done and my ethics passed for survey and interviews. Survey is well underway but need to get people to interview now tho - and figure out what the hell I'm going to ask them.

Also working 20hrs a week and have a 17yo who should have been doing his alevels. Sounds like there are quite a few of us in similar positions!

Belfasteast, I haven't heard of a deferral without penalty. What's that? I thought I could only claim extenuating circs if I can't finish it in time. I think we can have a 2 week extension without penalty if we have let them know in advance

A deferral without penalty is just a deferral of the (dissertation) module until the next academic semester, without any extra fees. I have a dc with complex care needs and I was intending to do a large part of the disseration before the schools broke up. He has obviously been off since March and will be until at least September so there is no chance of that happening now, he has very disturbed sleep so it's not even a case of me putting him to bed and cracking on.

@ElsieBobo that breakdown is very helpful, thank you.

We have the ability to put in a claim for mitigating circumstances and get a deferral of our dissertation through to December, which would be without penalty (and we could still graduate in the same year). Normally supporting documentation is required for mitigating circumstances, but we have been told that we do not need supporting documentation where COVID is the reason, we effectively set out our circumstances and “self-certify”. My supervisor said they would be as helpful/pragmatic as they could be re deferrals, as long as we weren’t taking the piss.

I had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday over Teams. She said that the university is not expecting anyone to collect primary data, because of Covid. We can if we want to, safely, but we will not lose marks if we don’t, whatever the topic. That was good to hear. I think I will still do this, otherwise mine will be boring for me and boring for anyone reading it! She also said I was trying to investigate across too broad a field and to narrow it down significantly. So that was helpful. Feeling better about things now. Still got to do it though! @ElsieBobo that breakdown is very useful. I’ll be using that. @sickofnickelodeon I think a lot of it is about confidence, that’s my problem!

@Trampauline I've spent a couple of days away from the keyboard. I actually got my results finished that day and was feeling pretty good, then got some assignment results back that we're a bit lower than expected, which felt like a slap in the chops. We are our own worst critics. It's difficult to motivate yourself constantly if you don't feel good enough. Picked myself up and started back at it today... and what I've written isn't so bad after all

What are all your theses on? Am not doing any but absolutely love research: crafting it, doing the fieldwork, seeing what's going on so am just being nosey

Not at that stage yet but I have a place on a distance learning genealogy / history MSc starting in October and have already started thinking around topics.

I'd really love to combine my other main hobby of knitting/needlework with research. I have been thinking of a few options. Firstly if anyone's a knitter they'll know about Sanquhar knitting - it;s a really specific way of knitting using mostly just black and white which developed in a small scottish village. Something around looking at the numbers of people involved in knitting the stockings/gloves in progressive censuses and charting the industry decline over the 19th century as mechanisation increased.

Or something around exploring the idea that stitching needlework samplers (classic victorian passtime) was something for middle-class girls. taking a range of samplers and doing a deep dive into the lives of the people who created them.

(Not that i've spoken to the Uni about any of this, they might just tell me I'm being ridiculous).

@sickofnickelodeon I’m glad you are feeling better about things. Keep at it. I’m waiting for results of our last module assignment.
@SockYarn Your knitting idea sounds a really interesting topic. I think the fishing communities had their own distinct styles for making fishermen’s jumpers. I remember looking at all the jumpers in a famous Victorian photographer’s photos of Whitby people. I think he is called Sutcliffe.

Mine's teens and tech. Essentially I'm watching my ds and questioning why does does he do that

Mines in public policy, and around access to open space/ health inequality. Rather topical as it turns out.

Mine is centred around the deregulation of the planning system in England.

Sickofnick kkk if you get answers why teens do what they do, package it, sell it, and sit back as you billionaire up

Elsie how important! Covid has certainly exposed that hasn't it. And it's a global issue too. Apparently, a Dutch showed that every 10% increase in exposure to green space resulted in 5 year reduction in expected health problems. Are you focusing on green spaces? Sister in law works on lobbying for green spaces.

Trampauline will you focus on a particular sector or a few sectors for comparison? Or more general? I understand Germany's highly devolved health care system (as well as intentional over investment) might have helped the country cope better with covid.
Oh dear, I need to get rid of covid eyes

A deferral without penalty is just a deferral of the (dissertation) module until the next academic semester, without any extra fees

I asked my university about that but they don't do them, I wanted to defer to September after a bereavement but was told I'd have to pay the fees again because the module had started three weeks earlier. I'm ploughing on but the only place I'm going fast is nowhere. I submitted extenuating circumstances but my application hasn't yet been acknowledged. I think I'm going to have to write off the money. The only communication I've had from them is a demand for fee payment within a week.

Im half way through the literature review but can't motivate myself.

I’m coming up to the end of my first year so haven’t started the dissertation yet. I’m doing a clinical masters and we went into lockdown a week before we had completed the clinical examination module. I have the constant reminder that I gave a practical examination to pass and currently no way of practising any of the techniques. I’ve got an online module with presentation to finish before end of July. All this combined with working as a frontline clinician is, I have grudgingly realised, is making me ill.
I hate the damned thing but have only got two options; quit or just keep going.