Hello all,

I have a chapter deadline coming up for the beginning of next month and I simply won't make it! I am so stressed. I was not given a specific date, other than 'beginning of next month'. I am spending far too long on one section of the chapter, and I generally don't get very much done in a day because I waste it searching for relevant information.

Any advice?


Thanks,

Hi LostOne,

if you have to hand in the chapter at the beginning of the month you still have lots of time to turn this around. I'd say firstly contact your supervisor and say that as discussed you intend to hand in a chapter draft by the end of the first half of May. This will buy you two weeks, as well as keeping your supervisor in the loop.

I and many of my PhD colleagues have written a chapter from scratch in two weeks. The mind frame you need to get into is finished is better than perfect. Get up early, set up your writing space, disconnect internet connection and set a word target for the day. Do not leave your seat apart from toilet breaks, until you have met that target. To start with 500 words per day is a really achievable target to set, even if you have other commitments.

Personally when I was writing a chapter of my thesis I firstly wrote all the subtitled sub sections of that chapter, for example introduction, background to x, overview of approach etc. Then under each one of these sections I would bullet point what needed to be covered in that section, with 4 or 5 key references. This gave me the skeleton of the chapter and meant that all I needed was those few journal articles printed out to be able to crack on with my 500 words. This type of planning saves your hours and hours in the long run and keeps you focused on the small task at hand, the subsection you are currently working on. At the end of the day retread what you have written, correct typos and make a plan for the next day. Again this means you wake up the next day knowing exactly what you need to do.

I am no great writer or academic, but this approach to writing meant I produced a full draft of my 86,000 word thesis in 5 months. You just need to get focused. Your supervisor is not expecting perfect.

Good luck