Writing an MA dissertation

What does it take to succeed in writing an MA dissertation? Here’s what three of our students in the Language Education for Refugees and Migrants MA programme shared.

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I believe this is not the first time I have written this, but here goes again: there is nothing that I find more rewarding in my professional life than working with our students as they make their way towards the successful end of their studies. Over the last few months, I have had the privilege of working with three exceptional people who were preparing their dissertations¹ for our Language Education for Refugees and Migrants MA programme, and I am proud to say that they all successfully defended their dissertations earlier today. This post is about celebrating their success, but it is also about sharing their experiences.

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The students

Efi Tzouri is an English Language Teacher who has great experience in working with people who have migratory backgrounds, and a deep intetest in cinematography. In her dissertation, she investigated the respresentation of refugees, by critically examining Specters are Haunting Europe, the first Greek documentary about the refugee crisis, which focused on the notorious Idomeni refugee camp. She also explored how such imagery can be pedagogically exploited in language teaching to promote understanding and empathy.

Spiros Moustakas is a Greek language educator who mostly works with teenagers. He used Critical Discourse Analysis to examine the ideological content of the Greek language coursebooks used in secondary education, and uncovered the prevalence of conservative influences and what we call ‘liquid’ racism, a form of racism that appears to outwardly conform to expectations of ‘correctness’.

Edona Sulce is a UK-based pre-school teacher, and a person with personal experience of resettling. In her dissertation, she used interviews to examine how highly-skilled migrants integrated into the post-Brexit UK society, and how investment theory can be used to explain this process.

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What does writing a dissertation involve?

Shortly before they defended their dissertations, I asked all three students to share their thoughts about the dissertation writing process. Although their dissertations were very different in content and outlook, their responses seemed to revolve around some common themes, which I present below.

Choosing a dissertation topic

Many years ago, one of my MA tutors, Richard Fay, told me that selecting a dissertation focus is about finding a topic that is useful, interesting and feasible. I have passed this on to all my students since, and from their answers, it seems like this is good advice.  

A really important fact for me was the fact that I had the opportunity to choose the topic according to my interests. Dealing with a topic that was of particular importance to me made the procedure exceptionally enjoyable as I was eager to find out the outcomes myself.

Edona

Choosing a topic is to a great extent a question of focusing, because as Spyros pointed out “you can’t read everything”. There is a balance to be struck there, between reading widely enough to contextualise your work and satisfy your intellectual curiosity, and staying on target. Spyros, a voracious reader, is keenly aware of the challenge:

The biggest challenge was to precisely define the topic of the dissertation so as to delimit the contexts in which I would work. Clear demarcation offers safety and helps with accurate focusing. Thus, the choice of the material to be read is targeted, but the writing does not escape from the answer to the research questions.

Spyros

Efi helpfully points out that retaining a clear sense of purpose is helpful in keeping you on track:

I think that what should be taken into consideration when someone decides to pursue a master’s degree is the level of engagement as well as the clear definition of the academic and career goals. Having clear objectives will help potential postgraduate students to stay focused and motivated throughout their master’s degree program.

Efi

I plead guilty to encouraging some students to go down various theoretical rabbit holes (and I will concede that Spyros’ dissertation did not really need to mention Wittgenstein’s private language argument). However, as Spyros goes on to explain, his extensive forays into the literature were intellectually rewarding, and I believe that an MA should be engaging in this way.  

The element that I found most enjoyable was wandering the bibliographic paths. The literature review opened in front of me a fascinating world with trends that kept evolving. Every time something new excited me; it was as if a strong magnetic field attracted me. And I think that this attraction ultimately defines our research identity. Because, after all, this whole journey shaped a big part of my research identity.

Spyros

Engaging with the literature

Finding what to read is one thing, but deciding what to write in your dissertation is an entirely different challenge. In Edona’s words:

I believe that the greatest challenge for me was the beginning of the semester when the structure and the specific details of the dissertation were still very blurry. The literature review is endless, so having a clear structure on your mind about the themes you are going to focus on, and the chapters that your essay is going to include, will help a lot.

Edona

Guidance from your supervisor is crucial here, and in fact one of the things that I try to do with most of my students is to agree, early on, on a tentative outline for the dissertation itself. However, even if such an outline is not available, students can learn a lot from reading how their peers have approached similar tasks.

The right choice of reading material will lay a good foundation. I personally searched for the relevant bibliography by reading other works with relevant content. There are available master’s and Ph.D. theses for more depth mainly in the theoretical part. I always chose the most recent so that the bibliographic references are very close to the season and the trends. This is how I identified the key texts and the most influential articles.

Spyros

Working with your
dissertation supervisor

Just like many other types of relations, working well with a supervisor is about finding a good balance point between deciding things together and working autonomously. This means that, as a student, one should be able to tell their supervisor early on what kinds of help they mostly need, just like Edona points out:

If you are starting your dissertation journey right now, keep in mind that you are not alone in this. Your supervisor is there to clear the view by providing you with guidance on making a clear structure for your essay and what literature review is going to be helpful for you.

Edona

As a supervisor, it is up to you to help students move from where they are to a place where you’re no longer needed. There are many ways to do this, and in the extract that follows Spyros explains how he used our regular meetings to clarify his thinking, and how he followed up with structured writing that helped him further develop his ideas.

