Initial Efforts 43
of it in detail, the final content will be strongly influenced by what you have learnt
during the course of your research, and thus it cannot be completed at an early stage.
Another model, which works well when you have a clear thesis structure right
from the start, involves writing fragments from around the thesis—the kind of writ-
ing that, as discussed earlier, is straightforward with a word processor, but was near-
impossible previously. In a thesis on, for example, computational modelling of how
exotic sugars affect cellular metabolism, you can simultaneously be working on the
parts of the background concerning metabolism, documenting the experimental en-
vironment, explaining how the ‘real world’ data is obtained from cells in vitro, and
exploring ways of presenting your initial experimental results. That way, if one task
is stalled—or is leading to excessive procrastination—you can switch to another
and continue to be productive.
As you write you should try to follow the ‘rational’ structure you have predeter-
mined. But once you start writing to this structure you should let your fingers do the
talking: slip uninhibitedly into creative-writing mode. If it is not a complete chapter,
write a few notes on the missing sections to indicate how you envisage that they will
be organized, and how the material you have written fits in. Print it out occasionally,
so that you have a hardcopy to make notes on; put it in a folder with any printouts of
any other chapters you have drafted. Every time you go to a meeting with your su-
pervisor or supervisors, take the folder with you. It is the latest draft of your thesis.
I notice that some of my students add notes to their thesis more or less every
day. When a thought occurs to them, they open up the file and type it in. They use
the manuscript draft, right from the first months of their PhD study (or earlier if
they are doing a minor thesis), to drive their activity. The draft contains notes on
lines of investigation to follow up, bullet point lists of papers to discuss, outlines of
discussions and arguments to be filled in later, and so on. A successful strategy is to
occasionally browse through this sketchy manuscript, checking the organization—
for example, that particular issues are noted in the right place—and, occasionally,
taking an hour or two to turn some of the notes into polished text. Over time, it
gradually becomes more complete and takes on the appearance of a proper, rounded
thesis.
As a result of your own work and thinking, and your discussions on the prog-
ress of the project with your supervisors and others, you will no doubt see many
gaps and inconsistencies in your draft structure. Revise the structure to deal with
these problems whenever necessary. You will retain most of the material you wrote
previously, although you might put it in different chapters. For the time being, put
any material for which you cannot find a home in an appendix at the back (you
will probably reject it eventually, but some of it may be useful). As results start to
emerge you will begin to write about what they signify, and drafts of the ‘Discus-
sion’ and ‘Conclusions’ chapters will start to emerge. One day you will go to a meet-
ing with your supervisors and realize that the report has taken its final shape—all it
needs is a last working through to turn it into the first draft of the complete work.