Anyone writing a thesis???

[Sparky Man]

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It's quite a task. Writer's block, procrastination, SDN....they are all in the way of finishing up! 😱

 

[Thundrstorm]

It's quite a task. Writer's block, procrastination, SDN....they are all in the way of finishing up! 😱

You're gonna hate me for saying this but mine's just kinda been flowing out of me. I've had to turn in each section according to a timetable, so I've been working on it since September, and I've got 32 pages done, and I've already written (and repeatedly revised) the hardest part: the intro, which is over 20 pages of lit review. I've got to polish up my methods, and just finish data and discussion and I'll be set to turn it in (mine's due May 2nd). I've put many, many hours into writing it, but it hasn't been terribly difficult. I'm struggling more with my powerpoint presentation on the same topic. How to condense 2+ years of research into a 10-15 minute talk?

What's your thesis on?

 

[KiKat37]

You forgot the beautiful weather... 😉 Mine is not due until the end of July, so I won't even start until May...

 

[bidster]

I hear that....I've given two presentations, sans data/results/conclusions (because I didn't have them yet!) about my project in the past two weeks that went well but I am scared to death about my defense and how my data (survey/interview-based) will be questioned when it actually matters. Why oh why did I have to go for honors....

 

[funshine]

saw this thread and had to join in the whining party (against my better judgment).
i'm probably the most screwed. My thesis is due April 21st, and my postdoc anticipates that it should be ~100 pgs given all my data, but I probably have less than 50 at this point (I'm too freaked out to count...I never keep track of pages anyway). I need tons of guidance on how to organize my results/data/discussion, but my postdoc has been out of town sporadically the past few weeks, and is only giving me feedback now. I think I have too much data to discuss, and want to leave some of it out, but my postdoc is pretty insistent about putting ALL of it in. And my PI could care less about what grade I get on my thesis, he just wants me to do more experiments. Anyway, I've suddenly turned religious during this period, as only a miracle can get me through 😳

 

[Thundrstorm]

saw this thread and had to join in the whining party (against my better judgment).
i'm probably the most screwed. My thesis is due April 21st, and my postdoc anticipates that it should be ~100 pgs given all my data, but I probably have less than 50 at this point (I'm too freaked out to count...I never keep track of pages anyway). I need tons of guidance on how to organize my results/data/discussion, but my postdoc has been out of town sporadically the past few weeks, and is only giving me feedback now. I think I have too much data to discuss, and want to leave some of it out, but my postdoc is pretty insistent about putting ALL of it in. And my PI could care less about what grade I get on my thesis, he just wants me to do more experiments. Anyway, I've suddenly turned religious during this period, as only a miracle can get me through 😳

dang, 100 pages? Mine only has to be 40-50. Good luck. 👍

 

[bidster]

What's your field, funshine? I'm in anthropology, so I'm staring down the 100-page tunnel as well 🙁 It ends in 8 days. 😱

 

[Skichic56]

After dreading it for the past 8 months I finally sat down and wrote almost all of it over spring break. It sucked but I am glad to be done. Try devoting an entire weekend to it without a lot of breaks, and you'll be amazed how much can be written. Good luck to everyone who has a defense

 

[Tra La La]

It's quite a task. Writer's block, procrastination, SDN....they are all in the way of finishing up! 😱

I fell ya'. My senior thesis is looking like **** right now--data is not too great and I am feeling a huge sense of senioritis.

I have 'till mid-June, so I'll procrastinate a little more. 👍

 

[Tra La La]

dang, 100 pages? Mine only has to be 40-50. Good luck. 👍

Jeez. Mine only has to be like 15-20 pages...it's just a senior thesis for me.

It seems that other people are writing up real projects.

 

[funshine]

What's your field, funshine? I'm in anthropology, so I'm staring down the 100-page tunnel as well 🙁 It ends in 8 days. 😱

I'm a MolBio major, so our theses usually aren't too long (50-70 pgs) compared to hum majors like you 🙂 but my project happened to yield a ton of data...which means I get to write it all up--yippee! I never even liked my project topic to begin with, so it really sucks!!!
I am really wishing that I applied to med school this year, so at least that'd be out of the way, and I'd know for sure that I had a future even if I got a bad grade on my thesis 😱 <--i love that face. looks like a bug that was just squashed

Good luck to you! Wishing you some super-productivity 🙂

 

[Larsitron]

Mine's a bioethics profile which basically means that it's a giant lit review. Which, given that I don't have to worry about data problems, means that it can't be that bad. I've got about 20 more pages to go for a total of 35. But hey, it's just an undergrad honors thesis. I know that I'll get an A on it and that it can't keep me from graduation, but I just don't wanna disappoint my advisor.

