I just had to write it up

One month ago I came back from Cyprus and decided to seriously start working on my master’s thesis. The deadline was approaching fast. I thought that it can not be that hard because I write pretty fast and I thought I had already conducted the analyses that needed to be done. All I had to do was write it up. I remember a blog post by Brian Romans where he described the same thing — students often tend to think that writing it up is the last thing that needs to be done.

I even hoped that I can still find some time for my blog. However, the reality was different. Trying to write a scientific text is much harder because almost everything has to be cited. Therefore, I had to start reading before I could write anything. While reading, new ideas emerged. I started to understand things differently and need for additional analyses and lab work was evident. So, one month ago I thought that I just had to write it up but now if I look back I can understand clearly that I did not know these things one month ago I finally ended up writing about.

I hope I learned my lesson. If I am ever going to do science again, I will do it differently. I will start writing early. I will start a document with chapters like Discussion, Material & Methods, etc. early on and write it up as I move forward. I know, it may sound like a new year promise but I mean it because I saw how quickly new ideas developed and my understanding improved while writing and working simultaneously. Writing about something means that I have to put my mind into it, I have to start thinking. Throughout the year I did very little progress because I didn’t think. Doing science without thinking is probably impossible. I just conducted some analyses without having a clear understanding whether it is really needed or not. Some of these things turned out to be essential while others I did not use at all.

Brian Romans recommended to write early and often because writing is doing science. I can not agree more and I remember that I actually even agreed with it when I read it but still it always happens that everyone, almost everyone, has to really learn these things the hard way.

I submitted my thesis yesterday. I am now free man again. Well, almost, I have to defend it and many other obligations are waiting which I just had to push aside while working on my thesis. But one thing is clear. I want to work on my blog more often than I did during the past few weeks.