Thesis Time

Lollipops23

hello AH!

well it's the horrible time that i've been dreading all college year; i'm attempting to write my thesis:( finding it soo hard to just knuckle down and get stuff done! it's not due til the first week in sep but i don't wanna be the eejit who leaves it to last minute.

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

dr.bollocko

Get a job hippie.

--Kaiser--

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Get a job hippie.

Banned.

Hazys

Tip: Use big pictures and graphs to fill pages.

So if you're writting your thesis on Accounting and there is no real reason to include photos just put in a load of random pictures of guys in suits in meeting rooms pointing at charts on random pages truout the thesis and youll get good marks and a good job*.

We all know a lecturers cant be bothered to read the whole thing and they just like looking at pictures. Sure marks are given out using the following formula:

(Random Number X No of Pages) /100 = Result



*It worked for me and I was CEO of Anglo Irish Bank for awhile

Fajitas!

Get plenty of reading material for it from the library, search online for other thesis' from other universities with good marks (A lot of places upload them to t'internet as a PDF) - They're great for seeing another persons point of view on it. Make sure you actually like your topic. Make out a writing plan and stick to it. Buy a large one of these; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_%28coffee_pot%29 and a lot of ground coffee to put into it.

Ugh. Thesis.

Oh, and ditch any easily stressed or stupid friends in the weeks coming up to the due date. :-/

Lollipops23

Fajitas! wrote: »

Get plenty of reading material for it from the library, search online for other thesis' from other universities with good marks (A lot of places upload them to t'internet as a PDF) - They're great for seeing another persons point of view on it. Make sure you actually like your topic. Make out a writing plan and stick to it. Buy a large one of these; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_%28coffee_pot%29 and a lot of ground coffee to put into it.

Ugh. Thesis.

Oh, and ditch any easily stressed or stupid friends in the weeks coming up to the due date. :-/

haha excellent advice!i reckon i'll be holding up in my room for the week before the due date-it's what i did before finals and it worked a treat!

hullaballoo

Lollipops23 wrote: »

hello AH!

well it's the horrible time that i've been dreading all college year; i'm attempting to write my thesis:( finding it soo hard to just knuckle down and get stuff done! it's not due til the first week in sep but i don't wanna be the eejit who leaves it to last minute.

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

I'm in the same boat at the moment.

My best advice is to stop looking for advice on the Internet.

My plan is to read for a couple of hours a day for the next week and a half and then write the first chapter in max. two days. Follow this with reading and another chapter etc. until I've 4-5 chapters. Then write the Introduction/Conclusion, get it bound and send it in.


I really fail to see what 'advice' you could need when you're doing something so simple. Really, if you're struggling with something like this, work is going to be an absolute bitch for you.

Lollipops23

hullaballoo wrote: »

I'm in the same boat at the moment.

My best advice is to stop looking for advice on the Internet.

My plan is to read for a couple of hours a day for the next week and a half and then write the first chapter in max. two days. Follow this with reading and another chapter etc. until I've 4-5 chapters. Then write the Introduction/Conclusion, get it bound and send it in.


I really fail to see what 'advice' you could need when you're doing something so simple. Really, if you're struggling with something like this, work is going to be an absolute bitch for you.

erm, as in the advice Fajitas! just posted. jeez you must be a blast to be around exam time:rolleyes:

Fajitas!

hullaballoo wrote: »

I really fail to see what 'advice' you could need when you're doing something so simple. Really, if you're struggling with something like this, work is going to be an absolute bitch for you.

Not at all, different thesis require completely different ways of going about them.

It can get quite stressful, especially if you're not in a 'text heavy' course - Writing such a huge amount in one go (coherently) isn't easy to everyone!

'Real' work is well easy in comparison.

dr.bollocko

Is the plan to make this thread so dull that we will in fact make the OP rejoin the studying ranks of their own volition?

RonMexico

What is the subject and how long does it have to be?

I'm doing a 90,000 word thesis at the moment.

