my bachelor thesis is bad

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How to Avoid Failing Your Ph.D. Dissertation

By  Daniel Sokol

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I am a barrister in London who specializes in helping doctoral students who have failed their Ph.D.s. Few people will have had the dubious privilege of seeing as many unsuccessful Ph.D. dissertations and reading as many scathing reports by examination committees. Here are common reasons why students who submit their Ph.D.s fail, with advice on how to avoid such pitfalls. The lessons apply to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Lack of critical reflection. Probably the most common reason for failing a Ph.D. dissertation is a lack of critical analysis. A typical observation of the examination committee is, “The thesis is generally descriptive and a more analytical approach is required.”

For doctoral work, students must engage critically with the subject matter, not just set out what other scholars have said or done. If not, the thesis will not be original. It will not add anything of substance to the field and will fail.

Doctoral students should adopt a reflexive approach to their work. Why have I chosen this methodology? What are the flaws or limitations of this or that author’s argument? Can I make interesting comparisons between this and something else? Those who struggle with this aspect should ask their supervisors for advice on how to inject some analytic sophistication to their thesis.

Lack of coherence. Other common observations are of the type: “The argument running through the thesis needs to be more coherent” or “The thesis is poorly organized and put together without any apparent logic.”

The thesis should be seen as one coherent whole. It cannot be a series of self-contained chapters stitched together haphazardly. Students should spend considerable time at the outset of their dissertation thinking about structure, both at the macro level of the entire thesis and the micro level of the chapter. It is a good idea to look at other Ph.D. theses and monographs to get a sense of what constitutes a logical structure.

Poor presentation. The majority of failed Ph.D. dissertations are sloppily presented. They contain typos, grammatical mistakes, referencing errors and inconsistencies in presentation. Looking at some committee reports randomly, I note the following comments:

• “The thesis is poorly written.”
• “That previous section is long, badly written and lacks structure.”
• “The author cannot formulate his thoughts or explain his reasons. It is very hard to understand a good part of the thesis.”
• “Ensure that the standard of written English is consistent with the standard expected of a Ph.D. thesis.”
• “The language used is simplistic and does not reflect the standard of writing expected at Ph.D. level.”

For committee members, who are paid a fixed and pitiful sum to examine the work, few things are as off-putting as a poorly written dissertation. Errors of language slow the reading speed and can frustrate or irritate committee members. At worst, they can lead them to miss or misinterpret an argument.

Students should consider using a professional proofreader to read the thesis, if permitted by the university’s regulations. But that still is no guarantee of an error-free thesis. Even after the proofreader has returned the manuscript, students should read and reread the work in its entirety.

When I was completing my Ph.D., I read my dissertation so often that the mere sight of it made me nauseous. Each time, I would spot a typo or tweak a sentence, removing a superfluous word or clarifying an ambiguous passage. My meticulous approach was rewarded when one committee member said in the oral examination that it was the best-written dissertation he had ever read. This was nothing to do with skill or an innate writing ability but tedious, repetitive revision.

Failure to make required changes. It is rare for students to fail to obtain their Ph.D. outright at the oral examination. Usually, the student is granted an opportunity to resubmit their dissertation after making corrections.

Students often submit their revised thesis together with a document explaining how they implemented the committee’s recommendations. And they often believe, wrongly, that this document is proof that they have incorporated the requisite changes and that they should be awarded a Ph.D.

In fact, the committee may feel that the changes do not go far enough or that they reveal further misunderstandings or deficiencies. Here are some real observations by dissertation committees:

• “The added discussion section is confusing. The only thing that has improved is the attempt to provide a little more analysis of the experimental data.”
• “The author has tried to address the issues identified by the committee, but there is little improvement in the thesis.”

In short, students who fail their Ph.D. dissertations make changes that are superficial or misconceived. Some revised theses end up worse than the original submission.

Students must incorporate changes in the way that the committee members had in mind. If what is required is unclear, students can usually seek clarification through their supervisors.

In the nine years I have spent helping Ph.D. students with their appeals, I have found that whatever the subject matter of the thesis, the above criticisms appear time and time again in committee reports. They are signs of a poor Ph.D.

Wise students should ask themselves these questions prior to submission of the dissertation:

• Is the work sufficiently critical/analytical, or is it mainly descriptive?
• Is it coherent and well structured?
• Does the thesis look good and read well?
• If a resubmission, have I made the changes that the examination committee had in mind?

Once students are satisfied that the answer to each question is yes, they should ask their supervisors the same questions.

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How to Tackle Your Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis in Science* Without Losing Your Mind

* Based on my personal experience in successfully writing a bachelor’s thesis in biology and a master’s thesis in neurosciences in Germany. My view might be biased, but a lot of things probably apply across different fields and borders.

First of all, congrats! You made it! You are currently taking your first step into the direction of independent research. The only thing that is still separating you from your degree is your bachelor’s or master’s thesis work (and maybe some assignments and the last exam). You already heard from other people that stressful times are coming ahead and you are worried that everything will go wrong? It will not! To help you not loose your mind during the process, I put together some tips for you. I was lost in the beginning, too, and as a firstgen I thought I would never be able to find through the jungle and graduate. But here I am, holding a bachelor’s and master’s degree, and currently starting the most scary one so far: the PhD.

The Research Process

The research process of a bachelor’s or master’s thesis itself typically starts with an idea and is followed by a literature research identifying the status quo in the research field, resulting in refinement of the idea and the formation of a research question. Then, adequate methods to answer the question are decided, followed by data collection and analysis. The whole work is then finished off by writing the ‘thesis’.

As a bachelor’s or master’s student, you can technically jump in at any point of this process. Some labs have already decided on a question and the methodology you are going to use because it belongs to an ongoing project. This was for example the case in my bachelor’s thesis. As the bachelor’s thesis at my university needed to be conducted in a time frame of 12 weeks, I was working together with a PhD student collecting data (I was mainly staining brain sections, imaged them, and counted cells!). In my master’s thesis work (duration: 6 months), however, I was allowed to design my own project from beginning to the end and worked independently.

“Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen”

German for: A master has never come falling from heaven.

Lab work can be scary, you can feel like you are not good enough. I still remember how insecure I was on my first day in the lab as a bachelor’s student. I was shaking while pipetting under supervision because I was so nervous and didn’t want to do anything wrong. I thought my supervisor would think I was not made for the lab. But oh boy, was I wrong! No one, and I say NO ONE, expects you to be a perfect scientist already! You are in the process of learning the scientific method and getting trained! It is ok to make mistakes and ask for help, it is part of the learning process and will help you when conducting research in the future! Back then, thanks to great supervision, I gained confidence over time and was rewarded with beautiful immunofluorescence-stained brain sections!

How Do I Start?

1. choose a project you find interesting and a supervisor you feel comfortable with.

BOTH are important. You should choose a project you find interesting, in which you would enjoy working towards answering the research question and reading up on the literature. This will make it way easier to stay motivated. However, you should also be comfortable in your research environment. You will probably spend a lot of time with your supervisor and your supervisor might be the one grading you.

2. Ask for Important Literature and Example Theses

In order to gain a good overview of the field you will conduct your research in it is helpful to read up on literature straight ahead. A good way to do so and not miss the key concepts is to ask your supervisor. They are the expert in the field and can give you the most important papers. From there on you can guide your literature research looking through the names and references and checking related topics. Also, ask which data base (PubMed, WebOfScience, etc.) is commonly used in your field.

Since every university, even every faculty, and every professor has different guidelines and expectations for the thesis, try to get hold of theses from prior bachelor or master students. Often your supervisor or university library can provide them.

3. Create an Outline of Your Thesis

Maybe start out with a mind map. Write down EVERYTHING that comes to your mind when thinking about your topic. Write down what you already know. Write down your questions, which methods you are using. And then, connect the dots . Try to find a ‘red thread’ (= Roten Faden ) that you can weave through your text. Find the story you want to tell and arrange it in an order.

Then, open a word document and create the skeleton of your thesis. Put all headings and subheadings in an order. Start with the most obvious things: Create a space for your cover, the table of contents. Add the title ‘abstract’, introduction, material and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Then add subheadings and a few bullet points about what you would like to write about in this section. This way you will already have a document that you can slowly feed with more information. And you will see your pages filling faster, which will give you a boost in motivation.

You don’t need to finish this all in one day. This can be a growing document meanwhile you are working in the lab.

