Hi everyone

I'm starting a Masters in English Lit at Warwick this autumn, but am worried that I'm not up to the job. The main worry on my mind is that I did an English Lit/Creative Writing degree, for which I wrote a creative writing dissertation rather than a critical essay dissertation.

The standard essay length at Warwick is 8000, which would be fine if I had written a critical dissertation because I would have got the experience of writing an 8000 word piece from that. As it is, the longest essay I've written is just over 3,500 words. I'm worried that I'm going to get there and be at a disadvantage to everyone else who did a real dissertation. I don't even know if I can *write* 8000 words, let alone the 16,000 needed for the Masters dissertation.

I'm afraid I don't have sufficient experience to succeed at doing my Masters. Is anyone else doing a Masters who started in a similar position to me who can offer some advice?

Many thanks x

Hello- I shouldn't think that you'd need to worry too much, although I know it can be a bit daunting having to write that many words for the first time! I think you will probably pick up the experience and skills to write the dissertation during the masters, but universities often keep copies of completed dissertations in their libraries so it might be helpful to have a look at them and note how they are structured. Also, 8,000 or more words can seem like a lot, but when you cut it down into paragraphs, sections and maybe think of it like a series of mini-essays on related subjects (say 2,000 words on this, another 2,000 on that etc.) you might find that you need more rather than less words...Final thing, I have known a few people who have gone from a BA completely unrelated to their MA (from Music to politics)and they did ok in the end...So best of luck

hi fricklesnarp, i had the same worries as you. never wrote more than 20 pages at a time for term papers and then had to write 100 pages for my ma-thesis - aaaargh! i went to a university thesis writing course which helped a lot, with planning the tasks, preparing the literature and also some practical tips on how to avoid procrastinating (limited success there) and how to feel good about yourself.

then i started writing and now i'm up to 80 pages and it's not looking bad! i wish i had gone to one of those courses earlier, that would really have helped in my studies

Don't fret - I am going from an undergrad straight to PhD. I didn't even do a dissertation, only a market research proposal at 7000 words. You will be surprised when you compartmentalise the work and write 2000 on topic A and 2500 on topic B. It is just like doing a couple of essays one after the other. You have the ability - you showed that by getting your undergrad!!!

Thanks guys :) I'm feeling a bit better about it now... starting to look forward to it a bit more instead of panicking! I'm really relieved to hear that other people have problems with procrastination, I thought it was just me.

I took two years out after my undergrad to save up money for my Masters and I planned to read my entire Masters indicative reading list in that time... now there's only a few months to go and I've realised I've spent about 15% of that two years reading and preparing, and the rest thinking up ingenous ways of avoiding doing any work

I think it's so hard because I really want to do well at Uni, so it feels like a lot of pressure whenever I sit down to work. I wish I knew how to chill out a bit more about it and enjoy the work without worrying too much about the results

i thought it would be best to be proactive and go get the help and advice BEFORE i started on the MA thesis so that i could stop myself getting depressed when i started without having a clue on how to write such a huge thesis.

fricklesnarp, i really admire the fact that you worked hard to save up money to do a masters, well done

and everyone procrastinates, don't worry! i am the biggest procrastinator going around. so much so that i have to have an actual egg timer on my desk that i set for a "specific" time that i HAVE to study, and only when the buzzer goes off, can i do whatever it was that i really wanted to do, but by that time, the inclination has worn off. lol

procrastination is really just avoidance because your scared by the huge task of things. so i just split everything up into little bits. and dont worry about the big picture, but just the bit i am working on.

i admire the fact you wanted to read all the books on the reading list. don't worry about that you only managed 15% once you start your MA you will be more focused and when you "have" to read it, you will. it's hard to study when you know you dont really have to.

and you still have few months left, you can still get through quite a few of the books in the time, might not in the detail you want, but even a quick read would be good. that way the second time you read it, it will be more familiar

set yourself a daily target, that you will read only 2 pages of a book. that is something you can do. 2 pages. and then slowly it will build up.

the idea is to make your task so small, that it doesnt so scary.

just think in a few months, those pages will add up!

