Why is PhD thesis writing so stressful? And what can we do about it?

Why do so many PhD students find thesis writing so stressful, and what can we do about it? In this video I go through some of the main causes of stress, the standard advice (and why it makes things worse) and 5 key strategies to make the writing process easier.
Check out my PhD thesis writing masterclass: phd.academy/the-writing-course
0:00 Why is it so stressful to write a PhD thesis?
1:47 The standard PhD thesis writing advice (and why it causes more problems than it solves)
4:00 Introduction to my approach
4:52 Focus on what you want to say (not what you think the examiner wants to read)
6:54 Separate the process of exploration from communication
9:45 Start with the introduction and work in sequence
12:20 Allow your pace to vary
14:28 Perfectionism (it's usually just indecision)
16:44 Structuring your writing
20:00 Some questions...

[@TheMintbalm]

Thank you for this video! I agree wholeheartedly with your approach. I'm challenged by endless rewriting in a master's program and at work. Although I do outline before, based on your approach, my rewrites may stem from: brain dumping, needing to explore and separate that from writing, having the wrong intent of impressing the examiner, and lacking decisiveness confidence. I don't know how to explore as deeply as I want to without the painful numerous iterative process of writing, and not impressing the reader scares and bores me as I get easily bored myself. I also get overwhelmed. Every sentence feels like a rabbit hole, because I struggle to find the appropriate words and way of saying it. Consequently, writing takes way too long and is stressful. As an example, writing this took at least 15 minutes and 6 rewrites.

[@user-sx7me3ut8m]

Hey, James thanks for motivating thousands of Ph.D. scholars who are stuck in the thesis writing phase including myself. Listening to your videos has been working great for me. I am getting on track using your approach and it has been a game changer for me. Thank you

[@paulanunes95]

I have to thank you, Dr Hayton. Every time I get anxious before starting to write I come to your channel and watch some bits, it gets me motivated and helps me grow my confidence and mentality about the whole process.

[@user-es9dd9wm1x]

The problem solution perspective is a game changer

[@valentineobiora8759]

Glad i found your channel. I dont write fast. I rather take my time to structure my writing, build up a logical argument on paper and then begin to write. Might not be the best approach as it hits me with writers block on a steady basis. But once im done with a section, its hard to correct it because it then becomes too detailed

[@James_Hayton]

Nothing wrong with writing carefully, but your approach might need some tweaking. What happens when you get blocked? I ask because writer's block has many causes and each requires a different response (writer's block is a symptom, not a condition in itself).

[@valentineobiora8759]

@@James_Hayton true. When I get blocked I lose interest in writing. Thus it takes me a longer time to get a task done. I'll adapt my method of writing

[@James_Hayton]

I should clarify my question… what’s the nature of the block? Is it that you cant find the words? Or that you don’t know what to say? Or that you lose momentum? Or something else?

[@SHSims-uv9ru]

I too am a structured chapter by chapter person. I want to do the dissertation outline first then drill down to the chapter and paragraph level. I am a Classisist and numismatist so little details make a big difference for me. I must write in an orderly fashion not just vomit words onto a page. I try to write so the reader will connect. My biggest problem is knowing how much is too much on a topic. I find the writing fun but challenging. There is just so much stuff to write about. Thank you for these great videos.

[@bluntforcetanya]

Glad someone else doesn't like the brain dump thing. I think more than 3 normal people combined, asking me to dump everything that's in my head onto paper is literally more stressful than asking me to write my thesis.

[@James_Hayton]

Yeah... I don't know if you have ADHD but those I've worked with definitely don't do well with the huge brain dump. Do you have an approach that works well for you?

[@Heyu7her3]

​​​@@James_Hayton I personally only come with 1 or 2 feasible solutions (3 is pushing it lol). Where it goes awry is that I immediately judge the ideas being generated. I just don't get the point of articulating things that can't be done... I keep all of that in my imagination. Might've become apparent to you that this puts me at odds with other people. But I can report: I am actually working on the research ideas I developed through my unconventional "brainstorming" method. Recently, the larger research community has expressed interest in them (I've had my presentations accepted for an upcoming research conference).

[@obaligodwin8814]

Amazing insights on exploration and communication. Totally in agreement.

[@xantheboo]

Love your videos. Personally, I enjoy the writing part of projects usually, but I am finding the thought of writing my thesis very overwhelming. I am not really at the writing stage as I am still trying to get data and structure what I am going to do, but when I wrote my proposal, and generally when I write I find that the first thing I do is to create the document headings- the outline of the paper. I do this quickly to get the broad ideas of what I want to say down, and then I can go back and write from intro to the end following this sort of map that I have set out for me. This helps tremendously, because, as you said, you are able to focus on the point at hand and not worry about the other things you need to say coming up.

