A lesson learnt!

I recently submitted my PhD thesis, a milestone that marks the beginning of the end for my long but very happy student journey at the University of Glasgow. Thanks to “lockdown”, however, submission meant time for reflection rather than the very social celebration I had planned! Working for LEADs, this included thinking about what advice I might give to students engaging with the taught postgraduate dissertation classes that start this week. 

My undergraduate dissertation was not good. I probably shouldn’t even admit it, but I did everything I’d now advise students not to do. Friends (who tease me for being overly organised…) will smirk to discover that I left far too much to the last minute. Ok, all of it. I was naively confident about producing a dissertation on a topic I knew well and felt so passionately about. I procrastinated. I did some half-hearted and direction-less reading. I flicked through a lot of very interesting, but largely useless, pieces of archival evidence. I misguidedly lulled myself into a false sense of security about how much work actually went into a dissertation. It’s just four or five regular essays, right? Wrong. Producing your own research, engaging with complicated debates, and weaving original ideas through interlocking chapters takes a lot of extra time. My total failure to appreciate this made for a very unenjoyable experience. There were a lot of all-night writing sessions in those final days… culminating in a spectacularly teary meltdown in the binders’ carpark. I can still see the look on my now-husband’s face: blinking in silent panic as passing shoppers averted their eye contact and diverted their steps around me in a 10foot radius. I staggered into the History Department office with minutes to spare.  

Returning to Glasgow as a taught postgraduate, I began my MLitt dissertation fuelled with determination not to make the same mistakes. I learnt that creating a large, research-based piece of work relied on successfully managing myself and my time far more than actually writing. It proved impossible to schedule each single task and every last minute, but by breaking my workload into chunks and plotting out flexible deadlines for each phase of research, analysis, drafting, and editing I never felt like I was floundering. 

I read strategically, starting with the most important writers in the field. I recorded key details like their core arguments and methodologies in a spreadsheet, which meant that I didn’t need to re-read things as I tried to write about them. This also meant that I could keep track of which academics disagreed with one another, and how my own findings related to what they were saying. I also kept my primary research tightly focused. I made a detailed record of everything I found that was important to my topic, and then photographed any other source material that was too interesting to ignore but not immediately relevant to my research question. 

Editing, I discovered, was all-important. No matter how well and how much time you spend writing, it’s the way you tighten the structure and argument with red biro afterwards that really makes it. Know that nothing you ever write will be exactly as you want it. There will always one more reference you could check or book you could read. But, if you manage your time and your workload, you will know that you’ve covered all the most important bases and with time for proof-reading you will feel great about the original work you have created. 

I also planned ahead for mental fatigue. No matter how much you love your topic when you start out, there will be times when you’re desperate for a break. Starting on time and with some kind of plan means that when you do need a rest, you have the time to do so. Ideas and insights come when your mind is fresh, and it’s very hard to feel inspired by anything at all when you’ve had two hours sleep.  

Working on your dissertation the right way is probably the most useful thing you’ll get to do as an Arts or Social Sciences student. The management, research, and communication skills I developed as a taught postgraduate have already proved immensely valuable for me in the workplace and even in everyday life. So: get started, stay organised, and make sure that when you do get to that moment of submission you’re able to take the time to enjoy it and feel proud of everything you’ve done to get there. 

Written by Laura Doak, GTA for LEADS