4. Create a Schedule

If you are like me, you will probably still end up working up until the last minute, even if you scheduled everything perfectly and worked accordingly. However, it is definitely important to make a schedule of the whole time-frame of your research project. Schedule your experiments and when you are writing which chapter. Schedule how long the data analysis will probably take. Schedule the proof-reading, corrections, and formatting. Schedule the printing. Leave one- to two weeks extra for emergencies. Also, because it WILL take longer than you initially think. Especially, because you WILL probably be procrastinating at some points. But keep in mind: In case you get sick or something doesn’t work, most universities offer an extension of the deadline.

Also, try to schedule normal workdays for your thesis, include regular breaks, and enjoy time off (Feierabend!) of your thesis, too! This will keep you sane.

Tip: Check out how long copy shops take for printing BEFORE it is time for printing. Also make sure to put away some money, as it can sadly be quite expensive.

5. Invest Time in Learning a Citation Manager

It might take a moment, but will definitely pay off. When working on my bachelor’s thesis I made the mistake to not use one. I had more than 10 pages of references and sorting and formatting them took several days. Days that I could have used for proof-reading, or, finally relaxing for a bit 😉 Some examples are EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero.

Actually, I don’t understand why they don’t teach this in uni…

What to Think About When Writing the Different Parts of Your Thesis

Some general things on writing: don’t try to show off too much. Yes, it is important to use the adequate vocabulary when writing, but don’t make your sentences unnecessarily complicated. On a side note: not everyone is a native English speaker. I’m not. I actually wrote my bachelor’s thesis in German and only my master’s thesis in English. Looking back at it, I would choose to write the bachelor’s thesis in English, too, as it is easier to stick to the specific terms of the field, because most findings are reported in English. Besides, try to write every other day, even if it is just one sentence. Just write down what comes to your mind and directly put the reference next to it. It does not have to be a beautiful sentence. Beautiful sentences get born in the editing process. The flow of your text comes with time. Since we got that sorted now, let’s get to the different parts of your thesis!

Introduction

In this part you want to give an overview of the field of your research. Why is this research important (why important for scientists? why for the general public?)? Is it about a disease? How many people suffer from it? Why should people care? What has been done in this field already? Where are the gaps? Maybe there are controversial results? Typically the introduction ends with the aim/research question that is based on the literature review. How does the aim relate to findings of previous studies? What is the main question? What are the subquestions? With which methods are you going to tackle them?

Tip: As you do your literature research for the introduction, summarize the main findings of the paper already with the reference in form of bullet points and put them in the corresponding chapter of the introduction. This way you will already have a skeleton that you can use for writing. The introduction should have the ‘shape’ of an inverted cone in the end, meaning that you should go from the broader topic to the specific question.

Material and Methods

Here you want to describe the material and methods you have used and why you have used them. Don’t only write down the steps of the protocol you applied, but also write down how the method works and why you used the substances (for example: To remove DNA, an additional DNAse treatment was performed applying DNAsI solved in RDD buffer directly on the column and incubating it for 15 minutes at room temperature).

Don’t forget to explain your analysis

Your results depend on the analysis/statistics you applied, therefore it is crucial to describe the program and the statistical tests you used and WHY they fit your data. What kind of data do you have? What results to you consider as significant (p-value below 0.05?)?

Tip: Write the methods as you apply them in the lab. Since you are basically writing down a protocol, it is a fast way to fill your pages and feel like you already made progress. Also your memory is still fresh. Make sure to write down from which company your substances and programs are.

Describe your results, but don’t interpret them yet. Put the description of a table ABOVE the table and the description of a figure BELOW the figure. The description should be written in a way that one can understand the table/figure without reading the main text. You don’t need to arrange the results in a chronological order, you can also put them in an order that helps you tell your story. This order should be consistent over sections (use the same order in the discussion!). Besides, don’t put too many figures. Put the most important ones that help you tell your story. Any additional figures can be put into the appendix.

This section can naturally feel like it is the most important part of your thesis. A lot of people were stressing out about not having good results or not having the results they wanted. I can assure you: IT DOESN’T MATTER. Experiments do not always work how we wanted it and in such a limited time frame it is totally normal that you might not get ‘good’ results. No one will give you a bad grade for that. The point of your thesis is to show that you understood how scientific research is conducted and how to wrap it up. YOU DON’T NEED TO WIN THE NOBEL PRIZE (if you do tho, congrats!). If you don’t have good results, put more effort into a great discussion and the introduction and you will be fine.

Tip: It can help to arrange your results figures in a PowerPoint first to create your story. Put the numbers to the figures last. Make sure you refer to the correct figures.

Discuss your results based on previous literature/similar studies and your aims. Did you answer your question? Are your data analysed correctly? Were there any problems while running the experiments? Did the problems influence the results? How could one eliminate the problems? How can you apply your results on further research? Write a good conclusion of your findings after the discussion.

Usually the first thing after the table of contents, but often written last. THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR THESIS. It is the part, that everyone will read first. It is there to quickly give an overview of your work and should include a few words about the background, the question, the methods, and the main findings. Try to not exceed one page.

Acknowledgements

You can put these in the beginning (before the table of contents) or the end (before or after literature) of your thesis. They are not only a way of showing your gratitude towards your supervisors, but also a way to state the resources you used for your thesis, such as intellectual input! So maybe also consider including the technical assistant or fellow student that helped you or teached you a new technique.

Make Your Supervisor Your Best Friend

Maybe not literally, but definitely stay in contact, send them the chapters of your thesis for feedback, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your supervisor might be the one grading your thesis or writing a recommendation letter for you.

I had weekly meetings with the direct supervisor of my master’s thesis. These were extremely helpful to stay on track, give updates, and receive valuable input. If you are stuck somewhere (e.g. data analysis), your supervisor can help you. Asking for help it is not a sign of weakness. In fact, your supervisor might even get suspicious if you don’t ask for help at all.

But please, also keep in your mind that your supervisors are busy people (they are first of all people!). Don’t expect them to tell you each and every step and plan all the meetings. Do your work and initiate meetings. They will happy to meet with you. Don’t send them your thesis one week before handing in and give them enough time to get back to you.

General Tips for Motivation

Find the right workplace for you. Some people work best in the library, some at home in pajamas (but keep the work out of your bedroom!). Try to incorporate rituals to condition yourself into a working mood. I was for example always lighting a scented candle when working and drinking coffee. I liked to have music or even Netflix in the background. Others prefer it quiet. Try what works for you.

Also, finding yourself a group of other students working on their theses, too, can be very helpful for motivation, but also for helping each other proof reading. Try to update each other regularly.

Accept That You Will Find Typos After Submission

Despite having it proof-read by supervisor and friends, I still had an extra word in the abstract of both my bachelor’s and my master’s thesis. After submission, I noticed several typos. THIS IS NORMAL. After having worked on your thesis for so long, it is hard to notice mistakes. As long as you don’t get stuck in every paragraph, no one will care.

Last but not Least: Make it Pretty!

You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of good formatting. If your thesis looks good to begin with, your examiners will be more pleased to read it (even if it might be subconscious) and vice versa . Try to deep dive a bit into the formatting functions of Word/your writing program (but of course stay also within the guidelines of your university).

Here are some of my suggestions:

• Use ‘styles’ for your headers and sub-headers. This way they will be already assembled in a hierarchy in the table of contents you are going to add in the end. Additionally, when converting your document into a PDF, you can just click the chapter titles and it will automatically jump to the corresponding section. Keep in mind that your examiner might read your thesis as a PDF 🙂
• Justify your text .
• Put conceptual paragraphs within chapters for easier reading.
• Turn on the non-printable signs to check for double-spaces and returns .
• Make sure you wrote out each term before you make it an abbreviation. If you created an abbreviation, use it throughout the whole text. If you have a lot of abbreviations, create a table of them.
• Use margins big enough for binding your printed thesis. The margins in my bachelor’s and master’s thesis were 3cm on both sides.
• Add a page number and automatically add the name of the chapter in header or footer. This helps orientation when reading the printed version of your thesis. For adding the name of the chapter, create a header. Go to the design tab and choose quick parts > field… A dialog box should pop up. Select Link and references from the drop down list, in field names you choose ‘StyleRef’. Then choose ‘Heading 1’ so you always get the heading of the first level displayed. Click ok. The name of the chapter can only be added automatically if a header style is applied.
• Use page breaks to arrange your text and figures so they don’t break off in weird places. I for example prefer to have the beginning/heading of the introduction/material and methods/results/discussion always at the top of the page. Also I don’t like it when the figure description is cut off.
• Use the same color scheme for figures throughout the whole thesis . Be consistent, for example the control group is always blue and the treatment group orange. You can find inspiration for well-fitting colors googling color palettes.
• Create your own figures. If you have that extra time, definitely invest it in creating ‘your own’ scientific illustration. A great website that makes it very easy in a consistent style is biorender.com .

