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Writing a thesis paper. A daunting task. A long, arduous process. An achievement college students strive for as we enter the school year. An experience that will undoubtedly teach you about your own individual working style and methods. And an academic rite of passage as you complete your degree. Abbie Kay – thesis warrior from StateOfWriting – is here to shed light on some of the challenges many of us face when completing this academic paper. Without any further ado, here are eight difficulties students will inevitably run across while working on a thesis paper.
1. Choosing the Right Topic
You have to find and pin down an adequate topic. Selecting a topic is a lot like looking through cereal boxes in the supermarket. There are just too many options! Initially, you want to ‘find an interesting topic’, then one that you ‘can actually research’. It needs to be ‘at once specific and broad’.
2. Research Overload
But once you have chosen a subject, research takes over. It soon feels as if you are being swept away by a tidal wave of books, articles, journals, and random web pages. To avoid that, you can hire a UK thesis service, State Of Writing, to do research for you. Then, knowing that you have enough material, you can start putting words on the page.
3. Time Management
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst”, as truthfully pointed out by William Penn, an English writer. You do not ‘write’ a thesis in a weekend (though plenty of students try), a term, or even a single semester; it is planned, scheduled, and budgeted to avoid last-minute panic. The workload is divided into chunks.
Here’s how you can manage time better when writing your thesis:
| Prioritize | Identify the most important tasks and do those first. Use a simple system like labeling them as high, medium, or low priority to stay organized. |
| Set Specific Goals | Define clear, achievable goals for each study session or workday to keep yourself focused and motivated. |
| Use Tools | Keep a daily planner or digital calendar to track deadlines and appointments. You can also use other tools to make life easier as you write your thesis. |
| Implement Time Blocks | Divide your day into dedicated blocks of time for specific activities. Work in these blocks with short breaks in between to maintain focus and prevent burnout. |
| Limit Distractions | Identify what commonly distracts you (like social media or phone notifications) and reduce these distractions during work times. This can dramatically increase your productivity. |
4. Structuring the Argument
A coherent argument from introduction to conclusion is no mean feat, and the chapters have to follow one another without a hitch.
Here’s how you can structure an argument:
- Start with a Clear Thesis Statement: Establish your main argument at the beginning. This thesis should guide the entire essay, clearly stating what you intend to prove.
- Organize Logically: Arrange your points in a logical order. Start with the most foundational ideas and progressively build upon them, ensuring each point flows into the next.
- Use Topic Sentences: Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph. This helps readers follow your argument and see how each piece contributes to the whole.
- Provide Evidence: For every claim you make, back it up with concrete evidence. This could be data, quotes from experts, or examples from credible sources.
- Conclude Strongly: End with a conclusion that reiterates your thesis and summarizes your main points. This reinforces your argument and leaves a lasting impression on your reader.
5. Dealing with Feedback
You write, you send it off, you get it back covered in red ink and comments, and what it often feels like is that your supervisors are playing a game of ‘find the typo’. It’s just not fun to get comments on your work, but constructive criticism is a big part of honing your thesis. the trick is, again, not to obsess over the comments and try to use them to improve.
6. Staying Motivated
Motivation is the internal drive that pushes you to act towards achieving a goal. It’s the energy and desire that fuels your efforts and keeps you moving forward, whether you’re working on personal ambitions or daily tasks. For a student, it becomes difficult to stay enthusiastic about something you have been poking at for months on end. A thesis could feel like an old song you’ve heard 100 times too many. Discipline sustains you when the end doesn’t appear to be in sight. Boundless energy – the desire to study – is what matters in the first few months of a course. It can fade. However, statistics show that 61% of students feel more motivated when they understand the value of their assignment. This is exactly why you should choose a thesis topic that is important to research more on and that is interesting to you. This will make you more motivated to finish work.
Here’s a great visual representation of what encapsulates study motivation, as established by research:
Image Source: ResearchGate
7. Writing Block
Ha, that horrible, frustrating, time-consuming, soul-sucking plague known as writer’s block. It’s your brain deciding to go on holiday when really the opposite is what you need! Sitting there looking at a blinking screen and repeatedly typing ‘The’ and deleting it again is a familiar super-frustrating ritual in the thesis-writing game.
Try this to combat your writer’s block:
- Change Your Environment: Sometimes, a change of scenery can spark creativity. Try moving to a different room, going outside, or simply rearranging your workspace.
- Set Small Goals: Break your writing tasks into smaller, manageable pieces. Focus on writing just one paragraph or even a few sentences at a time.
- Free Writing: Set a timer for 5-10 minutes and write continuously without worrying about grammar or coherence. This can help get your creative juices flowing and bring new ideas to the surface.
8. Formatting and Final Edits
Just when you think you’re done, the formatting demon rears his (or her) ugly head. Centering the page numbers, fiddling with the margins, making sure to get every last quotation mark in the right style – these finishing touches can be surprisingly time-consuming. So, give yourself enough time to do it, as last-minute edits can add more mistakes than they fix.
Surviving the Thesis Journey
Writing a thesis paper is a practice in being a marathon runner more than a sprinter. It’s about plugging away, caffeinating away, and, hopefully, finishing those three crucial words: all, done, and writing. But, honestly, keep in mind that all the little obstacles becoming challenges and beyond is normal. Each hurdle is just another story to tell at your grad party. So keep one eye on the prize and one on the day at hand, and if you can manage it, make sure you’re actually enjoying the experience. You’re writing a thesis, for Pete’s sake! It’s not every day that you contribute a tiny piece to the concept of the growing edifice of human knowledge.
Joshua White is a passionate and experienced website article writer with a keen eye for detail and a knack for crafting engaging content. With a background in journalism and digital marketing, Joshua brings a unique perspective to his writing, ensuring that each piece resonates with readers. His dedication to delivering high-quality, informative, and captivating articles has earned him a reputation for excellence in the industry. When he’s not writing, Joshua enjoys exploring new topics and staying up-to-date with the latest trends in content creation.
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