The Different Stages of Writing A Thesis

Ah, April!  The first month we’ve had without snow, events every weekend and…the deadline for most senior theses.  As a non-thesis writing senior, I’ve been blissfully drowning in my all my 400 level coursework  enjoying my senior year as I’ve had to watch all of my friends suffer.  As I watched them print out article after article, check out book after book and sob in front of their computers, I began to notice a trend.  Most thesis writers seemed to follow the same progression of emotions.  While this involved putting myself near people in a very volatile state, for the sake of you all and investigative journalism, I decided to find out the stages of writing a thesis. Read with caution.

Excitement: Deciding To Write A Thesis

Most subjects were quite excited about this decision.  Many of them wanted to have experience doing research, some wanted to contribute to their field, and most of them wanted to graduate with honors.   To each their own.

Optimism: Choosing A Topic and Advisor

A few lucky subjects knew exactly what they were doing and searched for the advisor that would support their endeavors.  The grand majority floundered to find a topic or an advisor.  However, most knew they would find something and looked forward to getting into it.

Tiredness:  Actually Doing Research

Who would’ve thought that doing research could be tiring? I mean, like, there is actually work involved with a thesis. Who knew?  Apparently, not most of the subjects

Panic:  First Deadlines

This is where your advisors actually start to expect things from you.  Wait what?  How is the introduction, body and half the conclusion a draft? That kinda sounds like a paper to  me.  Note:  Don’t mention this fact to the subjects, it makes them a little nervous.

Terror:  Final Deadlines

Subjects no longer saw friends, participated in fun activities or left their designated writing areas.  For these reasons, interviews were replaced with hugs, offerings of sweets and a listening ear.

Euphoria: It’s Done

After months of working on thesis, it’s finally over.  The subjects are excited and often celebrate by exericising, drinking, eating good food or sleeping.

Sadness:  Post-Thesis “Depression”

After months of working on thesis….it’s finally over.  Many subjects felt empty as though they lost a child.  Then reality sets in.  There’s all the work they missed while working on thesis, the defense, real world job prospectives and enjoying senior year.  No biggie.

Hope you enjoyed this article! Congrats to all the seniors who completed their thesis and good luck to those of you still working on it.  Almost there!

• honors
• senior year