Hiya guys, I have roughly 6 months to go before I wrap up my humanities thesis. I have a few chapters so far, but they have no proper conclusions. My current word count is just under 50K.

I am dragging myself to add to my work, edit it, refining it. etc etc. I thought I was close to having 60K words last week, but after a closer look, it was just a slight improvement of work done during Christmas and Easter.

I can only manage something like 100 words per day. I'm really plodding along; if I keep this up, I might have 20K words or more, which is just enough for the 80K word limit for the thesis. That of course does not count the stuff that would be crossed out by my supervisor !

Wish I could write more, but I just can't...argh !

Hey Charlie Brown, can you afford (mentally and in reality) to take a short break-of between 1-2 weeks where you can go away and just have some fun or relaxation. What you are describing sounds like burn out-but possibly having just a short break might help you with getting the energy for the final few months. Best of luck with it...you can do it. Think of that end goal point and how good it will be.

how I hope I will fit everything in 60k!

Writing a massive 80K thesis is an evil plan: you are trying to bore the examiner to death until he agrees to pass you!

And I also faced something similar, first 30K were easy to write, the closer to the end the harder words come out. Editing takes SOOO much time, and at the end of the day it looks like you haven't done anything!

Try to take breaks often. I spend a large part of my day like a tanning lizard under the sun. So, I grab a coffee (smoke two cigarretes), go back in write 100 words, then out coffee (chocolate) .....whatever keeps you going....

I'd recommend a break too to get some energy back and get you energised for a final push. Also work out a timetable for completion, based on which chapter needs be finished when. That could motivate you more than trying to do so many vague words a day.

Word limits are only approximate ones, and can be bent. My department (history) wanted 80-100,000 words. I knew I was going to come in under that, nearer 70,000, and sought advice from my supervisor and various other academics. All said it was quality not quantity that counted. Though some other staff advised me to add some of my extensive databases as an electronic appendix on CD, to make it look a bit more weighty.

I ended up with about 70,000 words. I passed my viva with just minor (typo) corrections. No-one was worried about the short length.

I would also recommend looking at other ways of producing words. 100 good words a day is a very low amount to produce. You should be looking at a higher number. 500 is more typical. Anything more than that is unlikely to be sustainable long-term, though you may have some days where you produce thousands, and others nothing!

Have you tried mind mapping or brain storming to get your ideas out? What about trying to record your ideas as you speak them, rather than using a word processor?

And above all good luck!

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Pjlu, I think I need a break of about a week. I hope to come back refreshed after that.
Dr Jekyll, editing is indeed the hardest part.
In terms of writing new stuff, I will try your method of writing for 30 minutes, then a short rest, and then write again.
Bilbo, I feel like stopping when I reach 70K words, honestly ! Hope my supervisor can agree to that :D

Hey Charlie Brown,

Do you have all your words in one big document, or do you have different documents for each chapter?

I find I'm overwhelmed when I see a wall of text - I don't know where to start.I also cannot multi-task. I can only work on one thing at a time, and that means not having a hint of anything else which may distract me around. So, if I'm working on one chapter, I'll hide the others. I sometimes even go so far as to just look at the text from one single section.

Also, just write and don't edit as you go. In fact, don't even bother about getting the references right. I usually put a rough indication of the source in brackets and fix it later). Someone has described writing and editing as you go akin to building and burning a bridge at the same time. It's not efficient. They should be doen separately

But for this to work you must know what you need to say. So, perhaps the first thing to do after your holiday is to have a look at what you've got in its entirety and identify the gaps you need to work on. Then forget about the rest of the text. I suggest an outline view so you won't be overwhelmed with text. Establish what you need to say in the section you're working on, and just write .... sit on it for a few days ... then edit it!

I think having a gap between writing and editing really, really helps, too.

Good luck!

Thanks very much everyone for the responses. I will try to write more per day, maybe 500 words. And I will also try to take a break when I feel stressed up. I will be seeing my SV this week so I will let him know some of my worries.