Take Home Message

Remember, the first version will never be the final one. The beautiful sentences get born in the editing process. You will be stressed, but you will be able to handle it. You are not alone! Ask for help when you need it. I wish you all the best in your process, and hope that your labs find a way to still operate during these difficult times. If you have any further questions, leave a comment.

Remember: YOU CAN DO IT. YOU HAVE COME THIS FAR.

Stay safe. Stina. ❤

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Published by Stina Börchers

Stina Börchers is a German neuroscience PhD student at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She completed her undergrad studies in biology in 2017 and her master's in neurosciences in 2020. Next to studying, Stina blogs about scientific topics, her daily life and experiences as a student here and on instagram. View all posts by Stina Börchers

6 thoughts on “ How to Tackle Your Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis in Science* Without Losing Your Mind ”

I am currently writing my Master’s thesis. This is incredibly helpful, thank you 🥰

Oh great to hear that! I wish you the best of luck, you are going to nail this! ♥️

Thank you so much ! deffo really helpful and motivating to finally complete my thesis 🙂

Yay! Happy to hear that! Good luck with your thesis! Take care!

Ausgezeichnet, sogar glänzend! 🤠🎷🎼🎶🎶🎶

Thannks for this

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Search the site, search suggestions, to thesis or not to thesis.

For many students at Harvard, whether or not to write a thesis is a question that comes up at least once during our four years.

For some concentrations, thesising is mandatory – you know when you declare that you will write a senior thesis, and this often factors into the decision-making process when it comes to declaring that field. For other concentrations, thesising is pretty rare – sometimes slightly discouraged by the department, depending on how well the subject lends itself to independent undergraduate research. 

In my concentration, Neuroscience on the Neurobiology track, thesising is absolutely optional. If you want to do research and writing a thesis is something that interests you, you can totally go for it, if you like research but just don’t want to write a super long paper detailing it, that’s cool too, and if you decide that neither is for you, there’s no pressure. 

Some Thesis Work From My Thesis That Wasn't Meant To Be

This is from back when I thought I was writing a thesis! Yay data! Claire Hoffman

While this is super nice from the perspective that it allows students to create the undergraduate experiences that work best for them, it can be really confusing if you’re someone like me who can struggle a little with the weight of such a (seemingly) huge decision. So for anyone pondering this question, or thinking they might be in the future, here’s Claire’s patented list of advice:

1.    If you really want to thesis, thesis.

If it’s going to be something you’re passionate about, do it! When it comes to spending that much time doing something, if you’re excited about it and feel like it’s something you really want to do, it will be a rewarding experience. Don’t feel discouraged, yes it will be tough, but you can absolutely do this!

2.    If you really don’t want to write one, don’t let anyone tell you you should.  This is more the camp I fell into myself. I had somehow ended up writing a junior thesis proposal, and suddenly found myself on track to thesis, something I hadn’t fully intended to do. I almost stuck with it, but it mostly would have been because I felt guilty leaving my lab after leading them on- and guilt will not write a thesis for you. I decided to drop at the beginning of senior year, and pandemic or no, it was definitely one of the best decisions I made.

3.    This is one of those times where what your friends are doing doesn’t matter. I’m also someone who can (sometimes) be susceptible to peer pressure. Originally, I was worried because so many of my friends were planning to write theses that I would feel left out if I did not also do it. This turned out to be unfounded because one, a bunch of my friends also dropped their theses (senior year in a global pandemic is hard ok?), and two, I realized that even if they were all writing them and loved it, their joy would not mean that I could not be happy NOT writing one. It just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my (limited) time as a senior! On the other hand, if none of your friends are planning to thesis but you really want to, don’t let that stop you. Speaking from experience, they’ll happily hang out with you while you work, and ply you with snacks and fun times during your breaks.

Overall, deciding to write a thesis can be an intensely personal choice. At the end of the day, you just have to do what’s right for you! And as we come up on thesis submission deadlines, good luck to all my amazing senior friends out there who are turning in theses right now.  

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Academic Writing: How I almost failed my bachelor’s thesis

von Anonymous | Freitag, November 23, 2018 | Learn , Writing effectively | 1 Kommentar

A guest post by an anonymous student

I am a procrastinator. I do not know if it is because I work best under pressure or if I am simply used to working well under pressure, the ultimate result stays the same. This is an example of doing things the wrong way. The great thing about writing a thesis is that you have plenty of time and that there are set rules for everything . Three months is more than enough to write a bachelor’s thesis, especially when you consider that 25-30 pages is only a few pages longer than a regular term paper. If you write a little bit every day and talk to your examiner about your progress regularly, you are on the right track to getting a result you can be satisfied with.

I never talked to my examiner after signing up for my thesis, which was my first mistake. I had a title and a general idea but I was lacking both structure and a plan. While that was not a big problem initially – due to the fair amount of time allotted to writing the thesis – it quickly became one because time has the habit of flying, whether you work or not. This mistake could have easily been remedied. Had I made an appointment with my examiner at any time during this process, he certainly would have been able to help me, even if it was just by holding me accountable to a schedule. My piece of advice is: Make appointments with your examiner straight away so that you have soft deadlines by which a set amount of work has to be achieved. This would have saved my life.

When most of my allotted time had run out, I began to panic and I finally felt enough pressure to start doing something . I was lucky enough to have some experience with writing term papers. Before I could write anything, it was necessary to look at the literature at hand. Everyone works differently, and I like to collect quotes from sources which I believe to be relevant to my topic. So not only do I highlight relevant parts within the texts I read, I also create a document which simply serves as a collection of potentially useful quotes. Had I started this process at a reasonable time, I would not have had to deal with having to write my entire thesis in just a week. While I had laid the groundwork with the theory from secondary sources and a detailed analysis of my primary sources, none of this had been turned into a structured and cohesive paper.

At this point I ran into the problem that my initial ideas about the topic of the thesis were so vague, and the topic so big, that I did not know where to start. While that is a common problem that can be dealt with by discussing the question with your examiner, who will likely help you and advise you to look at one specific aspect that is worth analysing, I did not feel like I could approach my examiner and ask such a question with only days before the deadline.

In the end I pulled several all-nighters, culminating in a 27-hour writing session that lasted until the morning of the day of the deadline. I did not have time to proof-read most of what I had written. And even if I had somehow managed to do that, I do not believe I would have had the mental capacity to spot mistakes in that state. I had the thesis printed, handed it in and somehow, miraculously, I passed. Unsurprisingly, I did not receive the best grade and I am sure that I could have achieved a very good result, had I had an actual strategy to writing my thesis.

Long story short: Don’t be me.

• Start early
• Hold yourself accountable, set mini-deadlines during the process with your examiner – or even just a friend who will tell you off for procrastinating
• Look at the relevant literature and figure out, with assistance if required, what specific aspect(s) you will look at in your paper
• Write a little bit every day
• When you finish your paper with time to spare, put it aside for a day or two, then reread, edit and finally have a friend proof-read it

I got lucky this time but I do not want to experience this again. Had I not written tons of papers before, there is no chance I would have been able to pass. That and a great portion of luck put me this position: Now I can tell you how not to approach writing a paper.

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Many thanks to the anonymous author who shared their learning experiences here! Watch this space for an upcoming post on time management, both for specific assignments and throughout your studies!

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11 quick fixes to get your thesis back on track

(Last updated: 21 December 2023)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

Struggles with a dissertation can begin at any phase in the process. From the earliest points in which you are just trying to generate a viable idea, to the end where there might be time-table or advisor issues.

If you feel like you're struggling, you are not alone.

For as much as the situation might feel unique to you, the truth of the matter is that it's not. You are one of hundreds of thousands of students who will have endured, and eventually triumphed, over a centuries-old process.

So, rest assured that any struggles or difficulties are completely and totally normal, and not likely to be insurmountable. Your goal to ace your thesis is certainly achievable.

There is one book that you should have on your shelf and should have read. Umberto Eco’s 'How to Write a Thesis' (MIT Press, 2015) , was originally published in the late 70’s for his Italian students, and most of his analysis and advice rings true today.

It is, in essence, a guide on how to be productive and produce a large body of research writing, and it contains lots of really sound and useful advice.

"Help! I've only just started my dissertation and already I'm stuck."

For as weighty and profound as the final product might appear to be, the essence of a dissertation is quite simple: it is an answer to a question.

Dissertation writers often stumble over the same block. They try to find an answer without first asking themselves what question they are actually answering.

One of the greatest advances in physics was a result of a question so simple, it is almost child-like: ‘what would light look like if I ran alongside it?’. For those of you interested, have a read about Einstein’s thought experiment on chasing a light beam .

