Dissertation panic - how can I get through the last two days?
October 20, 2014 10:39 AM Subscribe
My MA dissertation in due in two days. I have loads to do, I'm totally lost, and if it wasn't for the tons of time and money already invested in it I'd be at the point of giving up. How do I keep my focus for the final stretch and not have a nervous breakdown? If you have experience of surviving Dissertation Hell please let me know how you coped.
I am in utter panic because I've left myself with what seems like an impossible amount of work to do. I have all my research done but I'm still trying to piece it all together with literally hours left. I have lots of the smaller chapters half finished, and I'm begging my boss (fingers crossed as I haven't heard) if I can have a last minute day off tomorrow, which should allow me to finish the shorter chapters, format, etc. But my goal tonight is finishing my discussion section - its qualitative so I have all the themes and related quotes but it's trying to stitch them together with the literature - and I feel like there's a million jigsaw pieces in front of me and I have no idea how to put them together. I did tons of reading and have reams of notes and I'm totally lost with what bit relates to what.
I already got an extension as I had a recent sudden bereavement, so I can't get another. And there is major family drama going on around me (like, actually on the local news level stuff) and the last month has been impossible to keep my focus, especially the last week. While there's no point crying about the lost time now, I feel totally paralysed by what I have to do and how I'm going to get it done. At one point I was hoping to do well, now I'd be happy to scrape a pass, but I'm so worried that I'm not even going to get it in that I'm looking at the screen and nothing is making sense.
If you have been here, how did you manage? I'm planning an all-nighter tonight, hopefully will have all day tomorrow (I will probably call in sick if I'm not allowed, I don't even care), and possibly all night tomorrow and then collapse on Wednesday night. Physically the adrenaline will keep me going but what can I do to stop the mental white noise of terror? My supervisor is on leave, and none of my friends have done this, and while one of my fellow students has been supportive he was very organised and had it done well in advance so that just makes me feel worse!
Any tips, like any, would be appreciated thanks.
I am in utter panic because I've left myself with what seems like an impossible amount of work to do. I have all my research done but I'm still trying to piece it all together with literally hours left. I have lots of the smaller chapters half finished, and I'm begging my boss (fingers crossed as I haven't heard) if I can have a last minute day off tomorrow, which should allow me to finish the shorter chapters, format, etc. But my goal tonight is finishing my discussion section - its qualitative so I have all the themes and related quotes but it's trying to stitch them together with the literature - and I feel like there's a million jigsaw pieces in front of me and I have no idea how to put them together. I did tons of reading and have reams of notes and I'm totally lost with what bit relates to what.
I already got an extension as I had a recent sudden bereavement, so I can't get another. And there is major family drama going on around me (like, actually on the local news level stuff) and the last month has been impossible to keep my focus, especially the last week. While there's no point crying about the lost time now, I feel totally paralysed by what I have to do and how I'm going to get it done. At one point I was hoping to do well, now I'd be happy to scrape a pass, but I'm so worried that I'm not even going to get it in that I'm looking at the screen and nothing is making sense.
If you have been here, how did you manage? I'm planning an all-nighter tonight, hopefully will have all day tomorrow (I will probably call in sick if I'm not allowed, I don't even care), and possibly all night tomorrow and then collapse on Wednesday night. Physically the adrenaline will keep me going but what can I do to stop the mental white noise of terror? My supervisor is on leave, and none of my friends have done this, and while one of my fellow students has been supportive he was very organised and had it done well in advance so that just makes me feel worse!
Any tips, like any, would be appreciated thanks.
Hi! I'm taking a lunch break from working on a 500-page document that's due this week.
Give yourself 30-45 minutes right now to sit down with a nice cold glass of water and make a list of every thing you need to do. The list should be on paper. It should go chapter by chapter and include all gaps and to-do items. Make a separate list for global things like spellcheck, formatting, and generating the table of contents.
Life is SO much easier with a list.
You CAN do this.
posted by mochapickle at 10:57 AM on October 20, 2014 [16 favorites]
Give yourself 30-45 minutes right now to sit down with a nice cold glass of water and make a list of every thing you need to do. The list should be on paper. It should go chapter by chapter and include all gaps and to-do items. Make a separate list for global things like spellcheck, formatting, and generating the table of contents.
Life is SO much easier with a list.