Best advice: Avoid Boards :pac:

Rebelheart

And ignore those arseholes who read over your thesis after it is bound and exclaim 'oh there's a spelling mistake'

100,000 words and 5 years later, bound and submitted and a little f ucker has just told me I made a typo. Just shut up the lot of you. B astards.

I could not be more serious. :mad:

TheZohanS

Lollipops23 wrote: »

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

You need to become a Method writer, similiar to the way Daniel Day Lewis acts.

Try and write under different personalities, be angry one page, sad the next and so on.

Also a few pages pretending to have tourette's syndrome can be a real stress buster, especially if you don't like your course or lecturer. You can also get extra marks for it under the disability marking scheme.

Don't be afraid to quote your favourite t.v. personalities too, one I find quite successful is Mr. T. "I pity da fool".

Just remember; lecturers are real people too, they like to laugh.

Lollipops23

Rebelheart wrote: »

And ignore those arseholes who read over your thesis after it is bound and exclaim 'oh there's a spelling mistake'

100,000 words and 5 years later, bound and submitted and a little f ucker has just told me I made a typo. Just shut up the lot of you. B astards.

I could not be more serious. :mad:

oh FFS!i'd smack them,seriously!since the end of semester i've been camped in the library reading other similar theses to get an idea of what it should look like and i've seen loads of typos!

it's only an undergrad thesis so like 12,000 words max. god i wouldn't know where to start for a 90,000 word one:eek:

IvyTheTerrible

Rebelheart wrote: »

And ignore those arseholes who read over your thesis after it is bound and exclaim 'oh there's a spelling mistake'

100,000 words and 5 years later, bound and submitted and a little f ucker has just told me I made a typo. Just shut up the lot of you. B astards.

I could not be more serious. :mad:

TBH thank your lucky stars they didn't find an embarassingly basic error in your theory or something. I know someone like that.

lucylu

pick a few top quotes and sayings from Boards , introduce them into your thesis that should keep you motivated

HouseHippo

Step 1
Get the fcuk off Boards!!!!!!

honestly once you get down to it, it'll all fall into place!!

Rebelheart

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

TBH thank your lucky stars they didn't find an embarassingly basic error in your theory or something. I know someone like that.

Yeah, point taken. I wrote the entire thing conscious that I would really annoy a certain group who really deserved to be annoyed. So my stuff was really well referenced - but it all took me years to write. I went over it so many times as well, tightened it, re-wrote it, double-checked everything. I was numb by the end of it but kept at it just to make sure I didn't make mistakes.

The mistake I've just been told about was in the Acknowledgements section, which I wrote on the morning I printed it and because it thanked all those who had helped me I didn't ask my family/friends to read it over. I was also rushing that morning to meet my deadline. My mistake was a simple possessive singular when it should have been a possessive plural - but it's at the very start of the thesis and everybody, particularly the girls, will read it! (nobody will bother reading the actual thesis!). This may sound anal - OK, it is actually anal - but to the perfectionists and pedants out there ....

Jesus, why do we bother!

hullaballoo

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Is the plan to make this thread so dull that we will in fact make the OP rejoin the studying ranks of their own volition?

Well, that's exactly what I was going for - along with some sort of sharp, stingy point about how easy studying is but nobody else seemed to have spotted that and jumped on the bandwagon. Mneh.

ibarelycare

RonMexico wrote: »

What is the subject and how long does it have to be?

I'm doing a 90,000 word thesis at the moment.

Best advice: Avoid Boards :pac:

How's that working out for ya?

YFlyer

Rebelheart wrote: »

And ignore those arseholes who read over your thesis after it is bound and exclaim 'oh there's a spelling mistake'

100,000 words and 5 years later, bound and submitted and a little f ucker has just told me I made a typo. Just shut up the lot of you. B astards.

I could not be more serious. :mad:

Perhaps that person didn't know much about the subject matter. Any External Examiner worth their salt wouldn't even bother with such errors.

