Monday 18-02-2019 - 11:15

 

Your whole university career has probably been leading up to this beast — your dissertation. ’s talked about like a mythical being that’s looming over for your whole time at uni and the struggle will be real, but in reality… it doesn’t have to be that bad. 

 

Choose something you’re interested in 
A dissertation is not a small undertaking, you need to be interested in what you’re talking about. You’re going to spend a long time on this piece of work, make sure you actually want to do it. 

Contact your supervisor early 
You have a supervisor for a reason. Get in touch with them ASAP and stay in touch. They’ll keep you sane and steer you away from any questionable ideas before they become monumental mistakes. They’ll help you to plan a timeline and avoid an all-nighter at the end. 

If you have any issues with your supervisor — like they’re not emailing you back, or you can’t get a meeting, or they’re just not the right person for your subject – get in touch with your personal tutor, course leader, or the Advice Centre and they will walk you through what to do. 

Reference as you go 
Referencing will be your nemesis and papers will disappear into the abyss never to be seen again. As soon as you use something, reference it straight away. This will save you from a world of pain trying to find everything again later. Plus, doing one reference is not as painful as having to do 50 references at the end. 

Use two monitors 
Sounds silly, but it’s a game-changer. Double screening gives you the superpower to read your notes and type into your document at the same time. You’re going to have a lot of tabs open at all times… extra screen space is everything.

Google Scholar is life 
If you’re not already using this, please start immediately. Search Google just for academic resources, it’ll save you bags of time sifting through search results.

Budget for printing (including time!) 
If you need to print and bind your dissertation — remember there will be a last-minute rush to the printers — leave plenty of time so you don’t get a penalty thanks to being stuck in the queue. Printing and binding can also be really expensive so keep that cost in mind when you’re doing your budgets around elections time. 

Plan, plan, plan 
Time management is the key to minimising the stress of your dissertation, it’s a beast and you need to have a handle on how you’re going to approach it. Make a timeline of checkpoints to assess where you are with your work and stick to your plan. 

Don’t measure against everyone else 
Everyone works in their own way so don’t feel pressured by people who have told you they’ve nearly finished, haven’t even started, or have the most pristine water-tight plan. You do you.

Get support
If it’s all a bit much, stress is getting overwhelming and you just need a helping hand – there are lots of resources to help you out. You can even get feedback on your writing which will help to hit the right tone with your work, or you could even go to a study skills workshop to help you maximise your time. 

Totally overwhelmed?
If things just aren’t going quite right, and you’re struggling with all of it. Don’t try to just muscle through on your own – there are still people that can help you. Go to your tutor and/or come to the Advice Centre at The Union. They can help you unpick even the worst of knots.