Writing is not my strong suit. Time management is not my strong suit. Planning ahead is not my strong suit. You may be asking yourself… why did this girl agree to write a thesis? Frankly I do not know! Looking back on the experience (which ended one day ago; I turned in my final draft a tad late- do not do that!) I can genuinely say that I am glad I did it.
Let’s start with some positives! You will learn a ton. You will obviously learn about your topic, but you will also learn about yourself. Dedicating so much of your time to a project will bring out traits in you that you did not expect. You will also build a tiny thesis community! Bonding with your classmates over this shared experience is comforting and fun. Finally, you will be so relieved and proud when it is over. On your final proof read of your final draft you will think, “wow this makes sense… and I was the one who wrote it!”
There will inevitably be challenges. Here are my three tips for navigating those:
Your Advisor
Don’t just look at professors’ credentials or areas of interest when you ask someone to be an advisor. Pick someone who knows you as a student. Having that preexisting relationship will help in the process. If you don’t know your advisor going into this- get to know them! Meeting regularly with your advisor helps immensely. They are an invaluable support system.
Know yourself, but do not doubt yourself!
Being in-tune with your work and writing style is important going into this process. If you have always been someone who writes papers at the very last minute, that may not completely change within one semester. In that case, you may want to schedule several hours of writing time to finish up your rough draft the day before it is due. But obviously, you cannot write this paper all in one day. You are capable of more than you probably realize. You can work ahead on this, schedule writing time, and make significant progress. That may just be followed by some procrastination and cramming before due dates. In my opinion… nothing is wrong with that!
Enjoy the enjoyable parts
A lot of this process frankly… sucked. But a lot of parts were great! For example, I conducted interviews and LOVED doing those. I also loved watching my friends present their theses. I loved chatting with my advisor. Find the positives in the process and focus on those. After it is over, you seriously will look back fondly. I am not kidding! Seriously. Not kidding!
Ryan Paquette is a senior at the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
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