PhD Postgraduate Forum - writing up

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Author	Message
jojo User 11/07/2006 20:55	writing up - 2 months enough? User: jojo - 11 July 2006 20:55 hi, am wondering whether any of you has had experience writing up about 40,000 words of a thesis in two months? Be it MPhil experience or PhD thesis writing up experience. Did you manage in two months or would you allocate more time? j.
Ann User 11/07/2006 21:00	User: Ann - 11 July 2006 21:00 If it's just writing up then I think it's perfectly possible. If you have other things to do (final data analysis?) then you might be a bit pushed for time depending on how much you need to do. Don't underestimate how long it takes to do the final format and print of your thesis (I know, in theory you should just be able to click print and leave it to it but in practice...!). If you can, print each finished chapter (and do the required number of photocopies) as you go along, it's very motivating to see your thesis grow each week! Good luck!
writingup User 11/07/2006 21:01	User: writingup - 11 July 2006 21:01 My gut feeling is to say you would need much more time. What discipline are you in? When you say 'writing up', are you just trying to get some text 'there' that you can polish and develop later? Or do you intend to produce more or less finished writing? I find it quite easy to churn out text in short periods, but getting something at a stage where I would be happy to submit is a different story - takes much longer.
jojo User 11/07/2006 23:49	User: jojo - 11 July 2006 23:49 thanks Ann and Writing up. am thinking of writing something that is like a final draft - which i will update as i go along. so after each year - am to write a report of what i have been doing, which i will update in the end. I have read around most of the areas (am in humanities), so i just need to write for most part of it, although there is a bit of reading to be done for one chapter. it may be wise to allocate more time - 4 months perhaps - or is that over the top? j.
writingup User 12/07/2006 21:03	User: writingup - 12 July 2006 21:03 Hi, from what you have said I think it would be possible to do it in 2 months as you are not finishing off any fieldwork etc, as long as you keep in mind that it doesn't have to be perfect and you will have the opportunity to come back to it later. If you work 5 days per week it would mean you are writing about 1000 words a day (5000 words per week x8 weeks = finished!). I find that quite a large number of words to sustain (I remember in my first year deciding I was going to write 1000 words a day and finish in 100 days! Obviously I didn't keep that up, but it is easy to exceed 1000 words a day when a deadline is approaching) So really you need to decide from what you know about your own working practices if you think you can produce that much text in that period or whether you want to give yourself a bit more time. Good luck!
Ann User 12/07/2006 21:51	User: Ann - 12 July 2006 21:51 An average of 1000 words a day is a realistic target. Accept that some days will be more productive than other so if you write 1700 words one day, don't stress if you only manage 300 the next, you'll still be on track!
anonGerman User 12/07/2006 22:26	User: anonGerman - 12 July 2006 22:26 It would also depend on how fast your supervisor is at reading/correcting the chapters you hand in.
jojo User 13/07/2006 00:06	User: jojo - 13 July 2006 00:06 thanks guys. you're all so supportive! i'll try the a thousand words a day thing. :).
SixKitten User 13/07/2006 08:46	User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 08:46 I've heard the 1,000 words a day rule as well
anonGerman User 13/07/2006 10:45	User: anonGerman - 13 July 2006 10:45 How does the 1 000 a day thing work? When I was writing the introduction, I'd read through three papers for 45 min - and end up writing two sentences. Writing the material and methods part is loads easier, so 1 000 would't seem much foe one day .....
SixKitten User 13/07/2006 11:09	User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 11:09 They say you can write 1,000 decent words in one day (just writing) Still took me 2 months to write up a 15,000 word dissertation though!

Author

Message

jojo

User 11/07/2006
20:55

writing up - 2 months enough?

User: jojo - 11 July 2006 20:55

hi, am wondering whether any of you has had experience writing up about 40,000 words of a thesis in two months? Be it MPhil experience or PhD thesis writing up experience. Did you manage in two months or would you allocate more time?

j.

