Xiaohongshu
By Rammohan Khanapurkar, MA in Education and International Development
I've been there, I've Googled ‘Dissertation tips', ‘How to do Master's dissertation’, and when facing an existential crisis, ‘How to survive the Master's thesis’. And of course, ever the helpful friend, Google rewarded me with bountiful online resources. But can Google’s search results tell you about the ups and downs of the dissertation process? Not really, apart from some optimistic view on how you should be doing a dissertation. As someone who’s done the googling and been through a Masters, I’ll tell you the folly of looking at the dissertation as the ‘last hurdle’ to ‘get done with the degree’.
The torment of a dissertation?
The ‘D-day’ of submitting dissertation is 2 September at UCL. On this day, social media posts of Masters students are suffused with a tone of relief on seeing the back of a process that tormented them to no limit. Why does this happen? Reasons are aplenty, like students battling the dissertation with diminished strength in the last phase, time management going south, getting nauseated about the process of ‘read and write’ continuously etc. But it doesn't have to be like this. The dissertation process doesn't have to be a torment. If we start taking immense pride in our dissertation.
The positives of dissertation
We should consider dissertations as a process that helps us undertake more intellectually challenging projects of larger proportions in the future. It’s an undeniable fact that the dissertation process revolves around vigorous reading and rigorous writing. Not many have the aptitude for publish-worthy academic writing. They may have brilliant minds, experience of working at grassroots but less exposure to academic writing or articulating thoughts with finesse. That’s fine as one year’s of a Master's course cannot turn everyone in a consummate writer. But by making it a ‘writing-centric’ process, we often ignore the by-products of dissertation process such as disciplining our thoughts, developing the critical lenses to analyse issues in a multi-perspective manner and making ourselves aware about the dangers of quick-fix manner to ‘reach conclusions’. The entire process of dissertation can shape us in many ways. While struggling to reach the day of final submission, we often overlook the journey that leads us to this day. No wonder, for many of us, the journey becomes a saga of long nights, junk eating, boredom and ‘get rid of it’ mindset.
My experience of enjoying my dissertation
I will explicate the core theme of this article with my own experience of doing dissertation at IoE. As an educationist active in India, my portfolio bristles with keywords such as ‘Expert in evaluating learning achievements’, ‘Policy researcher focusing on issues of first-generation school goers’ etc. Certainly, I could have thematically encashed on my portfolio by minting words from it for my dissertation. My thoughts changed after having a conversation with one of the lecturers regarding the selection of the dissertation topic. I told him that I can easily chose my dissertation topic based on my career trajectory. Though, I added candidly that I’m passionate about the history of the partition of the Indian subcontinent. I presented my dilemma to him. His reply was liberating and set the tone of my dissertation. He said, ‘you’ll never do a Masters course again in your life. Why not live your life through the topic you are passionate about than churning it for brownie career points’. I followed his advice and took a leap of faith to do my dissertation on the topic of ‘my choice’; unhinged from the expectation of walking on the ‘well-trodden path’. I chose ‘Understanding the teaching of British Empire in the KS3 history textbooks of England’ as a topic for my Master's dissertation. It empowered me to look at my dissertation with pride than just a tick-box item to complete the rudimentary check-list of the Master's course. Just like others, even I struggled in the process. Though, what kept me ticking was the pride I took in my topic. Every time I dealt with it, it would give me high to sail the crests and troughs of the dissertation waves.
You’ll never do a Masters course again in your life. Why not live your life through the topic you are passionate about than churning it for brownie career points.
The entire UCL is flushed with several resources to support us in our dissertations, including the eco-system within the departments. Though, all these resources are unproductive if there is no fire in the belly of the dissertation writers. This fire evolves from the pride we take in our dissertation by following our hearts to select the topic of our choice. This approach will illuminate the path of your dissertation. What a lecturer told me sums up everything. She said, ‘Make yourself proud first with your work. The world will take notice of it from the glow on your face after the submission’.