"a thousand mile journey starts with one small step"

"wherever you are, it is THE place to start. the effort to expend today DOES make a difference"

If you just read for 10minutes a day, it will add up in the long haul

Thanks Lara, I really appreciate your advice :) I do have a tendency to be hard on myself when it comes to studying, but I guess it is legitimately difficult to study and have a full-time job too. I'm really looking forward to when I can leave my job and just spend all day long on my masters, and no longer have as many conflicting priorities :)

hey! half way through, i thought id never make it. and i did! taken a year out and now facing PhD in october. i ask myself if im a sucker for punishment! a friend who knew me when i was doing my bachelors, when i told him 2 years after my bachelors i was starting a masters, he laughed and said 'but u hated it in ur last year'!!
that same friend knows im starting my PhD now and just shook his head in amazement...lol. i shake my head at me sometimes. iv just decided to myself - it all came together for the masters and i finished with a merit... so il just keep going with the PhD and il get there

Hi,

I am coming to the end of my masters in pychology, which I started after doing a joint honours degree in psychology and creative writing. During my undergraduate degree, I wrote an extended essay as a dissertation which was 6000 words.

I did feel a bit behind in some aspects of my degree, as other people had a lot more experience of carrying out empirical work (which I hadn't done). I felt a bit nervous at the thought of carrying out a project (which involved contacting people over the internet and arranging to meet them to interview them) but it was fine.

Writing up the 15,000 word dissertation (almost done now!)has been tough, but if you are capable enough to have gotten a place on a masters course you will be more than capable of writing the dissertation.

Now, at the end of my masters, I'm one of the few people on the course who has secured PhD funding and the fact that my degree was joint honours doesn't occur to me anymore.

Hey
Don't worry about it. Departments are so supportive of the masters students its usually fine. I'm just coming to the end of an MA in field archaeology and my undergraduate degree was in Classical Civilisations, I had no knowledge of practical archaeology starting my MA and I was terrified that I really wasn't up to hte job bearing in mind I only got a 2:2 for my BA and yet here I am, breezing through my Dissertation (am at 15K words and still have plenty to say to get it to 20K!) and actually pulling off better marks at MA level than I ever was at undergrad level! So never ever think you dont diserve or wont be able to handle it, because the university accepted you for the MA, they feel that you would do well or they wouldn't have accepted you, so consider your self amazing to get this far and just keep going, feel confident and you'll do great!
P.S. Don't worry about faffing, we all do it! I've managed to watch every single episode of Rome series 1 & 2 and complete battle for middle earth while working on my dissertation this summer, if your mind wants to faff at our age it generally means its telling you it needs the break, nad to be fair with the way MA's can be at times it probably does! so treat yourself!
Rach x

Hey...don't worry about it. I am first year phd student and a phd thesis ranges from 60,000-100,000 words. I skipped the masters bit and have gone straight into it from my undergrad degree. At undergrad I never did a dissertation and choose tutoring instead....the biggest essay i have ever written is 5,000 words. The problem you will have is trying to keep it down to only 16,000 words for a masters dissertation...it is a much bigger project and you will have more to say.

Don't worry about it...you wouldn't have been accepted onto the course if you couldn't handle it! Good luck and hope you enjoy it!

Hi, I just want to second what the others have said, please don't worry!! You'll be just fine :-) I'm also coming to the end of my MA and its been more how to keep to the word count without going crazy amounts over than managing to scrape together enough words! You need to break things down a bit - you already know how to structure an essay, so you just need to structure things that bit more - these extended essays tend to end up as being a few essays in one. I know when I did my BA dissertation I literally wrote 4 essays and linked them all as you have the joy of chapters ;-) I'm also doing the same for my MA, I couldn't cope with sitting down and having 20K words to do so I have broken the topic down and am writing what is basically four 5K essays, all linking together. It really is ok as you have so much to say and go into things so much deeper at MA that you end up having no problem fulfilling word counts. Relax and enjoy it 8-)