For many, a problem arises with a dissertation because after becoming accustomed, over several years of earlier education, to ‘spitting back’ and regurgitating information, you suddenly and largely – if not entirely – feel expected to say something original.

Try flipping your thesis statement on its head and see it as a question; what is a thesis statement but a question that has been turned into a declaration?

So just to recap, the first step in the early stages of your dissertation really should be identifying a research question.

In fact, for some advisors this is the first thing they want to see. Not, ‘what do you want to talk about?’ or, ‘what is your thesis statement?’ but, ‘what is your research question? What are you trying to answer?’.

What to do if you don't know where to start

One of the easiest ways to get started is by simply reading .

A professor we know often recommended this as a simple way of getting ideas flowing. He would have his students read about a dozen of the most recent articles pertaining to a particular topic.

Not broad topics, mind you, like twelve recent articles on Shakespeare or globalisation, but more focused, like ‘Shakespeare and travel’ or ‘globalisation and education’.

What is particularly useful about reading in this way is that most articles are part of some thread of academic discussion, and so will mention and account for previous research in some way.

By reading such articles, you’ll gain an idea of what has been and is being discussed in your area of interest and what the critical issues are. Usually, after just a handful of articles, some rough ideas and focus start to emerge.

What to do if you don’t have anything to say

Maybe you have found a general idea, that ‘question’, but you are still left without something to talk about. At this point, you just don’t have the data, or the material, to work up a dissertation. The answer is quite simple: you need to do research .

Have you ever considered what research is? Why the ‘re-‘? Why isn’t it just called ‘search’? This step requires you to look over and over and over again, for patterns, themes, arguments… You are looking at other people’s work to see what they have wrong and right, which will allow for plenty of discussion.

Follow your instincts

Not to make the process sound overly mystical, but at this point in your academic career there should be a gut response to what you read.

A noteworthy idea or a passage should make your academic antennae sit up and pay attention, without you necessarily even knowing why. Perhaps you are simply struck by the notion that what you just read was interesting, for some reason. This ‘reason’ is what we mean by ‘instincts’.

In fact, studies have shown that you can be right up to 90% of the time when trusting your gut .

We know many, many academics and the process is very much the same for them – something for some reason or other just catches their attention. As you go through your research – your reading, reading, and reading – you should always note these things that draw your eye.

Write (don't type) everything down

Now seems like a great time to tell you that here at Oxbridge Essays HQ, we are HUGE fans of the index card.

We’re not joking when we say that a few books or printed articles and a half-stack of index cards for jotting down notes and ideas is all you need to get going.

Index cards are easier to sort and move around than a notebook, and easier to lay out than a computer screen. In fact, outside of research and materials-gathering for which internet access is vital, for the first stages of your dissertation writing the humble index card might be all you need. After you’ve created a good-sized stack of index cards, a pattern (though maybe not the pattern) should start to develop.

And for the sake of all that is holy and dear, write everything down ! Do not trust your memory with even the smallest detail because there is little worse than spending hours trying to remember where you saw something that could have been helpful, and never finding it.

"Argh! I'm mid-way through my dissertation and suddenly, I've run out of steam."

There is a famous phrase; you probably know it: ‘Never a day without a line’.

You should never go a day without writing something, or rewriting something.

If the notion of working every day on your dissertation fills you with dread, consider this: a dissertation, as we just suggested; is merely a form of work. In life, there are few good reasons to not go to work, and so should there be few that mean you do not work on your dissertation.

Try using methods like The Pomodoro Technique to help you work more productively.

Some days will always be better than others, and some days you will feel more or less enthusiastic. But don’t trick yourself into thinking that your ‘feeling’ towards your work on any particular day may make what you produce better or worse.

Ultimately, the quality of your work should stem from the good habits that you have cultivated. Make working on your dissertation every day one of your good habits.

What to do if you feel like you've reached a dead end

This may not be what you want to hear, but even if you are struggling, you should work every day including weekends.

And try not to book any holidays that will mean you’ll be away from your computer – or tempted to be – whilst you’re doing your dissertation. It’s likely there will be at least one time when you’ll be forced to take time off (illness, for example, or a family bereavement), so if you work every day, it’ll help you stay on track should anything like this come up.

And work begets work . It’s far easier to pick up where you last left off if you only left off yesterday. But trying to do so when you haven’t worked for a week, or even a few days, can be a hard task.

Some people do complain of writer’s block, but this just doesn’t fly with us. First, you aren’t writing Ulysses . Second, and more important, there is always something to do. Have you read everything in your field? Updated your bibliography? Read over your notes?

Granted, sometimes you can get stuck. There may be times when paragraphs or sections just do not cooperate. This is not uncommon and it can take days or weeks to figure out what the problem is.

It can help, when you come to a dead-end in this way, to think about two things: is it necessary and, if so, is it right? If it’s neither necessary or right, it can and probably should be deleted.

You’ll have to get used to, particularly in the early stages of your dissertation, binning sections of work that just don’t fit or do your dissertation justice. Don’t be afraid to be ruthless; just quietly move the offending passage into a scraps file (do not delete it entirely) and move on. Maybe it will make more sense later.

If it helps, one academic who contributed to this blog post had, for their 100,000-word dissertation, a file of 40,000 useless scraps.

What to do if you are falling behind

Not to finger wag, but if you had planned well and worked every day, this statement should never be one you relate to.

But, sadly, sometimes it happens. Time can be remarkably fragile and unexpected life events can ruin what probably looked good and doable on paper. Setbacks do not mean you failed, nor do they mean you will fail. It might mean, however, that you have to take a different approach.

Any time you have a serious issue that jeopardises your ability to complete your thesis, the first place to go is your advisor to discuss options. There are also mentoring services on many campuses.

If you have fallen behind, you need to honestly assess how bad the situation is. Is this something that can be resolved by, say, putting in a few extra hours each day? Adding a half-day on the weekends? Neither of these situations are uncommon. Or will you perhaps require an extension? If the amount of time is serious enough to warrant taking it to an administrative level, be honest and frank with both yourself and the person you speak to.

"If you have fallen behind, you need to honestly assess how bad the situation is. Be honest and frank with both yourself and the person you speak to."

One of the most practical ways to avoid falling behind is not to let some of the smaller things get away from you. Reading, note-taking, data collection and bibliography building can all be tedious tasks left for another day.

But sitting down to read thousands of pages in one marathon go is unproductive. The best advice is still ‘read a little, write a little, every single day’.

The math favours you here. Reading a single article or a few chapters every day builds a nice familiarity with your field over the course of a year. And writing 500-1000 words every day yields enough content for two to three dissertations.

In fact, it has been shown that professional academics who write just that many words each day are more productive than colleagues who attempt marathon (and sometimes panicky and stressful) sessions.

"I'm so close to finishing my dissertation, but I'm having last-minute worries."

What to do if you think your idea is terrible.

If you work on something long enough, doubts are going to start creeping in. The further in you are, the less of an objective view you will be able to take on your work.

Some perspective can be helpful here.

There are two fairly common rules of thumb for dissertations and theses among academics. The first is that you are finished when your work is more right than wrong. The second is that it does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be finished.

You can waste time obsessing about how awful your idea is, or you can just finish the bloody thing. Examiners commonly disagree on the quality of your work, its merit and its value, and make suggestions for improvement. This will happen no matter how brilliant your idea might be.

It also helps to keep in mind that you are very unlikely to write anything with which examiners do not disagree.

What to do if your idea is no longer viable

This is the stuff of nightmares for dissertation writers. You spend oodles of time and effort coming up with a brilliant idea. Your advisor and/or committee are supportive and excited for you. You are certain that nothing of what you are talking about has been essayed by anyone else.

And yet, there is a lurking terror. A terror that you are going to be scooped and find research that is exactly like what you are doing. We speak from experience here, and we know people who have had this happen.

The scenario usually plays out in one of two ways.

More often than not you'll find that you and your new nemesis have taken two completely different approaches. This is actually great news for you. Now you have a discussion that you can incorporate into your work. You have something in which you can find and comment on positive aspects as well as shortcomings.

In the less likely event that you have, in fact, rewritten the work of another researcher then you will need to account for that work and perhaps try to develop another line of approach.

The most important point to bear in mind is that the vast majority of academic work exists in dialogue with other works. So it is often a good thing that someone else is researching the same problem you are. Indeed, you might even consider reaching out and contacting that person just to hone your ideas or solicit feedback. In general, if you do this politely and professionally, you will be warmly received.

