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Hi! I am writing (rather I am supposed to be writing) my MA thesis this summer, right now. In fact, I need to complete at least 75% of it (including the research) by Sept. 1 in order to graduate this December. I am having motivation issues, as well as a general feeling of anxiety; I am VERY overwhelmed. I figure there must be other people out there on this forum in the same boat, or people who have been in the same boat, so I am hoping this can be a daily or weekly thread for motivation, tips, it's going to be okay, etc., similar to the daily exercise thread I post to on here (under Health and Wellnes). Any takers?
Ok, first of all....where are you moving to after you leave CA? I am trying to get back to CA!
I have written 2 MA theses (whew, I had to look up the plural to thesis!)
It DOES come together, I promise! For me, it took categorizing what points I wanted to make and then as I researched each "point" I came up with sub-points within that same line of thought.
It is a step at a time. So, come up with your major theme, think of at least 3-5 points you hope to address and go from there. Once you get an idea and start looking things up you will be amazed at how it will come together.
Yes, I had to complete a thesis for my master's and trust me, I was in the same boat. But, the good news is once you complete your master's thesis, it will be much easier to get other higher level degrees. You will make it through!!
They (the major profesor) will nitpick the first part of your writing. But be patient and do what he/she tells you to, because once they've beat up the first section, the rest goes rather quickly !
Thanks for the positive thoughts and well wishes. I plan to work on it for 4 hours today. I exercised, slept well last night, and the thesis is all I have planned for today (aside from making dinnier....) so no more excuses for me!
Pick your major points and expand on them. As I recall BRMan was correct. The first part of the paper was looked at hard by the prof. I think they stop reading or read less toward the end. THis was a horrible time of my life (stressfull I mean). You have plenty of time to get it done. Take a day off and clear your head. Then, hit it head on. You will be fine. This will be the most stressfull part of your education. When its done, WHEEEW!
I do know of a 1/2-dozen women who had a group one formed on yahoo, in order to get together to offer suggestions on each other's theses. I'm unsure how/why it helped, as some were in the medical field, others in education & still others were in other fields of study. They found it very helpful & the study group continued meeting after they'd all finished. Just a suggestion.
Good news! I finished my prospectus yesterday. For those of you that don't know, the prospectus is a 5-10 page paper on what your thesis is going to be about, chapter outlines, etc. I made all the revisions my first reader suggested, (which weren't many, yet they still took a long time for some reason) and then sent it to my second reader. Hopefully, there won't be many revisions from her. I was planning on starting chapter 1 today, but I may just take the day off. That means that tomorrow I need to outline the chapter, do a little focused freewriting on my first main point, and then hit the books.
Part of my problem is that I don't really have any deadlines or accountablity until November, so I think I will try to keep this thread a live for that reason alone. Here, I will report what I have or have not done and what I plan to do, and hopefully someone out there will keep pestering me.
By the way, my thesis is on teaching creative nonfiction in the first year college composition course, so if anyone has any resources for me, please send my way.
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By the way, my thesis is on teaching creative nonfiction in the first year college composition course, so if anyone has any resources for me, please send my way.
Thanks again to all of you!
Sounds interesting - do you like this topic? Are you doing a qualitative or quantitative study? Does your "chair" like the topic? Are your readers people you trust? My writing and defense went well - I just don't have fond memories of it. Didn't have a computer (waaaaay expensive) and cut n' paste / white-out have bad meanings!!! Good luck!!
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You will get through!
Master's