IvyTheTerrible

YFlyer wrote: »

Perhaps that person didn't know much about the subject matter. Any External Examiner worth their salt wouldn't even bother with such errors.

That depends actually. If the thesis is really good technically, then they will look for those errors just to have something to talk about in the viva (particularly if most of your thesis is already published, cos they can't criticise the peer reviewed bits).

emeraldstar

Lollipops23 wrote: »

hello AH!

well it's the horrible time that i've been dreading all college year; i'm attempting to write my thesis:( finding it soo hard to just knuckle down and get stuff done! it's not due til the first week in sep but i don't wanna be the eejit who leaves it to last minute.

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

+1 to all, but with about 3 weeks less to do it in. Ick!

marcsignal

Lollipops23 wrote: »

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

don't envy you Lollipops23

do nothing til next monday. sounds nerdy, but from monday try to get into a routine. monday night get all your shit together and divide it up by the weeks you have remaining, and deal with it in parts. the most laborious part is the preperation, once you have that organised it'll make it a lot easier, and you'll feel you're getting somewhere as you go, instead of getting swamped.

as you get each part done/prepared put it aside, tick it off the list, forget about it, and move ot the next bit.

Go out every friday or saturday night for a few/or many pints, as normal, and give yourself a break. Get out of the house at least once a day and go for a walk or something, to mull over everything, but make sure you sit down every sunday night and look over what you have to do the following week.

give it a try, it'll make writing the first draft much easier if it's organised/structured, and leave yourself a week at the end to proof read everything and have it bound.

best of luck

YFlyer

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

That depends actually. If the thesis is really good technically, then they will look for those errors just to have something to talk about in the viva (particularly if most of your thesis is already published, cos they can't criticise the peer reviewed bits).

The external can always ask the candidate to explain in more layman terms different aspects of the thesis. The external could always ask what others in the candidates research group is researching.

Lollipops23

i don't have to do a Viva,thank god!it's a media course,and my research area is in print media.

thelordofcheese

Lollipops23 wrote: »

hello AH!

well it's the horrible time that i've been dreading all college year; i'm attempting to write my thesis:( finding it soo hard to just knuckle down and get stuff done! it's not due til the first week in sep but i don't wanna be the eejit who leaves it to last minute.

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

unplug yer damn ethernet cable/disable your wireless card.

I fucking mean it, it's harder to waste time without the internet there to tempt you.

cherryghost

a few words of advice, get off boards.


ah my thesis i remember the good old days (2 years ago).
we had to build a machine that implented an electronic, mechanical and computer element into it.

I chose to make an automated beverage dispenser, had to do various viscosity calculations for various liquids, do up a PCB and programme various valve opening times for it. All went well... except that I got the parts 2 months late thanks to an error on the colleges behalf. So i could barely get started on the thesis based on it, had 2 weeks to get the machine up and running and another 2 weeks to do the thesis on time. Had no life for that whole month thank you very much AIT

Wertz

thelordofcheese wrote: »

unplug yer damn ethernet cable/disable your wireless card.

I fucking mean it, it's harder to waste time without the internet there to tempt you.

This.

You've an important task ahead of you and you'e on here moaning and procrastinating instead of funneling that energy into even making a start on the thesis.
I've never been to 3rd level but even I have enough sense to know that if you have work and a deadline that you get on with it, not look for symapthy (sorry "advice") on a web forum...

Best of luck with it.

Poor Uncle Tom

Getting advice from the internet is one thing,
getting advice from AH........

baahahahahahahahaha....

Wertz

Wertz wrote: »

This.

You've an important task ahead of you and you'e on here moaning and procrastinating instead of funneling that energy into even making a start on the thesis.
I've never been to 3rd level but even I have enough sense to know that if you have work and a deadline that you get on with it, not look for symapthy (sorry "advice") on a web forum...

Best of luck with it.

