Now that I have finished my bachelor thesis, I thought it might come in handy to share some tips to make your thesis experience a bit more painless. As you already know (or will soon know), dear reader, the process of writing a thesis can be long and tedious, and I share your suffering. If you are in the process (or will soon be) of writing your thesis, I would like to share some wisdom on things that helped me go through it.
Take these suggestions with a grain of salt, we are all different and if these tips don’t work for you, it’s just because something else fits you better! Take it easy friend, now let’s dig in.
Plan your work ahead#
Listen, you and I both know that after waking up the last thing you have is a clear mind to remember everything you did yesterday and what you need to do today. Don’t lie to yourself, that will save you lots of time. At the end of your working day, take a piece of paper, a post-it, a notebook, your tablet, whatever, but don’t rely solely on your memory. Remember that as you approach the deadline, you will have more things to do in your head and using it as an agenda is just, well, as inefficient as it could be. Thankfully paper was invented a long time ago, so go and use it.
“I have the paper, but what do I write on it?” Well, my dear reader, there are two things you can write about: what was done today and what needs to be done tomorrow. Write what bugs you fixed today, what papers you reviewed and what things didn’t work, that way you avoid repeating mistakes and doing useless work. Plan ahead what you need to do tomorrow based on the errors you had today, include what things you could try (you will forget about which paper you needed to look at tomorrow, just write it down) or what sections you would like to write.
For your own sake, be reasonable on the amount of work you expect to do tomorrow.
If you prioritize being honest with yourself and realize how much time it takes to do certain tasks, this tool will come in handy. Otherwise, you may risk setting yourself in a position with too much self criticism, not necessarily constructive. It can be difficult, but I trust you will find your way around, push through a little bit more, dear reader. Writing about what I did today helped me realize many times that I did a good amount of work, when in my head I thought I did basically nothing that day. Writing about tomorrow allowed me to go straight to my desk and start working instead of wandering around my head, trying to remember what I was planning to do.
Ask for help#
This is probably one of the points I struggled with the most. At some point, a really dear person to me was repeating this several times a day because I would get stuck in my code for weeks, thinking I could figure it out. Sometimes maybe I did, and many other times I did not. Is it a good opportunity for self-learning? Absolutely! But let me tell you something, dear reader: you got a deadline! That deadline does not care about your pride and that you are an independent strong student, that’s just the reality.
If you do not have a deadline, I’m happy for you and consider yourself lucky. Most likely most people reading this are months (or weeks, hopefully not days) away from having to send the final version of their thesis. If you get stuck, be reasonable on the amount of time you plan on using to solve this problem.
Let me give you an example: while working with my thesis, I got stuck on an error message for about 10 days. I was very adamant and refused to send an e-mail to my supervisor. I don’t remember exactly, but I think I had to let my stubbornness aside and ask for help. Weeks prior to my deadline, I realized that if I had a bit more of time (for example, 10 days, I wonder where could I get 10 more days!) I would have been able to train my object detection model with better parameters, or even add another architecture for testing. What was more important, solving that bug by myself or adding more useful information to my thesis? I hope we all agree that the second option. Take a couple of days to solve it by yourself and if it doesn’t work, go and ask your supervisors for help, that’s literally their job! If you want to challenge yourself and spend lots of time solving problems by yourself, there’s a perfect position that would even pay for you to do that. It’s called doing a PhD! Good luck with it and let me know how it goes XD
Take breaks#
This may be a tough one for many, myself included. Depending on your mood and situation, taking breaks in between study/work sessions can help you keep focused along the day. The idea was presented to me when reading the book “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing”, from Daniel H. Pink. I will not go on detail about the book, all I can say is that it has more than a couple of interesting facts about chrono-biology and how we can use it to make the most out of our day. The most important advice that I took from that book was avoiding long study sessions, as time passes our focus may start vanishing and we end up being less productive.
On the other hand, I know some of my friends here reading this have hyper-focus periods when they can get going for hours and hours without noticing. This tip is not for them (unless they want to), is for the other half that struggles a bit more to focus and complete our tasks for the day.
I would schedule short breaks with a Pomodoro timer (25/5 or 50/10, depending on the mood and energy) and then take a longer break around midday and/or the evening. That longer break would usually be: going to the gym, do my laundry, run some errands in the city, doing crochet, buy my groceries, cook and eat, go for a walk, etc. Get out of your desk and move your body, avoid sitting and looking at Reddit or other social media. Using your phone is not resting, and if you think it is, you’re just fooling yourself. That will not help your brain get any rest. It may not be what you want to read, but it is what you need.
Hydrate yourself#
Yes, I know you are drinking extra coffee and energy drinks during this time. Your poor organs don’t have the fault you’re trying to graduate. Respect your body as the temple it is. If your body is not functioning properly, how are you expecting that your brain will work at its fullest? Once again, don’t fool yourself! That’s just auto-sabotage, and you’re the one that will pay the consequences of your own actions.
Tip: Drinking enough water in the morning before starting with your coffee may save you some headaches. Dear reader, your body naturally craves water. First thing you do in the morning is go and shove in a whole cup of coffee, and you’re still wondering why you need a paracetamol to get through the day? Put a sticker with a smiley face in your calendar every time you drink water before caffeine if that helps, but go and drink water for your own sake! Do not underestimate the importance of a healthy body for a healthy mind.