Why is It So Hard to Write My Dissertation?

In this post, we will explore some of the reasons that make a student's journey to writing a dissertation so difficult, and offer some tips for them to deal with those challenges. Some students find it helpful to use a British dissertation writing services online during this process. UK Writings dissertation writing service can provide one-on-one support with research methods, data analysis, and academic writing. It can help students develop strategies to overcome common dissertation challenges and stay on track with their writing goals.

The Enormity of the Task

The most obvious reason that writing a dissertation is so difficult is the sheer scope of the project. A dissertation is typically written over several hundred pages, which is far longer than almost anything anyone has had to finish before. The high stakes alone – much more than most other assignments in your academic career – are reason enough to feel insecure.

For a novice, such a massive amount of original work can seem paralyzing: where does one even begin? How does one proceed? How is all that work produced, when you have never done anything like it before? It is exactly this ‘where do I start?’ process that can so quickly derail writers. We sit down at the keyboard to start, but only end up staring at the blank page for far too long.

Another corollary is that the sheer importance of what one is supposed to create can lead to perfectionism. Our thinking is ‘every sentence has to be perfect, every argument infallible, every source iron-clad’. Not surprisingly, this desire to be perfect can seriously impede the writing process, because it does make it yet more difficult to get any traction on it at all.

The Demands of Original Research

Beyond the specific difficulties surrounding stylistic writing proficiency, the dissertation poses another challenge: it has to contain original research. Most other college and university assignments – even term papers or theses – allow students to rely on sources already published. But a dissertation requires the student to bring something original to the topic. This is where many students find themselves struggling and may turn to top coursework writers for guidance. They can help you understand research methodologies, data analysis techniques, and how to effectively present your findings in your coursework or dissertation.

Conducting original research can be a challenging process that consists of several steps. One needs to formulate a research question, design a research methodology, collect data, analyze it and interpret it. Each of these steps brings its own set of challenges and pitfalls.

Not only is this likely to be the first time that many students are conducting research at this depth, but the techniques required might be unfamiliar and the learning curve quite steep. How many people do well the first time they sit down to write a doctoral thesis? Yet there are many who think they should. This is the very antithesis of ‘scaffolded learning’ in which strategies build over time, and in which students can check that they are doing things right as they go along. Instead, students often find themselves questioning whether they are doing things right at all. As a result, they might have anxiety about the situation. When this happens, they have very little clue about what might work to alleviate it.

The Pressure of Academic Expectations

They are expected to offer original contributions to the distribution of intellectual knowledge and help us better make sense of the world. To do this with some success must surely require a student to do something more than just doggedly comply with their supervisors’ instructions. By October, that kind of self-assumed mastery of my field was starting to feel like some kind of wonderful imposture. Nonetheless, my dissertation had to be of a certain academic standard, demonstrating that I really did know what I was talking about, producing solid and reliable research, demonstrating a proper command of analytical skills. I had to really get to an adequate stage of knowledge, to a finality of scholarly meaning. You can perhaps understand how this imposed levels of demand to which someone suffering from an intense case of the impostor syndrome might find unbearable.

There is also the fear that the dissertation will be read and critiqued by a committee of peers — scholarly experts in the field. The possibility of a chorus of experts examining and critiquing one’s writing prowess can be a frightening notion. Instead of a bolstering force, the pressure could result in crippling writer’s block or cause the student to micro-manage his or her decisions to write or not to write.

Time Management Struggles

Second, writing a dissertation takes a very long time. And with a long time comes lots of opportunities to manage that time poorly. Unlike a research paper or article, which has a firm deadline and requires students to write at a faster pace, a dissertation is frequently broken over the course of months or even years. Because it’s spread out, keeping the engines of motivation running can be tricky.

Others struggle to find time for their dissertation amid jobs, family obligations or other schoolwork, and therefore collude in a vicious cycle in which large blocks of uninterrupted time – critical for focusing on this kind of writing – just don’t exist.

Moreover, the absence of hard deadlines required for each chapter or section can create a perfect procrastination opportunity: without the pain of a fast-approaching deadline, some students are quite capable of letting dissertation work fall way down their to-do list.

The Emotional Roller Coaster

In writing a dissertation, as in life, the ongoing challenge of conveying and interpreting words is as much an emotional process as an intellectual one. There are ebbs and flows in the writing – fleeting moments of excitement contrasting with long periods of frustration over one’s own inadequacy.

The isolation students often feel during the writing process is a particular source of quiet pain, especially in the case of dissertations, when, unlike others of the project.

The long-term nature of the project itself can cause burnout. Keeping up enthusiasm and maintaining motivation over an extended period of time can be difficult, and most students come up against a wall somewhere along the process. Getting over the mental wall, however, is key to completing the dissertation. It’s immensely difficult, though.