You CAN do this.
posted by mochapickle at 10:57 AM on October 20, 2014 [16 favorites]
Take brief periodic walk breaks to calm down an focus.
posted by umbú at 11:00 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by umbú at 11:00 AM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Take short breaks and use them to exercise. Jumping jacks or something, not gentle exercise but something that will make you sweat. Walk away, jump until your body is tired, walk back to the computer. This got me through thesis writing and made me hugely more efficient.
I also strongly recommend the ADD DATA DISCUSSION HERE technique described above. It's an assembly line. You write the things you know how to say, then layer on the next things, and the next.
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:06 AM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
I also strongly recommend the ADD DATA DISCUSSION HERE technique described above. It's an assembly line. You write the things you know how to say, then layer on the next things, and the next.
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:06 AM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Find a partner (fellow student, spouse, etc.) who can review what you've written. Hand things over to them on a regular basis - hourly, every two hours, etc. - so they can review and make sure you haven't lost your mind due to a lack of sleep. It will also keep you accountable, as you're now responsible for delivering small chunks to your partner in addition to the overall whole to your advisor/professor.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:17 AM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:17 AM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Turn off your Internet in 60 or 90 minute chunks and just write. Put lines like "add lit here" or "look at data again" if need be. No Internet, even to look stuff up. Every 60 minute interval, allow 15 minutes to look things up related to the research online. For every 90 minutes, spend 30 minutes afterwards with your Internet on so you can look stuff up.
Break for lunch and dinner. You need to eat to stay focused. Breakfast at the start of the day tomorrow. High protein. Enlist a friend to go to the store for you or order take out if you need to.
Now turn off the Internet and get writing! You can do it!
posted by sockermom at 11:28 AM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
Break for lunch and dinner. You need to eat to stay focused. Breakfast at the start of the day tomorrow. High protein. Enlist a friend to go to the store for you or order take out if you need to.
Now turn off the Internet and get writing! You can do it!
posted by sockermom at 11:28 AM on October 20, 2014 [5 favorites]
If you're going to take the prefab route of inserting labeled skeleton content to fill in later, I'd tag each one with some kind of searchable marker, like XXXXX. Just to make absolutely sure you don't miss one and have a sloppy-looking "INSERT GRAPH HERE" in the middle of an otherwise-finished work.
SAVE OFTEN.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:40 AM on October 20, 2014 [8 favorites]
SAVE OFTEN.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:40 AM on October 20, 2014 [8 favorites]
Can you clarify: is this just a finished draft to your supervisor (or whoever else is going to be reviewing it, since your supervisor is on leave)? It doesn't sound like your defense is in two days (at least, no department I know of would have approved you for defense without a finished polished draft). So... keep repeating to yourself "the best dissertation is a done dissertation." If it's a draft, it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done enough to be commented on and reviewed. Don't worry about perfect and working in everything single amazing thing any of your respondents said, just worry about done.
posted by joycehealy at 11:47 AM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by joycehealy at 11:47 AM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
I am currently working on a thesis due in 3 days, so I feel you. I cannot second mochapickle's to-do list recommendation strongly enough. I felt like I was wading through a murky, impenetrable swamp of never-ending work until I decided to stop and spend some time actually going through my thesis and making a list of all the things I needed to do. It's been great for several reasons:
1. It forced me to actually read through the thesis as a whole, and plan out the remaining work in an organised fashion, so that the things that need doing will actually get done.
2. It helped me to realise that, contrary to everything my exhausted brain has been telling me, there is actually a finite amount of work to do. I found it super reassuring to have everything on paper in front of me.
3. It's much easier to work on bite-sized chunks. "Write a dissertation" is a horrible, difficult task. "Write a sentence explaining how great a castle made out of nachos would be" is a simple, achievable task.
4. SO SO SO satisfying crossing things off the list, watching as the balance slowly shifts to more things done than not done.
Good luck!
posted by lwb at 11:51 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
1. It forced me to actually read through the thesis as a whole, and plan out the remaining work in an organised fashion, so that the things that need doing will actually get done.
2. It helped me to realise that, contrary to everything my exhausted brain has been telling me, there is actually a finite amount of work to do. I found it super reassuring to have everything on paper in front of me.
3. It's much easier to work on bite-sized chunks. "Write a dissertation" is a horrible, difficult task. "Write a sentence explaining how great a castle made out of nachos would be" is a simple, achievable task.
