Getting stuck in a rut while writing a thesis

Question

I'm to write my MSc thesis soon, and am a bit worried that I will get stuck in a rut. By that I mean that I will have very little variety in my daily (work) life, and that it will not only be stressful, but also that I will sort of stare myself blind on the same problems every day.

Any advice? Do I even need to worry about this?

EDIT:

I probably didn't explain myself very well, because everyone seems to have misunderstood my question (don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the feedback, it's useful nonetheless).

I'll be working on the same problems for about 6 months. I'll probably get so tired of it. I'm wondering what I can do to avoid that making me crazy. RasterImage mentioned changing the work environment once in a while, that might do some good.

Answer 1

My adviser said to just "Get er done". I found that the biggest hurdle, as you alluded to, was how do I make real progress. Here are some ideas:

• Decide on the sections of the thesis. (This may already be predetermined by your department.)
• Write an outline of the thesis.
• Get a template for the thesis.
• Look at how others from your department organized/formatted their thesis.
• Write an outline for each section of thesis.
• Pour your knowledge into the thesis without worrying about sentence structure, spelling, thought flow, grammar, etc.
• Use Mind-mapping tools to get your thoughts in writing.
• Set small intermediate goals. (i.e. I am going to write the description of x result in 30 minutes.)
• Make a game out of it. (i.e. I got x words written yesterday, today I am going to write x + y words.)
• Listen to music that has no lyrics.
• Get a good night's rest. (I know this can be hard, but it does help.)
• Change your work environment every now and then.
• If you don't feel like writing on a certain day:
  • Refactor what you have already written.
  • Create a graph of your results.
  • Take a break. (Many times I was able to clear my head while walking away from the computer.)

Most of all keep in mind that what you write down is probably going to be modified, changed, added to, moved, or removed many times. Celebrate your successes, and let your failures educate you.

I had the same anxieties that you are having when I was writing my thesis. Many of my peers had the same struggles well. I would say this is a normal part of the process.

Answer 2

The biggest factor is to find a way of working that suits you. So when you read advice (and there's lots around including here), filter it through your own experiences. When writing my PhD thesis I found a few things helpful that could apply to you. They're meant to be indicative rather than strict advice.

• A morning routine so that I got down to work consistently. Knowing when your day is planned to end can help as well (don't stop if it's flowing unless you have to).
• Starting the day by writing, because I find doing figures easier and more pleasant.
• Keeping a notebook (a real one made of paper) to note figures/sections/tables that I thought of, rather than getting distracted by starting them straight away.
• Falling back to figures, formatting, LaTeX tweaking when the writing wasn't flowing that day.
• Not feeling too guilty if I had a day that just wasn't going anywhere much

Something that happened too late for me but some of my friends did and found beneficial was to have a writing retreat for a few hours or a day, when they got together and structured some of the difficult bits in a supportive environment. Here it helps to have friends who know your work just enough that you can explain it to them.