Thesis/Dissertation/Essay summer accountability group!

[tostaky]

Really struggling to finish my doctoral thesis… perhaps others also need a bit of hand held?

Doing IPA. Submitted a draft result section in May and got good feedback- stupidly decided to re-jiggle everything and now im feeling very stuck and like nothing makes any sense anymore…
Need to rewrite my intro and lit search sections
Need to write my discussion and my conclusion

i would like to submit a final draft early September - come and join me!!

I've just found this thread and trying to finish doctoral thesis draft - have way too many words but quite far from shaping it into something that hangs together. Looking for accountability over the next month or so if people are still using this one?

Thank you for having me although I appreciate my study stresses will be a lot less than everyone else's. I have my course book and the website opens next week and study proper starts a couple of weeks later. I like to get a head start on studying to allow for family stuff.

Welcome aboard @IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere and @napody and anyone else who is here 😊

I am due to complete my MSc thesis and hand in June 2027 but it just feels so impossible.

Everything feels impossible till it's done.... A mantra I keep telling myself!

Hi, can I join? I'm just starting my PhD. I've submitted my research plan but I looked at my proposed timeline today for the first time in while and got a fright at how much I'm meant to be doing at the same time. I am a serious procrastinator (fear based!) which is why I am here now. Hopefully, I'll calm down and you won't see me for a while :-)

I have somehow managed to do very little for the entire of summer. I'm now in my unfunded write up time and the motivation has completely disappeared 😬

I am very much for an accountability thread.
i will work a minimum of 4hrs every Friday/Sat and Sundays of September. I will post here the progress at the end of each of those days.
i will try to also do 2hrs on a monday morning

Let’s do this!!

I am back at it after a short term hiatus to secure a new job...!

Screening articles for my literature review, which is rather tedious. But every small step is progress, huh?

Any progress is good progress!

I handed in a draft of 1 of my results chapters today - 8,500 words!

@AquaViper that's brilliant progress!

I will get there one day.....!

Are we moving into the realms of an Autumn accountability group? Would anyone find it helpful to continue this thread? I think I really would!

@tostaky Same - everything just takes so long! But when we look back, thereis always progress right? Baby steps add up to big steps...

Yes let's keep it going. I'm doing some paid writing today, so much easier when you have accountability to the budget holder and you know you'll get paid for it!

And when there is a definite deadline it just has to happen! A short term deadline that is...

Hi everyone, i have been burying my head in the sand but today is my first day back at uni and i had to write an email to my research supervisor….
i fessed up about my lack of progress and promised them one section by the end of the week…
i agree about deadlines making it easier to focus ourselves. But i have to make my own deadlines…
im getting fed up of this and i want to move on and do other things. I really want to deliver a complete draft before Christmas…
on the plus side, i have to do a fair bit of writing for work and it has gone well. It is boosting my confidence a bit…

well done @AquaViper for your amazing progress!
@OneDeftGreyFox how is the lit review going? I have to revise mine quite dramatically and it is overwhelming just to think of it…

Yes please to the autumn accountability! I finally got back to it yesterday and spent 4 hours editing a conceptual chapter. Still a fair bit to do on it. Will aim for 2 hours a day each day next week to get it finished.

@tostaky I am also putting off having to majorly sort out my lit review chapter.

Thanks all for still being here!

The literature review has been such a hurdle. There really isn't literature on my topic specifically so I have had to cast the net far and wide and ended up with nearly 1500 articles to screen. I am pretty much there now with a data extraction table. It's not as detailed as I'd want it to be but I think mentally at this point, I just have to start writing!

How is everyone else getting on? If anyone has any motivation/focus tips to share, I'd be delighted to hear them!

I choose a scoping review for that reason so down to 6 papers after screening. I'm getting better at writing now it feels like I'm actually making progress and not drifting.

I got a remarkable tablet thing through access to work and that's life changing for cutting distractions and being able to handwrite notes all over my drafts.

Not yet tried but somewhere I read recently they advised finish a session half way through a sentence as then it's much easier to pick up and start again which may help someone

I've got the choice of submitting by end of jan to graduate in July or submit in Sept to graduate in Jan. Still undecided. I kinda want it out of the way during winter really so not having the summer also ruined by it, but I'm also feeling lazy lol

@Destiny123. I know how you feel, i really would like it to be done by December so i can move onto something else… but it has been so hard…

i am trying a new method now (thanks to instagram!)
90mins of writing for 60 days 1 goal.
ive tweaked it it was 90/90/1 but i really want to get it done by xmas so i am doing 90/60/1
Early days but today i managed to write one subsection in less than 2hrs
knowing it is only 90 mins and it is everyday seems to help me because i dont have to feel overwhelmed by all of it! Earlier i started worrying about the next section but then i was able to stop that worry, think: it is a “tomorrow’s problem” and go back to the writing i was doing.
I am also using a “yap sheet” which is a piece of paper next to me where i can write my random thoughts like buy new hairclip or move pepper plant into greenhouse… and then go back to work because i dont need to do anything about it now, i can go back to it later, it will still be there…

Hope the writing is going well for others too xx

Sounds like a great method, @tostaky. How is it going?

A yap sheet is a wonderful idea.

Great ideas. I am trialling the 'be stuck somewhere with no laptop and just a pad and pen' method to draft my introduction (the last chapter to be drafted, although th discussion needs a lot of work too(. I'm awful at getting drawn into complexity and ifs and buts every time I start looking things up- I've been reading the material for over 4 years, I know it! Just need to focus and simplify it for someone to start from!

Edit: clearly it's not distraction-free as I'm now writing this on my phone! I'll set my pomodoro app for another 25 minutes and then take a lunch break.

Hi there...can I please join? I need people to keep me motivated! I'm just starting Year 2 of my PhD and have an 80,000 word dissertation to write. I'm struggling to remember why this seemed like such a good idea a year ago!
So far I have my Intro and Context chapters more or less complete, a good chunk of the Lit review chapter and have started the Methodology chapter. Next step is to apply for ethical approval for my interviews. It geels very overwhelming at the moment! I also work fulltime and am a single parent to 2 girls with ASD so life is busy!

Join the party. Eek ill stop whinging at my 12k msc and other random publications if yours is 80k!

I'm so ill atm took my first sick days in donkeys years so achieving nothing unfortunately

Atw recommended me a remarkable table and can't recommend it enough. Wish I'd got it years ago

Hi everyone? How are you all getting on?
ive sent my chapter to my supervisor and now i am revisiting my lit review. Wish me luck!! Any tips appreciated!

@destiny123what is a remarkable table??

https://remarkable.com/clp/remarkable-paper-pro-top-10-features

Amazon is cheaper

Losing the will to live can't really tell what the point of the 2nd person abstract checking