Masters thesis writing tips

10 top tips for getting your Master's thesis done

1. POMODORO TECHNIQUE

Using the tomato timer definitely helped me break my writing up into manageable chunks and kept me from looking at my phone and getting distracted by Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

Each work session lasts 25 minutes on the tomato timer which is apparently the optimum work time before concentration begins to decline. Give it a go here!

By using the pomodoro technique I limited my time on social media to the 5 minute breaks scheduled into the tomato timer. But you could take it a step further and only limit your time on social media twice a day or something like that so that you don't get stuck in the procrastination pit.

2. BE ORIGINAL

Add your own twist to your research and your own original ideas. A thesis is always made tonnes better if the reader can see what ideas and techniques you have brought to your research. It doesn't have to be perfect though! It's okay if the idea didn't work at first, sometimes the best discoveries are the ones where the science didn't go as predicted!

In the MAGPIE (machine I worked on for my masters project) control room with my funky interferograms :)

3. GIVE YOURSELF SMALL ACHIEVABLE GOALS EACH DAY
It's so much easier to motivate yourself to write your thesis if you give yourself small achievable goals everyday which is a lot easier to do then giving yourself a broad goal like 'finish thesis' which can be rather intimidating and can quickly cause your motivation to drop to rock bottom.

Every night before I go to bed I like to plan the next day and give myself a few small goals to try and achieve during the day. I normally write this on a post-it note or in my diary and tick it off when I've achieved the goal. This way you have a goal-reward system that makes you feel like you are progressing and will definitely help with motivating you to keep going. There's nothing worse then feeling like you're not getting anywhere. 

4. TREAT YO' SELF 

Every time you tick off a task from your list give yourself a reward! You deserve it! Writing a thesis is no easy task and can take a toll on your motivation. Give yourself some chocolate, or go to the park for a walk, or play a bit of piano or sing or whatever your favourite thing is to do just do it and don't feel guilty about it!

In the Blyth Centre at Imperial College, releasing some thesis stress whilst singing and remembering how to play the piano!

I normally try to keep evenings free for relaxing so that I don't go to sleep with worries about my thesis and that my mind is chilled and can get a decent night's rest for work the next day. This way iIcan feel fresh the next day and motivation levels are kept high.

Also, try working in different locations. I recently worked in a coffee shop outdoors in the middle of Soho whilst it was quite sunny and warm - having a new environment and being outdoors in the sun definitely increased my productivity! There were buskers (singers, breakdancers and beatboxers) on the road which definitely spiced up my thesis writing - try it out!

Enjoying a frappe whilst I work! #BrainJuice

5. MAKE SURE TO MEET THE GUIDELINES

Normally when you're writing a thesis there are guidelines you have to meet, whether that may be a word limit, formatting style or document type you need to keep to the guidelines or you might be penalised. So definitely check the guidelines out before you submit!

6. REMEMBER WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS

You're doing this because you've done some amazing work and the world needs to know about it! Each time you feel like giving up or your motivation levels are dropping just remember that no one in the world has done the exact same research as you, your work is unique and you have found out just that little bit more of science to add to the huge body of science in order to advance it. Your thesis is one of the ways we can know about your cool research! 

7. GET FEEDBACK AND HAVE A BUDDY

Find someone, whether that'd be someone in your research group, a friend, or partner, to support you through your thesis writing stage. Maybe they'll be willing to read chapters of your thesis, or just make sure you are taking breaks and getting some fresh air! Whatever it may be find that support and it'll help massively in your thesis writing journey. Also, finding support through postdocs or others that have already written a thesis will be super helpful, they'll be able to give you the best insider tips to help you get that thesis done! Also, you'll quickly find out that all the things you are struggling with at the moment have been things previous PhD students have experienced to so you won't feel alone. We're all in this together! :)

8. REMEMBER THE 5 W's

For pretty much all your sections in your thesis, where the main sections are the abstract, introduction, background and theory, experimental results and discussion, conclusion and further work, think about the 5 W's: what, where, when, why and who. What was the work carried out, where was it done, when was it done, why was it done and who by?

9. LEAVE FORMATTING, ABSTRACT + CONCLUSION TIL THE END

Once you've written your first draft of your thesis you can then have a clear idea of what you've achieved, the key values measured and the main outcomes of your research which will make writing your conclusion and abstract a lot quicker! 

10. DO YOUR RESEARCH

It's useful to have done a literature review prior to writing your thesis. Being able to know what other researchers in the field have done and haven't done is very useful and will be able to help you judge where your research fits into the field. Knowing all the main sources before writing your thesis will making citing and referencing things in your thesis a LOT easier!

Reading laboratory astrophysics related papers so I can be up-to-date with the field when I write my thesis

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That's all from me for this post but do please let me know if these tips have helped you out by commenting below. This post was inspired by the fact that I am currently writing my master's thesis and these were the main things I struggled with and I wanted to share them so that I could help someone else out there that's writing their thesis. I wish you all the very best with your write-up and remember you're awesome, you CAN do this and just think about the feeling you'll get when you've submitted it!