[@evelynkarkkulainen1784]

I do appreciate your work alot ❤

[@KarineHalpern]

Thanks. I did not think of the problem/response on smaller scale though I just started to do that, it sounds obvious now. I got rid of perfectionism, and I decided to enjoy my writing. I have a structure that I cannot follow since im doing monography, but I have a code now, with collors and micro technique in a dropbox. I do as if I was in post production for a film, editing to get the story narrative flow. Once I will be done I can check references and citations and I can edit to make it shorter as it is already way too long. I am in about 2 weeks of focus-writing (sorry English is my second language). I also lost a year as I was not well directed, and lost my confidence. The catch up is not faisable so I decided to give more into the quality of the writing and plan a book for after the thesis. I totally agree with your approach and I wish I know about the mess I create myself by taking lots of notes in a linear way. Notes should be in zotero or similar so I will go back and forth and spend less time to clear my documents that were supposed to be chapters. Voilà. Now, I give myself 5 months to write 1st draft. Cheers.

[@ruparajan5933]

Thank you Dr. Hayton. Your videos clarifies lot of doubts about thesis writing process. I am also writing my Thesis. Your videos gives me confidence to write thesis and will submit successfully.

[@Heyu7her3]

Okay, I've definitely wondered about the "just write" advise! Whenever I do that, I end up writing something that either doesn't make sense to me or is no longer my understanding/ approach. This results in having to scrap that draft and return to Square 1 😮‍💨

[@James_Hayton]

So try slowing down a little and see if it works better (and let me know how it goes). Changing an old habit isn't easy, and it might throw up other difficulties, but I'll help if I can

[@opheliahart1602]

I have come across two schools of thought. The first is the 'just write' process, which I have certainly seen work for many successful and extremely prolific academics. It works great for people with the type of brain that can dump then make sense of the mess afterwards. I have tried and tried to make the 'just write' strategy work for me and i have failed miserably. I just end up with an overwhelming mess of writing that ends up being completely useless. I have even gone to Bootcamps run by The Thesis Whisperer - also a fan of the 'just write' approach - and not produced anything useful except the knowledge that I am not cut out for 'just writing'. The second approach is paragraph planning - that is the approach that works for me. It basically involves creating a skeleton of your writing then filling it out to greater and greater levels of detail. It can be as simple as writing down some dot points. Then you expand the dot points with sub points. If you get into a flow state with your writing and find you are able to expand the dot points, just go with it. But always keep an eye on the whole structure. That way you won't get lost and end up with a bunch of useless writing. Each way of approaching writing has it's merits but in the end you just need to go with how your brain works, IMO.

[@James_Hayton]

Have you told Inger that the bootcamp didn't work for you? And have you asked how she makes sense of the mess? I'm actually advocating a different approach to both of those you mention... I personally wouldn't add greater and greater detail, but I'd try to identify what the main point is that I want to communicate (only adding detail that's necessary). It's not about showing how much you know!

[@opheliahart1602]

@@James_Hayton Your process might be similar to what I now use. I start by summarizing the main point of the section I am working on in one sentence then expand that summary with with sub -sentences. It's really hard work but it is worth it in the end.

[@James_Hayton]

That's not how I do it. I think of a narrative where each point leads the reader to the next (usually knowing the key points I want to include).

[@wrbl]

Totally on point about my current situation. I am struggling extremely, mainly having a war with my mind. Thank you for this helpful video.

[@James_Hayton]

What kind of war? What's happening? Meditation could be useful...

[@substanceandevidence]

Thought a bit about your structure at 18:48 . It seems to be an alterantive to CCQH (Context-Complication-Question-Hypothesis). Using the same terms I would describe your structure as QCCH (Question-Context-Complication-Hypothesis). It basically puts the question first which seems reasonable

[@James_Hayton]

I'm definitely not saying to put the question before the context, and I would not describe my structure as QCCH, but your comment made me think about how to clarify, so thank you! I'm trying to explain a more fundamental understanding of structure, based on cause and effect, or problem and response. The context can give rise to a problem, to which people respond. This response might partially solve the problem, but create a new problem. It might be necessary to set these things up before the specific question makes any sense. HOWEVER, if the specific problem or question is familiar to the audience, then you can start there without having to establish context (for example, in a conference with a very specific audience, you might be able to jump straight in to the specific problem your research addresses).

[@robertolinger683]

I'm an "edit as I write" type, but your idea of separating exploration and communication resonates with me.

[@James_Hayton]

I'll make another video on this as there's some nuance to the exploration/idea development part too

[@geo-thi]

@@James_Hayton interested to see a video about exploration vs. communication!

[@wasiuademola2826]

Thank you for this video. I find it very interesting and have shared it within my network. Can you please make available to me all your videos on literature review? I have listened to one

[@barriemohamedsal4631]

Hello Dr Hayton, thank you for your contributions to knowledge. Please I will like to know your areas of specialization, thank you

[@James_Hayton]

My PhD was in physics, specifically working in nanoscience (most of the work related to scanning probe microscopy and semiconductor and metal nanoparticles). I did 2 postdocs in similar areas before moving into training PhD students. I've been doing this full time for more than 12 years and have worked with students from every academic field (with the majority being from the social sciences).

