After almost 3 years, I was on the point of quitting my PhD in the summer of 2006.
I had nowhere near enough results, the equipment I was using didn’t work most of the time, and I could barely summon the motivation to get up in the morning.
So how did I write my thesis in 3 months?
1. Dealing with stress
After a near-breakdown, I started taking walks around the campus when I faced a problem in my research or found myself getting stressed.
I took the time to think about what I needed to do and get myself in the right frame of mind to come back and deal with the problem.
Previously I would have found myself killing time on the internet just to get through to the end of the day. This one change in habit probably saved my PhD.
2. Limiting the time available
Though my productivity increased once I figured out how to deal with stress, I was still doing experiments well into the start of my fourth year.
I had a final submission date (at the end of my 4th year), but my research was still a bit chaotic. It wasn’t focused on finishing.
My supervisor (the brilliant Professor Moriarty) then told me that I would no longer be allowed into the lab after the end of March 2007, and that I would have to write whatever I had.
3. Adapting and acting decisively
Because of the limited time, I had to make some tough decisions. Anything I did, I would either have to finish or let go. There would be some loose ends, but that was OK as long as I tied up others.
I had to decide not to do certain things, and focus with energy and determination on others.
Still though, the thesis would be a little thin. So I took on a side project based on another student’s research, which could produce some results quickly.
This side project produced the most interesting result of my scientific career.
4. Finishing research before writing
By the time I stopped doing experiments, I knew I had enough for a PhD. Not the best PhD ever, and not world-changing, but good enough.
Because I wasn’t allowed back in the lab, I just had to focus on writing. The hard part was behind me. The results weren’t going to change, so it was just a matter of making sure I was productive when writing.
It is much, much easier to write when you know the raw material isn’t going to change.
5. Preparation
I decided to work at home, not at the office, because there would be fewer distractions.
I got rid of the TV, and had no internet connection on my computer. The lack of internet meant I had to gather all the papers I would need beforehand, forcing me to think about what I would need.
I also set up a dedicated space (2 large desks joined together and a very comfortable chair, next to a large window for plenty of natural light), just for thesis writing.
6. Targets and consistency
I set myself a target of 3 months, broken down into targets for each chapter. This would give me about 3 months in reserve before the final absolute deadline.
I had a daily minimum target of 500 words, which I knew I could meet even on the least productive days.
This meant that because I smashed the target most days, I finished every day feeling good about my progress, which in turn meant I started the next day feeling confident.
7. Routine
The two most important parts of the day are the beginning and end. It’s important to build momentum early, and have a routine for ending the day too.
At the end of each day I always left myself something easy to do to get started with the next day, so I woke up knowing what I was going to do.
I also tidied the desk at the end of every day, which also helped close the day mentally and stopped my brain going over and over the thesis at night.
8. Applying ruthless standards to what I included
Whether it was the lit review, or my own work, I cut anything sub-standard.
I focused only on the very best literature, saving myself a huge amount of time. It also had the result of associating my work with the very best in the field.
I only wrote about what I knew about, which made the thesis shorter, faster and easier to write, and of higher quality than if I had included everything whether I understood it or not.
9. Taking time over details that matter
I took painstaking care over the clarity of the writing, the diagrams and the overall look of the thesis.
If a diagram took 2 hours, so be it. If I couldn’t find a high-quality image in a paper to paste in, I would re-draw it myself. Why? Because it adds so much to the feel of quality running through the thesis.
"The unreconstructed Si(111) surface". This took a very long time to draw and make sure the diagram was accurate.
By applying obsessive focus to one detail at a time, I could make sure that I wouldn’t have to do it again. This brings me to the final point…
10. One draft
I always edit as I write, with one goal only: to make sure I’ve expressed the idea in my head clearly on the page. I don’t move on until I feel the sentence makes sense, with no ambiguity of meaning.
Clarity of thought is always the number one aim. But it is very difficult to come back to a piece of writing days or weeks later and sort out a mess of thought if you don’t clarify your writing while the thought is still fresh in your head.