I don't think that's very fair if you've never even done a thesis. Most people find them a total nightmare. Obviously you should just put your head down and get on with it but a lot of people find it really stressful and end up panicking and procrastinating, doubting their abilities and rewriting over and over. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, never had to do anything like that in a 'real' job. You just feel like it takes over your whole life, you can't go to the pub or cinema without feeling guilty. I don't think the OP is wanting a pity party, just some support.

Lollipops23

Wertz wrote: »

This.

You've an important task ahead of you and you'e on here moaning and procrastinating instead of funneling that energy into even making a start on the thesis.
I've never been to 3rd level but even I have enough sense to know that if you have work and a deadline that you get on with it, not look for symapthy (sorry "advice") on a web forum...

Best of luck with it.

as i said it's not due until september and i'm a lot further along than some of my classmates. i have my whole study planned out thoroughly and have already begun writing up my Lit Review,which, after my primary research, is the biggest part(text-wise).
and i'm not looking for sympathy,but rather funny stories and any useful tips AH members may have.

Wertz

[quote=[Deleted User];61262166]I don't think that's very fair if you've never even done a thesis. Most people find them a total nightmare. Obviously you should just put your head down and get on with it but a lot of people find it really stressful and end up panicking and procrastinating, doubting their abilities and rewriting over and over. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, never had to do anything like that in a 'real' job. You just feel like it takes over your whole life, you can't go to the pub or cinema without feeling guilty. I don't think the OP is wanting a pity party, just some support.[/QUOTE]

I fully support them...my advice is still to get off the web if they need to get some work done, as obvious as that may sound.
It's the culmination of 3+ yrs spent learning/researching a particular subject/field...it should be difficult sure, but should it really be that difficult if they're still managing on the course after all that time?

Lollipops23 wrote: »

as i said it's not due until september and i'm a lot further along than some of my classmates. i have my whole study planned out thoroughly and have already begun writing up my Lit Review,which, after my primary research, is the biggest part(text-wise).
and i'm not looking for sympathy,but rather funny stories and any useful tips AH members may have.

Okay sorry for coming across like a prick. You're looking for motivation; that was my motivation...no tips, no funny stories, just the obvious point that if you have work to do, only you can do it and all the advice and funny stories in the world aren't worth a damn without the sweat...

Wertz

Wertz wrote: »

I fully support them...my advice is still to get off the web if they need to get some work done, as obvious as that may sound.
It's the culmination of 3+ yrs spent learning/researching a particular subject/field...it should be difficult sure, but should it really be that difficult if they're still managing on the course after all that time?



Okay sorry for coming across like a prick. You're looking for motivation; that was my motivation...no tips, no funny stories, just the obvious point that if you have work to do, only you can do it and all the advice and funny stories in the world aren't worth a damn without the sweat...

But she knows that. I don't think you can understand what a thesis is like having never done one. You know full well you should just put your head down and get it done, yet you find it so difficult to do so. There's just so much going on in your head, you don't know where to start. I'm going back to college this year and am all full of good intentions, that I'll be so motivated, it'll be no problem getting down to work, I won't go online at all except for essential research, but when I'm actually trying to do it, I imagine it'll be the same as always!

The guy

thelordofcheese wrote: »

unplug yer damn ethernet cable/disable your wireless card.

I fucking mean it, it's harder to waste time without the internet there to tempt you.

This.

I used to do that with all the lecture notes on the computer to study.

Only enable them again when you have done enough work.

Wertz

Okay I won't derail the OP's post any further by adding in obvious sh*t and platitudes.
Let the hilarious anecdotes and sage nuggets of wisdom begin!

Kalashnikov_Kid

Hi OP, just be thankful that it could be alot worse!

Im currently writing a 20,000 word dissertation that involves undertaking several social research projects such as recorded interviews and questionairres. And I have also recently experienced the joys of trying to gain cooporation from a Tory-controlled council...not easy at all!

It sounds to me that what you have ahead of you is very manageable. Once you've divided your work into intro, lit review etc. you can treat the whole thing as a series of small essays, making things much more manageable.

