How to write a master's thesis?

Master’s thesis is a pain in the ass. I remember the day I defended my day. And the overwhelming feeling of relief associated with throwing this burden off your shoulders. I also remember a difficult time when I started writing it. In this post, you will find some tips that will increase your efficiency. Additionally, you can refer to this Cheetah Papers to know more about tricks for writing a thesis.

Writing a master’s or bachelor’s thesis is not difficult. Unless you’re studying a strange field of bioengineering or applied physics. But even if the direction is from space, you chose it yourself. And when writing a thesis, in most cases you come up with a topic yourself or choose one of the available pools. I chose my own. He was not my first choice because I originally wanted to write about the image of politicians during presidential campaigns, but my promoter did not agree to such work. She agreed on a topic related to building the image in NGOs on the example of students.

At first, it seemed to me that I know the subject well, and what I do not know, I read. I had access to a large group of people on whom I could conduct research. However, there are 2 problems with a master’s degree:

The more you delve into it, the more intricate and unexplored topic turns out. And not as pleasant as it seemed at first.
It’s always a good time to postpone writing it. There is always something more important. And this is a job, this is a party and this is a weekend in the mountains. And the master’s degree? Tomorrow. Or better the day after tomorrow, because tomorrow will be a hangover. I won’t do anything anyway.

I remember myself how I planned: I will spend the whole day in the library tomorrow. After which it turned out that I had forgotten about the meeting, “I had to” stay longer at work and went to donate blood (“because I have not been for a long time”). In short: I put aside as much as possible. But I knew that someday the day would come when you would have to write.

On the Internet, you will find a lot of guides on how to write a master’s thesis in a technical sense: footnotes, headers, page numbering. But the answers to the questions:

how to write a master’s thesis?
how to start writing a thesis?
what are the tricks to motivate yourself to write your master’s thesis?

there is much less. That is why I decided to present tips that helped me during work and will help you too.

Table of Contents

Divide the work into smaller stages

Let’s start with the simplest. You won’t write the whole thing right away. Fortunately, you have to hand in your work plan before, so you already know what to stick to.

Turn off the Internet (or at least social networking sites)

If we compare the writing of a Master’s Degree to a computer game, then the Internet will be more boards, and Facebook will do for Boss. And a very strong boss. The more you are on the web, the more you will be tempted to see after each paragraph and on each side what’s new on the wall. There are three solutions:

log out of Facebook – every time you want to log in, you’ll have to enter your email and password again (if you have saved – clear the settings) – a method for less addicts.

log out of Facebook and give the password to a friend – it will provide complete cut-off from the community, but will leave you with services like Gazeta, Onet, Wykop and a whole lot of others that will draw your attention

pull the cable from the Internet – the final solution. For those who can’t live without the net.

Prepare the necessary materials

When my master’s day came, I had all the books I needed on the table, 4 pages of data were loaded in tabs, and a technical guide on footnotes. Thanks to this, I didn’t have to get up every time and look for things on the shelf or Google. Which doesn’t change the fact that sometimes I didn’t know something?

You don’t know – you’ll do it later

And then there was the temptation: quickly go into the search engine and check it out. But sometimes it is difficult to ask a precise question the first time. Among the answers are those values and those that devour time. If I had a problem with a lack of information, I would ask a question plus a few empty paragraphs and move on to the next fragment. Only if the item was necessary for further writing did I search for it right away. Usually, however, nothing is necessary.

When I didn’t have to – I made a list and supplemented it with relevant addresses and information later.

Focus

No phones, no talk to your roommate, no cleaning, no cooking dinner until you finish. When writing, it distracts many things. Starting with a dirty nail and ending with a badly hung curtain. Prepare your workplace before starting it and focus on writing, not bullshit.

Set a specific time to write

Don’t set the number of pages, because if you have a flow, you’ll write twice as much, and if you run out of information, you’ll write less. The first causes hurray-optimism, the second badly affects mood. It is better to set yourself an hourly writing plan with breaks for a walk or food.

Set aside other tasks

When you start writing a job, usually all duties become urgent and super-important. I wrote a Master’s Degree while working full-time. And every day either I was too tired to go after she or I had other things. An MA thesis is a long project, often with a vague end date, so it is much easier to translate it than calling the client. Reset all appointments, calls and other responsibilities. Focus only on writing. If other things appear, you will almost certainly take care of them. If you work, take a day off or get ready to write on Saturdays.

Make footnotes regularly

If you leave the footnotes at the end, you’ll spend much more time on them. If you write well and do not want to fall out of the string doing technical bullshit, then save the book with a shortcut and add the page number from which the footnote comes from.

Do not check what you have written now and then

Are you worried about repetitions and language errors? Take care of them at the end or start the next day with them (I preferred to do them the next morning – I didn’t like this part. I preferred to start with it then finish it).

Correcting repetitions every sentence or paragraph will not bring you any positive effect, but will only prolong the work unnecessarily.

Set deadlines and stick to them

If you can’t designate them yourself, get along with the promoter. Believe me, it is much easier to work with someone who requires from you that everything is to be ready on a given day than with a person who postpones dates and gives you a lot of slack. All in all: it’s all up to you. And the fact that you do not write is also your fault, not the literate professor’s. But I know more than one person who wrote just because she had a whip above her head. I envied them.

Save And Make Backup Copies

I had my master’s thesis written:

On the disc
on Dropbox
on a Pendrive
on the email

If you are writing a master’s thesis, make at least one copy and keep it up to date. I would do at least two. I was 4. It saved my ass once. Every time I heard or read about people who accidentally deleted or lost their work in some other way, I was deeply convinced that they were guilty. I don’t wish anyone to lose files, but if you don’t make a copy, blame yourself.

I probably started writing the thesis 30 times. Three approaches were effective. I devoted 3 days to the first chapter, and 2 after 2 weekends. Once I started writing, I followed the above rules. And I finished writing at an express pace. When you add patches and formatting to it, all the work will close in 10 honestly worked days. Good luck.