The end of October was thesis submission time for many postgraduate students. And last week was the week before submission time for several other students (schools usually take a few days for admin). Some of these students were genuinely out of time, having extended their stay as long as their schools allowed.
They simply had to finish.
I’ve seen many students in the late stages of their theses. By late stage, I mean right at the end – the week before submission, the end game in a chess match.
There are really three groups of students in this stage. The “Nowhere Nearers”, the “Almost Therers”, and the “Final Touchers”.
Most students in this late stage fall into the first two categories. Yet, once they get to this point, they (almost) always submit. They would have dropped out long before if they were going to.
But the stress of being a Nowhere Nearer is immense. I witnessed it this weekend – a student who achieved the nearly impossible.
My advice to you is to equip yourself upfront. Learn how to use your referencing software, how to do smart searches on Google Scholar or on your library database, how to format your document with Word’s styles, when you should and shouldn’t use commas, and get familiar with that key software you’ll be using.
With some investment in yourself, your progress will accelerate, and you’ll be far less likely to join the Nowhere Nearer club 🙂
Contact me at [email protected] if you’d like help with your thesis or dissertation.
Merle I hv been reading your emails of support and I once heard your presentation online. You are so helpful to me thank you once more.
Warm Regards
Thanks for your kind words, Zolani.