Table: Common Dissertation Challenges and Strategies

The Challenges of Academic Writing

It is a particular style of writing, and it can take time, and a lot of practice, to grasp. Academic writing is formal, rigorous and carefully constructed. Its demands are quite different from either the writing many students have to do at school, or the type of writing they have done for English classes. All academic writing is formal, precise and follows various rules for citation and style.

And not just that: for many students, it’s difficult to strike the right tone for their academic voice, showing expertise without being arrogant, citing sources without plagiarizing them, supporting claims with evidence but also making original arguments, synthesizing without harvesting other people’s ideas.

The ‘tech’ of the game – things that are usually just a part of the background to anything you write, such as quotations and punctuation, the style of the text, tables, and the reproduction of visual material – can also cause frustration.

The Fear of Failure

So many of the obstacles to writing dissertations stem from this: they’re rooted in the fear of failure. The dissertation is the capstone project, the pinnacle for many students of their years of study and work. They’re doing their best; the stakes feel so high. If they fail, it will be cataclysmic.

This fear can take different forms: pre-procrastination, when a student deliberately puts off starting a piece of work in order to avoid the possibility of failing; or hyper-precaution, when a student spends more time sharpens pencils, throwing away disorganized scribbles and rewriting countless rewrites rather than achieving true progress.

It can also hinder notions of vulnerability, such as the willingness to share work with others – especially if it’s incomplete or subpar, which of course it very often is in the early stages. The desire to appear accomplished and in control can derail and impede the dissertation process.

The Challenge of Sustaining Interest

While most students choose a dissertation topic they care about, it can be hard over time to keep up that interest. Months into a project, something that seemed interesting and exciting could easily begin to seem dull or tiresome.

This fading of interest makes it hard for many students to maintain motivation over the course of the project, to sustain the effort that is required to carry it to completion. ‘Maybe I should pick another topic, switch to another assignment,’ they think, ‘or maybe I should start again.’ When I teach writing, I ask students not to choose their topic lightly. (I think they agree. When I do call on students in the middle of the process to ask them for their ideas, their answers range from tentative to whiny.) But my rule is often not followed. Students drift away from their projects, not because they don’t enjoy the material but because they can’t find motivation. Their enthusiasm waxes and wanes. It is hard for them to regulate their own feelings. They need time but don’t want to sit down with themselves, spin their wheels, or waste time. What should be a motivating tool — trying to stir up enthusiasm for their work — starts to plummet them into that slumberous despair.

What’s more, the longer the students work on their projects, the bigger the chance that they’ll discover nuances or contradictions that make their initial ideas look naïve and even inadequate. At the same time, managing criticism with an open mind while not losing confidence in the importance of what they are doing is another matter.

The Struggle with Feedback and Revisions

Feedback from readers is as important as frustrating in the dissertation process. And it is one of the most difficult parts — even though it’s a good thing. Students might find this feedback frustrating after working on a project for a long time.

Getting feedback and then doing the work of revising is hard. First, it’s usually a lot of work. Revising in response to feedback often means revisiting large chunks of the work in progress or – if the feedback is about missing research or perspective – actually leading the writer to return to the keyboard to do more research. That all can feel very much like going backwards, when the writer is anxious to go forwards.

In addition, students may get conflicting advice from different committee members or cannot figure out exactly what a lukewarm comment is getting at. They must practice these skills of diplomacy and decisiveness, which adds yet another step to the writing process.

The Impact of External Factors

Most of these obstacles are internal to you – but external things can make writing a dissertation hard too. Life goes on while you aim for your goal. Your own circumstances can make or break your ability to fulfill your dissertation writing ambitions.

Financial pressures can also be common among doctoral students, especially those who live on thin budgets or work part-time in addition to their studies. These financial challenges can magnify stress levels, and detract time and mental energy from their writing projects.

Not least in terms of their personal relationships – the demands of the doctoral process can also hurt those around us. Many students experience guilt about the impact of their writing upon relationships with partners, family and friends.

Unplanned life events such as illness, family crisis, or major life transitions can also cause breakdowns in dissertation momentum. Navigating these changes can be difficult to navigate while simultaneously pushing forward on the dissertation.

Conclusion: Overcoming the Challenges

Of course, writing a dissertation is hard. Thousands of new PhDs prove this for us every year, which means that any challenge can become an opportunity, if you understand what you’re up against.

What is crucial is to break the enormous task into small, manageable steps and to set realistic goals, establish a highly structured schedule, and reward oneself for staying on track and completing small stages. It is wise to form a support network, involving advisors, friends, peers, fellow travelers, and loved ones on the path. Struggling with the process is normal, not a reflection on one’s quality of mind or prospects as a scholar.

Just like real writing, getting a dissertation done is as much a measure of stamina and determination as it is a demonstration of scholarly ability. Students who make it through this personal and intellectual ordeal suffer the process but emerge with considerable expertise, along with a significant scholarly accomplishment. Admitting difficulties is the first step towards overcoming them, and clearly students ought to be helped to do so in order to complete their dissertation and emerge with personal triumph and significant advancement from this difficult season of their scholarly lives.