Stress points during the dissertation

Ross Woods, 2022

Most, perhaps nearly all, students experience almost overwhelming frustration at some stage of a major dissertation when they feel it is too hard and want to give up. It feels like the mountain is too steep to climb, there’s too much information to keep in your mind at once, it’s never going to finish, it won’t be good enough, I can’t afford it, it’s taking too long, I’m still finding errors. They don't know this when they start and it usually comes as a surprise. It takes many forms and can happen at any stage of the PhD.

I doubt that students drop out from lack of academic ability; in fact, they can't get into the program without evidence that they will be able to get through. A major dissertation is as much a test of tenacity and emotional fortitude as any academic ability. It's a lot about coping with the emotional crunch when you can't see the top of the hill. That's one of the main things you are supposed to learn, although the handbooks don't tell you.

Don’t let discouragement get the better of you. Completing a doctoral dissertation is as much about tenacity, perseverance, and time management as academic ability.

Some causes of emotional pressure are:

1. Supervisors.
   Students get frustrated with supervisors who reject work that they think is quite good. The relationship can easily sour due to misunderstanding.
    
2. Finances.
   Students in fee-paying programs find it difficult to manage their money, especially if they are in debt.
    
3. Family.
   Students feel family pressure, especially if they have small children. One family member puts lots of time and effort into the dissertation and others might resent it or have some other kind of negative reaction. Remember, they make sacrifices too.
    
4. Attention to detail.
   Students dislike the attention to detail: checking facts, using sources, writing, revising, and editing.
• When I'd done all the research and learned everything I'd set out to do, it seemed like a waste of time to edit and re-edit the dissertation itself. Why not quit now?
  So I asked myself, “What am I learning here?”
  And the answer was: “Now I'm supposed to learn that part of the process is getting the details right.”
   
5. Time management.
   Most students struggle to manage time and you need to find a weekly schedule that works for you. Everyone is different so “one size fits all” advice is not helpful; what works well for some people is a disaster for others. Sometimes it's about the time of day, sometimes it's about which days of the week. The best than anyone can do is help you find the best schedule for you and, later, perhaps update it if it is no longer working.
   You might be able to read in short time blocks, but it will probably be easier to write in bigger blocks, so you don't lose time getting back into it. (Now, where was I up to? Where's all my stuff? It took longer than I thought to lay out my desk, get into the computer and ....)
    
6. Impostor syndrome.
   Many PhD students incorrectly believe that “Everyone else here is smarter than me, so I’m in the wrong place.” However, anybody who is admitted to a PhD program has the academic ability to succeed.
    
7. Writer's block.
   Find simple things to do that help you make progress without being too difficult, for example, make rough notes, do some editing, talk to someone and ask for ideas.