This means I was constantly re-reading and revising what I’ve just written, but also means that when I submitted something to my supervisor it needed very few revisions and saved months, simply by getting as close to “right” as I could the first time round.
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February 28, 2012 at 11:28 am
Done is better than perfect!
February 28, 2012 at 11:40 am
Great tips. I think these could be applied to lots of different types of project. The idea of moving ahead with what you have rather than endlessly gathering new material is a really important point.
February 28, 2012 at 11:40 am
Great advice. I especially like the bit about editing as you go along because it’s something I’ve never been able to do. I tend to segregate editing and writing. It works for me, but it probably means I produce more drafts as a result. Ultimately I probably have to write a lot more as well to compensate for what I cut out when editing. I think both approaches have their merits, but I’m certainly going to try editing as I go along.
February 28, 2012 at 1:48 pm
“It is much, much easier to write when you know the raw material isn’t going to change.”
Alas, this (point #4) is where I am struggling, and I’m not sure what I can do about it. My research efforts are rife with feedback loops between the calculating (the “research”) and explaining (the “writing”): I calculate something, try to explain it, realize that I needed to calculate something slightly (or entirely) different, after which I can explain it to a point but then get stuck on what I need to figure out (via calculating or explaining or a mixture of both) next, and so on. This makes it very difficult to set targets and be consistent (#6).
The heartbreak after every failed target or deadline (#2) has led to much stress (#1), which I’m still working on figuring out. All I know so far is the first step is to notice when I am avoiding my work, and then to actively choose to calm myself in a way that lets me continue work. But both parts of that are hard, because I seem to be quite clever in finding “useful” ways to procrastinate, and I also seem to be perpetually in denial of my stress. Also, when I do notice my stress, it’s because it is so strong that it is difficult to face directly, even after attempts at calming myself. But I what you say you did for stress might help me out a lot too, especially because I keep telling myself I need to take more walks.
Fortunately, I am getting pretty good at #3, #8, #9 and #10, and my home office and starting-work ritual (for #5 and #7) are awesome. One thing that helps me get going each day is journalling: I review the last day’s journal entry, which had summarized work from the day before and also set me up with directions to investigate or questions to tackle that day; then I review my efforts on answering those questions, summarize how that went, and journal my way towards figuring out what to do next. Summarizing at the end of the day is sometimes useful, but more often I like the clearheadedness of morning for that task, because it can help me see whether a particular line of investigation was not going to turn out helpful after all.
Anyways, thanks for this article, because it is reminding me of some of the things that I am doing well, in addition to the few aspects I can make better. I might just have to continue to deal with the inherent uncertainty in the line between research and writing, but it might work out anyways if I am careful to attend to all the other things I can control more easily.
February 28, 2012 at 3:09 pm
The problem you have with calculating, writing and recalculating is that you’re trying to do both at the same time. FORGET about writing, just sit and think about what your calculation means. If you go straight to writing, you are skipping a crucial step in the analysis.
Give the analysis the time it deserves, including thinking and explaining to other people what you think it means. Writing is the last thing you should do, and only when you have well thought out analysis to deliver.
March 6, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Thanks for this thought. Now I’m wondering if I know of any other way to analyze other than to write!
It’s very possible that, when everything is finally figured out, I’m going to have to start from scratch and rewrite in a much more clear way. Maybe my analyzing-as-I-go is not something the examiners are going to want to read anyways. But then again, one of my research goals is to demonstrate the ease of the mathematical approach in deriving and explaining the ideas, so some of the “figuring” is crucial. Maybe I won’t know how much will need to be written, not until I’m done getting through the figuring.
I have come to conclude (by analyzing myself, through the writing of this comment) that it’s best for me to continue as I have been going, because my advisor didn’t seem concerned by my approach when I handed in the first two parts of my work for his perusal of my ideas. If I do end up having to rewrite parts, then so be it, but I need something written (and the corresponding ideas figured out in full) before I can rewrite it (and/or re-figure out ideas).