What to do if you don’t have enough words

Everyone writes differently. Some people are amazingly concise writers. They can elegantly shoehorn into a single sentence what balloons into a paragraph for another. Most dissertation requirements have a set range.

Notably, some advisors can adjust that and add or subtract. The aforementioned academic who contributed to this blog post – his doctoral supervisor tacked on 20,000 words just because he felt it was necessary. The academic still disagrees with it to this day.

Our point is that the word limit is not arbitrarily set. It is generally agreed that this is the amount of words required to discuss a topic fully. Thus, if you're short of words then unfortunately you haven't discussed your topic as fully as you should have.

If this is the case, you need to look for where your gaps have settled in. The best way to do this will be to solicit outside readers – two or three, one of whom should be your supervisor .

But you don’t want to drop a stack of papers in front of someone and say, ‘can you read this and tell me what to do?’. The better approach will be to assemble a very thorough outline of 3-5 pages that shows the structure and ask if they will look this over. We can assure you, the response will be much more positive and their response time markedly shorter.

Another approach to increasing word count is to generate an indirectly related discussion and add it as an appendix.

What to do if you have too many words

Congratulations! You are probably in the minority, but cutting words is often much easier than finding them.

Still, the acceptable range rule stands for an excess of words just as it does for too few.

If you find yourself in this position, then quite likely you have academic bloat . It’s quite a common trap for dissertation writers as they develop what they perceive to be an academic style and tone in their writing.

But before you simply jettison whole sections of your thesis to bring the word count down, we would especially recommend, for later stage thesis and dissertation writing, a wonderful little book by Richard Lanham called 'Revising Prose' (Pearson, 2006).

When it was first introduced it was a welcome sensation. It’s a short and clear-cut guide to cutting the bloat and bull out of academic writing and making your prose more precise and refined at the sentence and paragraph level. This might sound overly simplistic but don’t sniff at the notion – the book is a potent little text and we wish it were read by every dissertation and thesis writer.

What to do if your supervisor isn’t helpful

This is a problem that can actually present itself at any stage of the dissertation or thesis writing process. It can be one of the most frustrating matters with which you might have to contend.

One thing that you must understand is that the university wants and needs to see you complete your project.

That is not to say that they’ll be pleased with shoddy work. But the more graduates, the more vital the department appears, and the more funding they can request and be allocated.

So there is a vested interest in your success, even if there are points at which it doesn’t feel this way. At some universities, one of the ways in which these conflicts are avoided is through a general contract of expectations. This is done at the outset and lays out the basics of the working relationship (when and how often you will meet, for instance). Hopefully you will have formally or informally handled this early and can identify where a fault might lay.

It can also help to arrange at the outset for a co-supervisor. This person can be invaluable. Often a co-supervisor will practically take over a project, especially if the co-supervisor is young and eager to build credibility and experience as a supervisor (the best sort, really).

Read more about how to make your relationship with your dissertation supervisor productive, rewarding, and enjoyable.

If you have an unproductive working relationship with your supervisor, consider seriously the nature and expectations of it from both sides.

Not to shift the fault to you, but sometimes supervisees can have unrealistic expectations of their supervisor. The truth is that very few supervisors have the time or inclination to pal around with their supervisees, drinking cognac into the wee hours and talking about high enlightened matters.

The reality is that the better and more capable students are often regarded to be the ones who come in, write their projects, and move on. Supervisors have other obligations (e.g. teaching, their own research, other students writing projects). They expect supervisees to be able to work independently and not need too much hand-holding.

There is, nevertheless, tremendous anxiety that surrounds one’s relationship with their supervisor. This is largely due to the extremely imbalanced power relationship. Your supervisor is, after all, someone on whom you will depend for letters, vetting, and generally someone on whom you will rely professionally.

It is not a relationship you want to sour. But you should also consider that the relationship has to be professional and nothing should be taken personally. Think about what you need from your advisor, not what you want . If your professional needs are not being met than you should consider mediation, provided you have discussed these needs with your advisor and they remain unmet.

A final thought...

Throughout the months or years that you are preparing your dissertation or thesis you should keep in mind two helpful words: don’t panic.

It is extremely unlikely that anything you are experiencing hasn’t been experienced by someone else. Or that it presents an obstacle with which your supervisors or the university is unfamiliar.

There are few obstacles that are insurmountable, so try to remember this if you ever feel panic rising. Remember to keep your advisor in the loop and deal with any problems that arise promptly; don’t let them fester.

Also, the more prepared you are to begin with the easier it will be to deal with problems and frustrations down the road.

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Should i publish my thesis the good, the bad, the ugly.

The question “should I publish my thesis” is a bit too generic and requires some clarification. We may want to start from understanding what do you mean by “publish” and continue with “where”, “when”, “with who” and “how much it costs”.

First of all, publishing a thesis is not synonymous with releasing the thesis in open access . Open access refers to the idea to make your thesis publicly available on the web. Publish a thesis refers to use the content of your thesis for building a scientific publication and submit it to a peer-review journal or conference.

In the case you are considering making an article in a blog or in LinkedIn, that does not still goes in the category of publishing. However, it deserves special attention and I will write an article about that later.

As you may already understood that this activity will require extra work, sometimes a lot of extra work. Consequently, we may want to understand what are the benefits (if any) in your particular case. What follows are a set of generic suggestions/ considerations, however you should be aware that each case is different and you may want to think critically before taking on board these suggestions.

What are the benefits of publishing a thesis?

Lets see them point per point, a publication may:

• Differentiate you from the crowd
• Position you as a (young) expert
• Shows that you are capable of think critically and scientifically
• Good addition to have in your CV
• Improve your chances of passing a selection for a PhD fellowship

Some of these benefits may be interesting you. If that is the case you may want to consider the extra efforts and decide accordingly.

Is the work that I have done publishable?

Let’s be very honest and direct. If you are doing a bachelor thesis, the chances are very low. If you are doing a master thesis you may have a few more possibilities. You may want to be very open and direct with your supervisor and have their opinion on board. If this was your intention since the beginning (see make the most of your thesis ) you may want to make it clear during one of your first meetings. If you are maturing this idea while writing the thesis you may want to ask their opinion during one of your sessions. My suggestion is to be humble and consider the fact that building a publication will take an extensive amount of time. At the same time, maybe you are working on an existing thesis and/or your supervisor has existing material that could be combined with your work. This is one more reason for speaking freely.

Also, be aware that some thesis are just not designed for been published. Maybe you are doing it in conjunction with an internship, maybe the work that you are doing is just at the beginning or simply it will require too much additional work for making all the additional extra attentions that you need for publishing. If that is the case, just move forward to your next adventure. The alternative will be to publish it alone and the chances that you have all the expertise required are very low. Probably it will result in a lot of work for you and a rejection by a publisher in the end.

When should you publish the thesis?

This is a easy one. Strictly after the submission of the thesis. Your main goal should be obtaining a master degree and not to publish a scientific article. You are going to have limited resources at your disposal so, use them wisely and focus on what should be your main priority: graduate, possibly with a good grade.

Where should I publish the thesis?

Ask your supervisor. If your plans are not to continue to study you want to limit the additional work required to the minimum and focus on a venue of acceptable quality but not too thought. After-all there is never a guarantee when you will submit your work. Been rejected is part of the game.

With who should I publish the thesis?

As already mentioned, clearly with your supervisor as you have been mentored the all time. Your supervisor may also have additional work that could be combined with what you are doing and may have a few colleagues that could contribute to that work. In other words you may want to ask to your supervisor to take the lead of this task. In general authorship or co-authorship, position of author is an intricate topic and each community of scientist have a different approach to the question. I will probably write a dedicated post about that and you can consider this answer as the short version.

How much does it costs to publish and article?

It is relatively expensive. Conferences require a participation fee and your presence. Journal may be free (unless open access) but may require considerable additional amount of time. In general, this is yet another reason for involving your supervisor. The university usually have funds allocated to publications and, if this is the case, you do not have to worry about these aspects.

Summary: Should I Publish My Thesis?

I do not think that a general answer to this question exist. However I hope that you will use this article for reflecting about your particular case and been able to figure out your specific answer. Independently to what you will decide, focus on your thesis first and keep your supervisor in the loop and ask for his opinion and support on this task.

