Simple Strategies, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2004 (© 2004) 

SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK
WHILE WRITING YOUR DISSERTATION OR THESIS

Jeffrey W. Braunstein, Ph.D.
ResearchConsultation.com

Many dissertation students struggle with writer’s block while writing their dissertation or thesis.  Writer’s block can be extremely frustrating and can delay many students during the dissertation or thesis process.  Writer’s block often occurs when students are feeling pressure to work on their dissertation or thesis and have not spent enough time planning the sections of their dissertation or thesis.  This issue of Simple Strategies will address ways to overcome writer’s block while writing your dissertation or thesis.

1. Choose a topic of genuine interest for your dissertation or thesis.

Choosing a topic of genuine interest for your dissertation or thesis can help motivate you to get through the writing of tedious portions of the dissertation or thesis (e.g. literature searches, literature reviews, statistical analyses).  Genuine interest in your dissertation or thesis topic facilitates your understanding of the material.  Take a minute to compare your performance in classes where you were interested in the subject area and your performance in classes where you found the material to be very boring.  Did you tend get better grades or have an easier time completing assignments in classes where you had an interest in the subject matter?  Your dissertation doesn’t have to be your life’s work, but it’ll certainly help if you have at least some interest in your dissertation or thesis topic.

2. If you’re unable to choose a topic of interest for your dissertation or thesis, find a way to personalize the topic or subject area.

If you have accepted a dissertation or thesis of “convenience” (refer to Simple Strategies – Vol. 1, Issue 1 for a review of the positives and negatives of choosing a dissertation or thesis of convenience), and do not have any interest in your dissertation topic, you will need to find a way to personalize your dissertation topic to increase your interest and motivation. For example, you can personalize your dissertation or thesis by choosing a particular subpopulation of interest within of your data to focus your attention on (e.g. gender or specific cultural issues of interest).  You can incorporate these interests into either the primary analysis or post hoc analyses of your dissertation or thesis.  Focusing on a more interesting part of your dissertation or thesis can increase your motivation for completing your project.

3.      Breaking your dissertation or thesis into a list of small manageable tasks can help you to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Breaking your dissertation or thesis into a list of small manageable tasks can help you to avoid feeling overwhelmed.  Constructing and regularly reviewing a master list of the tasks needed to complete your dissertation or thesis actively reminds you that you need to just focus on accomplishing one task at a time to achieve your goal of a completed dissertation or thesis.  When in doubt, break up a small task on your list into an even smaller list of tasks to help you cope and conquer a particularly difficult part of your dissertation or thesis.  For example, when constructing your task list for the methodology section of your dissertation or thesis, you can first divide the section into the major components (e.g. participants, instruments, procedures) and then you can break down one of these sections (e.g. procedures) into smaller sections (subject recruitment, instrument administration, reimbursement for participation).  If needed, you can break down one of these smaller sections into even smaller sections (e.g. outreach to organizations, independent advertising, order of instruments administered, funding issues).

4. Stop insisting on perfection!  Write simply and informally.  You can always revise what you’ve written later.

Just write something related to you dissertation or thesis topic down as fast as you can and accept that you will probably have to revise it numerous times throughout the course of the dissertation or thesis process. Try to train yourself to write whole concepts and simple phrases instead of “perfectly tight” well-worded sentences.  Writing whole concepts down quickly, without putting a lot of thought into grammar and punctuation, helps increase the fluidity of your thinking and can help you to avoid writer’s block (obsessive and rigid thinking) while writing your dissertation or thesis.

5. For severe cases of writer’s block, purposely write grammatically incorrect.

Severe cases of writer’s block can be successfully treated by purposely writing grammatically incorrect.  Purposely writing grammatically incorrect completely by passes your need for perfection and helps you to accept that what you are writing will eventually need to be revised.  This task can jump-start your creativity and increase the fluidity of thought while writing your dissertation or thesis.  Writing bulk content and fleshing out your topic area are the most important parts of writing and can help you to avoid writer’s block.  Editing and grammatical revisions are the more technical parts of writing and can be focused on later during the writing of your dissertation or thesis.

6. For severe cases of writer’s block, “Write As You Speak.”

The exercise of “writing as you speak” helps to overcome writer’s block in the same way as writing grammatically incorrect.  When you “write as you speak,” the emphasis switches from perfection to the most important part of the writing process: the content of your dissertation or thesis.  Grammar and punctuation can always be completed later after you’ve gotten the majority of the content on paper.

In addition, if you’re really stuck, audiotape your ideas about your dissertation or thesis and then take notes upon playback.

7.      Try writing in different settings to figure out the ideal place and time to get your work on your dissertation or thesis completed.

Do you tend to work better in complete silence or do you write better when there is a little bit of activity around you?  Some people require silence and subsequently need to search for an environment that can fulfill these needs.  Other people find silence to be distracting and need to be “slightly distracted” to focus on their work. Finding an environment that is conducive to writing helps to avoid writer’s block and may lessen your anxiety about writing.  Are you more alert (or calm) in the mornings, afternoons, evenings, or late at night?  You’ll need to decide what time of the day you feel most alert and calm so that you can effectively focus on your dissertation or thesis.  Through trial and error, these are the kinds of things that you’ll begin to understand about yourself that will facilitate the dissertation or thesis process. 

8.      Construct a regular routine and schedule to work on your dissertation or thesis.  Take frequent breaks to avoid fatigue and frustration.

Once you figure out what time of day is best for you to work on your dissertation or thesis, construct a regular schedule to work on your dissertation or thesis.  Routines are preferable to chaotic “cramming sessions” that are more anxiety provoking.  Taking frequent breaks helps to avoid fatigue and frustration.  Fatigue and frustration interfere with the ability to concentrate, subsequently making it harder to focus on your dissertation or thesis.

9.      Think of dissertation and thesis writing as creating “manuscript templates.”

Take a moment to skim through a few articles written by the same author.  Have you noticed that the author uses many of the same “stems” or beginnings of sentences across various articles?  For example, notice the similarities in phrasing across several literature reviews, methods and results sections.  How about the way they phrase their research questions and hypotheses?  Let me know if you still have writer’s block after you complete the following exercise:

10.  Re-read what you’ve already written and write notes on the margins.

Re-reading, editing, and note taking can facilitate the writing process. Writing notes on the margins have the potential to embellish what you’ve already written and add substance to your dissertation or thesis.  I have found that notes written on earlier drafts of my manuscripts end up being the most important “connection statements” that were needed to tie together my subject matter.  Since dissertation and theses are very comprehensive, these connection statements keep the reader oriented to your dissertation or thesis and help the reader avoid becoming lost.

11. Discuss your dissertation or thesis with a colleague, friend, professor, or consultant.

Reviewing your dissertation or thesis with others can shed a different perspective on your project.  Gaining a different perspective can help generate new and unique solutions to overcome impasses and problems throughout the dissertation or thesis process.  For example, if you’re having problems with picking out measures or instruments for your dissertation, discussing this issue with an expert in the field can help jumpstart the writing process.  An expert in the field could be your dissertation chairperson, dissertation committee member, or a consultant who has an established research track record.   

Using these simple strategies can help you to overcome writer’s block and manage the anxiety commonly experienced by students who are writing their dissertation or thesis.  Practicing good time management skills, having a lot of patience, and asking for assistance when reaching an impasse are important skills to practice throughout the dissertation or thesis process.

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