4. SO SO SO satisfying crossing things off the list, watching as the balance slowly shifts to more things done than not done.
Good luck!
posted by lwb at 11:51 AM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks so far guys! I'm following your advice (apart from the jumping jacks, I'm in the library so that might cause some stares) :) But will try and do some exercise to relieve the tension when I get home later (much later).
It's the final draft. Long story short my supervisor left (and was totally uninterested as he knew he was going) and the new one has only seen a small section of it. Because I was so late and she hadn't known she was going to be getting a new student two months before submission date, she hasn't seen any final chapters and as she is now away she's told me I'll have to take the risk of handing it in essentially unseen. Which is part of my panic but my own fault. I don't have to defend it, I just submit it and get a final mark, it's just at MA level and I don't think defending those is usual in UK (that I know of anyway). So this is basically it!
posted by billiebee at 11:54 AM on October 20, 2014
It's the final draft. Long story short my supervisor left (and was totally uninterested as he knew he was going) and the new one has only seen a small section of it. Because I was so late and she hadn't known she was going to be getting a new student two months before submission date, she hasn't seen any final chapters and as she is now away she's told me I'll have to take the risk of handing it in essentially unseen. Which is part of my panic but my own fault. I don't have to defend it, I just submit it and get a final mark, it's just at MA level and I don't think defending those is usual in UK (that I know of anyway). So this is basically it!
posted by billiebee at 11:54 AM on October 20, 2014
Best answer: M'bad for U.S. based assumptions. I know better. :)
Then yes, the best dissertation is a done dissertation. Get it done as best you can, don't worry about perfect, and go go go. :)
posted by joycehealy at 12:10 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Then yes, the best dissertation is a done dissertation. Get it done as best you can, don't worry about perfect, and go go go. :)
posted by joycehealy at 12:10 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Take regular short breaks for listening to music on your headphones, even if you're at the library and can't jump around/dance/head bang/play air guitar. Just one or two songs though, no more than five minutes, close your eyes and DON'T DO anything else! No reading, writing, internet etc. This helps me to get fresh eyes for the text when having to write a lot with little time.
Commit Crtl+S/Cmd+S to muscle memory. :)
posted by wavelette at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Commit Crtl+S/Cmd+S to muscle memory. :)
posted by wavelette at 12:11 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
My technique for working through the panic:
* Pick a the easiest paragraph you have left to write. Write a summary of it. Now flesh it out so it's readable.
* Does this tell you what you have to write in the next or previous paragraphs? If so, write those.
* Run out of a thread of argument? That's fine, pick the next easiest bit anywhere in your dissertation and start again.
Whenever, the inspiration strikes you, add to your list of paragraphs you have to write. For me, these are headings or sentences or questions to myself.
Whenever you have a thought about order, move your list of paragraphs around to see if it makes sense.
You don't have to write all the fillers and joining bits at the same time are writing the main content.
As long as you know you have the references, you can just write REF where you need to put them later. Use a standard format and then you can search for it later.
When you feel braindead, start doing the little jobs you'll have to do at some point - formatting tables, inserting references, headers, spell checking. It's all fair game to give yourself a break from writing.
It's ridiculous, but I find drinking loads of water and holding off going to the toilet until I've written 200 words is really productive.
Good luck! Just get it done.
posted by kadia_a at 12:36 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
* Pick a the easiest paragraph you have left to write. Write a summary of it. Now flesh it out so it's readable.
* Does this tell you what you have to write in the next or previous paragraphs? If so, write those.
* Run out of a thread of argument? That's fine, pick the next easiest bit anywhere in your dissertation and start again.
Whenever, the inspiration strikes you, add to your list of paragraphs you have to write. For me, these are headings or sentences or questions to myself.
Whenever you have a thought about order, move your list of paragraphs around to see if it makes sense.
You don't have to write all the fillers and joining bits at the same time are writing the main content.
As long as you know you have the references, you can just write REF where you need to put them later. Use a standard format and then you can search for it later.
When you feel braindead, start doing the little jobs you'll have to do at some point - formatting tables, inserting references, headers, spell checking. It's all fair game to give yourself a break from writing.
It's ridiculous, but I find drinking loads of water and holding off going to the toilet until I've written 200 words is really productive.