This article (Should I Publish My Thesis? The Good, the Bad, the Ugly) is part of the miniseries on how to do a good thesis, you can see the full list of post at the following links:

How to Do a Good Thesis: the Miniseries

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Hating Thesis, worried about being exposed as a fraud during Viva

======= Date Modified 13 18 2009 13:18:15 ======= So I have finally submitted my thesis - which due to a job I have had to rush - and looking back on it, I am hating it. Truth be told, I spent a long time writing it and while I used to be fairly happy with it as a whole, I am growing to hate it. It just looks like a rather weak piece of work that can be easily challenged thereby making all of my research useless and, well, crap. Although, funnily, everyone else seems to think I did an 'excellent' job. In addition to that, little things keep popping up that frustrate and worry me even more. For instance, take the introduction - which now appears increasingly worrying. And to think that a month ago I thought it was solid and well written. In doing my literature review, I have lifted sentences here and there from review papers and while I tried to reference all wherever possible, I feel I should have rephrased everything. Don't get me wrong, most of it is my wording, but some sentences/lines aren't. Doesn't everyone copy some stuff in their Lit Review from various sources? I also lifted a small section from a report written by an undergrad student I supervised - work we did, however, do together and I did edit and help write his report so it is my own work. How does everyone else go about using work done by undergrads? I mean, I am probably being too hard on myself, but I am entirely worried that all these small things will be exposed during my viva and my hard 3 years of work will be exposed due to me being a fraud. I suppose going back to a thesis after you've submitted it magnifies things that otherwise wouldn't stand out, but still. Has anybody else felt this way after submitting their thesis? Is it a common feeling or are people generally content with their theses? Or am I just being too hard on myself and overly paranoid.

unfortunately I can't be much help, but what I can suggest is to look at the positives. It shows that you have the ability to critique your own work, and perhaps your knowledge is also constantly increasing, thus making your older work look bad. I know it's not even close to a direct comparison, but looking back at work I did a year ago, or even a few months ago to an extent it just looks awful. Even if I received good marks / feedback for it!

Yes I have felt this way. I did my BSc. in a foreign language so writing my 1st thesis in my native language meant translations, plagiarism never even occured to me (!) although I knew about it. Yes I did cut and paste. Sometimes I twisted and turned-other people's words. The worst came during my 2nd master thesis, the examiner had copied out a few sentences, did Google search on them--and the papers TURNED UP (I was CAUGHT!), all this I did while not being aware although years ago I knew about plagiarism (!!!). Thankfully the whole thesis wasn't written like that and I passed the viva. But I felt so bad and so bad, I couldn't look at my thesis for some time (to make the ammendments). I used every ounce of willpower I had left and did the changes in two days, re-printed, re-submitted and now I have the 2nd masters degree. This time for my phd thesis, I will be more careful. You'll get over it.

======= Date Modified 13 May 2009 09:10:52 ======= ======= Date Modified 13 May 2009 09:05:38 ======= Ref OP: There is no question of being overly paranoid. This is an "extremely" serious issue. It is taken very seriously, as far as I have seen and not plagiarising is the basic rule of academic practice. You raise two issues in your post which are real, clear problems and you need to think very carefully, for this is not a simple matter. 1. First, if you 'lifted' a para from a collaborative piece of work with another person, and did not cite this, it is absolutely plagiarism. It is not done! I could not imagine someone lifting a para from something written with me and not citing it (i.e. implying that this para was their own effort). So unless I am getting you wrong, this is a problem.. 2. Second, when you say you should have rephrased, did you pass off sentences/thoughts as your own? If you copied pasted as "quotes" then that's fine, but have you passed off others' writing as your own? Again, excuse me if i am wrong, but if it's these two above, it's considered unethical in the academy and absolutely constitutes plagiarism. It is better for you to consider if you have done these things and then work out ways in which to potentially address it.

======= Date Modified 13 May 2009 14:37:09 ======= OK, I feel I should elaborate, as after re-reading my initial post now it all sounds much worse than it actually is. The odd sentence in the otherwise long intro is never more than a line long, and is referenced, although not put in quotes. I am more worried if I forgot to reference one or two of them, which are usually no more than a simple statement or a short statement on a scientific process. Second, the "report" I mentioned was my own work (experiments) that just so happened an undergrad ended up helping with. It was always going to end up in my thesis as this is how it was designed and intended to and my supervisor knows this fully. I also helped the undergrad write a report on it and I just naturally used some of that material. All this in a 300 page thesis which is rather solid. I am a perfectionist so the 5 or 10 "cut and pasted" sentences that are not my own wording stand out a lot more. I mean, how does everyone write a scientific introduction to a thesis? Isn't the whole point of a literature review to mention and reference other work?

first of all - DON'T PANIC! it is perfectly normal to feel like a fraud after handing a piece of work in, especially one to which you have dedicated so much time. stop re-reading it - it will only make you feel worse! now it is submitted, you should give yourself a bit of time away from your thesis, and come back to it with fresh eyes when you begin your viva preparation. you should congratulate yourself for getting the thing done, and give yourself a break! secondly, regarding the plagiarism issue - DON'T PANIC! everyone ends up using very small sentences/parts of sentences that are very similar if not the same as other people's work. it boils down to the fact that there are only so many ways to say something, so you are bound to end up 'copying' someone else at some point! as long as these are only tiny parts of your intro, and are referenced, then this will not be an issue. the examiners will understand that it is impossible to paraphrase absolutely everything. our uni puts the electronic version of a thesis through a computer program that picks up plagiarism - it compares the work to all sources of papers, books, previous theses etc, and comes up with a percentage score of copied work. they expect a small percentage of your thesis to be a match to other work as this cannot always be avoided, and of course may have occured by chance. so unless you have literally copied and pasted huge chunks of your thesis (which it sounds like you haven't!) then you have nothing to worry about, and you are certainly not a fraud. my advice is not to be so hard on yourself, and good luck with your viva (up)

======= Date Modified 20 May 2009 20:16:20 ======= ======= Date Modified 20 May 2009 20:14:31 ======= wow you sound like me! i too feel like a total fraud!! my supervisor hated my thesis and didnt want me to submit it (but i had to, cause of the deadline) but im more worried about defending my work during my viva, i feel like i wont be able to, i'll be all muddled up and forget or not know what to say ! i am hating those dreaded viva questions that come up, like what are the weaknesses of your methods, i keep racking my brain to think of some and just go blank. and then the question of "what would you do next " still need to find a good answer for that! i know what you mean that its hard to rewrite things, there are only so many ways you can say something. i'm sure it will be fine. if they find out, they will just tell you to correct it. a friend of mine got told off for plagerising at his viva, and he had to correct it. dont focus on that. just focus on understanding your thesis. and alot of stuff will be lifted, not word for word, even if you have done it word for word, as long as you not shown that its YOUR idea , you will be fine. but yah totally normal feeling. i think my thesis is complete crap! and i am just imagining that my viva is gonna be hell on earth. :$ i have a feeling my supervisor doesnt even want to organise examiners for me, to waste their time, cause he is already thinking im gonna fail! :$ so in the meantime, just trying my best reading papers and doing as much background reading as i can. i have to start on making answers for viva questions though, which i've been avoiding, and have been avoiding reading my thesis. i read it once after submitting, but only after i took a couple of months break after i submitted. but i am planning on reading it again as its been a few months since i read it last! do you know when your viva is? i have no clue when my viva is ps smoobles advice was so reassuring :) :) (up) i really liked their reply.

Quote From Procastinator: unfortunately I can't be much help, but what I can suggest is to look at the positives. It shows that you have the ability to critique your own work, and perhaps your knowledge is also constantly increasing, thus making your older work look bad. I know it's not even close to a direct comparison, but looking back at work I did a year ago, or even a few months ago to an extent it just looks awful. Even if I received good marks / feedback for it! thats a really nice and positive way to look at it :-) (up)

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Bachelor thesis or Bachelor's thesis

During my final year at university, I wrote what I thought was a "bachelor thesis". Right before printing it I stumbled upon several documents stating the name "bachelor's thesis". (Here we do not call it a dissertation just yet, so this question is only about the possessive bachelor's vs. bachelor .) A couple of Google search queries later, I had not found out which of these terms is correct. Which should I use?

• word-choice
• differences

• 2 It's a master's thesis and a doctoral thesis. Going by these, it should be a bachelor's thesis or a bacheloral thesis . Except bacheloral isn't a word. What is the adjective form for bachelor? Oh, it's bachelor. So by analogy, it's either a bachelor's thesis or a bachelor thesis . I think both should be fine. –  Peter Shor Commented Jul 19, 2012 at 16:06

4 Answers 4

First off, I would mimic the term that your university uses. Does that give you a satisfactory resolution? (Or are they inconsistent in their use?)

If not, do you use the full term "Bachelor of Arts" or "Bachelor of Science" in your thesis title? If so, you don't need the apostrophe s (and you should capitalize the words as indicated). However, if you are referring to the degree program more informally, then I think you should use "bachelor's thesis." ( See this Wikipedia entry in which bachelor's is used throughout.)

