Dissertation Diaries: The Final Entry

TA DAAAAAAA! The dissertation is complete... 

In January's instalment of Dissertation Diaries, I spoke about being in the middle of phase three (writing), personally, this was the most straightforward and most enjoyable phase. I wasn't focused on having a perfect first draft, I knew I had allowed time for editing and adaptation. Throughout the end of January and the beginning of February, I was heavily focused on getting all my thoughts onto paper and perfecting the introduction and first chapter. The early completion of my introduction and the first chapter was crucial to getting 25% of my project marked by my supervisors for initial feedback. I ended the previous post hopeful that by the time this post was published, I would have obtained some constructive feedback. I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback that I received from my supervisors, there wasn't a whole lot that needed editing/further consideration. The main points of improvement considered the seamlessness of quotes within the text and referring back to the central aims of the thesis. One of my supervisors also mentioned timestamping key episodes that I wanted to refer back to throughout my research, who knew that watching my favourite TV shows could be classed as research?!

The following few months were primarily spent in the library completing the final chapters, reviewing key readings and formulating case study reports. Chapter Two was by far the easiest one to write and the one that I'm most proud of, it consists of fictional TV character case studies. Throughout this process, I have focused my research on things that I enjoy and areas I feel passionate about. I mentioned at the beginning of this process that I was worried I would lose interest in the topic after a year of intensely studying it, I can now safely say that it's not been the case with this. The final chapter was the hardest to write both in terms of content and word count. Towards the end of my project, I was running low on remaining words and was finding it difficult to navigate where I wanted to go with the research I had. Discussing an issue like sustainability is quite challenging, particularly with a word count restriction. I struggled with doing the topic justice when I only realistically had around 1800 words to play with, this is something I discuss in my reflection. 

Submitting my project was an extremely daunting prospect, in the days leading up to submission I was re-reading it over and over again making sure it was perfect. Although I felt incredibly proud of the work I'd submitted the actual submission process was slightly underwhelming, I was on my own at my house pressed submit and that's everything over. To celebrate I baked myself a cake got my favourite takeaway and had a cosy evening at home. I found it all to be such a cathartic experience that symbolises the end of my university experience, it made me think about my expectations of uni life prior to joining Royal Holloway in 2019 and how that compares to the reality four years later. Moving forward, I plan on writing one final 'All Things University' post which I hope to include some of my graduation photos and a reflection of my time at Royal Holloway as well as plans for graduate life. I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who participated in my survey and contributed to the research process. 

Huge congratulations to any of you completing your dissertations and best of luck to anyone completing exams this semester! 💗