[@barriemohamedsal4631]

@@James_Hayton that’s great! thank you for your educative videos, I have learnt a lot

[@dankschang]

I write fast...but aidded by a well design content structure, it helps to think and reveal the research narrative. Once that speed writing is done, editing and refinement is easier, by imagine i am talking to a person.

[@James_Hayton]

But how much do you speed write before you tidy up? And are you pausing to think while you do it, or doing what others advise and writing without thinking? I'm also fast (I can usually write 2000+ good words in a day), but I'm thinking hard about what I'm saying and how it links together (and the first draft is usually very close to the final draft).

[@dankschang]

@@James_Hayton I normally complete a section, than take a break and go back the next day to refine it. Eg . If an entire chapter has about 8 sub headings, than I roughly need 16 days to write, edit and along the way...put thinking into it. Writing is thinking.

[@James_Hayton]

OK, so you're not building up too much before going back. Some people literally say not to look back at anything until you have a full draft. I'm not a fan of the phrase "writing is thinking". It's like saying "running is breathing". They're related but not the same thing!

[@dankschang]

@@James_Hayton I have try the full draft chapter, than revisit, ending up taking more time to refine it. Try to avoid that...not healthy to our thought process. Especially if we forget easily.

[@James_Hayton]

If it works for you and you're able to tidy up and it's not too stressful, keep doing what you're doing! If you end up having to do multiple drafts, though, or if you get stressed about writing maybe try shortening the cycle of writing and editing.

[@jhamdan2012]

James, I have a question regarding the research proposal that most European schools require for admission to the program. How can I ensure that my research idea and the IP of the research are safeguarded by the university, assuming that it's not garaunteed I will be admitted to the program? I reached out to the school and the faculty mentioned they don't have an agreement for the IP and applicants are required to submit a detailed research proposal of 6000 words.

[@James_Hayton]

Sorry, but I really don't know. I'm not a lawyer and it's not my area of expertise so wouldn't want to give advice regarding IP.

[@jhamdan2012]

James, I need some information on the best option for PhD: dissertation vs. cumulative articles. Also, I'm not familiar with the research proposal for cumulative papers for the PhD admission. I know how to write and structure the proposal for a monograph, but not the 3-4 published papers. Can you provide some insight? Also, what is the realistic number of articles to make up a final thesis within 3 years span. The 3 years includes taking courses, seminars, presententing in one conference at least, teaching, and possible travel.

[@James_Hayton]

As I say to everyone at the application stage, talk to people at the universities you are applying to before you apply. This is the most important thing you can do, because you can find out about the research they do and the culture. I can't tell you whether a monograph or cumulative articles is the better route for you at the department you're applying to... what do they usually do there?

[@jhamdan2012]

@James Hayton PhD I figured out the norm at their university; the majority of student undertake cumulative dissertations so they can stay in academia through the pre- published body of work which ranges between 3-4 papers - at least one is done with another co-author(s). This aligns with my pre-determined trajectory.

[@James_Hayton]

OK, so it makes sense to follow the norm. If you need 3-4 papers, think of it as a single project with 3 or 4 distinct steps in the proposal. The project will likely change once you're actually doing the research, though.

[@jhamdan2012]

@James Hayton PhD Yes, of course, my research will go through multiple modifications throughout the program. However, since I need to present hypotheses in the proposal, the cumulative dissertation will require me to have separate but linked hypotheses for each section (paper). Also, how to structure the research questions? Supposedly two questions to cover the 3-4 sub-topics and maintain coherence. Another challenge to tackle is to ensure that the literature has not cited solutions to similar questions for each section.

[@James_Hayton]

It would be far better to talk to people at the university you want to apply to. They all have different application processes and program structures. Why not ask them what they look for in an application proposal?

[@jhamdan2012]

For me writing the thesis is super hard because of the need to use different vocabulary for the same meaning everytime I am repeating the same key point or concept, or else it sounds repetitive.

[@James_Hayton]

Are you sure you need to do this? It might be better to be consistent in your use of terminology

[@jhamdan2012]

@James Hayton PhD well the technical terminology has to be consistent, but the explanatory idioms should vary. For instance, I can use "similarly" when I try to discuss a similar school of thought...I might use "in the same vein", just an example.

[@James_Hayton]

OK- I have seen examples where people have changed technical terms for the sake of variety so it’s good you’re not doing that! If aiming for variety is the biggest source of stress, maybe give it less priority. Sometimes variety for the sake of it gets distracting (for example, if someone just runs through a list of increasingly obscure synonyms-argues, claims, states, declares, opines, posits…) The most important thing is that the reader understands what you’re trying to communicate.