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10 Stages of Writing Your Dissertation

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at St. Andrews chapter.

If you are in your final year, you understand the pain that is the “dissertation,” a monster essay that takes weeks to write and leaves you feeling vaguely nauseus. But fear not, Her Campus understands your pain.

 

1. You make your plans and you feel generally organized – ready to tackle the beast. Oh you naïve babe… 

 

2. You do extensive research and find that somehow, no one knows anything about your topic, despite there being a wealth of knowledge on other obsure things – use of toilets during the 1800s in China, anyone? 

 

3. Finally, after hours of mind-numbing reading and database searching, you are ready to write! 

 

4. …Only to find you have no idea where to begin. 

 

5. Eventually you bite the bullet and decide to put pen to paper – an expression only, I sincerely hope none of us are hand-writing our dissertation. 

 

6. It goes well for awhile,

 

7. …until you hit a roadblock. Could be writer’s block, but it’s most likely hunger and overwhelming desire to just sink into the floor. 

 

8. You procrastinate for longer than you’d care to admit to anyone.

 

9. But eventually, mostly because you remember how much this damn thing is worth, you get back into it – battle-hardened and ready to crush it. 

 

10. And at last, the sweet finish line!! You are done :) Congratulations, you over-worked student. 

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Meena Nayagam

St. Andrews

I am an American medical student at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. I have been an avid writer for several years, focusing mainly on creative writing. But I hope to be more involved in our university's culture, particularly by bringing interesting information to all of our students!