The dissertation is the pinnacle of a PhD. It is everything you worked towards and the finale of years of work. The pressure to get it just right can be overwhelming. This blog is to share the joy and pain of dissertation writing.
I’ll be blogging about my experience as I start writing my dissertation in the next few months. From the start, staring at a blank page wondering what to start with, to the satisfaction of finally submitting the final draft, I’ll keep you up to date. I hope this can
I’ve done it! I have finally written the first few sentences of my dissertation! I started this blog a year ago thinking I would be done by now. But I have finally started writing. I have a few paragraphs out of order written. They probably will be edited ten times over, but for now, I have words on a page. Hooray!
With that being said, does anyone out there have advice on writing a dissertation? What kind of things did you wish you knew before you started? A preference for EndNote or Mendeley
Here are a few easy steps to begin writing anything important, such as a thesis.
Sit down at your laptop.
Open Word.
Pick the perfect playlist to help you focus and stay calm.
Refill your water bottle before you start so you won’t be interrupted later.
Check your email one last time so you aren’t worrying about it.
Oh no, I forgot to respond to that one email. I’ll just do that real quick.
You know what, while I’m thinking about it, I should email my friend real quick and cancel plans be
Dear 2018,
We started off so well together. You had so much promise. How foolish I was. I started a blog called “dissertation writing” because you were the year I was going to write my dissertation. I made a bucket list for Baltimore because you were my last shot to do those things before I moved away for some fabulous post-doc position. You gave me so much hope and future, and it didn’t happen.
There were some disappointments 2018, weren’t there? It turns out I was far away from graduating. I
It’s Thanksgiving break and I am so excited to relax and not work for a few days. Care free for 5 days while I spend the week just enjoying family time. It is how I spend every holiday weekend. So relaxing leaving work behind and just being in the moment.
I’m totally kidding. That’s not at all what happened. I packed work to take with me. I spent every free moment trying to make graphs look publishable and finishing a presentation I was giving the Monday after Thanksgiving. I peeled potatoes, r
I was just reminded there are three weeks until SfN, 22 days. Well, it’s late so 21.3 days to be exact. Which means there are 20 days until I fly to San Diego. Which means there are 19 days until I need to print my poster. But if I consider how long it takes to make a poster, have my PI edit it, change things, find all the typos when I think I’m done, etc, I really have about 16 days until I need to make my poster. 17 if I write quickly. So that’s just over 2 weeks until I need to have all the d
Let’s be real, with 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental illness this year in America someone reading this is also struggling with depression, anxiety, or another mental illness. With the demands of graduate school, it can be hard to take care of our mental health and get our work done. As someone who is currently sitting on a couch, dealing with side effects of SSRIs, and simultaneously feeling guilty for not getting enough work done, I feel very qualified to speak on this issue. The truth is, the
This blog is supposed to be about my journey in writing my dissertation. However, I haven’t updated it in two months. There is a very real reason for that. I haven’t felt like I have made any progress in my dissertation in two months. The key word in that sentence is felt. In reality, two months can’t go by working in a lab and not making progress. But sometimes that is hard to see.
July was a large struggle for me. Several events happened early in the month that were very triggering for my men
Pro: I don’t need to ask my advisor for help all the time.
Con: I can’t meet with my advisor because the new grad student is asking for help all the time.
Pro: I have perfected my organization system for my work space.
Con: The intern keep stealing my stuff.
Pro: I can get an intern to help me with my experiments.
Con: I can teach an intern all summer and they’ll finally be independent just in time for fall semester to start.
Pro: My dream of getting a post-doc is in sight
Con: I have to
It is time for me to update my CV and write a NIH biosketch. That means remembering all the amazing things I have accomplished and putting them into words. Frankly, I hate it. Nothing sounds impressive, yet I wish there was more I could write.
The crazy part, is that I never have a problem defending myself. If we talked one-on-one and you told me I don’t belong in science, I would shoot back with fiery passion all the reasons I am an amazing scientist and I deserve to get my PhD. On the other h
As of 3 hours ago, I am finished with my thesis proposal. I overcame blank page syndrome, turned in a written proposal, studied hard, and gave a presentation. I have been looking forward to this for what seems like a full year.
To be honest, as I sit here now, it feels anti-climatic. This step is over. Thank goodness. But it doesn’t really change that much. At least when I passed my qualifying exam I got a raise and became an official “PhD Candidate”. Now, I am just continuing with the experime
Blank page syndrome is not in a medical book or taught in psychology classes, but it is real. It is that fear of starting to write. You know what you need to do, you have a vague idea of what it will look like, but where to start? So you open a document, and it is just blank. It is a big white screen staring at you, mocking you for your inability to remember how to start a sentence.
Blank page syndrome is hard to overcome. Here is my trick, just write something. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I
