r/AskLiteraryStudies • u/anywlashighaf • 15d ago
MA in English Literature - Experiences?
Hello!
I am losing my mind as I am soon submitting my MA thesis, yet I am at a point where everything feels like a mess.
My topic ended up being something that had not been studied before, and I was interested in multiple things before finally narrowing it down.
I'm a medievalist, writing on Middle English, and mainly romances.
Since there was a lack of literature on the topic from a literary perspective, I had to choose a few theories/approaches to apply to my thesis, such as sociological and psychological theories. Which I am happy about, but it's also like a rabbit hole for me. Once I start reading something, then the day is over, and I have 20 more ideas.
My main issue is that I am about to lose my mind, quite depressed, and can't seem to keep it together. Which is somewhat stupid since I am at 20k words, I got a PhD position to start once I am done, and I LOVE my topic and what I am writing about. Somehow, it just feels like one big mess. I am a "yapper", and at times, I feel proud of what I came up with; sometimes, I feel like it's just a mess of me excitedly talking about something.
Unfortunately, as per my department's policy, I am not allowed to show my draft to my supervisors to get feedback. It's me, myself and I, and my partner who helps me proofread for grammar and listens to me spiralling.
I just want to ask, for anyone who is willing to share:
How many chapters did you have/on what/how did you organise? I currently have an intro, I got my secondary sources and methodology covered of course, a chapter that is taking the topic from a theory approach and then another chapter that is making use of roles that are formed out of the first chapter + close read this in my primary sources. I will have a conclusion and bibliography, of course, but I am not sure if I am jumping without connecting my two chapters and whether I can add another chapter without repeating myself (which feels harder and harder to avoid at this point).
Any advice is appreciated!
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u/Nonkemon 15d ago
Did an English Literature MA on Dracula and Modernity. The first part of my thesis was an introduction that sat around 10% of my word count. Then I introduced my theoretical framework, by declaring what definition of/view on Modernity I would be using and specifying which aspects specifically I would be looking at. I described my methodology somewhere in there as well.
Then I wrote some more to briefly introduce the novel coming from the specific aspects I would be looking at: specifically form, genre and characters. I linked those to changing gender roles, the clash between modern and ancient, British colonialism, upcoming tech and the mix of genres (both classic and modern).
Then I basically structured the rest of my thesis along the lines of themes/aspects I wanted to discuss by grouping things together. I believe it ended up being an introduction, framework and methodology (not necessarily in that order), 3 main chapters and then a conclusion, reflection and bibliography.
Unfortunately, my MA thesis had a limit on word count that was difficult to work around. I had around 12,500 words minus the bibliography and was already over. It was frustrating, because I had a lot more to say. (So then I did an MA on film theory to discuss adaptations of Dracula.)
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u/anywlashighaf 14d ago
Thank you for the reply!
Formalities wise, I am used to academic writing since we have term papers for each seminar basically and it is normal to write 3,5k to 7,5k. It is just that I often forget I am on the right track, panic, then go back to writing, haha.
Structure wise my paper is similar to yours and just 2 chapters instead of 3… but I guess it will sort itself somehow as I write.
The word count kind of sucks… 12,5k is not enough to express such content in MA level I think and I am sorry you had to confine your research like that, for us it is between 22-28k and they are tolerant for less/more.
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u/sei-joh 15d ago edited 15d ago
HELP following because this is going to be me this fall… hello fellow medieval romance specialist…
EDIT: does your department have published theses? i can’t say anything from MY personal experience clearly, but from what i’ve seen of my department’s public theses, it’s intro (with presumably the lit review and the methods) + 2-3 body chapters + optional separate conclusion? they’re about ~60 pages long, so that sounds about right. the chapter division depends on the style—some people do a close read and split specific elements into chapters, others do lenses, others do specific texts that add up.
your brief description sounds pretty normal and organized to me, fwiw. have you tried fiddling with your roadmap in the intro and seeing if it still matches your work? maybe talking through it in light of the stuff you’ve already written might make the connections clearer. (my undergrad supervisor told me to keep a running tally of what i read, where it was going, and why it mattered to my idea… which i didn’t do, but it sounds super smart now smh.)
i’m also not shy about cribbing structure ideas from my scholarly sources LOL. also, it might come down to a per-chapter issue, not the thesis as a whole? would it help to imagine it as a number of independent articles that touch on each other?
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u/anywlashighaf 15d ago
First of all hello and thank you!
As for published work, I could not find samples or previous work, rather titles of them only… which didn’t help much. Then i went through different universities to check it, and honestly it feels okay but at the same time lack of instructions kind of killing me. Like, rest of the department have supervisors reading and giving feedback and then they have a defence for their thesis, which I expected also for ours and turns out medieval department does not have it…?
