Reflections of a Thesis Student II
I am done, finally.
In fact, I was lost for words when I first saw the ring-bound copy of my thesis on Monday, at around 1.15pm. This journey hadn't been easy, but I managed to survive it. As to whether it is considered a good piece of work, it really depends on the examiners.
Nevertheless, I considered this my best piece of work at present, given my limited cognitive capacity. 10 years down the road, I might see more flaws in this paper, but that is something to worry in the future.
This 39-page, 9700 words essay is a cumulation of toil and tears for the past year. Many lonely nights and Saturdays accompanied this data collection period. Holidays were spent in the laboratory conducting sessions with many different kinds of students, some with a positive attitude to help, others there for a different purpose.
Yet, all this wouldn't even be possible without months of literature readings, consultations, peer discussions etc. Personally, this was probably the hardest part of the thesis journey. I took around 3-4 months before I finalized the proposal with my prof. During this period, I have lost count the number of journal articles that I have read. That in itself was already a challenge.
Then came the proper writing after everything else, and the section that weighed the most. In fact, I still feel that 100% on a final product does not truly reflect the individual's ability and effort. After all, a student may still end up getting a C if he didn't it write well, even if he spent all his time doing research and data collection.
Nevertheless, I find trouble penning down the many different articles into a coherent piece of work (and some others that I knew have this problem too). Reviews after reviews is part and parcel of thesis writing, so if you who intend to do thesis in the future, It's better to be realistic. There is a reason why papers need 1-2 years (if you are lucky) to be published in journals. The same goes for a thesis. So be prepared.
Minus away the time spent on the actual thesis (50% of the total time), the rest of the time was a mixture of nightmares and sleepless nights. Every night I wondered how I was going to survive the rest of the journey. My mind was preoccupied with thesis; at home, in lectures, in the toilet or even in my dreams. I hypothesize that this may be due to unnecessary worrying and procrastination. But trust me, it probably is true.
There will be times when you feel like giving it all up. That was the time your inner resolve is being tested. But once you survived all this , you will be a different person.
Now that everything is over, a new milestone has been achieved. It's time to look beyond that and reclaim my lost social life =)
In fact, I was lost for words when I first saw the ring-bound copy of my thesis on Monday, at around 1.15pm. This journey hadn't been easy, but I managed to survive it. As to whether it is considered a good piece of work, it really depends on the examiners.
Nevertheless, I considered this my best piece of work at present, given my limited cognitive capacity. 10 years down the road, I might see more flaws in this paper, but that is something to worry in the future.
This 39-page, 9700 words essay is a cumulation of toil and tears for the past year. Many lonely nights and Saturdays accompanied this data collection period. Holidays were spent in the laboratory conducting sessions with many different kinds of students, some with a positive attitude to help, others there for a different purpose.
Yet, all this wouldn't even be possible without months of literature readings, consultations, peer discussions etc. Personally, this was probably the hardest part of the thesis journey. I took around 3-4 months before I finalized the proposal with my prof. During this period, I have lost count the number of journal articles that I have read. That in itself was already a challenge.
Then came the proper writing after everything else, and the section that weighed the most. In fact, I still feel that 100% on a final product does not truly reflect the individual's ability and effort. After all, a student may still end up getting a C if he didn't it write well, even if he spent all his time doing research and data collection.
Nevertheless, I find trouble penning down the many different articles into a coherent piece of work (and some others that I knew have this problem too). Reviews after reviews is part and parcel of thesis writing, so if you who intend to do thesis in the future, It's better to be realistic. There is a reason why papers need 1-2 years (if you are lucky) to be published in journals. The same goes for a thesis. So be prepared.
Minus away the time spent on the actual thesis (50% of the total time), the rest of the time was a mixture of nightmares and sleepless nights. Every night I wondered how I was going to survive the rest of the journey. My mind was preoccupied with thesis; at home, in lectures, in the toilet or even in my dreams. I hypothesize that this may be due to unnecessary worrying and procrastination. But trust me, it probably is true.
There will be times when you feel like giving it all up. That was the time your inner resolve is being tested. But once you survived all this , you will be a different person.
Now that everything is over, a new milestone has been achieved. It's time to look beyond that and reclaim my lost social life =)
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