Hello everyone who's writing up,

I thought it would be a good idea to create a thread for those struggling with this make it or break it chapter.

If you're going round in circles please join this thread and lets encourage each other and share tips on how its all going.

We may just help each other to find a way out of this maze.

J.

I'll go first.

I've been working on my discussion chapter for two months now... some days am over the moon as everything is so clear - structure included. then there are those days - like today and yesterday - when i just stare at my screen and before i know it the day is over.

at the moment am trying to incorporate the different summaries i had written earlier on different parts of the chapter and its all so hard. i wanted to get it done by today but am really far behind on this.

My problem is too many words and am not really being able to tell my story..

any tips?

anyhow, am taking a deep breath and attempting to refine structure again :-(

how did i think i was going to sort out all this summarised points into a coherent essay?!

i've given up on finding any flow today. i'll come back to it tomorrow. perhaps reading more papers will give me an idea on how to structure this chapter.

maybe three days off will have done the trick.

now looking through it again with a fresh mind. if only i can just get one section to make sense today..8-)

Sorry you're here on your lonesome Jojo! Afraid my discussion days are still scarily far away so I can't contribute, but good luck!

What a great idea! I'm not on my thesis discussion yet but previous similar submissions have helped me to see a few things. try the one-sentence per idea trick. or even just a few key words if you can manage it. then you can look at the whole chapter at once. cut them out and move them around until you can see the best pattern for flow (or any combination you think might work). Then it's a little easier as you can tie off the end of each idea with a (possibly tenuous) link to the next.

Also it's fun but still engages you with what you're trying to do.

Good luck! I'll be waiting to hear how it goes!

thanks guys. yesterday went well though i ended up working on my conclusion chapter - a form of procrastination - instead of concentrating on my discussion chapter. hopefully i'll do better today.

So i've been going round my discussion chapter for the last three weeks. i now know what i need to do. but i fill so tired and discouraged by my slow progress.

i know i can get it written in a week including a redraft of the case studies, but i feel so demotivated and tired after all the reading. any inspiration tips for me to give this thesis that final push and it'll all be on paper?

discouraged - not by the complexity of the work - but by my energy levels.

J.

Hi Jojo, what a great thread, i've been meaning to set one up on discussions for last week or so. I'm working on my writing part time (very at the moment!), and its such a struggle to keep the discussive ideas in my head!
My first two results chapters are almost complete except for their discussions, i've been working on the first one this last week and at the start found some flow as I had ideas of what i wanted to talk about, but finding it really difficult to pull the ideas together concisely!
I also, while trying to find papers, keep reading them and thinking..oh should that have gone in intro/lit review etc...there seems to be an infinite number of surrounding papers out there but not the specific ones I want.

I think my main problem is knowing exactly what I want to say, my results aren't brilliant with a clear path and so I feel like i'm wishy washing around them all. What I have written (1200 words - what should discussions in chapters be about??) i'm quite happy with for first draft but i still have quite a lot to write about and don't know quite how to angle it.

Mathkitty, I like the idea, i'll try that when I find the time (see 6months post for depressing lack of time info). I think I just don't know how to take all the things and link them etc, so this technique might be the key.

Good luck anyway Jojo, you're almost there, so close to the end so just keep plugging away slowly but surely and it will all fall into place!

Hi Jojo, others,

I think it really helps not to write for a few days, do some other things, sports! etc. , then write on a blank piece of paper what really needs to be in the chapter.

Then print your chapter, read it in paper format and compare with the few points you had jotted down on the blank. Do they fit? If yes great, if not amend / cut and paste to fit is with the simple structure.

So, I'm onto writing my final discussion chapter for my thesis... and I'm finding it hard. I feel drained of all writing ability. Must. Keep. Going. The end is in sight....

So i have written a sensible (one that flows) draft of the discussion chapter - but its far behind in quality than what i expected! its also a tad bit boring!

has anyone experienced this kind of anticlimax? there is only so much that can be said in 15000 words! the good thing though is i see some connections between theories which can be improved on further reading!

how do the rest of you feel about your draft discussion chapters?

ps: having a structure didn't work! i ended up mixing it all up for it to flow..

what was your experience?

now its time to polish it and get this phd off my back!