So, mine may not end up being a 3-month thesis, but the tips I’m absorbing from this site will help me minimize the wasted time in many other ways, I’m sure.
March 6, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Oops, ahem, I meant: “Maybe I won’t know how much will need to be REwritten…”
March 1, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Awesome advice!
I had been following this blog for a while and the tips were extremely valuable in thesis writing. Thank you!
Btw, I had a question. I’d like to graduate in June this year, so it means only have 3 months to complete the thesis (including adviser reading and all editing), I’m still in lab doing fabrication (cuz had a cool idea that will help finish the story of this thesis and I’m the last graduate student working on it) and I’m TAing for a quite demanding course also (for funding). With all these in mind, my question is LaTeX or Word?
I have seen those two posts you had on this topic, and I can’t agree more that there is only one answer and it is LaTeX. However since all my reports had been in Word, now I have about 3 chapters of the thesis in Word and about a chapter or two in LaTeX. The plan was to transfer the word ones to LaTeX. But the issue is my thesis has myriad number of images (very little equations) and making .eps files out of images that are in word is a pain, it is time consuming, and reduces the quality of images drastically.
So with all these in mind, shall I write the whole thesis in Word or LaTeX in your opinion?
I’m very much panicking whether I will be able to finish on-time with all the lab/TA work and also need to write a journal paper these days, and the major two chapters of my fabrication and results are unwritten at the moment.
I think if I had summer (for that I need to push the unhappy department and if they agreed, will have to tolerate the shame of answering friends that I won’t graduate in June), with that relaxed 3 extra months, I could write happily and calmly, and make the thesis very beautiful w/ LaTeX, now under time constraint I’m thinking maybe Word is the only way that can save me some time. Will it?
And with your expertise, do you think I will be able to finish or shall I start pushing for summer?
Really sorry about the long note. But I very much needed an expert opinion on this. Thank you!
March 1, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Word or LaTeX… honestly, it really doesn’t matter that much. I would never go back to Word having used LaTeX for my 1st year report, but the most important thing is to just make a decision and stick to it.
Re fabrication… decide how long you are going to spend doing it, THEN STOP. It is the only way, and if you ignore everything else I say on the blog, just follow that one thing. You have to let go!
And whether you finish on time (i.e. before summer) is down to you. If you cut back on other commitments, and can write consistently every day, then of course it’s possible. On the other hand, who cares if the department are happy? If you are happy to spend the extra months working, and you think it’s the only way, then do it! Again, you just have to decide. But either way you’ve go to stop gathering new material at some point and go with what you have.
March 4, 2012 at 7:31 am
Thanks a lot for your response!
March 14, 2012 at 1:55 am
i just print-screen the images, paste into paintbrush, save in bmp file, then convert into eps.
if there is somebody u trust who is willing to help do it, then it’ll save ur time.
March 14, 2012 at 10:32 am
Yeah, sometimes that will work… but sometimes the quality of the image in the pdf sucks. I wouldn’t use paintbrush though if there is any decent alternative!
And sometimes there just isn’t a figure that illustrates exactly what you want to say. The figures are as important as the words, so it’s worth spending the time on them
April 3, 2012 at 12:19 am
Thank you so much for this! I’ve just completed my third year and bought a write-up year, but have now moved to part-time with a full-time job. This is a great reminder that with dedication it can be done, and that sometimes “good enough” just has to suffice. Done is definitely better than perfect.
May 22, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Just a thought… You could use pdf instead of eps for the images. I never used eps, because i usually save my images in pdf anyway and didn’t want to convert them just for Latex, so i just used the package for pdf images. If you have the images in word you can easily turn them into pdf and usually the quality is good (great if u have adobe professional, but ok with other free / less expensive software too). I found that to be the best way to use images in my thesis. Images in bmp were never clear enough, especially if i used them at only a percentage of the column width, and since i had tons of composite images i usually had to use 0.4*\columnwidth. I never had that problem with pdf figures, they always looked great.