Co writing your thesis!

Hi there again!

It has been a while since I wrote my last article for Insider, actually this is the first time you will be reading something written from me for this new semester. Of course my absence is very well justified and it has to do with this article as well.

You know what time it is? It is the time that every student is very stressed about. Thesis time!! Yeah you heard it right, me Marija is almost done with her studies and her thesis. My thesis is special though, not only because it is me who is writing it LOL, but also because I have a co writer. I suppose that most of you do not know that you can co write your thesis with someone of your choice. I decided to do that with my friend Swan. As fun as it might be and it might sound easier, believe me it is not. Writing the thesis with someone else is harder.

First of all you have to decide how you are going to write it: if each person will have his or her separate part or if you are going to do it together. For us the best choice was to do everything together, of course the theoretical part could have been done separately, but the rest was done together. This way it looks like only one person wrote it and trust me that is very challenging.

When it comes to the separate parts, you always need to read and learn the part that your co writer wrote. The whole point of the thesis is for you to learn new things and know everything that is written there. There can be cases that one of the writers might have made a mistake so the other writer can fix it.

After you are done with one chapter you should read it out loud to each other. This way you can notice all the grammatical mistakes that might be there. Sometimes it is even better to get a third reader because that person might notice the mistakes better. Another thing coming from us, the moment that you use a source reference it right away. Do not leave it for the end because it is too much and there is a higher chance that you will miss something and mess it up.

Create a Google drive or an online outlook file so you can both edit at the same time and see what the other is doing. Try to make a time table so at least both of you write at least 2 h a day so you do not leave everything for the end. Trust me you do not want that, been there done that and later I was so tired I could not even English.

An extra advice: use do not instead of don’t. Avoid all these shortening and try not to use pronouns din your thesis. As excited that I am that I am almost done with the thesis I know I will miss it and still I wish I did some things differently. Anyway, good luck to all of you there that are writing your thesis and see you soon!

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