Good luck! Just get it done.
posted by kadia_a at 12:36 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
I already got an extension as I had a recent sudden bereavement, so I can't get another.
Do you know this, or are you just assuming it? Family drama on the local news sounds double-extension-worthy to me (former postgraduate anthropology professor).
posted by feral_goldfish at 12:42 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Do you know this, or are you just assuming it? Family drama on the local news sounds double-extension-worthy to me (former postgraduate anthropology professor).
posted by feral_goldfish at 12:42 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
I say just turn in what you have, that is, don't spend any more time doing new writing. Work on formatting and shaping the whole thing. Those things take longer than you think.
posted by feste at 12:50 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by feste at 12:50 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have a thesis due in a couple of days too. It's unbelievably stressful. I finished a large chunk of it quite late because it took me so long to work out how I work best. Things that I have found helpful:
x. Like others have suggested, making notes where I need to add stuff. I put it in red so it stands out from the rest of the thesis.
x. Printing paper copies for proofreading. I had read my thesis so many times on screen but paper changed everything. Not only did I find little mistakes that I had missed so many times, it became really clear to me how I needed to rearrange it.
x. Using a whiteboard for mapping the structure and making sure it fit with the topic.
Do you have access to a whiteboard or a really large piece of paper? Try mapping out your thesis on that. It might help with seeing where everything fits.
If you're going to be writing right til the deadline, it's especially important that someone else proofread it for you. You'll miss the mistakes.
Good luck!
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:14 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
x. Like others have suggested, making notes where I need to add stuff. I put it in red so it stands out from the rest of the thesis.
x. Printing paper copies for proofreading. I had read my thesis so many times on screen but paper changed everything. Not only did I find little mistakes that I had missed so many times, it became really clear to me how I needed to rearrange it.
x. Using a whiteboard for mapping the structure and making sure it fit with the topic.
Do you have access to a whiteboard or a really large piece of paper? Try mapping out your thesis on that. It might help with seeing where everything fits.
If you're going to be writing right til the deadline, it's especially important that someone else proofread it for you. You'll miss the mistakes.
Good luck!
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:14 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, yep, work on all your formatting, page numbers, margins etc now, so that you are ready to get it bound as soon as it is done. Have you arranged for printing and binding yet? If you need to book in for it, do that now.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:17 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:17 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
Send a quick email to your boss/work just saying, "I won't be able to make it in tomorrow", then forget about it (otherwise you'll be spending mental cycles planning that out. It's done, dusted).
Send a SHORT email to whoever granted your extension saying that the bereavement and that "local news family drama" (actually link to it) has impacted the quality of your dissertation, and that while you understood it to be one extension only was the norm, you have received advice to let them know the situation, in case allowances can be made.
Get someone to bring you protein and carb snacks, and check in on you if possible.
Put on music, unplug internet (if physically possible).
Your only job is to write stuff. If you have someone willing to check in, narrate what you are writing/thinking, while they nod along.
If you find yourself freaking out and doing nothing, set an alarm for twenty minutes, and lie down with something over your eyes. Do proper nothing. Try and nap, but if you don't, you're kind of just letting your brain defrag a little, whizz around or wind down, with no interruptions or input.
Then get up again, tie your hair back (if long), wash your hands, splash your face with cold water, and get back to it.
posted by Elysum at 6:01 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Send a SHORT email to whoever granted your extension saying that the bereavement and that "local news family drama" (actually link to it) has impacted the quality of your dissertation, and that while you understood it to be one extension only was the norm, you have received advice to let them know the situation, in case allowances can be made.
Get someone to bring you protein and carb snacks, and check in on you if possible.
Put on music, unplug internet (if physically possible).
Your only job is to write stuff. If you have someone willing to check in, narrate what you are writing/thinking, while they nod along.
If you find yourself freaking out and doing nothing, set an alarm for twenty minutes, and lie down with something over your eyes. Do proper nothing. Try and nap, but if you don't, you're kind of just letting your brain defrag a little, whizz around or wind down, with no interruptions or input.
