6 Tips for Writing a Thesis in 3 Months
While working in a full-time
While continuing my university education, I never had a dream of being a white-collar. It has always been my dream to pursue a master’s and doctorate abroad. When the university was over, the road that life took me didn’t go as planned.
I suddenly found myself working in a recruitment position in the human resources of a bank, but I was able to spend a maximum of two months there. Later, the job I found in the software sector sparked my interest in the private sector.
Ever since I started my career in the private sector, getting an academic education was still in the back of my mind. For this reason, I started looking for graduate programs that I could do on weekdays.
I thought the main challenge would be to go to school four days a week and take classes. I thought I had a hard time until I started writing a thesis, but the real challenge was the thesis itself. I have completed the courses I have to take in the first year of my graduate education.
The next year, instead of writing a thesis, I stopped my education for one year. There was a whole year left to write a thesis, but I wasted that year too. I focused on my work and personal life.
The next year, when I decided to write a thesis, I had only three months to write it. If I did not write my thesis in those three months, I would be dismissed from the master’s program
Although I had a hard time, I managed to complete my thesis in three months and graduated in August 2020.
Here are six steps that got me to do this.
1. Finding the Right Thesis Advisor
In my opinion, the first thing you need to do is find the right thesis advisor.
Although the field of study is not 100% parallel to your thesis subject, a consultant who can direct you correctly will turn the gray points to white and draw you a correct path.
The problem encountered in thesis advisors is that consultants are generally not accessible. That’s why it is very important to choose the consultant with whom the dialogue channels are open.
The first step to this may be to observe the academicians who are taught during the course and share your ideas on the thesis with him.
If you have chosen one of the graduate programs in the evening like me, the academicians who have a private sector in their background and then move to the academy will also teach you.
Of course, I do not generalize, but the thesis advisors in this profile may be weak in guiding you.
Another advantage of choosing an academy-based advisor is that the delegation to be selected for the thesis defense will be chosen from your advisor’s own circle.
So you will have the possibility to make a more comfortable defense.
2. Finding the Right Thesis Topic
It is a subject that you have to determine the boundaries of in a boundless universe.
The subject of the thesis must be about a specific topic, not a general one. Considering that you need to search the literature as well, it should not be that specific.
In other words, at least some parts of the content of your subject should have been studied by some people. Choosing a topic that has never been studied before can be quite difficult for you in the literature review.
Which happened to me. Since the subject I chose is a very narrow field, I had serious difficulties in the literature review.
In this context, I managed to add different areas to the position by making minor revisions in the thesis position with the suggestions of my advisor.
For myself, I chose the position in the software subscription area where I have been working for three years and supported this with academic issues.
In this way, I was comfortable in finding resources and worked on an area that I know and love.
3. Making the Right Planning
This was the subject that relaxed me the most.
I prepared the outline of my thesis beforehand. I first determined the topics of my thesis. Subsequently, the subtitles of the subjects began to form.
I put deadlines for each main topic and released it as a general program. In my schedule, there were three hours of full concentration training in the evenings four days a week.
My resources were ready before I entered the titles in the thesis. I started by completing my source readings before attempting a topic. I determined the content of the titles and my processing plan and proceeded accordingly.
Do not make the mistake of writing resources before reading and then searching for resources.
4. Planning Enough Time to Collect Data
If you are preparing a thesis in social sciences or a business-based field like me, to test your hypotheses, you need to have data at hand.
The most common way to access this data is by the survey.
This was the part of the thesis that surprised and challenged me the most. I had determined my thesis location target audience beforehand.
How hard could I have been in the field where I have been working for years?
I have to tell you that although I know your target audience one by one, people will not answer the surveys you send because of the intensity of their lives, work processes, or simply they don’t like you.
Data collection is a demanding process, sometimes in people’s minds, you will even have to wait to get your survey done.
So, give yourself a minimum of one month to collect and analyze this data. Because collecting the data will only need a certain amount of time to test your hypotheses with enough data.
5. Finding the Right People to Support You
Things I felt most fortunate about was having people to support me.
My family, my girlfriend, colleagues, and even my friend whom I met at my master’s degree supported and relaxed me in a wonderful atmosphere.
There will always be people around you who will have energy, not going to understand what you’re trying to do in your social or business life.
Briefly thank those people and look your way. Not everyone has to understand. You also do not have to tell everyone. Talk to people who support you and understand you.
Believe me, sharing your difficult process will make you very comfortable.
6. Electronic Music
No, I’m not kidding.
Electronic music has helped me a lot. You can expect you to suggest that you listen to classical music while studying. Maybe it works for some but it didn’t work for me. I can say that it even made me sleepy.
I especially preferred live performances. I think there are two explanations for this. The rhythm playing in the background will help you detach you from the current environment.
At the same time, not having a word on rhythm will distract your words from your reflex again. In this context, I recommend you to constantly experience new performances in order not to know the future rhythm.
Besides, live performances usually last a minimum of one hour. It also saves you from the trouble of searching for songs to listen to.
There are two channels I can suggest to you. Cercle and Anjunadeep. I cannot explain their support to you while writing my thesis.
I’m sure there are different strategies that everyone follows in difficult situations. The six steps I listed above helped me prepare a thesis in a language other than my native language.
I hope you will not leave this difficult process like me in the last three months.
If you want to read more of my publications, you can click the link below.
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