Ann

User 11/07/2006
21:00

User: Ann - 11 July 2006 21:00

If it's just writing up then I think it's perfectly possible. If you have other things to do (final data analysis?) then you might be a bit pushed for time depending on how much you need to do. Don't underestimate how long it takes to do the final format and print of your thesis (I know, in theory you should just be able to click print and leave it to it but in practice...!). If you can, print each finished chapter (and do the required number of photocopies) as you go along, it's very motivating to see your thesis grow each week! Good luck!

writingup

User 11/07/2006
21:01

User: writingup - 11 July 2006 21:01

My gut feeling is to say you would need much more time. What discipline are you in? When you say 'writing up', are you just trying to get some text 'there' that you can polish and develop later? Or do you intend to produce more or less finished writing? I find it quite easy to churn out text in short periods, but getting something at a stage where I would be happy to submit is a different story - takes much longer.

jojo

User 11/07/2006
23:49

User: jojo - 11 July 2006 23:49

thanks Ann and Writing up. am thinking of writing something that is like a final draft - which i will update as i go along. so after each year - am to write a report of what i have been doing, which i will update in the end.

I have read around most of the areas (am in humanities), so i just need to write for most part of it, although there is a bit of reading to be done for one chapter. it may be wise to allocate more time - 4 months perhaps - or is that over the top?

j.

writingup

User 12/07/2006
21:03

User: writingup - 12 July 2006 21:03

Hi, from what you have said I think it would be possible to do it in 2 months as you are not finishing off any fieldwork etc, as long as you keep in mind that it doesn't have to be perfect and you will have the opportunity to come back to it later. If you work 5 days per week it would mean you are writing about 1000 words a day (5000 words per week x8 weeks = finished!). I find that quite a large number of words to sustain (I remember in my first year deciding I was going to write 1000 words a day and finish in 100 days! Obviously I didn't keep that up, but it is easy to exceed 1000 words a day when a deadline is approaching) So really you need to decide from what you know about your own working practices if you think you can produce that much text in that period or whether you want to give yourself a bit more time. Good luck!

Ann

User 12/07/2006
21:51

User: Ann - 12 July 2006 21:51

An average of 1000 words a day is a realistic target. Accept that some days will be more productive than other so if you write 1700 words one day, don't stress if you only manage 300 the next, you'll still be on track!

anonGerman

User 12/07/2006
22:26

User: anonGerman - 12 July 2006 22:26

It would also depend on how fast your supervisor is at reading/correcting the chapters you hand in.

jojo

User 13/07/2006
00:06

User: jojo - 13 July 2006 00:06

thanks guys. you're all so supportive! i'll try the a thousand words a day thing. :).

SixKitten

User 13/07/2006
08:46

User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 08:46

I've heard the 1,000 words a day rule as well

anonGerman

User 13/07/2006
10:45

User: anonGerman - 13 July 2006 10:45

How does the 1 000 a day thing work? When I was writing the introduction, I'd read through three papers for 45 min - and end up writing two sentences. Writing the material and methods part is loads easier, so 1 000 would't seem much foe one day .....

SixKitten

User 13/07/2006
11:09

User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 11:09

They say you can write 1,000 decent words in one day (just writing)

Still took me 2 months to write up a 15,000 word dissertation though!

PhD Discussion Forum

jojo

writing up - 2 months enough?

User: jojo - 11 July 2006 20:55

Ann

User: Ann - 11 July 2006 21:00

writingup

User: writingup - 11 July 2006 21:01

jojo

User: jojo - 11 July 2006 23:49

writingup

User: writingup - 12 July 2006 21:03

Ann

User: Ann - 12 July 2006 21:51

anonGerman

User: anonGerman - 12 July 2006 22:26

jojo

User: jojo - 13 July 2006 00:06

SixKitten

User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 08:46

anonGerman

User: anonGerman - 13 July 2006 10:45

SixKitten

User: SixKitten - 13 July 2006 11:09

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