How not to write a dissertation.
I learnt the hard way that printing, photocopying and writing down what look like relevant quotes isn’t enough for a dissertation. Somehow I’d managed to convince myself I was doing plenty of work by doing that… and forgot about the 10,000 words that actually needed writing about it all, rather than just being thought about. By Christmas 2010, I was well on track. I had my title, my reading list and a rough plan of how I was going to go about doing it. That though is where it all seemed to stall and go downhill rather rapidly. New year came and went. February reading week came and went. Pretty soon it’d be Easters time to come and go. Still nothing. Easter was drawing closer and still the only thing I could show for my dissertation was my title, reading list and a massive pile of notes and photocopies. With the aid of chocolate, coffee, pick ‘n’ mix, energy drink and locking myself away in the top room of the house like a hermit, I eventually managed to complete my dissertation and get it handed in. I used to hate people telling me how to work, or how not to work, but that really isn’t the way to work! I’d advise anyone doing a dissertation definitely not to do it that way.
Sorry about this being a rubbish post, but count it as a bit of background info as to why I needed (but certainly didn’t deserve) a summer of getting out and about.
