Surviving My Honours Thesis Writing: 6 Lessons I Wish I Knew Before I Started

I've finally submitted my final year dissertation, and here's a recounting of my experience alongside 6 lessons for writing a successful thesis while maintaining your sanity.

Other Resources:
My class on keeping a writer's diary:
My playlist on Reading:

Introduction: 00:00
1: Start Early: 02:11
2: Your Topic Will Change: 02:57
3: Develop An Ideas Bank: 05:23
4: Weathering Criticism: 10:36
5: Ritualize Your Writing: 15:23
6: Be Kind To Yourself: 19:35

[JohnSmith-hloh]

How can we read your thesis?

👇Petition to read Robin’s thesis

[nochannel]

My husband reads every research work I do and he is a harsher critic than my colleagues 😂 very useful. Also gives me the opportunity to argue for my ideas and weigh their validity without sounding like a pompous arse to my supervisor and colleagues.

[padmeasmr]

Bro you were crazy 🤣 how did you do itttt. My BA thesis took me three/four months, but it took me almost one year to research and write my MA thesis (around 16, 000 words) which was original but kind of crazy and ambitious. My supervisor was the head of the uni and that added to the pressure although he was great. I just took my time to read, make lots of notes (I had 80 pages of notes and quotes with pages references by the end) and had written a scheme for the thesis as well for every chapter. Some things ended up being deleted or moved to another paragraphs but I must say that after that massive work, writing the thesis was kind of a formality and really beautiful. To me the final part where you have to write conclusions and read everything again and again is the hardest bit. But it's so worth it ❤ oh and also adding the references and all well written at the end of every paragraph helps a lot otherwise you become crazy. Oh and also to me key was writing every morning (sometimes afternoon) in a coffee shop or library. At home I couldn't do anything 😅

[aicreatortoolkit]

I’m a high school student who has a disability. I’m graduating this June. I’m the type of person who thinks deeply and sometimes it can be lonely. It’s like you have this island of treasure but no one understands because they’re so caught up with the shimmer of day to day life that they forget to be curious, and ponder. I want to stay in academia and learn as much of the sciences, humanities and mathematics as humanly possible. Currently, I’m in that island looking for people to share the treasure with.

[hectorasuaje]

Hi Robin, this video came at a time of need, I started developing the idea for my thesis back in January when suddenly I got into a bike accident that took 5 months to recover from, I thought back then that it would be the ideal time to write and study since I could not really do much physically, however my mind was not in the right place. As today im fully recovered and I have been working non stop gathering references, ideas and bibliographies for the last 3 weeks, I should start writing next week; since I lost some time I have 3 months left to finish and I feel the pressure (probably for the better) hearing your organization I see a path to follow and stick to, thank you.

Im studying Audiovisual Media which is basically filmmaking and my thesis is about the ways of reading, understanding and feeling an image, rejecting estructuralism methodology where everything pretends to have a logical place and unchanging meaning like linguistics to allow us to accept a more complex way of approaching images, understanding how ethics and cultural satisfaction has a lot to do with how we allow certain ideas to reach us (something like that, im still developing the topic).

[heloisa]

The topic changing after in depth research is so true! I’m handing in my thesis in 2 weeks along with a graphic project based on the research and the idea that I had of it initially is nothing like what I’ve come to learn now.
I just wish I had more time with my supervisor, the whole class was given the same professor as their supervisor so it’s an overwhelming amount of work for them and due to that we’ve barely got any help at all.

[crystalkewe]

I haven't come across any of your videos lately for the past year or so, and it so happens that the first video I see after this long is about writing your honours thesis, which I find timely because I'm currently in the process of securing a placement for an honours program in Computer Science in Australia. This video is definitely going to be handy!

[chattySam]

One of the best thesis writing YT. Very concise and realistic

[WeirdlyWonderfulASMR]

21:22 or ideally, you could carry a weather-resistant notebook wherever you go, capturing the thoughts as they come - I’m talking to myself.

This was super helpful Robin, much appreciated. I’ve honestly been avoiding starting my capstone, and watching this gave me the slightest first step into the process~

P.S.: I’d be super interested in your rants about how the world’s hostile against conceptual thinkers who seek to better it.

[ngelv]

I am writing my monograph for my bachelor's degree in literature and these tips definitely comfort my way. Thank you!

[jameshopkins]

Thank you for your considered thoughts on this topic. I am in the process of writing a long essay that has been stalling inexplicably. Your insights have really helped. Thanks.

[iyousef]

Well, since you asked... I am attempting to write a piece of fiction set in a certain historical period, and the primary challenge, up until now, has been the manner in which I should tackle my research—setting priorities, how much note taking is reasonable, whether I should summarise result in essays, even though that's not the end in itself, etc.
Fortunately, I am not shackled by BIG ACADEMIA yet, so I can take my time; but that's also a problem, since I tend to slack off or get distracted.

[jasminegold]

Wonderful video! I'm kinda afraid to even write one but it's a challenging pursuit

[jamespotts]

Even though I'm not attending university, as of yet, I'm planning on this event to be brought to fruition soon enough, I feel as if I must thank you for what may be, unwittingly not known, the fact that there are other humans in this realm of reality who also enjoy literature, writing as intensely & as much as I do, causes me to feel far less strange as well "out of sink", than with the rest of the world. So having a kindred spirit, allows me to be inspired with a surge of energy to continue my pursuits without abandon. Wholeheartedly with just a touch of the required recklessness needed, to out shine any quotidian levels of dedication far easier than thought possible. With this in mind I thank you.

[thewildaly]

I finished my thesis but I struggled so much with it. I love writing but ended up disliking the rigidity of academic writing.

[Das_Akash_X]

I'm currently doing my masters and at my university we have to write 4 2500 word research papers through out our whole 2 year course

[lucisomething]

I'm working on my term paper and although it is significantly better than last year because this time I have a good adviser it's overwhelming to do while exams are also happening and I'm behind on my term paper schedule. However, I really need to do better on this task this year, so I'm fighting with myself mentally to get back to it even after wanting to give up. Academy is hard :(

[MatthewSmith-qddu]

Got my exams at unimelb this semester and it’s defs stressful, doing a 1500 word essay is defs easier than 15, 000 😅

[meirad]

I just started doing incremental writing and it is amazing for reigning in adhd.

[shaaronego]

Omg the way you talk and explain everything is incredible 👏👏☺️any tips on how to learn to talk like you?