Surving the Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation

[HighlandsGal]

I just finished mine.........it took a long time because I am such a terrible procrastinator. I started my proposal in MI and then moved to Denver, CO and had to write it from afar. I never met my professor in person or talked on the phone. Everything was done via email.

For me it was bad that there was not a deadline attached. I work better under that pressure! It is a great feeling to have it done and over with though.

I think previous posters have given great advice. My topic, by the way, was identifying whether or not there is under or overrepresentation of ELL students identified as Learning Disabled in special education programs. Interesting stuff.

[historychic09]

Hey there!

I'll be starting my graduate studies in Public History in the Fall and am just starting to think about possible thesis topics and such. Do ya'll have any suggestions for a person just starting out? I'm hoping to research and write it over the next two years, although I'll be attending classes and working as a TA at the same time. Any advice would be great!

[zoo_x]

LOL what a coincidence, I'm doing my master's thesis defense tomorrow

for me the thesis writing was easy because I prepared a manuscript before that for publication, so 50% of my master thesis was just copy&paste, the rest.... were mainly extension from my manuscript. (include all the negative data I've got along the way)

I spent around 5 days writing my master's thesis, if you just put your mind into it and have good amount of data (assuming in science/engineering field), it shouldn't be any problem at all. After all, it's NOT a PhD thesis, dont worry, and the committee... is free pass

[Topaz]

I didn't have any motivation challenges when writing my masters thesis but I ran out of steam while writing my dissertation. The only way I got it done was by forcing myself to set a timer every day and making the rule that I had to write for 15 minutes per day, minimum. Since starting was the hardest part, once I got going, sometimes I would write for longer than the 15 minutes. But some days the minute that timer went off, I was done until the next day.

[zoo_x]

finally uploaded my thesis tonight, it's been such a tedious process.... went from 94 pages to 45 pages then to 56 pages at last, good luck to the ones working/will work on it!