Tips for keeping organised while doing a thesis

SocialSuzy

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone could share any helpful tips on keeping organised while doing a thesis or dissertation?

I have never done one before and am about to start one for my masters course and have visions of me drowning in articles and references and just being generally all over the place!!

does any one have any helpful tips on keeping things organised?

thanx in advance for the advice!

avalon68

endnote is your friend

JohnMearsheimer

Hey SocialSuzie

I'd suggest that when you are writing you keep a separate word document and use it for your bibliography. You should update your bibliography while you are working so you're not trying to remember where you found something later. You can just paste it into you dissertation when you are done. Keeping on top of your biliography will save you a lot of stress.

When you are doing your research create a few different folders and try to save anything useful you find under general themes. When I started my research I didn't do this and it was a nightmare having to sort through everything I had found.

I would suggest having another word file that you could use as some kind of jotter. When you are writing your dissertation more ideas/thoughts will come to you that might not be relevant to the part of the dissertation you happen to be writing at that moment in time but could come in useful for something later on. You can use the jotter to write down the idea and what it maybe useful for. You will have a lot of things going on in your head when you're writing and you could easily forget something. I found the jotter really handy.

I found it useful as well to have separate word documents for each chapter of my dissertation. I found doing this made the dissertation more bitesize and manageable. If you do this though you have to be careful that the flow of your dissertation isn't interrupted and you have to ensure that you do not treat the chapters as completely separate entities. You have to make sure the chapters are well stitched together and make sure something you say in chapter 2 doesn't contradict something you say in chapter 4 for example.

I found the most daunting thing about writing a dissertation is figuring out where to start. My dissertation had 5 chapters. Chapter 1 was introduction, methodology, literature review and a bit of background to the research question. Chapters 2,3 and 4 were dealing with the research question and chapter 5 was the conclusion. I wasted 2 weeks trying to start my dissertation by trying starting at chapter 1. I gave up and wrote chapters 2-5 and then wrote chapter 1 last. It was much easier writing chapter 1 around what I had written as opposed to something I was going to write.

Good luck with it!

avalon68

theres a good book called authoring a phd thesis by patrick dunleavy - you should find a copy in the library and its worth a read.

JohnMearsheimer

avalon68 wrote: »

theres a good book called authoring a phd thesis by patrick dunleavy - you should find a copy in the library and its worth a read.

Ya that's a good book. OP, you should have a flick through it. Its good for politics, arts, social science types of dissertations.

SocialSuzy

thanx for that advice guys.....

it really helps to hear from people who have gone through the process.

I just want to make sure that i am organised and have some sort of system from the start, to avoid as much trouble down the line as possible.

That book sounds like a good idea too as my thesis will be in the areas u listed.
Im going to check my library now.......

its so daunting knowing where to begin......
ah well, jump in at the deep end i guess!

Thank you!

baby and crumble

I second endnote. best invention ever.

Ostrom

Try zotero also, its free!

Red Alert

You may be able to download Endnote from your college, so check before you buy.

SocialSuzy

thanx for the tips on endnote!

i knew that it was gonna be a necessity.

i have managed to get a good few sources already on my topic so im happy about that.....
im just a bit worried about reading everything, then keeping record of whats important and then incorporating it into one big piece of work...... it all feels abit overwhleming.

someone mentioned stapling a little note to the front of every article you read which summarises the main point and what section it would be good in so that when ur looking back through your material itll be easy to remember what u read.

i think thats a good idea to keep me organised so im going to try that.......

any more tips and hints are greatly appreciated!

LadyMayBelle

I'd def agree with the idea of having a seperate word document open so you can type in what book/journal you used. I don't use EndNote so find that method grand.

I've also hand drawn a chart (ah the creative side!), basically a calender so I can see straight out what time I have left. It helps me to see things big, plain and simple, right there in front of me. Also helps to tick off the days!

I tried the studying at home thing, but have to say I have found leaving the house to go to college much easier; also I don't force myself to get up at 9am as I am not a good morning person, but rather aim to be in college for 10:45/11am and work until 7 or 8, or whatever. I found I was too hard on myself when I was making myself get up for something I didn't really enjoy, so now I get a sleep in and I feel way better for it. I literraly reduced a stressor for me by realising that just because 9-5 works for a lot of people, it doesn't mean it works for me.

Using a book at the minute called 'The Good Research Guide; for small scale social research projects' by Martin Denscombe. You're in the same field of work as me, and I have found that handy. It's in the NUIG nursing library.

Also, drink lots of water and eat fruit..keeps the mind ticking:)

Good luck! if you need any books/journals you need printed or anything just PM as I'm on campus