Writing my Last Master's Assignment!

My final Master's assessment, the big dissertation has finally been completed and submitted! I cannot believe it's finally finished and I don't think reality has quite hit yet. I've shared quite a few posts regarding the last big Major Project module, with my thoughts before, of the teaching and starting writing. I also shared some thoughts throughout the experience in a dissertation diary (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) format from the end of May to the end of July and it's taken a lot of time and effort to complete. 

It took me a long time to get started writing and of course, once I started I very much regretted not starting. I used some of the information I had already used in my Research Methodology as I specifically picked the same topic. This meant for Chapter 2 I could just rewrite the section to begin, before adding a lot more information. Chapter 1 ended up being fairly easy and enjoyable to write as I was able to adapt small sections from Chapter 2 and then use the taught information for the other sections. Chapter 3 took the longest, because it was mainly based on literature and therefore involved a lot of research. Chapter 4 was a section I was just a little lost on as it was a new-to-me type of writing. Finally, Chapter 5 for the majority was okay, but the Discussion section, as I've previously mentioned in other posts, was just really difficult for me for some reason. 

Of course, there were some hard moments. The worry about cutting down words was a constant thought in the back of my mind and ultimately, it wasn't a problem but it could have been. I also very much panicked about how little time I had physically available to write because of other commitments, between plans - which were mainly events that couldn't be moved - and work. My lowest point was when I got feedback from my module lead that a) wasn't requested and b) contradicted the previous feedback I had received. It came just before my annual leave and I honestly needed the week for my mental health, to spend time with family and to try and enjoy my cousin's wedding. Ultimately, I couldn't even do that because I ended up being sick but at least I had a week's break from university and had some downtime. 

The biggest frustration was actually getting the feedback. I was suppose to be able to get feedback from both my module lead and my practice supervisor, the latter of which was also marking the work. The was supposed to have been responded to within 48 hours but at one point I had to wait almost 4 weeks for comments, which still didn't really get sent and it really delayed and I feel impacted upon the work I submitted. 

Overall, I've actually found the writing process of the dissertation really enjoyable and therapeutic. I liked that I could write about the topic of my choice and that I could do it around a schedule that suited me, even though it wasn't always the best of times. 

My Major Project ended up being 14,993 words, so just under the 15,000 word limit included. But the actual number of words was just under 33,000 between titles, abstracts, contents, tablets etc. The next post will be the results so stay tuned!