The biggest misconception I had when I began writing my thesis was the notion that it was nothing more than a large essay. I could not have been more wrong.
A thesis is more akin to a collection of essays, all with different purposes and different levels of importance. Moreover, while the words in an essay are meant to build on each other to create an argument, a thesis is a collection of descriptive information on the state of your chosen topic, how you researched it, and what you discovered. It is also a much more interactive process than writing an essay, and you will have the wonderful opportunity to work through your research and manuscript with knowledgeable professionals, something which should not be discounted.
I think this is a very important idea to convey to anyone about to write their first thesis because believing it is an essay will leave you under-prepared for what you are going to experience. I did this, and I realized a little too late that I needed more help than I thought I did, that my writing schedule was woefully unbalanced and missing parts, and that I had made this process way more stressful than it needed to be.
To not be like me, there are three things you should remember while starting this process: Your literature review will change your ideas for your thesis, everybody hates data collection for a reason, and your advisor can be one of your most valuable resources.
Make a Strong Literature Review: At first, I thought a literature review’s purpose was just to inform potential readers about the state of knowledge in your topic area. While it does achieve this function, it is also integral to formulating your data collection strategies and understanding what you’re researching. My data collection plans grew and changed substantially after my initial review because I discovered many important variables that I never would have thought I needed to control for. On top of this, after finding data on these variables I realized I needed more research to understand what I was looking at. This made the literature review an ongoing process for me, and something I did not plan enough time for.
Start your Data Collection: Start your data collection now. If you are in either of the thesis courses, you should not only be identifying your scope of research and where to find your data but collecting it. Planning for this was very difficult for me because I had little experience with collecting large amounts of data. So, on top of not accounting for its importance in my essay style plan, I underestimated the time requirements for doing a good job. The truth is finding, collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data is a lengthy process that is almost completely separate from writing your thesis. It requires its own timeline and attention and can feel like an entirely separate project to complete while you are working on your thesis. Be aware of this and make time to work on data collection every time you work on your thesis, so you don’t get caught with sections to write that require your unfinished data.
Interact with your Advisor: While this may seem obvious, making weekly meeting times with your advisor and coming prepared with any questions and problems you have had will make the thesis process ten times easier. They are extremely knowledgeable and there to help you with everything from finding sources and interpreting data to creating strong sections in your thesis. Starting your work ahead of time will also help them help you by giving them time to answer all the questions you are sure to find. I needed help with every stage of my data collection process, something I did not foresee, and if I had started any later than I did I would’ve been in the dark during my analysis. By creating a strong schedule, you give yourself time to struggle and your advisor time to work through the problem with you.
Overall, the most important thing you can do is just start working. Writing a thesis can be a daunting task and while it may seem like a lot of work, if you’ve made it to the class, you’re prepared for what is to come. Research your topic, gather your data, and work with your advisor. If you can do that, you’ll find this class is a great opportunity to learn how to research and discover interesting knowledge about a topic you care about without all the unneeded stress.
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