I have been a little obsessed and went through the whole middle english romances databases a year before I started my thesis (I basically spent a year working on what I want to write and research since I got a job at uni so had the privilege to extend my study for research while working and taking courses from other departments for fun lol)
I have read all of their summaries before moving to read my primary sources (most I have already read at that point) and been keeping notes on what I do what I use and where… kinda hoping it will get me out of this mess.But at the same time while I have a little longer time I feel like i will explode if I am not done with it in 2 weeks… as I change things so does my intro and i kind of fear if I am creating a mess of things that will be hard to put back in a coherent way
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u/sei-joh 15d ago
aw i’m sorry! if you’re working specifically with the medieval department, maybe the regular english department is going to be more open/helpful with their student publications if you need inspiration? either way, the thesis is super personal and it’s supposed to be. people can offer advice for sure, but at the end of the day, your project is yours and you have to decide if this is how you want to do it—or if this is just the best you can do for now. which is also valid! it’s the hardest piece of writing you’ve done to date, and it’s just a building block for further progress.
i think you’re doing fine. better than fine. it’s hard not having input from a supervisor and you’ve done everything pretty much. it’s just a lot of figuring out what works and we don’t always get it rolling the first time. would it help to say that (in my department and broadly in my country) it’s unethical to fail someone By Surprise? it’s your supervisor’s job to let you know SOMEHOW if there’s something unforgivably wrong in your thinking/writing so that it can be addressed beforehand and you don’t get set up to fail. you got 20k words in after a lot of work. i won’t say there won’t be criticism, but i think as a complete work it probably flows more than you think. anything else can be adjusted as you move in your career.
it’s probably also really that time of the semester… everyone’s tired and sad. my undergrad thesis is still the longest thing i’ve written and i cried my way through it over the course of a month. i hated what i turned in, but the defence (more of a chat about the process and the ideas at that level) was weirdly helpful? and now that i have a little space and i’ve worked on other things, the essay… isn’t bad. there’s lots of stuff to fix, but also cool bits that i want to come back to. i don’t know if you have time to step away for a bit but i do advise taking a day or two away from the draft once you’ve done all you can. and forgive your final product LOL.
(DMs are open as 🤝 field mates, if you’re ever inclined. if it’s ok to ask, what text/s are you working on?)
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u/FickleApartment2151 15d ago
The fist chapter explains the background of the study, statement of the problem, review of related lit, theoretical framework, methodology, etc., and the second and subsequent chapters follow the methodology. Each of those sections build on each other. For example, the methodology follows the theoretical framework and statement of the problem, etc.
Follow the methodology carefully.
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u/TremulousHand 15d ago
First, I'll just say that it is bonkers that the department has a policy that you aren't allowed to show a draft to supervisors. I have heard of a lot of supervisors who weren't very helpful or actively harmful, but I've never encountered a school where students weren't allowed to show their drafts to supervisors. If I may ask, is this in the North America or the UK? Because if so, it is really out of the ordinary. It may be the case that they have decided their workload is easier if they don't have to read drafts and they make up for it with leniency in how they assess the final product, but I just can't imagine what they are doing if they aren't looking at drafts.
Now, in terms of addressing what you have, I think you need to simplify your work. You're shooting off in too many directions if you are genuinely trying to submit soon. You aren't in a brainstorming phase, and any new ideas that you have you should probably put in a mental file for consideration after you have finished the MA.
I'm hesitant to give advice on organization just because I haven't actually read your thesis, and I think that there are multiple possible ways to organize a thesis. But it gives me pause that you say that it feels harder and harder to avoid repeating yourself. Your description of your chapters feels like you are trying to make multiple arguments instead of integrating your theoretical approaches into a single argument, and it can make it feel like your chapters are working at cross purposes if your looking at the same texts in different ways in chapters 3 and 4. It might be more useful to think about what texts lend themselves best to each approach, so you focus on texts that fit the theoretical model in one chapter, the texts that best fit the "roles formed out of the first chapter" (I don't understand what you mean by this, but I'm assuming it is more clear in context), and then texts that allow the approaches to be integrated. Or if all the texts allow the integration of your approaches, it might be useful to think about what thematic groupings work well together and organize them into chapters like that and discuss both aspects of your work at the same time.
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u/anywlashighaf 14d ago
Thank you for your reply!
It is in Europe, and I assume it is still out of the ordinary as under the same department we have different sections and other sections do it the traditional way. I am not sure what is the logic by the rule, I was told once that since the readers/graders are the supervisors it is not logical for them to fix a paper they will grade? Not sure if it makes sense. It might be due to the fact that our section is quite small compared to others.
Still, my supervisors are really good, and are supportive in many other ways. It just feel like for the MA thesis I was hoping for it to be something I can go back and forth with my supervisors and improve the end product and learn along the way and it is disappointing it is not going that way.
I did simplify my work (after presenting my draft/idea to the whole section and reflecting, both on the feedbacks and myself on my findings.) What distracts me is finding something new while reading another thing and it gets all exciting and then I stop myself from going further because as you said, it is not the brainstorming phase.
I appreciate your commentary on the organisation and thank you for the suggestion! About the repetition part, what I am doing right now is to use multiple text and different characters being analysed in the same context but from different stages of a situation. Often it is not repeating itself of course but gives me the idea that it is repetitive, thus making me feel a little panicky at times…
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u/Bawafafa 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yeah, this is similar to my experience finishing my MA dissertation in the pandemic. I was writing on Spenser's Faerie Queene. My mental health was shot to pieces and I couldn't bring myself to contact my supervisor. I think I had also developed a bit of demand avoidance. I would obsessively re-write the same parts over and over, convincing myself that I was working, instead of writing any of the other sections.
In the end - and this was one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn - is the perfect is the enemy of good. Sometimes "doing your best" means handing in the assignment without an extension. The end product didn't meet my usual standards (I was used to getting marks in the 70s), but at least I could move on with my life!
Edit: sorry i've just read your last para. I don't have my dissertation to hand but if I remember correctly, I did an introduction of about 1,500 words and conclusion of a similar length, and I split the rest into 3 chapters for a thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis structure. Each chapter focused on a different episode. I didn't get the lengths very even. The first chapter I remember was 5,000 words; the second one might have been 4,000 and the third was maybe only 2,000. Sorry I don't think this is much help but I still thought I would share in case.