 

[cunam_amoris]

My master's thesis is "Parameter identification of the aeroelastic modes of an aircraft wing." All kinds of fun. Mechanical engineering/vibrations specialty. Its all to be done by April 29th, defense and everything...it's killing me right now! But it will all be over soon. 🙂

 

[masterMood]

uhhh does this stuff help for admisssions or is this just for self-education

 

[dr.z]

uhhh does this stuff help for admisssions or is this just for self-education

I think it's for self education. I need to get started with mine.

 

[jennifermov]

my master's thesis is on "the role of calicivirus VP2 phosphorylation in replication and structure." i've taken this year off as a "year of absence" to work (save $ for med school) and write. so technically, my committe has to sign off on my degree some time in july. i've written all of none of it. i don't want to even think about having to go back through my lab notebooks and organize/compile 2 years of data. ugggghhhh. this thread is making me sick to my stomach!!! 😉

 

[Sparky Man]

You're gonna hate me for saying this but mine's just kinda been flowing out of me. I've had to turn in each section according to a timetable, so I've been working on it since September, and I've got 32 pages done, and I've already written (and repeatedly revised) the hardest part: the intro, which is over 20 pages of lit review. I've got to polish up my methods, and just finish data and discussion and I'll be set to turn it in (mine's due May 2nd). I've put many, many hours into writing it, but it hasn't been terribly difficult. I'm struggling more with my powerpoint presentation on the same topic. How to condense 2+ years of research into a 10-15 minute talk?

What's your thesis on?

Oh wow, I didn't think that many of us were writing (both undergrad and grad). Well, I'm finishing a phd in physical chemistry. We study the electronic properties of organic molecules using a special type of force microscopy! boring stuff, huh? Actually, it's pretty exciting if you like this new kind of nano-scale science. But I'm ready to move on. I defend in the middle of June. Good luck everyone!

sparky

 

[on_the_fence]

My defense is on April 28!! I am so ready for it. I only have to finish writing the discussion section and do final edits/proof-reading. My data produced a significant finding, which is rare and thus exciting. 😀

The whole process was slightly haunting -- thesis looming over my head day in and day out, seeping into my dreams. But it is almost over. I would do it again... only I'd actually stick to my deadlines the second time. 🙄

I'm at 37 pages now... will probably be around 45 total. Yeehaw!

 

[Wiggy73]

My thesis has been my life for the past couple of weeks. It's looking like a ~40 page critter, partly depending on how big I make my gazillion figures. (Need more pages? Blow the graphs up!) I'm doing it for honors in chemistry; it's a kind of inorganic synthesis/p-chem project on nanocrystals. Fun stuff! 🙄 It seems like it's running shorter than most of yours because it's almost completely focused on my original work, with not a ton of lit review. It's interesting how different schools want different things in a thesis. Good luck on all of y'all's defenses!

 

[aj114]

Well, I'm defending on Tuesday. Kind of freaked even though I know its just undergrad. But yes, I'd been struggling with my thesis too, especially when not 2 months ago, my professor goes back and says that one of the numbers we'd been using (I'm doing mathematical modeling) was wrong. So everything that I've done since last summer went to ****. So my prof just said to try and re-do as many results as possible but not to stress myself out. Go into the lab, and my computer got hacked into. So never got to correct any of my data (kind of good, kind of bad). Anyways, I'm just shy of 50 pages without data (couldn't imagine the length with) and my presentation is about 35 minutes at this point. Wish me luck!

 

[tinkerbelle]

This thread brings back memories of all those all-nighters while writing my masters thesis....

Good luck with all the writing It's almost over!!

 

[uptoolate]

I'm trying to finish up my doctoral dissertation as well. I think I'll lose it if I try to talk about it right now. Trying to beat the clock...