Dissertation Diary (Part 3)

The final part of my dissertation diary is here. It's spread over the entire month this time, but I haven't actually had much time to do the dissertation so it's been difficult and I've just had to fit it in around plans, doing it as an when I can. 

Wednesday 3rd July 

I'm finally feeling better. I've ended up being in bed for the majority of the last few days and sadly also had to take time off work. I did feel better yesterday, but once I made a start of the other sections of Chapter 5 and organising the information I already had, my headache came back and I had to turn the screen back on. I cannot wait to be able to not have to look at a screen for a few weeks. 

I also ended up emailing the module lead. I was enquiring whether it was possible to have a further example of a qualitative project as there was only one example of Chapter 4, whereas there was 6 quantitative examples which didn't seem quite as fair. He offered to read the section so I ended up sending over half of my Chapter 4 to have a look at, as well as the project separately in case further context was needed. Earlier that day, I'd also asked my project supervisor for some support with Chapter 5. 

Thursday 4th July 

Today was a great day and I made so much progress! I added a little more to the recommendations, then wrote the introduction, reflection, limitations, conclusions and summary too. The first section is actually the discussion but I've been putting it off because I really don't know where to start.

Friday 5th July 

The discussion section of this last chapter has been difficult. It's meant to be quite short, yet include so much information, but at the same time, I don't want to repeat the information I've already put elsewhere in the other sections. I'm not sure if I've done it right so I will defintely be hoping my project  supervisor sends some comments over soon. 

I also got a reply back from my module lead and honestly the feedback was really disheartening and discouraging. He ended up reading the majority of the first 3 Chapter's which I had thought were almost complete as I had already had feedback on these from my project supervisor, but he wanted a lot of changes and seemed to think the work wasn't very well done. He also didn't really comment on the last two Chapter's which I actually needed help, so I now feel like I'm back to the start again with no time to facilitate the amount of changes he wishes me to make. 

Sunday 7th July 

I worked yesterday so coming back into the zone is always difficult, especially when it is just for the day. Instead of writing the chapters, I decided to focus on the references and ensuring all of these are correct in the format on the reference list and ensuring they're in the right order in the text, as since first writing, information has been moved and rearranged. I've also written the contents page so that it's updated for the current pages, although I know this will change by the end because I still need to delete a lot of information. 

Monday 8th July 

I am now taking a week off from writing. I have a week of annual leave for both the Great Yorkshire Show and one of my cousin's weddings. I have printed off the entire dissertation again to take with me just in case I have some down time, but I really want to try and enjoy my annual leave and take a break. 

Monday 15th July 

I am back home and back to reality. I didn't end up doing any work during my annual leave because it ended up being really quite busy and I also got a little bit sick. This week is all about cutting down the words. As I start, I am happy with Chapter 1, 2 and 5, but between Chapter 3 and 4 I need to get rid of at least 3000 words which is going to be tricky. 

Tuesday 16th July 

My project supervisor finally replied back to the original email from a couple of weeks ago. I had sent a couple of reminders and also let her know about my thoughts regarding the module leads feedback, in which she was also included in the email thread. She was really supportive of the latter and basically said she was the one marking the work and she was happy with what draft she had previously seen which felt nice and comforting. She sent me some feedback for Chapter 4 which was the main focus of today, but I also feel like it's getting too close to the submission to change too much which is hard. I also reminded her I was waiting for feedback on Chapter 5 and hoped she would still be able to do this, because I had requested it prior to the deadline even though it had now passed. 

Wednesday 17th July 

I honestly don't know what I did today. I feel like I didn't stop but I also feel like I didn't make much progress. I think my minds going a bit blank. 

Friday 19th July 

This weekend is another wedding weekend so again, after working 2 days, I am now having to take a break and come back to it on the 23rd. 

Sunday 21st July 

I actually ended up doing some work this day. It was a big proof read day. I woke up and had a picnic, because it was another beautiful day and then my cousin had asked me to dog sit so I headed over to her house and spent the afternoon sat outside in the sunshine, with her dog, proof reading complete draft number 3. They arrived back just as I started on Chapter 5 but nevertheless it was productive. After an hour or so playing, we ordered a takeaway - their treat - and then I headed home before reading the last Chapter before bed. 

Thursday 25th July 

Today was the day I initially really wanted to get the project write up finished but that didn't quite happen. My project supervisor finally replied with some minor comments on the last two Chapters. She apologised for the delay and unfortunately explained her work computer wasn't working and she had been teaching face-to-face and doing assessments for the last 2 weeks so was unable to look through the drafts. It was a little frustrating but it is what it is, and I made the appropriate changes based on the information she had provided. 

Friday 26th July and Saturday 27th July

I had a few days of finishing up my Master's dissertation and it's been full on. I printed the entire project again and made changes. One of my friends also offered to read it so she sent her feedback for me to go through as well. Once I'd read it, I actually ended up being about 300 words under the word count, so I decided to then do some more research to add further context into Chapter 5. Of course, that then meant more proof reading and constantly making little changes here and there.

Sunday 28th July

By the Sunday , I defintely needed some downtime. As I was nearing the end, I wanted a little rest and relaxation to reset before doing the final changes and proof reads. I had a busy morning concentrating, before making a lovely Sunday roast, had a Lush bath bomb bath and changing the bed to clean sheets. I felt very lovely afterwards and got an early night to feel refreshed the next day.

Monday 29th July

Two proof reads later and I was exhausted. I finally submitted the dissertation at 2322. In my head, I wasn't super excited because I told myself I would do one final read through tomorrow before the submission deadline of 1400, but I ended up waking up late and then I didn't feel like I would have enough time to do it justice so I decided against it.