Master’s Projects & Theses: Tips & Tools for Your Winter Break!

Over the winter break, no doubt most of you will be hard at work on the first draft of your master’s projects and theses! Here are some ways to get help before your draft is due, along with some helpful resources and strategies for getting that draft done.

Where to get help:

Student Copy Desk — Nott Terrace High School journalism students at copy desk of the Terrace Tribune. Schenectady, New York (collection, Library of Congress).

Lehman Library hours: Open December 24^th, 29^th, 30^th, & 31^st from 9am to 5pm; (directions)
Journalism Library hours:
- Closed December 20^th through December 28^th.
- Closed January 1^st through January 4^th.
Contact information for librarians, arranged by subject expertise.
For journalism help: email journalism@library.columbia.edu (While Starr’s away for the holidays, her colleagues will answer this email address. Starr monitors it while she’s in town.)
For help after 5pm or on weekends: use our Ask A Librarian service.

Writing and editing resources:

The nonfictionist’s guide: on reading and writing creative nonfiction, by Robert Root.
Keep it real: everything you need to know about researching and writing creative nonfiction, edited by Lee Gutkind and Hattie Fletcher.
Storycraft: the complete guide to writing narrative nonfiction, by Jack Hart.
A writer’s coach : the complete guide to writing strategies that work, by Jack Hart.
A field guide for immersion writing: memoir, journalism, and travel, by Robin Hemley.
Good writing for journalists: narrative, style, structure, by Angela Phillips.
The subversive copy editor: Advice from Chicago, by Carol Fisher Saller.
Art of editing, by Manohar Puri. (eBook!)
The elements of editing: a modern guide for editors and journalists, by Arthur Plotnik. (eBook!)
And finally, here’s a list of books at Columbia on writing for Journalists, in English, published in 1995 or after.

Project/Thesis tips and strategies:

Peg Boyle Single has some great tips on writing theses and dissertations, much of which is applicable to your project. She also wrote a great (and really short!) book on this topic.

How to Write a Lot by Paul Silvia; this book is geared toward academic writing, but it’s suitable for all kinds of writing, and how to make a habit of it. Best of all, this book is super-short at just 149 pages!

This Gradhacker article has a lot of great tips, primarily geared toward getting yourself in the right mental space to get the work done. The main take-aways:

You are not alone—all your classmates (and those before you) have faced feelings of anxiety, failure, and inability related to this project. You may feel like you’re the only one struggling, but all of us who have trudged the halls of graduate school have faced similar feelings. Reach out for the support of your classmates—they probably need to vent their frustration, too.
Work in small increments, like half an hour. Even a little progress is something. Facing the seemingly insurmountable goal of writing your entire project can seem daunting, but you get it done by just breaking it down into tiny pieces.
Don’t strive for perfection, strive for DONE.

This blog post on outlining shows a great way to break your project up into chunks. Outlines are key to breaking your project into small, digestable pieces, and for keeping you on track.

A focus statement can be helpful: write a one- or two-sentence summary of your project. Write or print it on a notecard or small piece of paper, and keep it in front of you while you work. Look up at it every once in a while, and use it to keep yourself on track. Often, while working on a story or research, your mind will take off on wild tangents—having your focus statement in front of you can help you maximize your time by keeping you focused.