Essay hooks
Calling all #postgraduate students: a vital component of effective essay/thesis writing is to captivate your audience from the start, they must be compelled to read more. So, craft a writing hook: typically in the first one or two sentences of your introduction. But, this is definitely easier said than done – why? 1. Because of the vast content out there competing for readers’ attention.2. Plus, people are easily distracted, you may lose them. Check the 5 most common hooks below. Please comment on the one most appealing for you. 🎓
Don’t give up now!
Calling all #postgraduate students. If you are due to submit your draft or final #thesis anytime soon, consider the following: ➜ Please, don’t give up now.➜ This is the time during which distinctions are crafted.➜ Don’t say “I can’t anymore” or “I just want this over”.➜ Make time to read each sentence out loud and tweak it.➜ Give it all you’ve got.
The research process
Writing a thesis/dissertation is overwhelming at the best of times. The research proposal combines your introduction, literature review, and an intended (in the future) methodology to achieve your results. After ethical approval, you can begin collecting, analysing, and interpreting your data before writing up your findings. The graphic below highlights the process (check with your faculty). One step at a time. One day at a time.
Find your super power!
Find your Proactive Superpower! If your #thesis or #dissertation year commences in 2022, instead of just contemplating this mammoth task, be proactive, and start your journey towards academic success. As a courageous crusader, take some action to create stability and control before your stress levels rise and anxiety creeps in. Over the past 4 years, I have mentored and coached almost 100 postgraduate students. Without a doubt, those who chose to be proactive at the beginning of the year submitted on time and, more importantly, enjoyed the ride (mostly). How would you feel if one year from now nothing had changed for you? Imagine that feeling to be stuck and frozen in time, like a rabbit frozen in headlights. To recognize that you need to make a change either in your behavior or thinking to achieve your ambitions is the precursor to becoming proactive. Not only will making plans today give you…
Top tips to deliver a polished thesis
Calling all #postgraduate students who are striving towards their thesis submission for 2021. It is always worth finishing your draft, if possible, with some extra time on your hands. Reviewing your work, as a reader and not the writer provides a different perspective and affords you the opportunity to tweak, refine, and produce high-quality work. The infographic below suggests a few #toptips to get you thinking.
If your #thesis, #phd, #mba, or any other #postgraduate qualification is of high value during this phase of your life, do the following: 1. Extend it with the appropriate respect and make it a top priority.2. Find out how many hours are required for your NQL level.3. Calculate how many hours you need to input each day till final submission.4. Work these hours every day to keep your momentum and motivation going.5. Give this priority your best effort. “You can usually accomplish more by giving something your full effort for a few years rather than giving it a lukewarm effort for fifty years. Pick a priority for this season of your life and do it to the best of your ability.” James Clear
You must focus on the process
Just a reminder: when you’re working on the analysis phase of your hashtag#thesis, keep your process absolutely explicit.
Data collection and analysis
I am not an expert in research or methodology, but I know how to follow a process. When you embark on the data collection phase of your #thesis, it is essential that you focus on the process you intend to follow. Who are your participants going to be, what is their specific demographic, and how are you to find these people? Following that, you start your data collection, and again, a series of questions arise. This part of your thesis journey is the theme for this month’s blog, please find a link in the comments below. When I’m struggling to think “process”, I generally find it useful to think through a natural process that I follow regularly to gain perspective on the flow. For example, preparing my first coffee in the morning. It is imperative that one articulates this process explicitly: (1) get out of bed, (2) don my gown…
What is your desired outcome?
On the final page of my coaching agreement, I ask my client to paint, draw, write, or whatever they feel appropriate to express their desired outcome from our time together. Pam, who is determined to complete three qualifications by the end of 2022, the final being a postgraduate qualification in Management Accounting created this vision board. I was impressed by Pam’s creativity and hence decided to share her outcome page because it speaks exactly to the myriad outcomes desired by many #postgraduate students. Which one speaks to you? Please help me to gain a better understanding of my target audience by commenting, even if you are a past student.
Procrastination, its all in your head
The results of a recent poll I presented on LinkedIn revealed that stumbling down internet rabbit holes, coming in at 71%, ranks as the chief of #procrastination behaviour. And this certainly rings true because my specific cohort of connections and followers belong in the field of #postgraduatestudies and #thesiswriting: the field that demands searching for colossal amounts of research; that which requires the internet: the rabbit hole that potentially derails you horribly from your mission. Right now, feedback from my clients’ is that procrastination is rearing its ugly head, as usual, but possibly more so at this time of year: tired, worn-out, demotivated, stuck, scared, overwhelmed no balance, and all the other challenges we face doing a postgraduate qualification. REMEMBER: “Random internet browsing sucks the life from your productivity and generates guilt. And then, the treacherous spiral of wasting precious time starts.” The article below may provide some help? Yours…