My advice would be to do the above and to do a few days solid work from now until September while enjoying your weekends. Dont go into to extremes either way - what I mean is dont leave everything till the last minute or aim to be a super mega duper organised perfectionist, as either I believe is the bi-product of an anxiety disorder!

Thats my 2 cents and sorry, no funny stories yet, but im bound to have 1 or 2 come September!

rossie1977

i remember for my masters thesis i was still typing up my conclusion minutes before i emailed it on to kennys bindery in galway on deadline day lol

lit review and findings chapters are always the toughest

Dan Chipowski

I'm looking at my lovely bound beauty on the shelf beside me as I type...most of it is a blur, and it's only been off the shelf once or twice since!!

I wouldn't be able to give too much advice....I spent most of my time surfing the net whilst working As a grade A spoofer it wasn't too much like torture for me. The only thing I would say is it won't be as hard as you think, once the research is sound the rest of it will build in around it.

Lollipops23

rossie1977 wrote: »

i remember for my masters thesis i was still typing up my conclusion minutes before i emailed it on to kennys bindery in galway on deadline day lol

lit review and findings chapters are always the toughest

yeah for my research proposal i did a small lit review,and because i had literally no idea where to begin and no idea what it'd look like, i checked a bunch of similar theses in the library. having located one that dealt with a similar topic to mine, i used their lit review layout as a template for mine. big mistake:mad:

turns out they'd done a shíte job(according to the tutor) and had it completely arseways!boo:(

have managed to divide it up slightly better now,thanks to some decent advice from my tutor.

Tyler MacDurden

Lollipops23 wrote: »

hello AH!

well it's the horrible time that i've been dreading all college year; i'm attempting to write my thesis:( finding it soo hard to just knuckle down and get stuff done! it's not due til the first week in sep but i don't wanna be the eejit who leaves it to last minute.

so i'm looking for advice to motivate myself and gimme a kick up the arse.

also any funny thesis stories would be appreciated:D

I don't envy you Lollipops, I'm having palpitations here just thinking about it.

As someone said, routine/habit is your friend. Just force yourself into a consistent pattern of work and after a while you'll just sit down to it automatically.

Also, treat the thesis as a series of small essays, presuming you can divide yours into coherent sections. A large task doesn't seem so daunting when it's been broken down into manageable chunks.

Get the b**tard done as soon as possible, there will undoubtedly be plenty of things you'll want to revise, add or remove. Believe me, racing against the dawn after mainlining a month's coffee supply is unpleasant. Though you will meet quite personable historical figures in the course of your hallucinations.

Rebelheart

Ha, the irony. While being consoled earlier this afternoon on the newly discovered grammatical error in my thesis I was told that "nobody notices grammar mistakes".

Oh Alas, alas, alas. 20 minutes later I was reading today's Irish Times and there on the bottom left was an article entitled:
'Research shows monkeys recognise bad grammar'


Story here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0722/1224251065015.html

Grrrrrr. Now that's irony.

IvyTheTerrible

YFlyer wrote: »

The external can always ask the candidate to explain in more layman terms different aspects of the thesis. The external could always ask what others in the candidates research group is researching.

True but TBH a good supervisor will ALWAYS advise the candidate to read around the externs research area.

IvyTheTerrible

Rebelheart wrote: »

Ha, the irony. While being consoled earlier this afternoon on the newly discovered grammatical error in my thesis I was told that "nobody notices grammar mistakes".

Oh Alas, alas, alas. 20 minutes later I was reading today's Irish Times and there on the bottom left was an article entitled:
'Research shows monkeys recognise bad grammar'


Story here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0722/1224251065015.html

Grrrrrr. Now that's irony.

Don't worry, if your examiner doesn't see it it just proves he's not a monkey!

Rowley Birkin QC

I handed mine in a few months back, I found these websites particularly useful while writing it....

1, 2 & 3.

Seriously though, you won't be able to concentrate on it until about 3 weeks before the deadline, forget about it until then.