Cooperation with the supervisor in this part is crucial. I always discussed elements and concerns that arose after reading some texts. After the discussion, recording the thoughts in analytical-type notes helps not only to set the arguments in the memory but also to understand what I read.

Spyros

Staying organized
while writing a dissertation

Writing a dissertation involves investing time and effort over several months, during which time you will need to read a lot of very different texts, design and implement a study, write up your findings and explain what makes your work important. It’s no surprise that many students find this process overwhelming:

The greatest challenge for me was definitely the time management, as I had to balance academic responsibilities with other commitments such as work and family. Another great challenge was the whole planning and organisation of my dissertation as my main concern was to create a meaningful in-depth study and get my message across.

Efi

But as Spyros points out, this is not unmanageable:

The secret is in the good organization of the material that will be used and the time. Besides, the many final essays we did until we got here have already shown us how to work.

Spyros

To help students better manage their time, one of the things we do is decide on a timeline early on. This helps students and me to clarify our expectations and make efficient use of our time. From there onwards, Edona’s advice is spot on:

Try to take one step at a time. Focus on each individual chapter each time and move to the next one only after you’re finished with that one. Have a clear structure in mind about each chapter before diving into the literature. And at last, have a structured plan in your mind about your hours of study. If you are consistent and you devote a few hours per week to your study the whole process will be a bit more effortless and enjoyable. Before you realize it… you will be done! Good luck!

Edona

Writing the dissertation

Different people have different approaches to writing: some of us write in short bursts of activity and others take a more methodic approach by writing short texts every day. Whatever you do, you will likely find writing easier if you have invested time to clarify your thinking before you start producing text. Here’s what Spyros suggests:

The writing process is simpler than it seems. All the material we read becomes text easily after discussions with the supervisor. If it gets stuck somewhere, a second opinion, a second thought, a search for another bibliographic approach will solve the problem.

Spyros

I don’t think that many people find pleasure in referencing and formatting papers,² but I do think that presentation and precision are important, and I may have earned a reputation for being strict about such things. Fortunately, as Spyros points out, the advent of technology such as reference managers³ has made a lot of the more menial tasks easier:

[Formatting your references according to] APA style is not a problem. We have applications that can help us: Bibme, Zotero are very helpful.

Spyros

What is perhaps most important, as Efi reminds is, is to take pride and satisfaction in your work, and to make sure you to congratulate yourself as you make progess towards your goal.

What is more, it is very important to take time and celebrate the achievements along the way. Passing an exam, doing well in a paper or showing progress with research or all the hard work to reach a goal should be recognized in order to stay inspired and motivated.

Efi

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Some common themes

One of the qualities that makes dissertation supervision so rewarding is that each new study is different. What this means is that perhaps some of the points above might overlap with your experience and needs, or perhaps they apply less well. But I do believe that, seen from a perspective of abstraction, the insights that Efi, Edona and Spyros shared do highlight some commonalities.

First, an MA dissertation can be an intellectually stimulating experience. For better or for worse, dissertations are written at the end of MA studies, when some of the enthusiasm has subsided and weariness has kicked in. It is quite understandable that at least some students might approach this task with a certain degree of dread. But even so, a careful topic selection can make this a rewarding journey.

Secondly, writing a good dissertation is a manageable task. However, it requires good time management and efficient cooperation with one’s supervisor. What this means, in precise terms, can be different for individual students, and it is therefore important to be proactive in helping your supervisor explain how you intend to work, make responsible decisions based on their advice, and stick to your commitments.

A final point, which was perhaps not picked up by any of the students above, is that writing a dissertation can be a lonely process. This is very different from instructed learning, in real or virtual classes, and it can be daunting for many students. What you can do is reach out to other students working on their projects, and find ways to support each other (e.g., set up a ‘study buddy’ system, read each other’s work and exchange feedback, set up a writing accountability system). This can help you feel more empowered throughout the dissertation writing process.

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Concluding thoughts

To echo T. S. Eliot, “and would it have been worth it, after all…?” What is the value of an MA dissertation for those who invest time and effort in writing it? This is a question we all need to answer on our own, but here’s one good answer, from Efi:

First and foremost, completing a master’s degree fills you with a sense of accomplishment and its significance is very rewarding. Another very important thing for me is the fact that I had the unique opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge and expertise in a specific field and I felt really engaged and motivated by the whole intellectuality. Also, what I found really enjoyable was the network opportunities that academic studies can offer and the chance to build upon a future collaboration, career or academic advancement. Most of all the most valuable reward for me was that I felt that my work can have a meaningful contribution to my students’ community and can create a positive impact on their knowledge and life.

Efi

Whether you’re writing a dissertation, have written one in the past, or are planning to write one in the future, I hope that the above is of some help. Do feel very free to add to comment section with any insights of your own, as these will likely be very helpful to other readers as well.

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Notes

1. A note on terminology: Being UK-educated, I follow the British usage, in which a ‘dissertation’ is an essay presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of BA or MA programmes, and ‘thesis’ is reserved for PhD work. In US academic programems, usage is the other way around. ↩︎
2. I do. I find it soothing. Don’t judge me. ↩︎
3. But use these with caution: the output of a reference manager is only as good as the data you put in, and not all the metadata scraped from the internet is equally good. ↩︎

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