Completing Dissertation Help!!

[evilsquirrell]

I've 10 weeks left to do a 20,000 word dissertation for my MSc in Quantity Surveying. It started well but have come up against the "literature review" AhHHHHHH - I'm a distance learning student so my tutor & university are 200 miles away, and although we skype, its hard to get any direction etc from him. I've joined the local uni library so I can go down and at least "pretend" to be a proper student to get some work done, but this hasn't really helped. I was doing a 1/2 day per week unpaid in a local QS office for experience but they took on a "qualified" trainee last Sep so I felt a bit in the way.

Must admit, retraining as a surveyor seemed like a good idea when I had my DS as I was made redundant from an excellent job which I loved. But, I'm going to be almost 40 when I can go back to work full time - my DS starts school this Sep, and it seems impossible to break into surveying part time!

This is my 2nd extension (now due in May, should have been in last Sep). and I sooo feel like walking away & getting a job - any job, but I've already put in a huge amount of effort on this, not to mention the horrendous cost! Anyone in the same boat / got any words of wisdom?

I buggered up my dissertation recently and it's now a week late

sympathies OP

stick with it - literature review is fun

fid relevant sources in journals online

print out? photocopy? etc, whizz through with a highlighter -

paraphrase and construct what you want to say,

throw in examples of studies/opinions/developments from your literature review as highlighted while watching dr who etc

waffle a bit

hey presto

Stick with it .. It's hard but it will be worth it. Set yourself some small goals and chip away at it. It will all come together but only if you make a plan. Good luck.

I found the book Succeeding with Your Masters Dissertation, by John Biggam helpful. See if your library has it. It's easy to read and he gives some really great tips.

Thanks All, been doing more reading than writing, which I think is my main problem! Hoping that the words will come soon tho!

"Failing to plan is planning to fail" is unfortunately a lesson I learned the hard way. If you haven't already done so, getting your tutor's support with a DETAILED plan, is a huge help. You then work your way through it methodically and persistently. Attention to detail on spelling, grammar and presentation, biblio, refs etc should not need mentioning but sadly on a borderline case these are grade breakers. Just my two-penny-worth.
Good luck :)

Thanks Marthab, this is sooo true and what I should have done a year ago, have done it now (ish!!!) and am hoping that I can just crack on with each section. Its the literature review that I'm finding a killer, can write for England if its a report / essay etc, but I find critiquing others work vv hard, and having to reference everything - maybe I'm being too picky.

A lot of universities have so much online now, including articles and books. Make sure you use plenty of academic articles. If you use databases, such as scopus or web of knowledge and you see a relevant article, click on the articles that have used that one as a reference. Often you'll find someone analysing that article, therefore helping you form your own opinion or just giving an example of how to do it!

Also, just copy interesting statements from articles into a new document, make sure you reference it correctly. I would also include a page number in case you want to use a quote or want to find where it was. Referencing isn't hard when you stay on top of it. You can also use endnote to keep track of all your references; it will save you a lot of work, especially at the end compiling the bibliography.

Use this website for referencing, it has made my life sooo much easier www.citethisforme.com/
Also, 200000 words in 10 weeks is only 2000 words a week, which is very doable. Just start getting words on paper.

Thank you all -some excellent advise here. Think someone needs to write a book about studying/completing dissertations from a parents perspective, most I've read assume you're a full time student with nothing else to do.
For me the hardest thing has been finding brain space to think/focus & I really didn't expect that. I've actually found that I can think best when doing housework and cooking - surprising really!! I've actually managed to make some progress - think the panic mode has kicked in and the words are coming!

My tutor has said that he is pleased with my progress and its making sense!!! Still no where near out of the woods by any means yet but at least I'm less rabbit in the headlights!
Still welcome any wise words, nice to know others out there have been there and got through the other side. As you say EurotrashGirl, broken down its not sooo bad, its just looking at a blank screen wondering how you're going to find the 20,000 words to fill it (and ones that make sense!).
Haven't yet let myself think about what is going to happen post masters & getting back to the real world; another discussion topic to follow methinks!!

evil check out number 15 on this list
www.buzzfeed.com/jzebarrow/23-types-of-essay-crisis-that-every-student-will-r-mvjw

That's cheered me up no end Eurotrash, DS looking over wondering why mummy's giggling like she's just lost the plot (again!). Almost 10,000 words in now, most still don't make sense - think I've just about hit 22 on this!

I have 5 weeks and 2 days left, only 12000 of my 20000 words written, and my supervisor tells me that those 12000 aren't good enough. I no longer really know what I am trying to write, or how to write it. I hate the thing with a deep deep loathing, and have completely lost my way. I am also a distance learner, and working full time, so I can only work at weekends. By the time Friday comes around I have completely lost the track of where I am, and have spent most of today just staring at it. Don't know where to go from here . . . .