Then get up again, tie your hair back (if long), wash your hands, splash your face with cold water, and get back to it.
posted by Elysum at 6:01 PM on October 20, 2014 [4 favorites]
Been there. If you didn't pass, what would the consequence be? Would you be able to attempt another pass later? It can be helpful to realize that even if your worst-case scenario occurs, you'll make it. You'll be okay. And even if you never have to take them, having your next steps planned out can help neutralize the panic and let you get down to work now.
posted by MrBobinski at 6:30 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MrBobinski at 6:30 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
1. You have to take off work from now until your thesis is due - no matter what.
2. You may not sleep much in the next 48 hours but that's okay. Do whatever it takes to keep you awake *and productive* (not just "awake" i.e., tweaked on coffee or energy drinks).
3. Outline first, fill in later. Tight editing/proofreading matter less at this stage.
4. Hand in *something* complete (for various definitions of "complete") on time, even if it's not what you ultimately want it to be. Something is better than nothing here.
5. If you can't hand in anything, it's okay. Your life will not be over if you don't pass this class. Really.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:54 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
2. You may not sleep much in the next 48 hours but that's okay. Do whatever it takes to keep you awake *and productive* (not just "awake" i.e., tweaked on coffee or energy drinks).
3. Outline first, fill in later. Tight editing/proofreading matter less at this stage.
4. Hand in *something* complete (for various definitions of "complete") on time, even if it's not what you ultimately want it to be. Something is better than nothing here.
5. If you can't hand in anything, it's okay. Your life will not be over if you don't pass this class. Really.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 7:54 PM on October 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Regarding stitching together a bunch of themes and quotes and references when it just feels like a big mess of puzzle pieces: write one per sticky note, put them all over the wall at random, and then start moving them around into clusters figuring out what goes where.
Also: as you're nearing the end, do what an advisor I had once called "letting your dissertation talk to you". Print out whatever you've got. Then start saying, in words, out loud, what the first paragraph means. The second paragraph should kinda spring to the tip of your tongue. Or maybe when you start describing the second paragraph out loud, it sounds like a total non-sequitur. It can help you discover gaps in the overall flow of the argument by forcing you to get away from the details of each sentence.
posted by ootandaboot at 9:13 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also: as you're nearing the end, do what an advisor I had once called "letting your dissertation talk to you". Print out whatever you've got. Then start saying, in words, out loud, what the first paragraph means. The second paragraph should kinda spring to the tip of your tongue. Or maybe when you start describing the second paragraph out loud, it sounds like a total non-sequitur. It can help you discover gaps in the overall flow of the argument by forcing you to get away from the details of each sentence.
posted by ootandaboot at 9:13 PM on October 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: It's in! It's a total pile of drivel, holier than a nun's knickers and I dread to think of teh typos but its in! I'm pretty sure I'll fail it but at least I get my life back til then.
Thanks for all the tips and encouragement, it really kept me going at 5am when I was literally tearing my hair out. They were all helpful but I'm marking joycehealy's as best because I took "the best dissertation is a done dissertation" as my mantra and said it about eleventy billion times.
I got an extra day as I told my course director about the news/family stuff so I've only handed it in a couple of hours ago. Have had 6 hours sleep since Sunday so going now to have a little cry and then sleep for a week. Thanks again guys, and good luck mochapickle, kind and lwb!!
posted by billiebee at 11:11 AM on October 23, 2014 [8 favorites]
Thanks for all the tips and encouragement, it really kept me going at 5am when I was literally tearing my hair out. They were all helpful but I'm marking joycehealy's as best because I took "the best dissertation is a done dissertation" as my mantra and said it about eleventy billion times.
I got an extra day as I told my course director about the news/family stuff so I've only handed it in a couple of hours ago. Have had 6 hours sleep since Sunday so going now to have a little cry and then sleep for a week. Thanks again guys, and good luck mochapickle, kind and lwb!!
posted by billiebee at 11:11 AM on October 23, 2014 [8 favorites]
Response by poster: Final update - I passed!!! (No colours are flying but I don't care as I never have to think about it ever again!) Thanks again all.
posted by billiebee at 7:52 AM on November 18, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 7:52 AM on November 18, 2014 [12 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
2) Go through and outline as much as you can first, directly into the document. Headings, subheadings, all-caps notes to yourself like SUCH-AND-SUCH TABLE GOES HERE, WRITE ABOUT BLAH-BLAH-BLAH HERE. Having that structure written into the document changes your problem from "I have to write X sections" to "I have to fill in the details in X sections." The latter is a much more surmountable task.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:43 AM on October 20, 2014 [9 favorites]