Also, the Associated Press Styleguide has these guidelines for Academic Degrees:

• Use an apostrophe in bachelor’s degree, a master’s, etc.
• There is no apostrophe in Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science.

I think that would apply to bachelor's thesis as well.

• Inconsistency is the problem. I have seen both versions come up, so it's not about being correct with respect to the university, it's more a question of my curiosity. As BA/BSc is concerned, we do not distinguish between them, we're simply bachelors. I read through some style guides, but none of them address theses specifically, so I was not sure about its application based on "bachelor's degree" and other uses. So your implication may or may not be correct. Still it's the closest I got to a backed answer. –  Ondrej Commented May 10, 2012 at 10:25

In some countries/universities, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used as part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate, while in others, the reverse is true.

In USA and Canada,

• Research-based papers presented as the final empirical study of a bachelor with honours (honors) degree are normally called bachelor thesis or honours thesis (in USA, "thesis" is in more commonly use).
• Major papers presented as the final project for a master's degree are normally called thesis .
• Major papers presenting the student's research towards a doctoral degree are called theses or dissertations .

In Germany,

• A bachelor's thesis is often 40–60 pages long, other theses are usually even longer.
• The required submission for the doctorate is called a Dissertation or Doktorarbeit.

• 4 1) This does not address my issue at all. As I said, it's not about thesis/dissertation, regional specifics, ..., it's only about the first word of the term. 2) The whole answer is only a compilation of excerpts from the "Thesis" Wikipedia entry. Don't worry, read that already. –  Ondrej Commented May 10, 2012 at 10:19
• Ahem... I double-checked Mac's Oxford dictionaries and they confirm that "thesis" is singular and "theses" is plural; your answer suggests a semantic difference. I've suggested a minimal edit to make the answer consistent with this. –  Blaisorblade Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 15:07

As I understand it, you are the bachelor (or at least the bachelor candidate) by virtue of being on the course, and the thesis is yours, so bachelor's thesis is the correct way to go.

On the thesis/dissertation thing, a thesis is your argument or proposition, and a dissertation is the discourse you defend it with.

At the college I attended, we used the terms Senior Paper or Senior Thesis to describe that it occurs in the final year of schooling. There are no post-graduate programs at the college in question, which avoided confusion with doctoral or master's level work.

Nomenclature of this final year thesis will vary depending on the institution.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged word-choice differences or ask your own question .

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So, How Bad Does a Dissertation Have to Be to Fail?

How hard is it to write a dissertation? Well, it is pretty difficult to write one because the research takes a long time and you also need to have strong critical and analytical skills to do a good job. Your questions should really be “how bad does a dissertation have to be to fail?”

While a failed masters thesis is not a very big deal, a failed PhD is. You can lose years of research and hard work because your university may not allow you to enroll a second time. However, you will be thrilled to learn that a dissertation should be pretty bad to fail. Read the rest of the article to find out just how bad (as well as what you can do to improve your score)!

Mandatory Parts of a Dissertation

Still in college, many students are starting to research ways to get their PhD. They are looking at the PhD failure rate and at what a dissertation means. Inevitably, you will ask yourself this question: what are the mandatory elements of a good dissertation? Fortunately, most dissertations are structured the same. Here is what you will need to include in your paper:

The dissertation Abstract. This is basically a very short summary of your entire dissertation. A scholar will read it to find out if your paper can help him with his work (or if your paper is going to be of interest). The dissertation Introduction. The introduction is around two pages long and its main goal is to give your reader an idea of what you will be discussing in your paper. You can also briefly describe the methods you will be using and even present a bit of information about your findings and conclusions. The Dissertation Methods and Discussion. This part is different from dissertation to dissertation. You will need to provide extensive information about the methods you have used to gather the data and the results of your research. Also, you will need to carefully discuss each result and critically analyze it. You can use an empirical or non-empirical route in this section. The Dissertation Conclusions. The conclusion should be viewed as the deduction part of your paper. Think long and hard about what you can deduce from your findings. Make assumptions and suppositions. This section is very important because it shows the committee that you have understood the subject and managed to answer the research questions. The Dissertation References. The references section is the part where you include all the materials you have used to write the paper. Any journals, articles, interviews, etc. should be included here if you’ve used them. Also, every time you cite anything in your text, you should create a reference entry.

Remember to check the requirements of your university to make sure you know what the committee expects to receive. Your university can tell you more about the number of words, which fonts to use, and even if you need to include the acknowledgements before or after the abstract.

Length and Quality of Content

What happens if you fail college? Well, you don’t get a bachelor’s degree. Also, you forfeit any chance of getting a Master’s degree and then a Doctoral degree. However, if you are thinking about a failed PhD, things are a lot easier. You won’t get the Doctoral degree, but you could get a Master’s degree automatically – depending on university rules. So, how can you avoid a dissertation defense failure? Well, one of the very first things you should do is pay attention to the length of your paper and quality of the content. Here are a few hints to get you started:

The length of a dissertation can vary from 100 to 300 pages in length. Margins are usually 1 inch on all sides Font size is usually 10-12 points Double spacing is used in the body of text The content needs to be structured in a logical manner and all the sections we’ve talked about above must be included. The content needs to be 100% free of plagiarism and spelling/grammar errors. The content needs to contain original research and a critical analysis of the findings. Referencing a dissertation is not that difficult, regardless of the academic format (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) Make sure you read the style guide and understand the proper way to cite and reference other people’s work.

What Can Go Wrong?

We’ve seen more than one failed masters degree. A dissertation failure is not that different. There are many things that can go wrong when it comes to such a complex academic paper. And remember, the paper is no everything. Here are some of the reasons why you can fail your dissertation:

• You focus on your grades in grad school. Remember that nobody cares about your grades in grad school. Instead of working on your dissertation every chance you get, you are more worried about low grades.
• You procrastinate. If you are like most grad students, you like to procrastinate. You think you have more than enough time to research and write the dissertation. Well, the sad truth is that you probably don’t.
• You ignore the committee and its recommendations. In most cases, you will be asked to change some things during the oral presentation of your dissertation. Failure to implement these changes is a sure way to fail the PhD.
• You don’t write at least 4 papers that can be published in reputable scholarly journals. This is also a sure way to fail your dissertation. Remember, the committee expects to see these pieces. And they will really read them. This means that you should not, under any circumstance, rush them just to get them done.
• Not having a clear structure in mind is very risky. Also, not thinking critically is definitely going to hurt your score. Simply analyzing other works is not enough to get a passing score. You need to be able to think critically and come up with original ideas that are supported by well-researched data. A dissertation must present original data that you have uncovered yourself.
• Not editing and proofreading your work can result in a failure. Poorly written content makes reading the dissertation difficult and can irritate the committee or at least the chair of the committee. This is enough to get you a low score.
• Waiting for your supervisor to tell you what to do is not an option. You are expected to take charge of your paper and do the necessary research yourself. You should not expect the supervisor to tell you what to do.
• Your thesis may be deemed not good enough. Keep in mind that your thesis needs to be original and present conclusive findings. If the evaluators think your paper is flawed beyond repair, you will fail.
• The PhD defense fail. After you submit your thesis to the committee, you will need to defend it. The faculty members will ask you various questions to make sure you have understood the field and that it really is you who wrote the paper. If you are unable to answer the questions, you will fail. You can also be accused of plagiarism, which is not something you want.

There are many other things that can happen, including things that are outside your control (like poor health or family problems). However, keep in mind that the PhD completion rate is around 80% in the United Kingdom and around 56% in the United States. This means that you have a very good chance of getting a doctorate degree if you focus on your paper and you do whatever you can to perfect it.

The Process of Grading a Dissertation

What is the process of grading a dissertation? Do professors check sources? The process of grading a dissertation is not overly complex and yes, most professors really do check your sources. It is very important to use authoritative sources and information taken from reputable authors and scholars. Don’t include references just for the sake of having references because they will be checked and you risk failing your PhD. As for the grading process, every school has a different system. However, in most cases, you need to achieve the following to get a top score:

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the topic and show originality with the research question and aims.
• Demonstrate plenty of fieldwork (this can be independent research as well). This means you need to prove that you have analyzed primary published data in-depth (or carry out comprehensive computer-aided research or archival research).
• Demonstrate that you have used strong critical commentary in interpretative techniques in your methodology and even the design of the research.
• Your paper has a coherent structure and is very well organized (or even innovatively organized).
• You show great critical synthesis skills and know how to put your work in context with the wider theoretical framework.
• Your paper looks professional. This means having a greatly-written bibliography and excellent references.
• You have a fluent style and there are very few or no spelling or grammar errors. We would advise you to hire a proofreader to proofread your work.

Basically, you will almost certainly get a top score if your dissertation can be published as a journal paper with only minor changes.

How Can You Avoid a Failed PhD?

I think my dissertation is bad, what can I do to make things right? This is one of the most common questions we get. And it’s not easy to give an answer. There are many things that you can do to avoid a failed PhD. Here are some of the most important things you need to do to avoid a fail:

• Make effective use of your critical reflection skills. Most dissertations fail because of a lack of critical analysis. Being generally descriptive or criticizing other scholars’ work will not do the trick. You need to analyze the subject and come up with original solutions or use your research to bring something new to light.
• Make sure your paper is coherent. Poorly organizing the dissertation will most likely cause it to fail. Keep in mind that the paper must be coherent in its entirety and not just a bunch of paragraphs thrown together.
• Make the presentation as good as you can. A poor presentation will have disastrous consequences because it will give the committee the reason to fail you for poorly written content and even a lack of a logical structure. Proofread your work or hire a professional proofreader to do it for you. Make sure it is perfect!
• Make the changes that have been requested by the committee during the oral examination. You probably won’t fail at the oral examination, but you will surely fail if you don’t make the changes that have been requested. And no, the changes should not be superficial either.
• Make sure you have at least 4 or 5 pieces of publishable work. Usually, the committee does not expect you to have these published. However, you need to make sure that these pieces can get published in a good scholarly journal.
• Don’t aim too high. Your research will probably not revolutionize the field and won’t probably lead to the discovery of a cure for cancer. The aim of your dissertation is to show the committee that you are able to do high level research, not to show your best work in your career.

Remember that all the dissertation stress can take a toll on you. You will hit a writer’s block sooner or later, with devastating consequences. To make sure you have the best chance to pass the dissertation and get a top score, you should consider getting some help from a person who already has a PhD and who knows how to write one the right way.

Get Writing Assistance From Our Dissertation Experts

Getting a doctorate degree is very difficult, as you can see. It is a lot more difficult than getting your masters degree. This is why we suggest you to get some writing assistance from our awesome thesis writers. Our experts have been writing dissertations for years. Also, they’ve helped students with any kind of dissertation proposal or defense you can imagine. Bottom line, we have extensive experience writing dissertations that any professor or any supervisor can appreciate.

If you are a graduate or undergraduate student, getting assistance from us is very simple. Get in touch with us and send us a detailed list of requirements. Give our professionals as much information about your project as you can. Also, you could send us some materials if you thing they will help our expert do a better job. We will pair you with our most experienced writers (or you can choose the writers you like). Once you make payment for the paper, our experts start working.

Your dissertation will be ready before the deadline, guaranteed. And remember, it will be perfect. All the information will be sourced from authoritative sources and properly cited and referenced. We will handle the research part ourselves as well. Getting the best dissertation help has never been easier. Let our writers (all of them have at least one PhD degree) work their magic and help you get a top grade on your dissertation. So, can you do my dissertation right away? Sure, just get in touch with us today!

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Stuck completing master's thesis, how to overcome poor choice of topic and supervisor at this stage?

I'm in the second year of a master's program, working on a thesis. I am not getting enough help from my supervisor because he has a different methodological background from me. I am also not finding enough evidence to complete the thesis, and the topic has been very difficult to research because almost nothing is written about it. I am dreading completing this degree. What are some constructive ways I can deal with this issue and complete the degree? Is it possible at this point to make it through the degree and succeed despite my poor choice of topic and supervisor?

• 2 Perhaps, this answer by JeffE will be somewhat helpful. :) –  299792458 Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 5:50
• 2 If your topic is 'obscure' and you can't find much evidence/literature that suggests to me you're producing something novel. That sounds exciting! ☺ –  Phil Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 18:34
• @user46140 Please follow this procedure to merge your accounts so that you'll have "ownership" of the question and will be able to edit it directly and comment on it. Thanks! –  ff524 Commented Dec 16, 2015 at 22:32

4 Answers 4

I know how you feel, I have been in similar enough situation. From your perspective now it maybe looks dark but it's not. You are almost finished, just one step and that masters degree is yours.

First, I assume you are from USA, so different system than in mainland Europe where i studied, so take that in mind.

If you find your thesis dull and mentor unhelpful, easiest way is to switch thesis, but better yet, switch both thesis and mentor. If you opt to do this, best way is to approach your mentor, tell him how you feel about your thesis and politely ask if it's possible to change theme of your thesis. You are still stuck with the problem of not very helpful mentor. Most faculties have on the website written rules and regulations, there should be something about changing mentors for master thesis. If they don't there is always student service or somebody in administration who can tell you how to do it. For example, in PhD program on my faculty, it is explicitly stated that you can change both PhD thesis and mentor once, no questions asked. It is wise to assume yours has similar rules, even in masters program. Even if you have to pay for additional semester, it would be worth it since you are clearly unhappy with current situation.

I have changed both my mentor and master thesis since midway into it, our ideas parted and his were highly unappealing and boring. I thanked the professor for his time and parted ways with him since further cooperation wasn't possible (and at that time i was kind of angry at he prof for wasting both his and my time). Change did set back my graduation for about 6 months, I had to pay for additional semester, but in the end I did thesis on the subject I liked with the great professor who backed me up and help me out lot more than previous one.

Last thing, if you can't change anything, don't give up. You invested a lot of time and effort to get to where you are now. Don't throw it away. Write what you can, submit it to the mentor and see if you can defend it even if you think it's sub par by your own criteria. Once you get the diploma, you can bury that thesis and forget about it.

Best of luck :)

• From the last paragraph: "Write what you can." The most freeing sentence for progress is to remove my ego from the work and know that I can always revise tomorrow but I'll have nothing to edit if I don't write anything today. "Write without fear. Revise without mercy." –  Xoque55 Commented Apr 19, 2018 at 20:35

Both my partner and I felt exactly the same way towards the end of our respective master's programs (in totally different disciplines, at different institutions). I was advising her, and vice-versa, to just stick it out for a few more months and complete the program. We'd both put in so much work and effort up to those times, it would have been a shame to just totally wash out with nothing to show for it.

Now here we are a decade or two later, and both of our careers have been completely predicated on having those degrees as door-openers and a foundation for success. I really love my job in academia, and it wouldn't be possible if I hadn't completed that program. I just asked my partner if she could go back in time to that very difficult period, how she'd advise herself, and she said "Definitely, stick out! Get that diploma!".

In both cases it took us about 5 years to mentally "wash off" that feeling of desperation. But we both feel so much better off, skill-wise, to have that under our belts. Best wishes; it does get better.

There are some great answers here! To add, I might suggest trying to find help / support from other professors in your department. If there's no one who uses your approach or might be able to offer some helpful input, you could also consider contacting other, more senior graduate students or scholars elsewhere who do work in your area. If you do either of these, I would strongly encourage you not to bring up problems with your adviser. If you can indicate that you find the (other) professor's work engaging it might help your chances of hearing back in a timely manner. The conferences that Captain Emacs talks about can be a great way to find like minded people to approach.

Overall, I agree with the 'stick it out' advice you're getting. I think it applies to your situation. In case others are reading this, I'll say that there can be a time when sticking it becomes increasingly foolhardy. This would be a more common problem for students pursuing a PhD who, despite being many years 'in,' are encountering ongoing problems (unable to get approval for a defense date or to get feedback of any kind, for example). Reconstituting a committee at this stage is an option, but one that is sometimes seen as risky to other professors who might take you on - not least because they do not want to be seen as 'crossing' your existing adviser. Pursuing administrative options can also be difficult, especially if the people you are talking to are professors or former professors who locate blame with the student and not the larger situation or the existing adviser. These can be gloomy times - particularly if you're having to take out student loans against an already grim professional future to fund an endless cycle of revisions.

A few tips: try to go to conferences of that topic. If your supervisor likes you, he will support it. Interacting with other people in the field can be liberating and inspiring. "Go to conferences" was the single most useful advice I got during my PhD. Spend your own money if necessary and possible, but try to identify the relevant ones, don't waste time and money on side tracks.

Make contact with experts on the topic and see how they see the field.

Else, see whether there is an alternative direction that you can develop. It is rare that you get just the results you aimed for originally. It is ok to vary the direction (of course, after consultation with your supervisor). Some topics can be very hard, and need to be attacked from the back-entrance which you have to find first, but you won't if you try the same things again and again. Vary your approach.

Finally, how far are you? If you have already some considerable material, map out what is missing and plug through. If you are at the beginning, reorientation (possibly even with the current supervisor) may be an option.

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